The man has been missing since Thursday, March 5.

The police are appealing for information to help find a man who has been missing for a week. Christopher, 68, has been missing since Thursday, March 5.

Christopher was last seen in the area of Wellingborough at around 2pm. He has been described as around 6ft, bald, with a beard, and wearing glasses.

He was seen wearing a khaki green jacket, blue jeans, and a white hat with Forces PIN badges on. It is believed that Christopher may have left Wellingborough town. He has links to Peterborough.

If you have seen Christopher or have any information about where he might be, you can report it through the Northamptonshire Police website. You should quote the missing person reference number MPW1/741/26.

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The court heard Noel Crowley’s wife of seven decades, Anne, slept each night with the hat he was wearing when he was knocked down

A much-loved family man and community stalwart was killed by a drug-driver as he walked to church, a court has heard.

Former Neath Port Talbot Council leader Noel Crowley was hit as he crossed the road by Zack Mason, an unaccompanied learner driver who was over the legal cannabis limit for driving. The 86-year-old was rushed to hospital but could not be saved.

A judge at Swansea Crown Court described Mr Crowley as a “much loved and much respected” man who was “know by many, and held in high esteem by all”.

Hannah George, prosecuting, told the court that the fatal incident happened in Port Talbot at around 5.30pm on December 7 last year.

She said Mason, who was aged 20 at the time and driving his mother’s Skoda Fabia car, pulled out of the car park of Blanco’s hotel and drove some 25 metres along Water Street before striking Mr Crowley as he was crossing the road.

Members of the public rushed to assist the injured man before he was rushed to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff with severe head injuries. He died three days later.

Meanwhile, Mason had been arrested at the scene, and the court heard that a subsequent blood test showed he had 2.3mg of cannabis in 100ml of blood, the legal limit being two. For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter

In his police interview, Mason said a fellow motorist had “flashed” him out of the car park and that his attention had been drawn to the other driver as he thanked him. He told officers he had last consumed cannabis two days before the incident.

In a family statement read to the court, Mr Crowley was described as a man of “fairness and compassion” and great generosity, and as a champion of social equality.

Mr Crowley – who was awarded CBE, Deputy Lieutenant, Order of St John, Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice, and Freeman of the Borough – was described as “the man who kept our world turning” who is “missed in every tiny detail of the day”.

The court heard Mr Crowley’s wife of seven decades, Anne, slept each night with the hat he was wearing when he was knocked down.

Zack Mason, now aged 22, of Lorraine Close, Sandfields, Port Talbot, had previously pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the legal limit of a specified drug, and to causing death while driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

The court heard he gained a provisional driving licence in April, 2021, but the following year it was revoked after he was caught driving without insurance.

David Singh, for Mason, said the defendant took full responsibility for his actions and acknowledged the devastation he had caused to Mr Crowley’s family.

He said his client had desisted from the use of cannabis since the day of the incident and that was a situation he would endeavour to maintain.

The barrister said it was not a case, for example, where the defendant had been speeding or been using his mobile phone, but said Mason had “clearly not been concentrating” resulting in “devastating consequences”.

Judge Huw Rees said the deceased was a “much loved loved and much respected” man who was “know by many, and held in high esteem by all”. He said no sentence a court could impose could mark the value of a life lost, and nor was it intended to.

With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Mason was sentenced to four years in prison. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

The defendant was banned from driving for a total of seven years and must pass an extended test before he can get a licence.

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The champion trainer withdrew the odds-on favourite Fact To File from the Ryanair Chase after deeming the ground was unsuitable for the Irish Gold Cup winner

Willie Mullins pulled out one of this year’s Cheltenham Festival ‘bankers’ on Thursday, unhappy with the state of the going at the track. The JP McManus-owned Fact To File is one of the best chasers in training, who captured the Ryanair Chase in 2025 and was under consideration for the Cheltenham Gold Cup after recording an impressive victory in the Irish Gold Cup.

In the end connections opted to defend the Ryanair crown but had hoped for much softer going than the official description of good (good to soft in places). As the racing moved to the New Course after a dry first two days, track officials carried out selective watering with 3-5mm applied. Another 2-3mm was forecast during the afternoon.

Connections warned they were worried about conditions for Fact To File through the day but waited until four races had been run before making their final decision.

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Mullins explained: “We walked the track this morning, JP walked the track this morning, I happened to walk it. Coming across the track from exercising horses and I thought wow this ground is going to be too good for Bambino Fever and sure enough in the first race she wasn’t able to act on it.

“We waited and waited all day for rain that was promised and it hasn’t come so we made the decision not to run. These horses are too hard to find, too hard to get. We would like to have soft in the description of the ground.”

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He went on: “Good ground is not good enough for the type of individual we are buying and trying to race and have the top horses at the best festival. If the ground is going to be like this we are not going to bring them.

“We were promised watering and I not sure the watering we were promised has been done so, I’m a little bit annoyed about that, when I thought there was going to be more watering done and it hasn’t been done. I know the weather forecast hasn’t been kind but very few people complain about too much rain.

“This isn’t good for the type of horses we’re bringing over here. I know it suits some horses but for the majority of the good big national hunt horses we would like it a little softer.”

McManus was fully behind his trainer. “I have to say, I’m very strong on it. I walk the course every day – I just always felt it needed more water,” he said. “That’s how I felt. Particularly at the top of the course there, it’s very beaten up from the previous runs. You’ve a crossover there and you’re only as strong as the weakest link in a course.

“It doesn’t matter if 80 per cent or 90 per cent of it is right, if 10 per cent of it isn’t right, that’s good enough for me. I was very happy when Willie agreed to take him out and I was very happy that he did that. We were worried all week about it.

“I think, going forward, they’ll have to pay more attention to parts of the track. You’re talking about winter-time horses in the first half of March – you’re not talking about racing in October or November here. Everybody has a different view but, for me, I think they could have done more.“Certain horses, it suits, but Fact To File is a real old-style chaser and, if you want to have him next year, you take a risk taking your chance today.”

In Fact To File’s absence Jonbon carried the McManus hopes of another success. While he maintained his brilliant record of never finishing out of the first two places, he was well beaten by the Henry de Bromhead-trained Heart Wood, ridden by Darragh O’Keeffe.

Michael O’Gara is survived by his wife and four daughters

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A father-of-four tragically passed weeks after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. Called ‘one in a million’, Michael O’Gara was on holiday in the Maldives with his family in January when he started to be sick and have headaches.

At first his loved ones thought it was a bug, until they received the shocking news it was a stage four cancerous brain tumour. A fundraiser was launched by his Middlesbrough family to pay for specialised treatment, including an operation, to give the 48-year-old the best chance of recovery.

Within a few days the total reached and more than £45,000 TeesideLive reports. But, sadly Michael’s condition deteriorated rapidly and he sadly passed away on March 9 surrounded by his devastated family.

He ran RAMP UK, a rope access company on Teesside, and was affectionately known as ‘Mousey’. Floods of heartfelt tributes have been left on social media for him. One said: “He was one in a million R.I.P Mousey.”‘

Another added: “RIP Mousey – one of Boro’s finest thinking of the family.” One person said: “No words. Rest in peace Mousey. What a legend,” and another added: “Special guy, world won’t be the same without Mousey.”

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Step-daughter, Millie Young, 22, previously explained how the family was on holiday when Mousey became ill. Once they got home he was becoming increasingly unwell with headaches and started to drag his leg.

Wife Emma, 42, took him to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where they got the heart-breaking news of the tumour. As well as leaving Emma and Millie, Mousey also leaves the rest of his heartbroken family including, step-daughter Alice, 20, and daughters, Lacey, 12 and eight-year-old Sally.

In an update on the fundraising page the family thanked everyone from ‘the bottom of our hearts’ saying: “Your kindness and support during this time has meant more to our family than we can ever truly put into words.”

It added that money from the fund-raiser would be used “to give Mousey the most beautiful and loving send-off he truly deserves.”

The family added: “Thank you again to everyone who has shown Mousey so much love, kindness and support. It truly means the world to us during this incredibly difficult time.”

A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, March 25, in St Bede’s Chapel, Teesside Crematorium at 1pm and the family has requested everyone wear traditional funeral attire along with a splash of the colour purple.

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In Ridley Scott’s 2005 epic Kingdom of Heaven, The Knights Templar are portrayed as violent extremists. The film is about a crusader, Balian of Ibelin, who is fighting to defend the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem from the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, Saladin.

The Knights Templar were formed on Christmas Day 1119, as a revolutionary type of knighthood in which knights lived as monks, taking vows of poverty and piety. Their mission was to protect travellers on the dangerous roads of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. So it struck me as interesting that in Scott’s crusades film they would be portrayed as antagonists of the Crusader Kingdom.

Their singling out in Kingdom of Heaven was the spark that led to my book The Knights Templar: Crusade, Myth and Hollywood. What I found was that villainising the order was fairly common in films that include them. However, rather than being a modern trope, their vilification can be traced back to 700 years ago.

On Friday October 13 1307, the grandmaster Jacques de Molay was arrested by a debt-ridden pope along with every other Templar found in France. The sudden arrest caused widespread shock throughout Europe. Some of the confessions that would be extracted from them would have a mysterious occult edge and it would be these that would shape the order’s legacy from then on.

The Templars amassed vast riches, land, and political power for nearly 200 years. Their downfall began in 1291 with the loss of the Crusader states, or Outremer (modern Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey). After the Crusader capital of Acre fell to the Mamluk forces of Egypt and Syria, the Templars were left without a cause, making the order appear redundant and vulnerable to criticism.

The two figures central to their downfall were French Pope Clement V and French King Phillip IV, who was burdened with significant debt and had previously moved against groups within his power, such as Italian bankers in 1291 and the Jews in 1306, seizing their property and assets to ease his financial problems.

Friday 13th

On Friday October 13 1307, Jacques de Molay was in France negotiating another crusade. That military campaign would never happen and instead, he and every Templar in France (around 2000 of them) were suddenly arrested and imprisoned in the Paris Temple.

Although the news shocked Christendom, Clement V had written to Phillip IV in 1305 detailing the rumours about the Templars and plans for an investigation. Phillip IV issued the Templars’ arrest order a month prior, charging them with blasphemy, sodomy and heresy.

The first charges related to the initiation into the order, where, according to the Order for Arrests, initiates must deny Christ and spit on an image of him three times. The document then details how the initiate is stripped naked and kisses the receiving Templar on “the lower part of the dorsal spine”, “the navel” and “on the mouth”.

Once in the King’s clutches, the Templars were deprived of sleep and shackled with irons. Templar Ponsard de Gizy described in detail how he was unable to move in a pit for three months, with his hands tied behind his back so tightly that blood ran down his fingernails.

Those who did not confess faced the rack and suffered the strappado – this is where the victim was strung up by the hands, which were bound behind their back. Under these horrific conditions, 134 of the of the 138 Templars questioned in Paris confessed to some or all of the charges. Under torture, even the grandmaster admitted to denying Christ, but instead of spitting on his image, he claimed to have spat on the floor instead.

It wasn’t the charge of blasphemy, however, that haunted the Templars’ legacy, it was the accusations of worshipping false idols.

Extracted under torture, Hugues de Pairaud describes worshipping a head with two feet under its face and two feet behind it. Very few Templars had any knowledge of the mysterious head idol, and only nine admitted to knowing about it. Those who did gave contradictory accounts: the head with feet was described as having a beard, of being painted on a beam and made of wood, silver, and gold leaf. Others claimed to worship an idol called Baphomet and a bearded head called Yalla.

The origin and identity of the idol Baphomet are mysterious. However, historian Sharan Newman suggests it’s most likely a corruption of the name Mohammed.

The Templar order was abolished in 1312 and Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake in 1314 as a relapsed heretic. The majority of the Templars caught in France were either executed or confined to prison indefinitely. However, it wasn’t until the 16th century that the Templars’ heresy entered popular imagination.

The German physician Heinrich Agrippa’s 1531 book De Occulta Philosophia, recontextualised the failed order alongside witchcraft. While French writer Guillaume Paradin detailed the Templars’ sordid heresy in his 1552 Chronicle of Savoy. In his history of Savoy, the Templars engage in orgies with women after initiates worshipped an image covered in human skin with glowing carbuncles for eyes.

The salacious occult imagery of the 16th century remained a widely held perception of the Templars into the 20th and 21st centuries. This lasting association is clear in cinema.

The 1972 Spanish/Portuguese horror film Tombs of the Blind Dead portrays undead Templars rise from their graves to prey on a group of teenagers. The undead Templar recently resurfaced again in the 2017 film The Mummy, where the titular villain raised Templars from their tombs to act as her minions.

There are Templars across cinema enacting evil and its interesting to think about how this all came to be because of a handful of confessions about worshipping false idols, which were obtained through torture.

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Coffee lovers can rejoice as a café in South Belfast will be providing free brews this Friday

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A Belfast cafe is giving away free coffee all day on Friday as part of a special celebration.

Café Melrose, on the Lisburn Road, will be providing brews to customers free-of-charge on Friday, March 13, to celebrate their new coffee product.

The initiative will take place from 8.30am to 4pm and is in celebration of the premises’ new partnership with Newcastle coffee roaster Groupwork.

Owner Gabriel McCoy, 30, who took over the business two years ago said: “There has been a café here for about a decade, we have made significant investment into the site. We are super excited to elevate our coffee offering to be in line with everything else we are doing here.

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“We went to five different roasters but the husband and wife team there, Stephen and Hannah at Groupwork made it a no brainer. We decided to swap our coffee to Groupwork who are a company based in Newcastle. They ran through the whole process with us, and the fact that I am originally from Hilltown in Co Down means together we can bring the county’s hospitality to Belfast.

“To celebrate that partnership we are offering free coffee all day tomorrow from 8.30am to 4pm. People are fine to pop in for a free brew, you don’t need to sign up or anything, just come along.

“We specialise in top tier service, we are very reasonably priced for a BT9 café but Friday will give customers a chance to try our new coffee offering completely for free. For the last week we have had the coffee available and the feedback has been really positive. People are buying the coffee and taking it home with them, so that is a massive tick of approval. Lately, we have been going around all our local streets and handing out flyers.”

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Gabriel said there was a wide array of food and drink available at the café.

He added: “We have our own delicatessen which provides a selection of sandwiches and wraps, it is a massive deli that caters to all dietary requirements. We have an extensive brunch menu and we also have the capability to do outside catering.”

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The brand will be offering a spaghetti and meatball sandwich as a nod to the old restaurant.

A popular sandwich shop in Cambridge is opening a second location on Mill Road just a few months since its first store was unveiled. Marvin’s, which is a sandwich shop found on Green Street and is the sister-brand to Stir Bakery, will be taking over the old site of Maurizio Dining & Co on Mill Road.

Martin Perkins of Marvin’s said: “We know Maurizio’s means a lot to people. Places like that become part of the rhythm of a street. We’re incredibly grateful to Maurizio for everything he’s built here and we’re proud to be taking up the mantle.”

The opening follows the “successful launch” of Marvin’s first location, which only opened a few months ago in September 2025 is is the next step for the “fast-growing independent brand”. The brand has said it is “honoured” to be continuing the “site’s tradition of feeding the neighbourhood”.

Mill Road is already known for being an area packed with independent businesses, restaurants, and cafés. Matt Harrison, the founder and owner of Stir and Marvin’s, said: “Mill Road has a unique energy. It’s where so much of Cambridge’s food culture lives. Independent businesses, family-run shops, incredible ingredients and cuisines from all over the world. To open Marvin’s here and become part of that fabric is something we’re hugely proud of.”

Similarly to its Green Street shop, the Marvin’s on Mill Road will serve its signature menu of “big, layered sandwiches built on bread baked fresh every day specifically for each style of sandwich”. The shop will be bringing “chewy bagels and fluffy focaccia” sandwiches as well as a special spaghetti and meatball sub, which will be served with a marinara dipping sauce as “a nod” to Maurizio Dining & Co.

Guests will also be able to find an ever-changing selection of “globally inspired” sandwiches. If you fancy something sweet, Marvin’s also stocks fresh pastries and a range of soft drinks that have been “designed to complement the food”.

The Mill Road locations wants to keep “Marvin’s relaxed, high-energy approach to hospitality that has quickly made the Green Street site a favourite among Cambridge sandwich fan”.

It’s never been more important to find the best beard trimmer. Like a lot of men, I became alarmingly obsessed with the quest for the perfect beard styler during lockdown. Unable to go and ask a Turkish barber to trim my facial hair into a contoured thing of beauty, I was forced to try and do that myself in my bathroom. Initially, the results were mixed, to put it politely.

Not that there are any lack of products for the man who wants to trim his beard at home – the market has become flooded with choices. “I think a great deal of it is down to the vogue for beards that began around 10-15 years ago with the hipster/lumbersexual trend and has stayed that way ever since,” said Stephen Doig, Men’s Style Editor at The Telegraph. “And with it, a cottage industry devoted to making sure that men are appropriately kitted out for their beard maintenance.”

I’ve spent the last few months testing the latest trimmers from all the major manufacturers. You can read my findings in the reviews below, followed by some more advice from Stephen in the FAQs section. But if you’re in a rush, here’s a quick look at my top five:

The best beard trimmers: At a glance

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How to choose the best beard trimmer

Doig says you should think about safety and flexibility first when choosing grooming tools. “I think it’s important to get the basics right; a good grip on the handle because slip ups can cause cuts, a safe razor and the ability to switch between lengths,” he says.

He explains that once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you can start exploring additional tools that suit your grooming goals. After that, it’s really a matter of how much you want to invest in precision equipment for shaping your beard, trimming edges, and maintaining hair on your head and body.

To understand how best to deploy trimmers and razors, Doig recommends learning from professionals who handle them daily. “Whenever I speak to barbers, the key thing is to shave and trim in the direction the hair grows, so avoid going against the grain and meeting resistance which will irritate the skin,” he said.

Paying attention to these small but essential techniques can help achieve a closer, safer, and more comfortable finish.

How we test beard trimmers

Faye Singleton, originally from Cheshire, studied BioMedical Science at the University of York and has since built a career working for Thirsk-based company CardioLogic.

She has been using her expertise in the field to best support local football teams based in the North Riding FA, working closely with the FA to help provide cheaper ECG tests, a potentially-life saving initiative. With around 1 in 300 people that have an ECG test, finding a life-threatening abnormality.

A member of the York City Ladies squad, but currently recovering from an ACL injury, Faye was on the pitch when former teammate Summer Paley collapsed during a match in September 2024 due to an undetected heart condition.

Now Faye’s looking to get the message out that ECG heart screenings are easily accessible, having worked with the North Riding FA to provide over 150 tests so far.

Faye told the Press: “People aren’t aware of how common sudden cardiac death is. 12 young people a week die from sudden cardiac death in the UK alone.

“An ECG can prevent it, and this is around half the cost of a private ECG test, which is over £70.

“It’s potentially life-saving, so we’re hoping as many people reach out for it.

“Within North Riding FA we’ve done over 150 tests but it’s time for more sports clubs, schools, colleges, and universities to join the initiative.”

“We’re also working with British Athletics and other County FA’s now, we’ve got Birmingham, Cumberland and Liverpool on board with the device and the project.

Faye hopes to one day support the lower reaches of the women’s football game. Picture: Supplied

“It’s the device, which is an innovation in tech, that has enabled us to do this.

“Without this next step forward in the technology, we wouldn’t be able to offer an ECG at this price. ”

A typical ECG test requires medical professionals to position electrodes correctly. This new technology has those electrodes pre-positioned in one sticky patch. Faye explained that even players can apply it themselves.

All it takes is one sticky patch, stuck to the centre of someone’s chest, it records a 12-lead ECG through BlueTooth connectivity to a mobile phone. The tracings are sent off to UK Cardiologists who can analyse the ECG and create a report highliting if there is an underlying heart condition.

Therefore Faye, who has been working closely with Jasmine Morris – Deputy Designated Safeguarding Officer at the North Riding FA – has recently linked up with local side Fulford FC under-13’s girls team, to help provide them with ECG screenings.

Faye continued: “We worked with Fulford FC under-13’s girls recently, and they all stuck it on themselves no problem.

“They did the ECG, which takes 10 seconds, and their parents got a report a week later in a secure email, which said whether their child’s ECG is normal or abnormal.

“Jas is a huge part in this, she takes the device to the clubs.

Local team Fulford FC’s under-13’s girls recently underwent cardiac screenings in partnership with the North Riding FA. Picture: Supplied

“We try and contact the clubs to say this is on offer, do you have anyone interested?

“They come back and say ‘yes we’ve got ten players’ that want the test, so we then send the consent form out to each player or parent, if they are under 18, then Jas or myself will go to their training night and test each player which takes around five minutes.

Faye is currently helping to provide ECG testing to local teams throughout the North Riding FA, but in the long-term, she’d also like to make a change in the senior section of the women’s game and offer this to schools, colleges, and universities.

Summer’s collapse in 2024 was a scary moment for everyone there, and due to the level of football that York City Ladies play at, Faye confirmed that a free prior ECG test had been unavailable to the Minsterbelles squad.

That’s something she hopes to see change, looking to bridge the gap for the lower reaches of the women’s game.

“Since seeing Summer’s collapse in person, I was at the game when she collapsed, it was just so scary,” Faye said.

“I did a lot of research into what screening was available for us as a tier four club.

“If you’re a tier four team in the men’s game, you get a free ECG test, but if you’re a female, it’s only the top two tiers in the women’s side.

York City Ladies have benefitted from Faye’s support. Picture: Supplied

“I wanted to bridge that gap and even offer it to those lower than tier four, because there’s nothing stopping them from having the same cardiac arrests.”

Once a person has finished their simple ECG test, their information is forwarded on to our Head Cardiologist, Professor of Cardiology Aneil Malhotra.

Aneil, who is also an expert in sports cardiology, has been offering his full support to Faye in her battle for ECG testing, after he worked closely with some of the biggest names in sport: “He’s been brilliant, he does all the reporting.

“He reads the ECG, writes up if there are any abnormalities and then sends it back.

“He’s based in Manchester and screens all the Premier League teams in the North, plus other sports.

“He’s an expert in cardiology for the UK, so we’ve got the backing of him, which is fantastic.”

For more information, you can find Cardiologic’s new dedicated Facebook page at Cardiologic Diagnostics, which can be found HERE, or on Faye’s LinkedIn page HERE.

Alternatively, for any further information or if you’d like to get involved, you could reach Faye directly at faye@cardiologic.co.uk.