City of York Council planning officers partially refused a retrospective application to install an illuminated sign across the window and stallriser of Countoak House, in Front Street, Acomb.

The application stated all the work was carried out under building regulations and to appropriate standards.

But an objector claimed the sign had been sneaked up at 2am, was overbearing and did not fit in with the area.

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Council planning officers stated the sign had been crudely installed and caused harm to the building and the surrounding street scene.

They approved a facie sign installed at the rear of the building saying: Mr Mobile Mr Vape but ruled all signs must not be lit up.

The business applied for planning permission for the facia sign and a signage board, both on the York Road side of the building.

The facia sign they applied to get planning permission for measures 2.78m-long, with the signage board measuring 4.55m by 5.25m.

Elevations for signs installed at the rear of Mr Mobile Mr Vape, in Front Street, Acomb, York (Image: City of York Council planning portal)

A sign installed on the Front Street side of the building was not included in the plans but officers stated it would have been refused planning permission if it had been.

The sole objector to the plans stated the signs had been installed on the building which borders the Acomb Conservation Area.

They claimed: “The signage was sneaked up at 2am, it’s over bearing and does not fit in with the area.”

Council planning officers stated the sign was poorly-fixed and its design was out-of-place.

They added its size meant it could have a distracting effect on road users, creating a public safety risk.

Officers said: “The larger signage board is crudely fixed and poorly placed across the shop window and stall riser, resting just above ground level, extending up to the underside of the fascia.”

Author Michael Attwell has spent nearly 50 years studying serial killers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady

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Pictures of sick killer Myra Hindley posing alone at Staffordshire’s Ramshaw Rocks could be a key clue to further murders. Dubbed the ‘tartan’ photographs, author Michael Attwell has spent nearly 50 years studying serial killers Hindley and Ian Brady.

He says there are striking similarities in the style of these and the notorious images taken on Saddleworth Moor – where remains of three of their child victims were found. Michael, a TV producer, director and author, whose new book The Moors Murders, is out this week, tells The Mirror: “The famous ‘tartan’ photographs show her and Brady at the Ramshaw Rocks in Staffordshire, doing exactly the same sort of thing that we see in the photographs on Saddleworth Moor.

“They look like markers of some description.”

While there has been no evidence of children being abducted in the area at this time, he believes the photos – which along with those at Saddleworth were taken between August 1964 and October 1965 – could still be hiding a grim secret.

He says of Hindley’s eerie poses: “Those photographs are weird. It would not surprise me if one day it turned out there was something in that.” Sixty years ago this month Brady and Hindley were jailed for the Moors Murders, in which they abducted and killed five children between1963 and 1965.

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The bodies of Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12, and Lesley Ann Downey, 10, were found buried in shallow graves on Saddleworth Moor. Edward Evans, 17, was found murdered and trussed up in their house, while 12-year-old Keith Bennett’s body has never been recovered.

Hindley was serving a life sentence at Highpoint Prison in 2002 when she died, aged 60, at nearby West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds from respiratory failure and bronchial pneumonia. Brady died from terminal lung disease, aged 79, in 2017, at Ashworth High Secure Hospital in Merseyside, where he was also serving life.

While many people believe Brady took Keith’s whereabouts to his grave as a final act of control, Michael disputes this. He thinks Keith’s remains could still be found at a location both killers gave.

He says: “Both Brady and Hindley, who weren’t in contact in prison, gave a location which the police searched, but found nothing. I believe they both thought the information was correct. At that point, Hindley was shopping Brady for everything – she was no longer protecting him. For them to share the same location makes me think it was the truth.”

Searches of the area yielded nothing and bones found in 2022 by someone researching Keith’s murder turned out to be from an animal. But Michael believes advances in technology and detection methods may, in the future, show traces of Keith’s body at the site.

He says: “Radar imaging has improved to the point that it is now very good at finding physical remnants like rocks that leave impressions in the soil. Finding bodies is much harder because they’re organic and they decay. But I do believe the tech will get there and he may well be found. Either that or there will be an accidental discovery, after a time of erosion. Those are the two best hopes.”

Michael, who commissioned The Moors Murders docuseries in 1999 and produced Myra: The Making of a Monster in 2003, is deeply saddened that Keith’s mother, Winnie Johnson, died, aged 78, in 2012, without finding her son. Michael, who met her, says: “She was the sweetest, loveliest, perfectly ordinary woman in every way. You could just tell her whole life had been ruined.

“She talked about how she’d started going up onto the Moors, taking flowers for his birthday, Easter and Christmas. She liked going up there and found a certain peace. She said, ‘I feel he is up there somewhere’. She just wanted him to come home and it’s terribly unfair, because in four of the five cases, the bodies were found. She never got that resolution.”

And, in 2025, a lawyer for Keith’s family hoped to gain access to two briefcases belonging to Brady. Held by his solicitor, they were rumoured to contain personal papers providing clues about Keith’s grave.

But Michael believes the subsequent silence means this was bogus. He says: “My strong suspicion is if there was anything in them that was of any use to anybody, no self-respecting solicitor would not have made that stuff available. I suspect the truth is there’s nothing there.

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“I think it’s one of those myths that has been built up, like the idea that Brady went to his grave knowing where the body was and not revealing it. I think it’s highly improbable.” Michael’s extensive research of the serial killers has given him a unique insight into their warped minds.

Describing the male-female murder duo as “unheard of” at the time, he says: “It was worst nightmare territory. They photographed the victims, they tape recorded the whole thing, they killed them on the moors in the dead of night and buried them in secret.

“Brady was a psychopath, impervious to other people’s pain and suffering. If you look into serial killers, almost all of them come from highly abnormal, dysfunctional backgrounds. There may be a genetic predisposition but the environment is critical.” Before he met Hindley in 1961, Brady’s childhood had cultivated his dysfunction.

Michael says: “Brady was born in the middle of the depression at a time of extreme poverty to an unmarried waitress. She puts an advert in a shop window, when he’s a few months old, and a family in the Gorbals, Glasgow, takes him in. The environment is violent. He doesn’t know who his parents are. He knows that he doesn’t belong in this family.

“So he becomes this angry little boy, throwing tantrums, banging his head against the wall, screaming and shouting. From about 10, he’s carrying a knife. He starts breaking into people’s houses and becoming a thief. At a very early age he’s living beyond the law and justifies it by saying he’s getting his own back on the world. He starts showing sadistic behaviour towards other children. When he’s 13 he rapes another boy.”

Infatuated by him, Hindley helps Brady to live out his sadistic fantasies in one of history’s depraved murder sprees. Michael says: “However much she was under his sway and influence, the truth is she must have enjoyed it. It was their little secret.” For now, the location of Keith Bennett’s and whether there were, indeed, further murders, remain unknown.

Only time will tell if the bespectacled boy with the big smile will ever be laid to rest or if the Ramshaw Rocks beauty spot is, indeed, hiding a very ugly secret. Michael says: “You could be searching for five years. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack. “So the mystery of the Moors Murders murders continues and we’ll be talking about it for years to come.”

*The Moors Murders by Michael Attwell will be published on 4th June by HarperCollins (HarperElement, £10.99).

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‘We are there to help the public’

Youths who pelted firefighters with stones after they were called out caused so much damage a fire appliance was temporarily withdrawn from frontline duty.

The incident took place on Friday evening, May 22, in the Colin Glen Forest Park area of West Belfast.

NIFRS said they received the call-out at 7.32pm this evening and personnel responded to assist.

A statement from the Northern Ireland Fire Service said: “Fire crews were called out to rubbish on fire at Colin Glen Forest Park where they came under attack from youths throwing rocks. A fire appliance from Cadogan fire station was damaged during the incident and unable to respond to other calls for assistance until it was repaired.”

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A spokesman from the NIFRS said: “There was damage to the appliance which resulted in the front windscreen being broken. This meant that the appliance was unable to respond to further incidents until it was repaired.

“We want to highlight that firefighters are there to assist the public and we wish to appeal to the community to please provide assistance to crews as that we are there to help them.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

The event will take place at Bishop Auckland College on Saturday, June 13.

Mr McElderry will be joined on stage by renowned drag artist Tess Tickle and The Dragettes, with entry to the event costing just £1.

Thomas Wales, managing director at Baccanalia, said: “Getting somebody like Joe McElderry to Bishop Auckland is a huge moment for the event and honestly, a massive deal for the town.

“He’s a genuine North East success story and somebody people across the region have grown up watching over the years.

“To bring Joe together with regional favourites like Tess Tickle and The Dragettes, while still keeping the event accessible, is exactly what we want Bishop Auckland Pride to be about.

“We want it to feel exciting, welcoming and genuinely open to everybody.”

Since winning The X Factor in 2009, Mr McElderry has built an impressive career across music, television and musical theatre.

Tess Tickle said: “The Dragettes and I are absolutely over the moon to be part of the Bishop Pride line-up for 2026.

“We’ve watched this incredible event grow over the years, and we’re so excited that our dates have finally aligned so we can bring Bishop Auckland a taste of Tess Tickle and The Dragettes.

“In uncertain times, now more than ever, it’s important that we stand together in solidarity and celebrate being loud, proud, and unapologetically ourselves in our hometown of Bishop Auckland.

“We can’t wait to see you there.”

Produced by Baccanalia for Culture CIC in association with Bishop Auckland College and supported by Bishop Auckland Town Council, the event has rapidly grown into one of the town’s largest public cultural events.

Organisers expect a record crowd as the event continues to grow year after year following the success of the previous two years.

The event also has the backing of Hiyed CIC, a community organisation creating opportunities that remove barriers to employment for adults with learning difficulties, autism, mental health difficulties and other health conditions that may impact working life.

In addition to live performances, attendees can look forward to street food, bars, stalls, family-friendly activities and entertainment throughout the site.

Organisers are encouraging people to settle in for the afternoon and make a day of it.

Organisers have also praised the continued support of Bishop Auckland Town Council and Bishop Auckland College, whose backing has played a major role in the event’s growth over recent years.

The college once again plays host to the event and works closely with the production team to deliver the programme on site, creating opportunities for both students and the wider community to be involved in one of the town’s largest public celebrations.

Further announcements and programme details will be released over the coming weeks via Bishop Auckland Pride and Baccanalia social media channels.

Bishop Auckland Pride will take place from 2pm to 7pm on June 13 at Bishop Auckland College.

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A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said:“Shortly after 5:53pm this afternoon (Friday 22 May), fire crews were called to reports of a fire at a commercial building on Leopold Steet in Pemberton, Wigan.”

“Five fire engines from GMFRS, one fire engine from Lancashire Fire Service and one fire engine from Cheshire Fire Service arrived quickly at the scene. Firefighters are using hose reels and specialist firefighting equipment to extinguish the fire.

“Firefighters have been in attendance for around one hour and 15 minutes and are working with colleagues from Greater Manchester Police and North West Ambulance Service to make the area safe.”