Vernard Murray, 26-years-old, was found seriously injured at a property on Cardinal Street on October 23, 2025, after being pursued and attacked by a group of men.

He later died in hospital from his injuries.

Following a trial earlier this year, Lee Williams (11/08/2006), of Gravenmoor Drive, Manchester, was convicted of murder and two counts of possession of a bladed article.

He was sentenced to life in a young offenders’ institution with a minimum term of 21 years.

Riley McDermott (16/03/2008), of Inghamwood Close, Salford, and John Harte (08/01/2007), of Weaste Lane, Salford, were convicted of manslaughter.

McDermott was sentenced to eight years in a young offenders’ institution, while Harte received a six-year sentence.

A police investigation revealed that on October 23, 2025, Murray had been chased by two masked men, later identified as Williams and McDermott, who were armed with large knives after his car was blocked, rammed, and overturned.

Lee Williams (11/08/2006), Riley McDermott (16/03/2008) and John Harte (08/01/2007) (Image: GMP)

Despite escaping the vehicle and fleeing on foot, he was stabbed and later died in hospital from his wounds.

Further enquiries revealed that Harte instructed someone to “burn it, the car.”

The BMW used in the attack was found torched two hours later, approximately 0.6 miles from the scene.

Murray’s family delivered emotional statements in court.

His father said: “Vernard wasn’t just my child – he was my pride, my hope for the future, and a huge part of who I am.

“To the people responsible, I want you to understand that your actions didn’t just take one life – they have destroyed many.

“You have taken a son from his father, and nothing will ever repair that.

“I will carry this loss for the rest of my life.”

His mother said: “Those responsible are given numbers to serve sentences, while I am left with a cemetery plot to visit and a lifetime of grief.

“I find myself asking where the justice is in this.

“In many ways, it feels as though I am serving a sentence alongside them, carrying the pain and consequences of their actions every day.”

His siblings described Mr Murray as more than a victim.

They said: “Our brother was more than another victim in this case.

(Image: Google Maps)

“He was a son, a grandson, a father, a partner, an uncle, and our brother.

“He was loved, and he is missed every single day.

“No sentence can restore what has been taken from our family.

“The consequences of this murder will remain with us for the rest of our lives.”

His partner spoke of the lasting impact on their family.

She said: “Although the court will sentence those responsible today, my son and I will continue serving our own life sentence of grief.

“We will wake up every day knowing that Vernard is never coming home.

“Our son will grow up with memories instead of a father, and I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill a space that can never be filled.”

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Naismith of GMP’s Major Incident Team welcomed the sentences.

He said: “Today’s sentencing reflects the devastating consequences of a shocking attack that claimed the life of Vernard Murray.

“This was a truly shocking case, occurring in a residential area, with fatal consequences.

“The violence inflicted upon him was horrific, and those actions have left a family grieving their loved one forever.

“No sentence can undo the loss they have experienced, but we hope today’s outcome can provide them with some measure of justice and closure.

“I would also like to thank the officers and staff whose dedication and professionalism helped us identify the offenders and piece together significant amounts of evidence to secure these convictions.”

It represents a significant setback for manager Martin O’Neill, who stated earlier this week that he remained optimistic the striker would lower his expectations and rejoin the club

Celtic have lost out on re-signing Kelechi Iheanacho after declining to meet the striker’s substantial wage demands.

The Nigerian forward has put pen to paper on a lucrative three-year contract with Turkish side Bursaspor, despite having an offer to stay at Parkhead on the table.

Record Sport understands the Hoops were unwilling to meet Iheanacho’s request for a significant package worth £50k per week – considerably more than the club’s highest earners.

The Hoops had tabled a two-year deal for the Double-winning star despite letting the automatic one-year extension clause lapse at the end of June.

However, the ambitious Turkish second-tier side – who secured promotion last season – swooped in with a generous offer to secure the 29 year old on a three-year contract.

It represents a significant setback for manager Martin O’Neill, who stated earlier this week that he remained optimistic the striker would lower his expectations and rejoin the club.

Celtic have been outbid and it’s set to frustrate supporters already unhappy with the limited transfer business conducted during the summer window.

O’Neill has brought in forward Camilo Duran and extended Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s stay by another 12 months.

However, the club have failed to add further reinforcements despite accepting the likely departures of key players including Daizen Maeda, Arne Engels and Reo Hatate.

Meanwhile, defender Maik Nawrocki has completed a £2.5m move to French side Lens.

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Pigalo’s, based in North Shields, announced the closure in a heartfelt statement yesterday (July 16), describing it as “an incredibly difficult decision.”

Owners of the restaurant took to Facebook, saying: “It is with a heavy heart we have now closed Pigalo’s North Shields permanently.

“We want to pay special tribute to our team.

“They have been the heart of this place – showing up with commitment, creativity, and kindness every single day.

“We’re deeply proud of them and grateful for everything they’ve done.”

Pigalo’s is now calling on other local employers to consider its staff for new roles.

The restaurant said: “They are talented, hardworking people who would be an asset to any team.”

Pigalo’s confirmed that its Newcastle location at Louies will continue to operate and that any bookings made for North Shields can be transferred to Newcastle.

Its sudden closure has prompted an outpouring of sadness from customers online.

One individual said: “Bye-bye to the best burgers in the North East.

“Wishing you both the best with whatever you do next.”

Another added: “So sad to read this, hoping you get sorted for new roles soon.

“I always thoroughly enjoyed the times that I visited, food always delicious.”

Another wrote: “That’s such a shame, we really enjoyed your food, but if we need to go to town to support you we will.”

It is not yet known when the sinkhole will be fully repaired

Repairs to Milton Road’s sinkhole have been further delayed after Anglian Water found failures with their network at the site. Cambridgeshire County Council said on Thursday (July 16) that the sinkhole was expected to be repaired this week.

The sinkhole, near the roundabout with Elizabeth Way, has caused part of Milton Road to be closed since June 22. The county council said it is believed to be the size of a family car.

Work to repair the sinkhole was scheduled to start on Tuesday (July 14) but works were paused on Wednesday after a new source of water was discovered. The county council said the issue needed investigating further.

The full update shared on Thursday said: “We were expecting to see the Milton Road sinkhole repair completed this week, and we understand how disappointing a further delay will be.

“Just before the planned concrete pour, Anglian Water identified failures within their network at the location – this issue needs to be resolved by Anglian Water.

“Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. We’ll share another update as soon as we have one.”

There’s nothing worse than a bland chip – but one simple ingredient can transform your air fryer frozen chips from boring to bursting with flavour

There are few dinners that wouldn’t be significantly enhanced by a serving of chips on the side. Whether it’s burgers, chicken nuggets, a Caesar salad or a tasty pie, chips complement practically everything, so it’s hardly surprising they’re such a favourite.

Making your own is straightforward enough, but sometimes you simply don’t fancy the additional effort and time involved. This is where frozen chips come to the rescue, and I know I’m not the only one to have a bag tucked away in the freezer.

To elevate them and make them more delicious, I always add one essential ingredient once they’ve finished cooking — and it’s not salt.

For me, there’s nothing more disappointing than a flavourless chip. On too many occasions I’ve been presented with a portion of what should be gorgeous golden fries, yet without a trace of seasoning on them — honestly, what’s the point?

While it’s true that you can rescue an bland chip with a decent dipping sauce, you don’t want this to bear all the responsibility. Sauces can occasionally be extremely overpowering, whereas a light sprinkling of seasoning simply elevates the taste without affecting the texture.

And my chips deliver this every single time thanks to my treasured jar of Kerala Chinese salt and pepper seasoning that I purchased from B&M. It immediately transforms your chips from dull and bland to packed with flavour.

How I make the tastiest oven chips

Calling this a recipe almost feels wrong given how little effort is involved, but there are still a few steps required to achieve these deliciously crispy chips.

First, the appliance. An air fryer is the go-to choice here, as it not only takes less time but also produces far crunchier results than a conventional oven ever could.

The choice of chips matters too. After experimenting with several different frozen varieties, the Aldi skin-on fries consistently come out on top, delivering the best flavour — and, naturally, they crisp up brilliantly in the air fryer.

Cook the chips at 180C for 20 minutes, giving the basket a shake halfway through. On occasion, an extra couple of minutes may be needed to achieve that truly crispy, golden finish, so it’s worth keeping that in mind.

Once the time is up, reach for a large stainless steel bowl. This is an essential piece of kitchen equipment, making it effortless to toss and coat ingredients evenly, with no risk of anything seeping into the material.

Tip in the chips, followed by a small drizzle of olive oil to help the seasoning stick, then add that all-important seasoning. Approximately a teaspoon per portion tends to deliver the best outcome.

Toss everything together thoroughly, ensuring an even coating. After that, all there’s left to do is to serve up and tuck in.

This technique makes them wonderfully crispy, while also being packed full of the flavours you’d expect from your favourite Chinese takeaway. If you’re the one cooking dinner this weekend and you’re looking to elevate your chips to a whole new level, a salt and pepper seasoning is highly recommended.

The findings came as the management of safeguarding risks including the use of supply teachers was discussed

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An internal council audit found two supply teachers were working in Anglesey schools even though their DBS documentation had expired. The Disclosure and Barring Service or DBS is a criminal record check process used by employers to establish if candidates are safe and suitable particularly in roles involving children or vulnerable adults.

The findings came as the management of safeguarding risks, including the use of supply teachers, was being discussed during an Anglesey Council Governance and Audit Committee meeting on Thursday.

Councillors were given details of a review of the July 2026 Internal Audit Update report, by the council’s head of Audit and Risk Marion Pryor. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here.

The internal review had sought to establish if the council’s arrangements were “effective in ensuring that relief teachers were recruited safely and complied with safeguarding legislation”.

Some areas “requiring improvement” had been identified although “key safeguarding practices were evident across the sample schools”.

Nevertheless the report found that the “overall control environment is not operating consistently enough to provide robust assurance. Limited Assurance has therefore been provided”.

It stated: “The main areas requiring improvement relate to inconsistent safer-recruitment renewal checks, limited evidence of supply-teacher induction and safeguarding briefings, and the need for clearer ownership and escalation arrangements, where concerns involve supply staff working across multiple settings.

“Sample testing identified two cases where DBS [Disclosure and Barring Service] and [Education Workforce Council] renewals had not been completed reinforcing the need for reliable central tracking, particularly as the ‘Teacher Booker’ pilot is due to end in July, 2026.”

The report added: “Six issues/risks have been raised, comprising five major and one moderate issue. Management has agreed an action plan, with most actions expected to be addressed by September 2026 and the remaining action by November 2026.”

“Given the cross-service implications for schools, the Learning Service, HR and Social Services, progress will be monitored by senior leadership and a follow up review reported to the Governance and Audit Committee in February, 2027,” the report concluded.

Committee lay members including William Parry and William Maund were among those querying details.

Head of Audit and Risk Marion Pryor had said: “I think in this case it [DBS] had run out, rather than never having had one in the first case. I think that is slightly different, probably not quite as high a risk.”

Mr Parry said: “I find it unimaginable that someone could walk into a school and teach children and not be cleared through the DBS system. I find that astonishing.”

Ms Pryor explained: “As I say it is not that they hadn’t cleared. I think they [the DBSs] run for three years. It had run out, I think only just. There was no process for ensuring the renewal.

“I think it would be unlikely that somebody would be able to teach in a school without having ever been through a DBS check. What I would say as a caveat to the DBS, we know that actually, it is not a fantastic control in its own right, it’s a snapshot in time.”

Mr Parry said he would have “at least expected an email to go to every head on the island saying I need your confirmation within 24 hours that you have checked every DBS in your school, not reminding them of policy”.

Mr Maund also noted that having a valid DBS “is a statutory requirement”.

Committee chairman Dr Geraint Jones said it was crucial that auditing mechanisms were in place to ensure DBS checks were valid and up to date.

Education chief Aaron C Evans said they were “working with schools to put tighter measures in place”.

He added: “We are working towards a system where we will receive an alert to say when that DBS needs to be renewed, so the system will be more robust.”

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And she stars alongside the nation’s favourite Sue Johnston in what promises to be a brilliant series, and a welcome throwback to relatable sitcoms that helped make the BBC the home of British comedy.

Imagine it’s 2029, and robots have been rolled out to support the NHS and care for the elderly whose children aren’t around to look after them.

This is the premise of Diane new BBC One madcap comedy Ann Droid, in which the 50-year-old Motherland actress portrays an outdated robot, Linda, who is assigned to a grieving widow called Sue, played by The Royle Family star Sue Johnston, 82.

L-R: Sue (Sue Johnston) and Linda (Diane Morgan) (Image: BBC/Boffola Pictures/GaryMoyes)

In the six-part series, penned by Morgan and Sarah Kendall, Sue’s husband Dave died two years ago, and now her only son, Michael, is moving out again, to try to fix his marriage – again.

In a bid to support his mother’s wishes to live independently, Michael surprises her with an Ann Droid Z58/100 humanoid care robot, but Sue really does not want a robot in her home, especially one that causes chaos straightaway.

Ahead of the release, the two talk about the innovation of technology, ageing, and loneliness.

DIANE, WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THE SERIES?

DIANE MORGAN: The idea has been batting around for a couple of years, not that long. But there are some ideas we have had for 15 years, and they don’t get made.

I read an article in the newspaper about how, in the future, not that far in the future, people who don’t have kids can end up having robots looking after them, and I thought this was hilarious, because I don’t have kids, and that’ll be me being fed soup by a robot.

So I told my friend Pippa (Brown, a producer) about it, and she said we should write it up and see if the BBC will go for it. I agreed, thinking they won’t go for it, and then they did.

HOW CAN THE ELDERLY BETTER EMBRACE AGEING AND THE SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY MAY BRING?

SUE JOHNSTON: I don’t know when the time comes when you do want to be looked after, because I don’t want to be looked after. But life’s an adventure, isn’t it? And it shouldn’t stop being an adventure, because you’re in your 80s.

DIANE MORGAN: After my dad died, my mum was on her own, living in Wales, and I thought, ‘I’ll get her an iPad, that’s the perfect solution. I can then Zoom with her, and train her to Zoom’. But she got this iPad, and she was like, ‘What’s this? I don’t want this. I hate technology. I don’t want anything to do with technology’.

There’s a whole generation that just doesn’t want anything to do with technology. It can be scary – they are terrified of scams. Yet it can help sometimes if you embrace it.

L-R: Sue (Sue Johnston) and Michael (Paul Ready) (Image: BBC/Boffola Pictures/GaryMoyes)

SUE JOHNSTON: So many older people are fiercely independent, but they’re always being told to downsize and get rid of their junk and do this, and people are trying to control their later years.

I’m in my 80s, so I know that feeling, and it’s what we all don’t want to hear. I always say I had a bad fall last year, but I call it an accident, and it was an accident.

HOW DID YOU PHYSICALLY PREPARE TO PLAY A ROBOT?

DIANE MORGAN: I didn’t think about it when we pitched this idea, but when the BBC went for it, I suddenly realised, ‘Oh Christ, they’ll want me to play the robot’, I thought I could play a nurse instead. But they were dead set that I should be the robot.

I had absolutely no idea how to do this, but we got a movement coach who worked on Humans [the TV series starring Gemma Chan], and he was amazing, and gave me the confidence.

Linda is meant to be a reconditioned robot, so she’s a bit of an older model. There are other robots in the show that are more modern robots, but Linda was one of the first ones that were rolled out.

She’s a bit old-fashioned, so we had to make her movements more of a proper robot-y style movement, and that’s where the fun is, I suppose.

If you’re making a drama like Humans [where a husband buys a refurbished, highly developed robot to help his wife], you want them to be as real as anything. But in a comedy, you want to see somebody being a robot, don’t you? Otherwise, where’s the fun?

HOW DID YOU FIND IT?

DIANE MORGAN: One of the hardest things was staying still. Sue’s brilliant, and if we’re in a take together, and I make the decision that Linda shouldn’t blink, which is a really stupid idea, I must commit to it.

There was a moment when we were outside, and the wind was blowing in my eyes. I had tears rolling down my face; I wanted to blink more than anything in the world. So it was hard. I’ve got new respect for people who play robots.

ARE YOU A FAN OF NEW INNOVATIONS, AND CAN YOU IMAGINE HAVING A ROBOT LOOKING AFTER YOU?

SUE JOHNSTON: If that was the only choice. It was very understandable how Sue got fond of her robot.

Diane bought me a robot cat at the end of the show, and it’s a beautiful thing, but this is how your brain works, and how it worked in the show.

I keep stroking and talking to the cat; it meows, purrs, lies on you, and you can feel its heartbeat. I love it and my grandkids go, ‘Granny, it’s not real’, but it’s something you get used to, which is why it’s so easy to transfer affection. It’s what happens to Sue in Ann Droid.

So, I don’t think I’m going to say I never want a robot, because if that’s what helps you be independent – and I’m so independent – then, yeah, I’d go for it.

That’s what I love about the series: it touches on the loneliness of old age, and I could really identify with that.

I hope other people will too, because there are so many women who lose their husbands and have to go through that stage on their own, finding things that they enjoy again.

Ann Droid comes to BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9.30pm.

With two much-loved stars at its heart, there’s every reason to believe this will be a funny, thoughtful and thoroughly entertaining watch. Let us know what you thought of the comedy in the comments.

A community council leader in the Cairngorms has said lessons have not been learned from a “devastating” previous wildfire in the area, as a near four-mile long stretch of the countryside went up in flames.

Sandy McCook, chairman of the Nethy Bridge and vicinity community council, said the situation was “very concerning” and claimed there was a lack of resources to deal with the fire.

He spoke to the Press Association on Thursday as firecrews remained at the scene of the wildfire.

The fire broke out at lunchtime on Wednesday and is now affecting a 3.7-mile wide area of heather and trees.

Mr McCook said: “It is very, very concerning, the whole thing.

“While at the moment Nethy is upwind of it, and the smoke is being blown away from the village and the forest, if the wind was to change and if the fire was to change direction, it could be back into the forest.

“And as you see, we’ve got thousands of acres of prime Caledonian pine forest.

“The mind boggles just at the consequences of it.”

A strict cordon remains in place and people have been warned not to travel to the area or attempt to access Glenmore Forest Park, Loch Morlich or the surrounding area while firefighting operations are ongoing.The fire near Glenmore has come one year after widespread wildfires hit the Carrbridge and Dava areas of northern Scotland in June and early July.

When combined, the fires became the largest such event in Scotland’s history, burning more than 11,000 hectares of moorland and forestry.

Mr McCook said the lessons learned from the “devastating” wildfires in Dava last year “haven’t been put into practice”.

He said: “We are seeing exactly the same situation.”

Mr McCook has called for the development of a national fire facility to help respond to wildfires, like the one burning in the Cairngorms, more quickly.

“We need a national facility for situations like this, where there’s always something (available),” he said.

“If a helicopter had been here and available within, let’s say, an hour of the fire starting yesterday, the fire could have been out a couple of hours after it started, but now here we are, and it’s 24 hours since it started, and it’s still spreading.”

He added: “The fire service is understaffed, under-resourced, with not enough equipment that we need to have facility to get helicopters in much earlier.

“So, my answer to the politicians, those in power, would be listen to the local people in Nethy Bridge, Abernethy, Glenmore, and other areas of the Highlands that have been badly hit by fire.

“Listen to what they say, not to what your so-called advisers or your other fellow politicians say. Listen to local common sense.”

The Scottish Government’s Justice Secretary Neil Gray has said the fire service “has confirmed they have adequate resources committed to this incident”.

Nancy Pelosi‘s 86-year-old husband Paul has been charged in connection with a hit-and-run earlier this month.

Paul has been accused of crashing into an unoccupied parked car on the shoulder of a roadway just after 2.30pm in Yountville, a small town in the Wine Country of California on July 3.

The Napa County District Attorney’s Office formally charged Paul Pelosi with a misdemeanor hit and run Friday. 

The criminal complaint argues that Paul damaged a parked Tesla and fled without trying to contact the owner of the vehicle or pass on any information.

Pelosi was later found by deputies about a half a mile away from where the incident occurred.

He allegedly told law enforcement that he was planning on returning to the scene of the crash.

In a police interview following the crash, Paul said he knew he had hit something but didn’t know what, so he continued driving until his car puttered out. 

‘He drove until his car became disabled and was no longer able to continue driving,’ the Napa Valley Police Department said. 

The sheriff’s department said Paul Pelosi’s brown colored convertible crashed into a parked car on a roadway in Yountville, California 

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Paul Pelosi is scheduled to appear in court in Napa County on August 14. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Congresswoman Pelosi for comment. 

Pelosi was driving close to the palatial vineyard estate he shares with Speaker Emeritus Nancy in upscale St Helena when he smashed into a parked car.

Cops say, rather than stopping, Paul continued to drive his brown convertible until it shuddered to a halt and blocked an intersection – the exact spot he previously got a DUI in 2022. 

Paul has since ‘personally apologized to the owner of the vehicle and assured them that he would take responsibility for the damage to their vehicle,’ a spokesperson for the Pelosi family told the Daily Mail, noting the former Speaker ‘will not be commenting further on this private matter.’ 

Napa Valley police sources told the Daily Mail that his car sustained severe damage to the front right, while the empty car he hit was left needing serious repairs to the back.

The latest incident marks the second time Pelosi has been busted by cops in Yountville, having previously been arrested for a DUI in 2022.

On that occasion, he was hauled off to jail after crashing his 2021 Porsche on the way home from a dinner party in nearby Oakville.

The smash, which saw him collide with a vehicle driven by a man called Jesus Lopez, left him unharmed but did see him booked on charges of being over the legal limit.

He later pleaded guilty and was handed three years’ probation by a Napa County judge.

Pelosi’s checkered history of crashing cars also includes a more serious wreck when he was a teenager that killed his brother David, then 19.

Pelosi was just 16 and a high school sophomore when his sports car flipped over in February 1957.

A newspaper report at the time said Paul would be cited for misdemeanor manslaughter. In the end, there was no court case, and he was exonerated by a coroner’s jury.

His brother had urged him to drive slower before the fatal smash, according to a patrolman quoted by the San Francisco Examiner.

‘This is a bad stretch – better slow down,’ David is said to have told his younger brother as he approached a tight curve near the Crystal Springs Dam on the Skyline Highway – now California State Route 35.

Pelosi told Patrolman Thomas Ganley he tried to slow by shifting gears in the stick shift car, but lost control.

‘The car veered across the road, bounced back from a small embankment, climbed 20 feet up another, spun around and somersaulted simultaneously and ended upside down on the shoulder with both youths underneath,’ reported the Examiner.

Tragically, David was declared dead on arrival in hospital in San Mateo, with the coroner later finding his death was due to him being strangled by the neck brace he was wearing.

Despite the early tragedy, Pelosi went on to become a successful businessman – making his Democrat wife Nancy one of the richest members of Congress.

Along with the lavish $25 million St Helena estate, the Pelosis also own a huge townhouse in San Francisco, as well as two commercial buildings, which each rake in an income of between $100,000 and $1 million per year in rental income.

On top of that, the couple own a share in the $2,205-a-night Auberge du Solel – a five-star Napa Valley hotel, which is known for hosting famous guests, among them Sting, Bob Dylan and late greats Olivia Newton-John, and Robert Redford.

In total, the couple are believed to be worth between $114 million and $400 million – mostly driven by high performing property investments made by Paul and stocks in businesses ranging from Google parent company Alphabet to American Express.

This is a developing story.  

From the imaginative mind of Exciting Science creator Mike Newman, the hour-long show combines family-friendly storytelling, puppetry and “roarsome” science as the ancient world of dinosaurs crashes back to life for gasps, giggles and occasional jump-scares when Mike’s cast of intrepid rangers leads a quest to recover the data crystal, restore power to the island and save the dinosaurs.

From a shadowy raptor on the loose to baby dinosaurs that you can feed – very carefully – Dinosaur Adventure Live blends humour, thrills and hands-on learning in a physically interactive stage experience, where children are encouraged to “stomp, roar and swish their tails”, climaxing with the T-Rex bursting on to the stage in a heart-pounding finale. Beyond the action, the show is educative too, sprinkled throughout with Dino-Facts and paleontological titbits.

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“The show’s been running since 2022,” says Mike. “I wrote the first show that year, which ran successfully in 2022 and 2023, then the follow-up , Trouble On Volcano Island, and then it became a trilogy in 2025, with The Big Jurassic Storm, and  now we’ve gone back to the first one for a bit of a re-work for the latest tour called Danger On T-Rex Mountain.”

Mike’s company’s offices are in Bloomsbury Street, London, where the high costs of central London make storage of the dinosaurs unimaginable there. Instead, they are stored elsewhere in a “fair amount of 40ft shipping containers”.

“In producing the show, one of the first things you have to consider is the size of the show, because although you can write something, you have to start from the basic proviso of it being a show with a ticket price of under £20 to make it viable, and that determines a lot of things. So the show tours with everything in one low loader and one long wheelbase Sprinter,” says Mike, who lives in Bedfordshire, where he conducted this interview from his Portakabin office at the end of his garden.

The new T-Rex for the 2026 tour of Dinosaur Adventure Live: Danger On T-Rex Mountain (Image: Provided)

“The great thing with these dinosaurs is, it’s not that we are under any illusion they are real, but the fact you can take a 12ft tail and head off an 8ft body makes it a lot more feasible to tour – and you can get a fair amount of stuff inside the body too. Of course, it doesn’t leave room for much else!”

 Mike is the definition of an arts and entertainment polymath, as an actor, puppeteer and theatre producer, having presented The Sooty Show from 2005 to 2008, taken the mic as a stand-up comedian and written, directed and performed in live stage adaptations of children’s shows, such as Rainbow, featuring Zippy, George and Bungle, since 2009.

Now dinosaur adventures have taken on growing prominence in his diary. “I knew you couldn’t just throw something on stage and watch it roar and think ‘that’s cool’, but kids want something more that they can invest in, and that’s why we have a story for each one, so it has a lot more to it than something visual that says ‘wow, that’s a raptor, isn’t that exciting’.

“They are shows for the whole family to go to because dads love to see a T-Rex just as little children do. As the children grow older, they invest in the story, and as they grow older still, the invest in the details; the size of the dinosaur, how many teeth it has; the power of the jaw to crush, which teenagers find pretty cool.”

Close encounter: One of the rangers in the mouth of a dinosaur in Dinosaur Adventure Live (Image: James Halsall-Fox)

The Dinosaur Adventure Live dinosaurs are “surprisingly light for the size of them”. “You think, ‘how on Earth can you pick that up?’, but in reality they are very light, but they do look incredibly impressive,” says Mike.

“We have a new T-Rex for this tour, a massive upgrade on 2022, in terms of what he can do and in terms of having an animatronic mouth and eyes. The dinosaurs all have cameras inside them and the newer ones have two cameras with split screens.

“When the T-Rex rises up [manipulated by its operator], it’s a good 12ft-14ft high and he can ‘run’ right to the front of the stage, open the jaw wide and rest his head in the lap of a dad!”

Dinosaurs are not Mike’s only venture into the distant past, by the way. “Since April, we’ve been touring Ice Age Adventure, featuring huge woolly mammoths, a white wolf and a baby sloth,” he says.

Dinosaur Adventure Live, Danger On T-Rex Mountain, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow (18/7/2026), 2.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Four plus.