Passer’s by surrounded and tried to get Neil Jones, 48, out of his car after he attacked dad holding a child at a pedestrian crossing

A reckless driver “saw red” at a shopping centre just over a year after killing a 72-year-old “devoted” nan. Linda Donnelly died after being struck by a Ford Focus as she crossed Brewster Street in Bootle, Liverpool, in December 2024.

The driver, Neil Jones, falsely claimed his victim had “just run out in front of him” before, just over a year on, almost driving his vehicle into a family enjoying a day out at the Coliseum Retail Park in Ellesmere Port. Yet rather than showing remorse and apologising for another instance of dangerous driving, he flew into a terrifying bout of road rage, which left another man “screaming in pain” after his legs became trapped between two cars.

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday (July 28), that Mrs Donnelly, known as Lin, was crossing Brewster Street at approximately 7.45pm on December 12, 2024. Footage captured the pensioner reaching the central reservation before continuing into the second section of the dual carriageway.

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She was said to have been in the road for around four seconds before being hit by Jones’ car.

Members of her family were visibly in tears in the public gallery as Zahra Baqri, prosecuting, outlined how a taxi driver travelling behind the 48-year-old’s vehicle “saw something fly into the air” following the collision. Occupants of another car stopped to administer first aid, while the defendant told witnesses: “I hit her, I hit her. It was an accident.”

Jones, of Morningside Road in Norris Green, Liverpool, was described as having “presented as extremely upset and distressed” at the scene, where he was seen “pacing up and down” while saying “oh my God, oh my God”.

He was also overheard stating during a phone call: “I’m really sorry. I don’t know what happened. She just walked in front me.”, reports the Liverpool Echo.

In this call, Jones went on to add that it was “really dark and he couldn’t see anything”, while he subsequently told a police officer who attended the incident that he was “driving along, and the next minute a woman just ran out in front of his car and he didn’t see her”. But Ms Baqri added: “The footage clearly shows that Mrs Donnelly did not run into the road.”

With Mrs Donnelly having lived mere metres from the scene with her husband, he was “alerted to something go on but didn’t realise the accident involved his wife” before also arriving at the site of the crash. Paramedics made “considerable efforts at resuscitation” at the roadside, but she was later pronounced dead at Aintree Hospital as a result of “multiple injuries” sustained during the collision.

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Jones was arrested at the scene and went on to “perform well” during impairment tests at Walton Police Station. He subsequently told detectives under interview that he “simply didn’t see Mrs Donnelly in the road”.

Investigations found that Jones had been travelling at roughly 45mph, or between 39mph and 51mph, on the 30mph road at the time of the fatal crash. Ms Baqri said of this: “It is the crown’s case that, if the defendant had been travelling at the legal limit of 30mph, the tragedy could have been avoided.”

Just over a year later, at around 3.15pm on December 23 2025, retired police officer Martin Alwyn was at Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet in Ellesmere Port with his two adults sons and two grandchildren, aged five and nine. But, while crossing the road towards a restaurant, Jones then “drove his car towards them at speed”.

Ms Baqri told the court: “Mr Alwyn thought that the defendant was going far too fast for that built up area. It was very busy, given the time of day. There were lot of pedestrians milling about. According to Mr Alwyn, the defendant narrowly missed making contact with his son by a matter of inches. The defendant seemed to make no effort to slow down.”

One of Mr Alwyn’s sons, Mark Brough, shouted for Jones to slow down as a result, with Ms Baqri adding: “He had a couple soft toys in his hand, keeping the children occupied. He threw them towards the car. These bounced off the back and hit the floor.”

Another witness, Mark Kimpton, meanwhile recalled seeing Jones “flying in his car and going so fast that he was within inches of hitting Mr Alwyn and his family”. But the driver reacted to the cuddly toys being thrown by “slamming on his brakes” and stopping his Ford Focus in a disabled parking space.

Ms Baqri said: “In a red mist of rage, he got out his car and approached them. He approached the family group and accused them of having damaged his car. His demeanour was described as aggressive. He looked and acted as though he was up for a fight.”

Jones was then reported to have shouted towards his victims: “What have you done to my f***ing car? Who the f*** are you? I’ll f***ing kick your head in. Don’t you dare throw anything at my car or I’ll smash your face.”

Having “got into Mr Alwyn’s face”, Jones pushed this complainant to the chest, causing him to stumble backwards, before throwing punches at both him and Mr Brough, making contact with the latter’s cheek. Members of Mrs Donnelly’s family were heard to gasp in court as it was heard that he had been holding his child at the time he was assaulted.

With the children becoming “visibly distressed” as a result of the violence, Mr Kimpton attempted to intervene and told Jones to “just leave it and get back in his car”. But he instead warned that he was “going to take them all on” and produced a claw hammer after “rummaging around” in his boot.

Having brandished the weapon above his head, Jones was said to have “charged towards” Mr Kimpton and swung the instrument towards him “at least twice”. Ms Baqri said of this: “Fortunately for Mr Kimpton, the hammer did not make contact.

“It would seem that, as quickly as the incident commenced, the defendant seemed to gather his senses and realised the gravity of what he was doing and stopped. He then got back into his car. Because of the furore, security staff attended and surrounded the defendant’s car, together with members of the public, in order to detain him. The defendant, feeling that he was trapped or surrounded, reversed his car.

“That manoeuvre caused him to collide with another car, which momentarily trapped Mr [Jonathan] Adamson in between the two vehicles. Mr Adamson describes pain shooting through his legs. He told the police that he was trapped for a few seconds.

“The defendant then drove forwards but reversed again, such that, once again, Mr Adamson was pinned between the two cars. He shouted and screamed out in pain. The defendant then drove forwards and sped off out of the car park. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who witnessed this incident were alarmed and distressed.”

When interviewed on this occasion, Jones “sought to blame everybody else” and “claimed that he was the one being attacked and simply had to resort to brandishing the hammer in order to defend himself”. He has a total of 23 previous convictions for 34 offences, with a “majority for theft” and several for breaches of court orders.

Jones was also caught speeding on five occasions in 2022, 2023 and 2024, while he was handed suspended prison sentences for assaults in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and fined for assaulting two police officers in 2018. Callum Ross, defending, said on his behalf: “He accepts, given his plea, that, ultimately, he is responsible for the tragic death of Mrs Donnelly as a result of his carless driving. To put it very bluntly, he will have to live with that for the rest of his life.

“He has to accept that, 12 months later, he commits further offence. Fortunately, no serious injury was caused, but that is perhaps more luck than anything else. He wishes for me to say on his behalf how sorry he is for his actions and how sorry he is for the tragic consequences that are attributable to them. He has, since the Chester offences, surrendered his driving licence to the DVLA. He has no desire to ever drive again.

“Your honour will have noted his previous caring responsibilities in relation to his disabled cousin. The defendant hopes, upon release, to resume that role for him. He has four children who he has been seeing regularly, including in custody, albeit plainly that is a difficult set of circumstances for him. Your honour will have noted mental health difficulties, being diagnosed with depression and medicated for it.”

Jones admitted causing death by careless driving, dangerous driving, making threats with an offensive weapon and two counts of assault. He appeared emotional in the dock at times during the hearing, including wiping his eyes with a tissue, before he was jailed for 51 months.

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Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland KC said: “It was dark because of the time of night and, of course, it was the winter, but there was nothing external to your driving which contributed to the outcome. The careless driving for which I have to sentence you, which caused Mrs Donnelly’s death, was that you exceeded the speed limit by about 50%.

“But for your driving, there is every reason to suppose that she would be alive today. I accept that you did not intend her the slightest harm. You were not driving dangerously, you were driving carelessly. Because of those features, the statutory maximum for the worst possible type of case after conviction by a jury is five years imprisonment.

“I have to sentence you in the context of the available sentences provided by parliament for offences of this nature. I say now that which will be obvious. This court’s entire sympathy is with Mrs Donnelly’s family and friends. No sentence this court could ever pass is meant to be an equivalent of her life, nor could it ever be.

“It is accepted that you have bad antecedents. Particularly relevant are the five speeding offences in the months before you killed Mrs Donnelly. I accept your remorse as being genuine. I take account of the bad delay in the prosecution of this case.

“It falls within the context of another similar offence, in many ways, a year later. You were in your car again at Cheshire Oaks a couple of days before Christmas. The place was very, very busy, families taking their children and grandchildren out, amongst whom were Mr Alwyn, Mr Brough and the grandchildren.

“You drove far too quickly in very busy circumstances and thereby almost collided with members of Mr Alwyn’s family. Instead of simply apologising and driving on, you took the trouble to park up in a disabled bay, get in their faces in a frightening and worrying way, the children no doubt wondering what on Earth was going on as this aggressive man came over to where they were.

“You took the trouble to go into the boot of your car, remove a claw hammer and go back over to where they were, then wield the hammer around in circumstances which were such that you put yourself a hair’s breadth away from being charged with an attempted grievous bodily harm with intent.”

Jones was also banned from driving for 51 months and ordered to pass an extended retest. He was meanwhile given restraining orders preventing him from contacting members of Mrs Donnelly’s family and his victims in the second incident for seven years.

Zack Polanski has refused to apologise after he shared an image to his Instagram page featuring a man in a T-shirt that appeared to threaten Nigel Farage.

The Green Party leader also accused Farage of being ‘fundamentally dishonest’ in the way he responded to the post and said he himself had been put in a ‘dangerous spot’ due to Reform’s broader reaction.

Polanski says he inadvertently accepted a collaboration post on the social media site without looking through all the pictures that were included in it.

Among the photographs was a portrait of a man in a shirt with a guillotine and the slogan: ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel.’

Reform UK responded furiously to the post, saying it represented a threat to the life of their party leader and reporting Polanski to the police.

Farage, the leader of Reform, said: ‘If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.’

On Monday, the Metropolitan Police said: ‘We take reports of this nature extremely seriously, and officers are conducting enquiries into the matter.’

In an appearance on Newsnight yesterday, Polanski declined to apologise to Farage for sharing the picture, saying he did not need to as it was not done deliberately.

He said: ‘If I’d done it deliberately, I’d be apologising.

‘But because this was a mistake, I think the important thing is that I point out it’s a mistake, that I also make sure that I condemn political violence, and also – crucially – I make a commitment to be better on my social media.’

The Green leader added that the picture ‘got less than 1,000 likes’ when it was first posted and has now had 3.2 million views.

He said he believed it was ‘fundamentally dishonest’ for Farage to crop the screenshot to make it look like he posted it himself.

Polanski continued: ‘I’m accepting my responsibility, in that I shouldn’t have accepted that collaboration. I’m accepting that we all need to condemn political violence.

‘But I also think the reporting to the police, the ramping up of the language to say this is incitement to murder [Farage], feels like that’s also putting me in a dangerous spot.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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Cambridgeshire County Council is facing calls for transparency after the payment was revealed by a Freedom of Information request

Cambridgeshire County Council is facing calls for transparency over a six figure sum paid to a college after which they dropped their objections to a guided busway route. Clare Hall, one of the poorest Cambridge colleges, spent £537,483.75 opposing the busway route running along Rifle Range Road.

They had argued this would be “more operationally difficult to deliver, environmentally damaging, and economically expensive” than the Adams Road route.

A Freedom of Information request revealed the county council signed a confidential agreement with the college in which they paid them a total of £158,863 towards their “reasonable costs” after which they dropped their objections.

This was made up of a £48,000 payment to legal firm Dentons, £10,863 to property advisors Newsteer and a fixed sum of £100,000 for the college’s “reasonable legal and other professional costs (including surveyor’s costs)”.

Green Party councillors wrote to the county council’s chief executive, Dr Stephen Moir, asking for a “full and transparent explanation” for the payment.

It said: “We would like to see Cambridgeshire County Council release an official statement to either confirm or deny these claims, clearly and transparently setting out the terms of any agreement made with Clare Hall as well as who was aware of this deal.”

Cllr Peter Rees, of Newnham, said that he had asked three times for an explanation about the sudden withdrawal of their objection but never received a response.

He said: “Residents were surprised by Clare Hall’s sudden withdrawal of their objection and asked me for information. I asked the Council three times in late 2025 and early 2026, but they never gave a response.”

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire County Council said they are looking into this as an internal matter and will not comment further until their enquiries are completed.

Documents from a separate FOI request submitted by a resident, showed Cambridgeshire County Council had considered Adams Road a choice “early in scheme development”. They said they consulted on the choice in 2017 and 2018 when Rifle Range was selected as “the best performing option”.

When the Cambridge Autonomous Metro was being considered, they revisited the choice as the scheme may have “rendered the Rifle Range section of CtoC redundant”.

They said this “significantly altered the scoring for ‘Future Proofing’ in favour of Adams Road” and suggested it “was the better performing option”. But the council said “no formal decisions were taken at this time”.

They held “stakeholder workshops” with local residents on September 17 and November 5 in 2019 and “opposition to the use of Adams Road was voiced by residents represented by North Newnham Residents Association”.

Two meetings of Greater Cambridge Partnership’s Joint Assembly discussed the plans on January 30 and June 4, 2020, at which they said “significant public concern” was noted over the Adams Road option.

They said there was “particular focus on the need to consider cyclists and cycling safety along with forecast growth of cycling from the West Cambridge site”.

Russia’s main domestic security agency said Wednesday that Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with aiding terrorism and put on an international wanted list.

The charges against Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia but later moved abroad, came as the Russian authorities restrict Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country. It is part of a long-term effort to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control that has intensified since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Federal Security Service, also known as the FSB, accused Telegram’s administration in a statement of failing to remove “numerous channels, chats and bots” that are “actively used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, terrorist, and extremist organizations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass murder, and cyberfraud” in Russia, which resulted in “numerous human casualties.”

The agency accused Ukrainian security services of using a popular dating chat bot on Telegram to lure and recruit Russians for “sabotage and terrorist activities,” and said 46 users of the chat bot, from 12 to 22 years old, have been detained across Russia since July 2025.

Durov earlier this year announced that the Russian authorities opened a criminal investigation against him and accused them of fabricating pretexts to restrict access to Telegram as part of an attempt to “suppress the right to privacy and free speech.”

If convicted, Durov could face up to life in prison in Russia.

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russian authorities have engaged in multipronged efforts to rein in the internet. They have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that don’t comply and focused on improving technology to monitor and manipulate online traffic.

Multiple popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and X, have been banned in Russia; YouTube has been throttled; popular messaging apps, such as Signal and Viber, have been blocked, and the most popular ones — WhatsApp and Telegram — have been restricted.

While it’s still possible to circumvent some of the restrictions by using virtual private network services, many of them are routinely blocked, too.

At the same time, Russia actively promotes the “national” messaging app known as MAX, which critics say could be used for surveillance. The platform is touted by developers and officials as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more. It openly declares it will share user data with authorities upon request, and experts also say it doesn’t use end-to-end encryption.

Durov has faced criminal investigations elsewhere. In 2024, he was arrested in Paris over allegations that his platform was being used for illicit activity, including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images.

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This story has been corrected to show the potential penalty is life in prison, not 15 years.

Uefa’s 55 member associations will hold an emergency meeting later this week to discuss Fifa’s controversial proposals to sell stakes in its major competitions.

Football’s world governing body has said it wants to create a new commercial subsidiary to run its main events, including the World Cup, and external investors will be able to buy stakes in it.

That has prompted fears that too much influence in those competitions will be handed to private investors, although Fifa says it will enable more money to be distributed to football associations around the globe.

European football’s governing body took the remarkable step of issuing a response to Fifa’s plans before they had been published on Tuesday, responding to initial reports in the Financial Times and the Times as it condemned the plans, saying they had “crossed a line”.

The meeting will be held virtually and offer the opportunity to work out a plan of action.

Given the strength of feeling – the Football Association says it was not consulted before Fifa released its proposals shortly after Uefa’s statement was made public – it would be a surprise if the possibility of a boycott was not at least raised.

While Uefa knows it only accounts for a quarter of Fifa’s 211-country membership, the body includes most of the world’s most successful teams.

Six of the eight quarter-finalists – and the winners, Spain – at this summer’s World Cup were European. In the 2022 and 2018 editions the figures were five and six respectively.

Uefa knows any competition Fifa puts together would be far less valuable if its members were not involved.

Fifa’s argument that it is compelled to look at proposals that would help it grow the game globally has led to fears that, in the search for greater revenue, its major competitions – the men’s and women’s World Cup and corresponding Club World Cup – could be played more often and include more participants.

That would have huge implications for the football calendar, which is already squeezed, partly because of the expansion of European club competitions.

One senior source within the English game told BBC Sport that the threat posed by Fifa’s plan is one of the biggest the game has faced and is on a par with the European Super League, which created such controversy in 2021 and was scrapped within 48 hours.

It seems improbable that Fifa will back down in the same manner.

Fifa said its plan is to extend global development funding to $10bn (£7.5bn). It is also planning to offer each of the 211 member associations the opportunity to access up to $20m (£15m) in one-off capital.

This latest escalation extends a difficult relationship between Fifa and Uefa, which responded angrily to attempts to host the World Cup every two years when the idea was floated by former Arsenal manager and Fifa’s current chief of global football development Arsene Wenger in 2021.

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin boycotted the World Cup final this month in protest at a number of controversial moves.

They included US President Donald Trump stepping in to help turn USA forward Folarin Balogun’s one-match ban into a suspended ban, allowing him to play in the last-16 encounter with Belgium.

By AMELIA WYNNE, SHOWBUSINESS REPORTER

Published: 22:53 BST, 28 July 2026 | Updated: 08:24 BST, 29 July 2026

Lorraine Kelly‘s daughter Rosie is married!

The influencer, 32, tied the knot with her partner Steve White in Scotland last weekend and shared the happy news on Instagram on Tuesday.

Taking to her Story she shared a snap of her hotel room as she looked back on the past few days, penning:  ‘Well we got married…

‘Decompressing in Edinburgh after the most special weekend of our lives – will share more soon but taking the time to just soak it all up.’

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Steve proposed to Rosie two years ago in June 2024 while Rosie was pregnant with their first child.

Two months later they welcomed their adorable baby girl Billie – making Lorraine a grandma.

Lorraine Kelly’s daughter Rosie is married! The influencer, 32, tied the knot with her partner Steve White in Scotland last weekend (pictured at her hen party last month)

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Lorraine and Rosie seen together in May 2026

Lorraine has previously said she feels like she is getting a second chance at motherhood as she opened up about being a grandma. 

The star and her husband Steve Smith have recently moved just six minutes away from their daughter’s family, and the legendary broadcaster admitted she is ‘getting a chance to be a mum again’ after the challenges of raising Rosie while she was working. 

Speaking about being a grandma to the Daily Mail, Lorraine said: ‘It’s great. To be honest with you, I’m getting a chance to be a mum again in a way.

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‘I’m not being a mum again because [Rosie’s] her mum and she’s got her mum, but I’m getting a chance to do it again and hopefully to do it better.’

Reflecting on juggling motherhood and her career she explained: ‘Because when I had Rosie I was in my 30s, I think I was 34 and I was working and it’s always harder if you’re the mother.’

Praising her daughter she continued: ‘I think you’re amazing. She’s incredible, absolutely incredible. I don’t know how you do everything that you do, but it’s lovely when it’s your grandchild because you read those books that you read yourself.

‘It’s just lovely, and she’s a wee lamb. She’s a credit to you. She’s an absolute angel.’

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Lorraine also weighed in on the change in attitude to working mums and pregnancy as she explained how it used to be taboo to see pregnant women on TV. 

Taking to her Instagram Story, Rosie shared a snap of her hotel room as she looked back on the past few days, penning: ‘Well we got married…’

Steve proposed to Rosie two years ago in June 2024 while Rosie was pregnant with their first child

Last month, Rosie celebrated her hen party by jetting abroad with her pals, where she indulged in plenty of glasses of champagne

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She sported a bridal veil and fun white sequinned mini dress as she celebrated her wedding with her pals

Rosie posted snaps from her wild hen party with her pals on Instagram, including an embroidered bridal veil and a matching mini dress 

‘Back then that would have been 1993/94 when I was pregnant, it still was quite unusual for pregnant women to be on television, especially every day and especially live television.

‘It wasn’t as frowned upon as it was in the 80s. I mean, I do remember the real trailblazer was Anne Diamond, because Anne was sitting on the sofa pregnant and she made it easier for all the rest of us to follow behind her.’

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When Rosie had her baby Lorraine wrote on Instagram: ‘I have been BURSTING to share this wonderful news with you! Baby Billie is an angel and I’m so proud of Rosie and Steve who will be the best parents. 

‘I’m delighted to be Granny Smith and can’t wait to go on adventures.’

Rosie added: ‘Baby Billie Kelly Smith-White is here 29-08-2024.’

‘It feels like she’s been here the whole time and we’re not quite sure what the point of anything was before.

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‘I’d heard how amazing midwives are but they are genuinely walking angels – she’s been welcomed into the world with so much love already.’

Dominick Anthony Occhicone has been executed four decades after he carried out a double-murder at an ex-girlfriend’s house

A Florida man has become the oldest person in the state’s history to be executed after he received the lethal injection at the age of 80. Dominick Anthony Occhicone was put to death for the 1986 double murder of Raymond and Martha Artzner.

The couple were the parents of Dominick’s ex-girlfriend Anita Gerrety. Occhicone became the 12th person to be put to death in Florida in 2026, and the second in one calendar day.

His death came almost four decades after his brutal crime, reports the Mirror. At around 3am on June 10, 1986, Occhicone knocked on the door at his ex-partner’s parents property in Pasco County, hoping to rekindle his relationship with Anita.

Court records say Occhicone left the property after Anita threatened to call the local sheriff. However, he returned an hour later with a lethal intent.

Raymond attempted to call the sheriff’s office but the phone line had been cut at the junction box, prosecutors said. Occhicone went on to shoot Raymond in the face.

According to the Herald-Tribune, Occhicone then broke through the door of the property and chased his ex through the house, but she managed to escape with her daughter, she testified.

A short while later she heard gunshots ring out behind her. Her mother, Martha, was later found dead at the property.

Prosecutors say Raymond lived long enough to tell deputies who shot him but died in hospital. Occhicone did not deny the incident but later argued it was not premeditated.

A jury of his peers didn’t believe his claim and he has been on death row ever since. Earlier this week the Florida Supreme Court unanimously rejected his final appeal, and his execution went ahead, 40 years after the brutal killings.

It meant Occhicone became the oldest person in modern history to be executed in Florida. He is also the second-oldest person to be put to death in the US after the execution of 83-year-old Walter Moody in 2018.

Occhicone was executed six hours after 68-year-old James Duckett. The former policeman died by lethal injection for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee while he was working in central Florida in 1987.

He was the 11th inmate to be executed in Florida in 2026. He declined to make a final statement when asked, simply responding “no sir”.

Four minutes later, he was shaken by a prison warden who also shouted his name. Duckett was found to be unresponsive and confirmed dead shortly after.

He was given a lethal injection made up of three drugs at Florida state prison, near Starke. The deaths of Duckett and Occhicone were the first double execution in Florida since 1964, when Blake Emmett and Dawson Sie were both executed in the electric chair.

The last time any state carried out two executions in a day was back in 2017, when Arkansas held back-to-back killings. Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has made his state’s death chamber the busiest in the US as the end of his final term approaches.

He has previously said too many families have waited too long to see justice, leading to an uptick in lethal injections. Across the United States, use of the death penalty has been in decline for more than two decades.

There has however been an upturn due to Florida. Since 2025, the state has carried out almost half of the executions across the whole of the United States.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani says his right biceps is not 100% in addition to his sore left knee, and both factored into the Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way superstar not throwing a bullpen last week.

The four-time MVP hasn’t pitched in a game since July 3 but has continued to play regularly as the designated hitter for Los Angeles.

“My biceps is not 100%,” Ohtani said through a translator Tuesday night while speaking with media for the first time since before the All-Star break. “Just similar issue with the knee. Do we consider pushing this? It is still July. So I think the conversation would be a little different if we’re in August or September.”

Ohtani hit his 10th leadoff home run of the season in a 7-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners. It was his 28th leadoff shot as a Dodger, tying him with the late Davey Lopes for second all-time. Ohtani finished 3 for 4 with a walk, a double, three RBIs and a run.

“I do think that the road trip was exhausting for everyone. I do think that with the day off, he came in fresh and looked more like himself,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Certainly the way he swung the bat, the way he’s running, he’s not compromised. Until I hear otherwise, he’s going to be in the lineup.”

Ohtani had a lubricant injection in his knee just before the All-Star break and he skipped the game in Philadelphia to rest.

“I really took the All-Star break as that opportunity to really stay off my knees,” he said. “It’s really something that I have to just deal with over the course of the season.”

Ohtani said in Japanese that the injection wasn’t a cure-all and he mentioned “a decision that I’m going to ultimately make after the season’s over” without clarifying what he was referring to.

He explained the lingering knee soreness was caused by pitching.

“In terms of running, I’m not exactly at 100% capacity,” he said. “When I know it’s not, then it’s always a little harder to be aggressive on the basepath.”

Ohtani said his knee is getting better, which is a priority.

“I don’t think the team has really come to a place exactly where, do I pitch through it or not?” he said. “That’s still really up in the air.”

If Ohtani’s health issues don’t improve, Roberts was asked whether it’s possible the right-hander wouldn’t pitch in the postseason for the two-time defending World Series champions.

“I guess anything’s possible, but for me, it’s highly unlikely,” Roberts said. “Given where we’re at in the calendar, if the knee continues to get better, the arm continues to feel better, I would expect him to pitch. All I know is that we’re trying to, I’m trying to, give him the best opportunity to be as healthy as possible, so he can help us on both ends of the baseball.”

Roberts said when Ohtani is cleared to pitch again, he’ll need to go through a buildup process.

“I don’t think anyone can kind of foresee what that looks like,” the manager said.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Plenty of the fastest-rising girls’ names end with an ‘a’

What about the fastest growing boys’ names?

Police, ambulance and fire crews were in attendance between Eaglescliffe and Thornaby stations from around 11pm on Tuesday night.

The incident forced disruption to Grand Central services between London King’s Cross and Sunderland, as well as Northern services between Middlesbrough and Newcastle and Saltburn and Darlington.

National Rail said: “The emergency services have safely completed their work in the Eaglescliffe area allowing all lines to reopen. As service recovers, trains may still be cancelled or revised.”

The disruption is expected to continue until around 8am.

However, passengers have been warned services between Middlesbrough and Newcastle and Darlington and Middlesbrough or Saltburn could still be cancelled or delayed while timetables recover.

Northern has advised customers they can travel on the next available service to their destination and said ticket restrictions, including Advance and Peak restrictions, have been lifted during the disruption.

Police, ambulance and fire were in attendance late last night around 11pm.

The Northern Echo have contacted the emergency services for statements on the incident.