Brian John Gourlay Emans, 42, died within HMP Shotts on August 14, 2023.

The death of an inmate inside a Lanarkshire prison is to be investigated.

Brian John Gourlay Emans, 42, was jailed following a machete attack and gun stash discovery. He died within HMP Shotts on August 14, 2023.

Emans had friends at his Bridgeton home on July 11, 2020, when a feud broke out between himself and another man.

He slashed the individual with a machete leaving him with a fractured arm and deep cuts.

Following the attack, police raided Emans’ home, where he was carrying a Smith & Wesson revolver loaded with four bullets and a sawn-off shotgun was also found inside.

An improvised explosive device was also spotted in the bedroom. Neighbours were evacuated and the Royal Navy bomb disposal team were brought in.

Emans was jailed for 13 years, but died just two and a half years into his sentence.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is obliged to investigate such deaths, and a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) is mandatory.

A Preliminary Hearing will take place on June 8 at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

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A FAI determines the cause of death, the circumstances in which the death occurred, and establishing what steps, if any, could have been taken to minimise the risk of future deaths in similar circumstances.

Unlike criminal proceedings, FAIs are inquisitorial in nature and are used to establish facts rather than to apportion blame.

Procurator Fiscal Andy Shanks for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scotland’s independent deaths investigation authority, said: “The Lord Advocate considers that the death of Brian Emans occurred whilst he was in legal custody and, as such, a Fatal Accident Inquiry is mandatory.

“The lodging of the First Notice enables Fatal Accident Inquiry proceedings to commence under the direction of the Sheriff.”

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And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.

The Thursday letters page wonders how Ubisoft came up with Assassin’s Creed Invictus, as readers are unimpressed by Star Fox’s graphics.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Ocarina time
Nintendo is usually the best of the three at having livestreams at reasonable times for the UK so I don’t know what’s going on with the Star Fox one being so late. And 10 minutes warning? There comes a point where Nintendo’s crosses over from being charmingly weird to just plain annoying. It’s a good job for them that they make such amazing games.

That said, I’m not a super fan of Star Fox 64, although I will look to see how expensive this remake costs. Although what I will say is that this is the first time in pretty much forever that I remember a Nintendo rumour coming true, even if they never got the remake angle right.

So what I’m thinking is does that mean the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake is real as well? If there was a time to release one it’d be now, with the long wait for the next mainline entry. Could it be out this year, with a reveal in the summer? That seems to be the rumour, and I think there’s now a much better chance of it being true than before, which I am very excited about.
Billy

The wrong remake
So it’s happening! Star Fox/Lylat Wars has returned. Was Star Fox 64 to me ‘cos I bought it on import from Japan via an ad in the local paper. Guy who brought it over was a proper 80s style yuppie, perfectly coiffured beard, floppy hair, even a knee length flashes mac! 90 quid that cost me. But I was young stupid and impatient, it was 6 months before it was coming to Europe and I simply could not wait.

Well, what a game that turned out to be! Was absolutely in love with it. I played it continuously over and over, learning all of the secret routes and shortcuts, even sent a highly detailed scribbled map to one of the mags of the day, before they’d even reviewed the Western release. They never did print it, but I bet they used it to beat the game though!

However, this remake. Mmmm, in my opinion, the more realistic they make it, the cheaper it kind of looks, as in the world seems empty apart from the immediate enemies, so it looks kinda barren and um, cheap. And the characters are nightmare fuel. I’ll of course see how it reviews and, of course, the price, but my feelings right now are, thanks for the nostalgia but I’ll look forward to the ultimate remake of Zelda: Ocarnia Of Time instead.
big boy bent
PS: I also bought Lylat Wars when that was released.

Daily update
If you could talk your way to success, then Xbox would have dominated the games industry years ago. Every day, it seems, you get them flapping their lips about one thing or another and I still don’t see anything that’s going to change people’s minds about them, let alone convince them to buy an Xbox console again.

This whole Copilot thing seems especially bad because I don’t believe a word of it. They’re definitely just going to have AI anyway, and just not call it Copilot anymore, because that’s something they’ve already done with Windows. And all these ex-AI people taking over exec roles. While I’m sure some of it is jobs for the boys, I’d be willing to bet they’re going to be using their AI expertise on Xbox too.
Anderson

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

League of their own
I would love to see a new DC fighting game that wasn’t Injustice 3 but wouldn’t it have been best to wait until Batman and Wonder Woman, at the least, were cast for the new movies? Otherwise what are they going to do? Have the characters that were in Superman act that way but just try to guess for the rest?

Most of the movie characters did act like their comic book selves, so you could make some fairly accurate guesses, but there’s a billion ways to play Batman, let alone anyone else, so it would seem odd to have him super serious or campy or whatever in the game and then completely different in the DCU.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter as long as the game is good but the lack of synergy between DC games and films has been very odd given the same company owns the developers, the comics, and the film company. If even they can’t even organise a match-up properly no wonder nobody else ever manages it.
Tolly

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Top two
Very interesting feature about the ‘second death’ of the PlayStation 4. I didn’t realise they’d stop making it so long ago but it will be sad to see the end of what I agree is the best PlayStation console. You could make an argument for the PlayStation 2 but while it’s definitely a classic there’s very few of its games that I would want to play today without a remaster or remake.

I agree with those that say Sony should never have even released the PlayStation 5. The PlayStation 4’s graphics were perfectly good and as we now know the economics of it worked perfectly, unlike the PlayStation 5. With the PlayStation 4 you got great looking games coming out a regular intervals, with the PlayStation 5 you’re lucky to get one Sony game a year.
Teemo

Luxury item
I am not in the least bit surprised that most gamers don’t buy full price games, considering how much they cost. I’m also not surprised that it’s older games that have given up the most, because we remember the days when they were not only cheaper but could be traded in and didn’t have so much DLC that it’d cost them the same again to experience it all.

This is, of course, the fault of publishers but not in that they’re being unreasonable with the prices, so much as they refuse to do anything about the rising cost of making games and all the other related problems. As GC said, in their excellent article on the PlayStation 4, Sony has made absolutely no attempt to change their approach now that games take so long, and cost so much, to make. The only thing they’ve done is make less games.

They’re not the only ones, all of the publishers are like that, and so here we see the natural end result: nobody is buying their games, at least not at full price. A game would have to be incredibly anticipated for me to ever consider getting it day one, not only that but a guaranteed classic. GTA 6 fits that bill and certain Nintendo games, if they ever get around to announcing them, but that’s about it.

Other than that, it’s just waiting a few months for the sales and reading reviews carefully. And to be honest that works out fine for me and I’ve had few problems. It’s actually quite a sustainable system, as long as you accept that buying at full price game is a one-off luxury.
Benson

One more roll
Obviously, I’ve not played it or anything but in what world does the idea of Assassin’s Creed crossed with Fall Guys seem like a good idea? I really have to wonder how some of these companies make their decisions, but at a guess I’d imagine it involves rolling a dice.

I assume it’s meant to be free-to-play, so once again Ubisoft are trying to get that live service hit they so desperately want, even though it’s been so long coming that the company is half ruined now. I think they’ll complete the job before they ever give up completely.
Gorf

PS2 upgrade
I had a feeling a Star Fox Direct would arrive at very short notice and, after all this time, I thought it was a bad Direct delivering bad news.

The fact it’s a remake of an N64 classic that already got a good remaster on 3DS – and there’s very likely to be another one fitting that exact same bill in just a few months – is a disappointment.

The graphics aren’t even that good. It obviously looks a lot better than the original but I’d argue Rogue Leader on GameCube over 24 years ago looked better than this mostly on-rails Switch 2 game. It certainly doesn’t look like something that couldn’t run well on Switch 1.

I don’t know why they didn’t just make a new game by reshuffling the levels and have it work the same way. The cut scenes are presumably meant to add value but the voice acting and dialogue are clearly pretty poor, so that aspect seems like a complete non-starter.

It would be a bad idea to charge more than about £45 for this and I think they’re being hugely optimistic if they think the multiplayer is going to be taken up widely and for any meaningful period.

To think this game could well be what steered Nintendo towards shoehorning Fox McCloud into the Super Mario Galaxy Movie. I imagine they had the same idea with Yoshi And The Mysterious Book, given that character also seemed to just… be there.

I’m so glad I’ve still got Pokémon Pokopia to try as a 2026 Switch 2 game. Nintendo seems to have fallen into the exact same first party stop-gap pitfall as with most new generations. Their big stuff is taking too long so they’re chucking out things like Star Fox and Splatoon Raiders as schedule padding for a console that’s not yet a year old.

I’m now half expecting Zelda: Ocarina Of Time to compete visually with an upscaled late PlayStation 2 era game at best, just because they needed to put something out.
Panda

GC: We don’t disagree with some of what you say but we think you’re being unreasonably harsh on the graphics.

Inbox also-rans
Just watched the trailer. It kinda looks like the director has confused Resident Evil with The Evil Within. Anyone else?
Bobwallett

Never mind that dumb sounding Assassin’s Creed spin-off, I’m just glad there’s a new Worms game coming out. And it’s a bit like XCOM too!
Clifron

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There are many reasons why a particular farm shop is your favourite but we want to find the best in the county.

Farm shops are hugely popular in Cambridgeshire with plenty of options for locals to try. For many people, they might even prefer to do their weekly shop at a farm shop rather than your average supermarket because of the high quality of the products and range of fresh ingredients found there.

Many farm shops across the county focus on providing customers with the best vegetables, meat, and sometimes ready meals to enjoy at home. Lots of farm shops also have their own cafés for people to sit and have a meal before shopping. Some can even be found next to a zoo, as in the case of Johnsons of Old Hurst.

CambridgeshireLive is asking you to let us know what the best farm shop is in Cambridgeshire. Whether it is the products or the extras like a café or playground for children to enjoy that makes a certain farm shop your favourite, we want to know.

You can nominate the best farm shop in the county by using our survey below. If the survey does not appear for you, you can open it in a different tab here.

She discovered the benefits of hypnotism and decided to pursue a career in using it to help people achieve their weight loss and healthier living goals

An Irish woman has shared her journey from school teacher to helping people achieve their goals.

Rosie Callaghan is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and also the owner of the Weight Loss Clinic. The Donegal woman was previously a secondary school teacher before she discovered her passion for using hynotherapy to help people kick their bad habits.

Her journey started when she used the method to give up smoking, and she ended up training in it and beginning the Hypnoslim programme. The programme, which is available from the Weight Loss Clinic, is a six-week course comprising of different hypnotherapy sessions, designed to reprogramme your mind to choose healthy foods.

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The idea is that the hypnotherapy will make you no longer want to overeat unhealthy options, but will gradually make you crave healthier options.

“First of all, people have to be willing to change,” Rosie told RSVP Live as she explained how the process works. “Most people who come to me have done all the diets, been dieting for years. When you’ve tried everything, you just have to be willing to go, ‘OK, hit me’.

“I ask them to give me an hour and a half of their time to allow themselves to relax. If someone isn’t 100% committed or willing to relax the mind, it’s not going to work. You have to quieten down the conscious part of the mind.

“If that conscious part of the mind is alert and working, it’s going to say ‘no, not going to happen’. It decides what suggestions get into the subconscious.

“Physical relaxation takes about five minutes and then there’s a 10 minute mental relaxation to allow them to relax the mind. Once they park everything, they allow me to put suggestions in.”

The suggestions are usually things like eating more nutritious foods, avoiding “junk” food, reducing portion sizes and general healthier lifestyle habits. Despite the fact it’s a six week course, the vast majority of clients maintain their healthy changes afterwards.

“I’ve been doing it six years and many people have never gone back to it [bad habits],” she said. “The vast majority of their habits will have improved. There will be some people who will go back to bad habits if the emotional part isn’t addressed.”

For Rosie, the biggest mistake she sees in people who want to lose weight but are struggling is relying on willpower alone.

“Willpower has only got a short term function,” she said. “That lies in the conscious part of the mind. Relying on willpower is pointless and if you want it to be a long term thing, you’ve got to change your habits.

“Stress is a big one that holds people back. It’s the biggest driver of emotional eating at the moment. Have a look at reducing stress because the body is so smart; if you feel like you’re in fight or flight mode, often you feel like what you need to do to help is eat.”

Often weight gain comes from deeper issues with confidence and self esteem, which Rosie also targets during her course.

“We do an anger release and forgiveness session,” she said. “We also do self forgiveness and getting back on your own team again. Get your self worth back and work on compassion for yourself because without it, you’re stuck in the same circle.”

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The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) intends adopting a more aggressive approach in recruiting players who were not born in the Irish republic, but are eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland national team.

That is according to the FAI’s new Director of Football, John Martin, who cited the example of Liverpool’s Conor Bradley as one who got away from the system.

Tyrone man Bradley, 22, has emerged as a prominent Premier League player but, although he was on Ireland’s radar, Northern Ireland capped him in 2021 and he now has 30 caps.

In his role overseeing Irish football, Martin stressed yesterday he will make it a top priority of his that eligible players cannot slip through the net so easily.

“Easy one isn’t he,” he said of Bradley. “Fantastic player and you hear second-hand stuff that he is a (Republic of) Ireland fan. Asking the question is the bare minimum we should be doing, whether they are based in Northern Ireland, Germany or the UK.”

In February, Chelsea prospect Chris Atherton delivered a blow to the North, whom he had represented at youth level, by declaring for the Republic.

In the days afterwards, Atherton and his family were then the target of abuse online.

The move was a coup for the FAI and and asked if they needs to be more aggressive in their recruitment of players, Martin said: “If they are eligible for us, yeah, for sure. It is not specific to the north but we have to make sure we are doing our job.

“We know there are kids out there who want to play for Ireland who haven’t been approached in the past. That’s not right. It’s making sure we have a presence and we understand all the players available to us, and that they are being monitored and tracked.

“That is something we need to be better at. You don’t want to lose out on a player that wants to play for us. We can’t have that.”

Meanwhile, Martin has confirmed that John O’Shea is on the verge of signing a new deal to stay on as Ireland assistant. But while he hopes to also keep Paddy McCarthy on the staff, he expects the well-regarded Crystal Palace coach will be in demand.

“Paddy will be part of our team until the point that maybe someone takes him away from us,” said Martin. “As it stands, he will be staying on but we’ll sit down properly at the end of Palace’s season. He’s huge for us.”

The FAI is close to appointing two new ‘lead coaches’ at Ireland underage level to work alongside James Scott, Keith O’Halloran and John Cotter. Three other coaches will partner up with Richie Smith and Mark Connors in a fluid pool of 10 working across the various youth international teams.

Former Ireland manager Brian Kerr said recently that Damien Duff should have a role with underage Ireland sides.

“I’d rather not go into names (of who has been interviewed) but I’m a big fan of what he did at Shelbourne. What he did was phenomenal,” said Martin.

“I joined the league as a player in 1997 and I think it’s the best achievement, winning that league with Shelbourne. He has a huge amount to offer the game. It will be interesting to see where his next move will be.”

Martin suggested that Heimir Hallgrimsson’s wish for a camp and international friendlies with League of Ireland players could be accommodated – but in May. The Ireland boss wants to do it next January, but will face resistance again from club managers. A tweak in the league calendar next year may be looked at.

Martin has no plans to “mandate and force through” the divisive calendar year at grassroots and amateur level, but will work with stakeholders who are keen to switch.

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Asian shares jumped and the price of crude oil was holding above $100 a barrel on Thursday as investors bet on hopes the U.S. and Iran will strike a deal allowing tankers to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf again.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 4.6% to 62,243.88, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.2% to 26,531.35.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia was up 1.2% at 8,870.90.

In South Korea, the Kospi slipped 1.4% to 7,281.37 and traders sold to lock in profits after the benchmark jumped nearly 7% a day earlier to barrel past 7,000 for the first time.

Taiwan’s Taiex surged 1.7%.

On Wednesday, markets rallied worldwide after President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz could be “OPEN TO ALL” if Iran accepts a reported agreement that the U.S. president did not detail.

Oil prices fell nearly 8% and the S&P 500 climbed 1.5% for its best day in nearly a month, setting a fresh record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 2%.

Early Thursday in Asian trading, Brent crude oil rose $1.06 to $102.29 a barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $1.20 to $96.28 a barrel.

Oil prices sank Wednesday, and stock markets rallied worldwide with hopes that the United States and Iran are nearing a deal to allow ships to deliver crude through the Strait of Hormuz.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 7.8% to $101.27, down from more than $115 early this week.

The effective closure of the strait due to the war has caused big trouble for the global economy because the conflict has blocked oil tankers from using it to exit the Persian Gulf. A reopening could allow oil to flow freely again and remove pressure on inflation that’s driving prices up for all kinds of products worldwide.

The price of Brent crude fell below $97 a barrel but then pushed above $100 after Trump threatened to start bombing “at a much higher level and intensity” if Iran does not accept the agreement.

U.S. stocks remained resilient despite the war thanks partly to strong profit reports by big U.S. companies for the start of 2026.

Chipmaker AMD helped lead the market Wednesday with a surge of 18.6% after it joined the list of big-name companies topping expectations for both profit and revenue. Its CEO Lisa Su said AMD benefited from continued growth from artificial-intelligence technology, which is demanding tremendous amounts of computing power from data centers.

Super Micro Computer, rallied 24.5% after likewise delivering stronger earnings than analysts expected. Nvidia, the chip company that became the poster child of the AI boom, rose 5.7% and was the single strongest force lifting the S&P 500 because of its immense size.

CVS Health climbed 7.6% after delivering better results for the first quarter than analysts expected and raising its financial forecasts for the full year. The Walt Disney Co. gained 7.5% after saying its “Zootopia 2” movie helped draw people to its streaming business, parks and cruise ships, while delivering a better-than-expected profit. Uber Technologies drove 8.5% higher after giving a bookings forecast for the spring that was higher than analysts expected.

Outside of earnings reports, companies with big fuel bills jumped on hopes that oil prices will continue to ease. That included gains of 6.8% for United Airlines, 6.8% for Carnival and 8.8% for Royal Caribbean.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 105.90 points to 7,365.12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 612.34 to 49,910.59, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 512.82 to 25,838.94.

___

AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

Crews remain at the scene

Five fire engines were called to a fire at a derelict farmhouse in Wigan. Emergency services were called to reports of the blaze at the junction of Common Lane and Ellesmere Street in Tyldesley on Wednesday evening (May 6).

Crews from Atherton, Hindley, Leigh, and Farnworth attended the scene.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said: “Shortly after 6:20pm this evening (Wednesday 6 May), five fire engines from Atherton, Hindley, Leigh and Farnworth fire stations were called to reports of a fire at a derelict farmhouse at the junction of Common Lane and Ellesmere Street in Tyldesley, Manchester.

“The crews arrived quickly at the scene. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are using hose reels to extinguish the fire.

“Firefighters have been in attendance for around an hour and a half and remain at the scene.”

Dr Punam Krishan urged people to see their GP if their tiredness meets these criteria

Fatigue is a common issue in modern life, and many people are quick to brush it off as something minor that can be sorted with a good night’s sleep, regular exercise, or a healthier diet. While this rings true for the majority, Dr Punam Krishan has highlighted certain warning signs that suggest your exhaustion could have a more serious underlying cause.

Appearing on BBC’s Morning Live on May 5, the GP drew a clear distinction between ‘normal tiredness’ and the kind of fatigue that warrants a visit to the doctor. She noted that with “ordinary tiredness”, you can usually identify the root cause yourself.

Dr Punam went on to describe the more worrying type of exhaustion that people should not ignore: “The one I’m talking about is when you’re feeling absolutely fatigued and wiped out no matter how much you rest and you don’t know why you’re feeling tired all the time.

“It might be something as simple as a vitamin deficiency, low iron levels. It might be your thyroids, it might be blood sugar issues. But it can also be a sign of something with sinister. That’s why going in, getting your bloods done, getting a history, getting us to diagnose it could be really really helpful.”

The NHS recommends seeing a GP if you feel tired and:

• It has been going on for a few weeks without a clear reason
• It affects your daily life
• It is paired with other symptoms like weight loss or mood changes
• Someone has said you make gasping, snorting or choking noises when you sleep

Dr Punam highlighted these points after discussing the most recent healthy life expectancy figures, which showed that Britons are now becoming unwell roughly two years sooner than they were 10 years ago.

This indicates many people are enduring longer stretches of their lives in ill health than before. Dr Punam voiced particular worry for those who postpone getting medical attention when symptoms initially appear.

While the GP urged people not to be alarmed, she warned: “Sometimes I have people that go; ‘Oh, it started six months ago’. You know what, six months ago if had we seen you, it would be a different outcome.”

She pointed out several “essential red flags” that might indicate something is wrong in the body, including lumps, unexplained weight loss, bleeding and coughs.

Dr Punam made a plea particularly to women and carers, who often fail to put their own health and wellbeing first even when feeling poorly. She said: “The sooner we act, the sooner we recognise early symptoms and take action, the better it is for us.”

Aileen Armstrong, SRA executive director, strategy, innovation and external affairs, said: “When they work well, claims management services can benefit consumers. But we are concerned about poor practices and behaviours that are not looking after consumers’ best interest.