By WILKO MARTÍNEZ-CACHERO, US REPORTER

Published: 05:43 BST, 21 August 2026 | Updated: 07:23 BST, 21 August 2026

A North Carolina girl who was kidnapped from a sleepover and taken deep into the woods was discovered by an unlikely Good Samaritan after she emerged with tears in her eyes and scratches on her body.

The 12-year-old child was discovered by healthcare giver Jennifer Maxwell as she was driving home on Sunday around 1.20pm.

She emerged from the wooded area alongside US Highway 421 in Erwin, 45 miles south of Raleigh, as Maxwell drove by.

‘I just thank God I was there,’ Maxwell told WNCN. ‘And I thank God she got away, not just that I was there.’

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The girl told Maxwell that she had been sleeping over at her best friend’s home, who lives next door to her.

She was allegedly woken up by 38-year-old Daniel Francis Gear, the friend’s uncle, who was ultimately charged with her kidnap.

Gear is alleged to have driven the girl to the woods in his truck and forced her to walk with him for hours.

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North Carolina healthcare giver Jennifer Maxwell spotted a 12-year-old girl who had been kidnapped as she drove home on Sunday around 1.20pm

Maxwell said the girl popped out of a secluded, wooded area alongside US Highway 421 in Erwin

Maxwell recalled that she had seen the little girl ‘run out of the woods down the embankment’ before dropping in a ditch and tearing up.

‘She was very scratched up, like her legs had lines all over them,’ Maxwell told the outlet. ‘Either she went through briers or thick brush.’

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The unlikely hero added that the child was barefooted and her arms were also scratched.

Maxwell said she asked the girl if she was okay and she responded, ‘No, I’ve been kidnapped.’

Maxwell called 911 after helping the girl into her car. Later, Maxwell took police to where she had found the girl.

Gear’s truck was still sitting nearby behind a DMV office, according to the outlet.

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Maxwell was involved in a car accident shortly after her encounter with the girl. She went to the hospital afterwards, where she again saw the preteen.

‘I guess she told her parents who I was, and they came over and they thanked me,’ she told WRAL.

Daniel Francis Gear, 38, has been charged with with first-degree kidnapping and assault

The girl was sleeping over at her best friend’s home, which is located in Lillington, when she was told by Gear to come outside

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Gear was captured by police around 8.15pm on Sunday after a seven-hour manhunt involving drones and K-9 officers.

He has since been charged with first-degree kidnapping and assault.

Court records listed him as being 5-foot-9 and weighing 240 pounds.

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Neighbors described Gear as an unknown inside their Lillington community, though they noted that the girl would often be at his home to hang out with his niece.

‘Actually, to be honest, nobody really knew who he was,’ neighbor Justin Powers told WNCN.

‘He never really came out of the house,’ Powers added. ‘He worked from home.’

Gear is being held at the Harnett County Detention Center on a $2.5 million secured bond, which was set Monday during his first appearance at the Harnett County Courthouse.

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He will be in court for the next time on September 1, according to North Carolina court records.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Harnett County Sheriff’s Office for comment. 

An attorney for Gear was not listed in court records.

Live updates on roadworks and traffic incidents in Darlington, Bishop Auckland, Durham, and the wider North East, including the A66, A19, A1(M), A1, A167, and the A69 this morning (August 21).

Public transport service updates from bus services, train services, including LNER, Cross Country, TransPennine, and Northern Rail.

Updates from the Tyne and Wear Metro and the latest from Teesside and Newcastle Airports.

We’ll also be bringing you the latest hour-by-hour weather forecast for the region.

Sign up for The Northern Echo’s newsletter for all the breaking North East news, including breaking traffic and travel updates, direct to your inbox.

Travel disruptions

There are currently no road disruptions at this time.

Train disruptions

There are currently no rail disruptions at this time.

What will the weather be like in the North East today?

Today is set to be showery and cool today. Drier and eventually warmer this weekend.

Today: A fresh start this morning with some early brightness, especially in the south. Cloud and outbreaks of rain will spread southwards though through the day, before turning brighter again later from the north. Temperatures a little below average for August. Maximum temperature 17 °C.

Tonight: Largely dry this evening and overnight, but a few showers may move along the east coast at times. Clearing skies will lead to a chilly night, especially in the countryside. Minimum temperature 7 °C.

Are there any roadworks in Darlington?

You can see a full list of road closures in and around the town on The Northern Echo’s website.

This includes temporary traffic signals due to electricity work on Larchfield Street both ways at Napier Street.

This is due to end on Thursday at 11 pm.

For more roadworks, head to the local info section at the top of our website.

Spotted an incident?

Let us know about it.

Email: newsdesk@nne.co.uk .

Former Wales international Uilisi Halaholo has revealed his next challenge and opened up on the brutal struggles he faced during his rugby career after announcing his retirement from the game.

The 36-year-old confirmed earlier this week that his playing days were over, bringing the curtain down on a career that saw him earn 10 international caps for Wales and win a Six Nations title. Born in Auckland, he joined Cardiff in 2016 and became a fan favourite during an eight-year stay in the Welsh capital, making over 100 appearances and winning the Challenge Cup in 2018.

Having started out in his native New Zealand, Halaholo qualified for Wales on residency and made his debut in the 2021 Six Nations, having initially been called up by Wayne Pivac in 2019. He would later go on to also represent Tonga on the international stage, qualifying to play for them at last year’s Pacific Nations Cup via his family heritage.

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The powerful centre, who left Cardiff in 2024 to return to New Zealand and represent NPC side Bay of Plenty, has now opened up on the highs and lows of his career with former teammate James Marshall on his ‘What A Lad’ podcast, admitting he had been weighing up retirement for a few years following a succession of injuries.

“I think it’s probably been coming for a while now, probably a few years I’ve been thinking about it,” said Halaholo. “But I’m finally ready to put the boots down and put some work boots on. It was a tough decision, but the body just knows.

“I think the last couple teams that I’ve been a part of professionally, I’ve been struggling to recover as fast as I used to back in the day. I think a lot of ex players will understand and know what that’s like.

“Usually, you play Saturday, you can get up Monday, train again. But it wasn’t until Thursday that I was ready to get up and train again, so that’s just the body pretty much telling me it’s time to give it up.”

After ending his playing career, Halaholo admits he is keen to pursue coaching, but has also branched outside of rugby and moved into youth work since returning to New Zealand.

“I’ve actually been getting into a bit of coaching,” he explained. “I know every rugby player thinks they can become a coach, but I’ve just started off by going back to my home club and just giving back in that way.

“If I do want to take that path, I’m glad that I’m starting at the grassroots level, it really tests your patience. It’s been challenging but I’m enjoying it.”

The former Cardiff star added: “I’ve also got into a bit of youth work, mentoring troubled youths. It’s an easy path to take, coming from that background and understanding a lot of those kids that are troubled.

“It’s a cruisy job for me, in that I can probably relate to them a lot more easily than a lot of the other workers and mentors. It’s a rewarding job, but also eye-opening going into a lot of these kids’ houses and seeing how they’re growing up.

“So yeah, that’s what I’m up to now, just doing a bit of youth work, but I still love my rugby, man. I do want to stick into a bit of coaching in some capacity and we’ll see where it takes me.”

While Halaholo’s career took him across the globe and saw him win some of the biggest prizes in world rugby, it was also beset with injury problems, and the former Cardiff favourite admits the string of setbacks left him in a “dark way”.

Opening up on the “toughest time” of his career, he recalled rupturing his Achilles in 2013, a setback which came as he prepared to make his return to action after months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.

“I tore my hamstring and I came back,” he said. “My first week back to play, on that Thursday, ruptured my Achilles. Then, two weeks later, the club tells tells me they’re bankrupt and can’t offer me a extension, which played a part in us coming home.

“It was tough at the time. I had my operation on my Achilles and a week later, my wife gave birth to our fifth child. So me and my wife were both bedridden pretty much. It was probably the toughest time of my career.

“Having to watch my 15-year-old daughter run the household at the time, it was tough bro. We had a newborn, I was pretty much in a cast and couldn’t do anything. Mentally, I was battling being injured and not knowing where my next paycheck was coming.

“It was really tough and I had to overcome a lot, because I was just in a dark way at the time,” Halaholo added. “I had just finished 10, 11 months of rehab, and being in rehab for a long time really builds your character and tests your resilience.

“I felt like I had got over that and then to be injured straight away like that, not even getting a couple of games in. It was non-stop like that, being told no contract, my wife having a baby, that whole month was just hard.”

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Hayden Panettiere’s mother Lesley Vogel believes a ‘toxic individual’ contributed to her estrangement with her daughter and ultimately led to her death. 

In a new statement addressing Panettiere’s tragic death, Vogel, 70, told Entertainment Tonight her daughter became involved with the ‘wrong person’ – and that the family made an unsuccessful attempt at removing him from her life. 

Vogel didn’t name the person but she recently blasted Panettiere’s on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson, saying they had been ‘trying to get rid of’ him ‘for quite some time.’ 

Panettiere, who died on Sunday at age 36 following a suspected overdose, endured a strained relationship with her mother, and Vogel addressed their estrangement in her newest statement.  

‘Although my daughter and I were estranged, it was not for lack of care or love. It was due to the involvement of a toxic individual who I believe led to her death,’ she told ET.

‘Hayden was a beautiful and talented young woman who unfortunately became involved with the wrong person, and although her family tried to extricate him from her life, we were unable to be successful.

‘I hope all remember Hayden for the beautiful human being inside her and her gift to the world from her time on this earth. 

‘My heart is with you, Hayden. Mama.’

Panettiere and Hickerson had an on-off relationship from 2018 to 2022 that was marred by domestic violence incidents and arrests – with Hickerson serving jail time for abusing her. In recent months they had been seen spending time together once again. 

Lesley also said a narcotics investigator has become involved in the investigation into Hayden’s passing. 

‘It leads me to believe there are still questions surrounding what happened, and I think we are all looking for answers,’ she told Entertainment Tonight.

Panettiere, 36, was found unresponsive in a South Carolina apartment and was later declared dead.  

Hickerson and his brother, Zach, were both at the scene when Panettiere was pronounced dead. 

According to TMZ, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has joined the investigation into Panettiere’s death.

Greenville Police and the coroner’s office are running parallel investigations into the star’s death, TMZ reported on Wednesday.

‘Hayden was a beautiful and talented young woman who unfortunately became involved with the wrong person, and although her family tried to extricate him from her life, we were unable to be successful,’ she told ET. Panettiere and Vogel pictured in 2007

The DEA’s reported involvement aligns with paramedics reporting a suspected overdose over dispatch calls. First responders located Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, inside the Greenville, South Carolina, apartment where Panettiere died.

It is still not known if narcotics contributed to her death as toxicology results are pending.

Vogel’s latest remarks come after she slammed Hickerson during an interview with NBC News after news of the Heroes star’s passing.

‘This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death and that was Brian Hickerson,’ she told the news outlet.

‘There is a lot of history in the past that Brian has enabled Hayden many times and this is why her father and I had been concerned for a long time about him.’

Hickerson’s lawyer, Sloan Ellis from Ellis Hinton law firm, has since addressed Panettiere’s death. 

‘Hayden’s death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed,’ said Ellis.

‘As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play.

‘Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.’

Vogel’s latest remarks come after she slammed Panettiere’s on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson, pictured above with the actress in 2018, during an interview with NBC News after learning of her daughter’s passing

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Panettiere began acting as a child, appearing in soap operas, then gained wider recognition for her role in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington, and as the voice of Dot in Pixar’s 1998 film A Bug’s Life.

Panettiere later found fame playing cheerleader Claire Bennet in the superhero drama Heroes before starring as country singer Juliette Barnes for six seasons on Nashville.

She earned two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress on the show, while her singing produced 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.

Panettiere’s film credits include 2006’s Bring It On: All or Nothing, the comedy-drama film Raising Helen, and appearances in Scream 4 and Scream VI as Kirby Reed.

She had an 11-year-old daughter called Kaya following a life-threatening birth, and later gave full custody of the child to her former fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

The former child star made a name for herself with roles in Remember The Titans, Heroes and Nashville. Above, in 2022

Panettiere’s passing was announced Sunday by her father Skip Panettiere, who said in a statement: ‘It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden.

‘She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen. We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.’

Authorities in Greenville, South Carolina, subsequently said that officials responded to an apartment in the area after receiving a report of an ‘unresponsive female’ via a possible ‘drug overdose,’ subsequently determined to be Panettiere.

Officials, who attempted lifesaving measures prior to declaring the actress deceased, said that no signs of trauma or foul play were evident in their probe into the Panettiere’s death, which remains ongoing.

Could we see Vladimir Putin’s control of Russia seriously challenged – or even destabilised in the coming months? Predicting when authoritarian regimes might fall is notoriously difficult. Their hold on power can appear solid until suddenly it crumbles. But there are signs that the Kremlin is concerned about the potential for upcoming elections to become a source of political instability.

In September, Russians go to the polls to elect the national parliament, the State Duma, as well as the parliaments and governors in Russia’s regions. At one level, it is hard to image why Russian officials would be concerned about these elections. The Russian state has considerable experience managing elections to get the desired result, and no one seriously doubts the outcome. The ruling party, United Russia, which currently holds about 70% of the seats in the State Duma, is widely expected to sweep the board, as usual.

But these are the first national elections in Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This means that a smooth campaign and a comfortable win for United Russia can be presented as an endorsement of the war and the way that Putin has handled it. Such an endorsement is especially important because the war has not been going well for Russia lately.

Russia’s progress on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine has slowed to a crawl, with Ukraine taking back more than 700sq kms of occupied territory in July. And Moscow is paying a high price for the small territorial gains that it is making. Russian forces are estimated to have suffered 1.4 million casualties. Soldiers are dying and being injured at a higher rate than they can be replaced with recruits.

The Russian military has sought to fill the gaps in its ranks by recruiting prisoners and foreign fighters – among them reportedly another 50,000 troops from North Korea.

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North Korea grows stronger as South Korea reckons with fading US support

There are widespread rumours that Putin will be forced to launch another round of compulsory mobilisation – perhaps calling up as many as half a million citizens – in order to replenish the armed forces and continue the war. In response to the last mass mobilisation in September 2022, an estimated 700,000 Russians, mostly young men of military age, left the country to avoid fighting in the war.

Mobilisation has been deeply unpopular with the soldiers and their families. Mobilised soldiers do not serve for a specified term but instead have an open-ended obligation. Families of the mobilised have been willing to complain about the conditions of their service, including a lack of adequate training and equipment, and the infrequency of leave periods to return home.

Some of the wives of these soldiers have even openly campaigned for an end to mobilisation and the return of their husbands.

Hardship on the home front

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s strategy of drone attacks deep inside Russia mean that the war is making everyday life more difficult for millions of Russians who might otherwise not have been significantly affected by it. Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries have created severe fuel shortages throughout the country. Most of Russia’s regions have experienced some form of fuel rationing, with long queues reported at filling stations.

Extraordinarily high rates of cash withdrawals from Russian banks demonstrate the economic insecurity experienced by ordinary citizens, who fear the government could seize private savings to help fund the war in Ukraine

Recent public opinion polls in Russia provide evidence that society’s views are shifting. Support for the war in Ukraine has dropped over the past year from 78% in July 2025 to 66% in July 2026. Over the same period, the percentage of Russians who believed their country was moving in the right direction dropped from 69% to 54%. In a country where the state exercises tight political control and expressing opposition to the war can lead to arrest, fines or even imprisonment, these are remarkably bad results.

In the run up to September’s elections, only one political party in Russia has expressed outright opposition to the war. Yabloko, a small, pro-democracy party, adopted the campaign slogan: “For peace and freedom, for a life without fear.” But Russia’s supreme court has now banned the party from participating in the elections, while another court has sentenced its deputy leader to 11 years in prison.

The banning of Yabloko is a measure of the Kremlin’s concern that the elections could provide an outlet, no matter how small, for a public expression of anger. In the previous elections in 2021, Yabloko only received 1.34% of the vote and failed to win a single seat in the State Duma.

Even if it had been allowed to participate in September’s elections, Yabloko would have had no realistic chance of making a dent in United Russia’s dominant position. No political actor, no matter how insignificant, can be permitted to threaten the state’s narrative that the war is under control and society is united behind Putin.

In an attempt to reassure the public that all is well, Putin himself has been visiting cities across the country this summer in a pre-election tour of Russia. This is an unusual step for a leader who is notoriously fearful of assassination and reluctant to leave the security of Moscow.

Putin’s visits have been accompanied by the sudden reappearance of petrol at the pumps wherever he goes, and its availability at surprisingly low prices – an indirect admission of the importance of bread and butter issues for Russia’s voters.

In all likelihood, Russia’s election management machine will swing into action next month and deliver the outcome that Putin both wants and needs. But the state’s lack of confidence in that victory, despite all the tools at its disposal, suggests that Putin and his allies are not nearly as confident in their ability to maintain their grip on power as they would like the rest of the world to think.

But there will be a new famous voice directing passengers to the big concerts over the next week

A Manchester rock star has been unveiled as the latest famous face to lend their voice to the Metrolink announcements as major travel warnings have been issued for the next two weeks.

The next two weeks will see the city host a series of big gigs, as well as see the first ever Manchester Village Pride take over the city centre. There will also be two big Premier League games at Manchester’s biggest football stadiums – with over 400,000 expected to descend on the region for the events.

But first up, following in the footsteps of Liam Gallagher, Rita Ora, Tim Burgess, and PinkPantheress before him, Liam Fray from the Courteeners will take on the role of tram announcer as he directs fans to the five big Wythenshawe Park gigs taking place across the next week.

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The Middleton band, who are known for hits like Not Nineteen Forever and No You Didn’t, No You Don’t, will be playing the south Manchester park next Sunday (August 29), where they will be joined by support from Getdown Services, The Coral and Vaccines.

The Cure will kick off the week-long series of shows on Friday night (August 21). Also playing at Wythenshawe Park this weekend will be Lewis Capaldi (August 22), with next weekend’s shows also featuring The Prodigy (August 30) and Pulp (August 31). With the venue’s capacity increasing to 35,000 for each gig, it means up to 175,000 gig-goers are set to descend on south Manchester over the next two weekends.

Fans will be able to hear from Liam on each performance date, with a special set of messages on the day of The Courteeners show. During the announcements, he will be reminding fans that the ‘Metrolink is a solid shout’ for travelling to the park and wishing fans a great night.

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Bee Network has said that there will be as many double trams ‘as possible’ running every seven-and-a-half minutes to help fans get to and from the park. In their advice, attendees have been told to travel on the Manchester Airport line and get off at Moor Road tram stop, which is a ten minute walk away from the concert venue.

In addition, there will also be shuttle buses in operation, with city centre services departing from Aytoun Street, close to Manchester Picadilly, every six minutes. There will also be services running from East Didsbury every 15 minutes.

To make it easier, there will be an event travel pass which will cost £8 each day and will be available via the Bee Network app. It will allow ticketholders to use any bus, tram or shuttle bus service on the day bought.

In addition to this weekend’s shows, Sunday (August 23) will see the start of the Premier League with Manchester City playing Ipswich at the Etihad, with 60,000 fans set to flock to the opening game. Next Sunday (August 30), Manchester United will be taking on Ipswich at Old Trafford. In addition, Manchester Village Pride, where tens of thousands will head into the city centre, will be held from Friday (August 28) to Monday (August 31).

Fran Wilkinson, Customer and Growth Director at Transport for Greater Manchester, said: “We’re looking forward to helping thousands of people travel to Live from Wythenshawe Park later this month and have put comprehensive plans in place – including a new £8 travel pass – to make it as easy as possible for people to get to and from the concerts.

“Pride and big games at the Etihad and Old Trafford are also coming up over the same weekends as the concerts, so expect it to busy in and around the city centre too.

“We’d encourage everyone to plan ahead, check their travel options before they set off and consider using public transport wherever possible. The Bee Network offers a convenient and affordable way to get to around, helping people spend less time worrying about travel and more time enjoying their event.”

National Highways said its data showed 947 incidents of wrong way driving

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A motorist is prosecuted every week for risking a head-on collision by driving the wrong way on the motorway, research has found. Reckless drivers are caught reversing along the carriageway, pulling U-turns next to high-speed traffic and driving backwards in a bid to reach a missed exit junction, court papers show.

The Press Association has found that 31 drivers in the past 30 weeks were charged by police with criminal offences involving driving in the wrong direction on the motorways of England and Wales. Those convicted are typically ordered to pay out hundreds of pounds in fines and court fees while some face driving bans as a result of their actions.

The figures comes after five teenagers died on the M9 in Co Kildare last Sunday when their BMW crashed while driving the wrong way in a bid to get away from police. Three women and a seven-year-old boy in the other vehicle involved in the head-on collision were left badly injured in hospital.

In June, National Highways data obtained by the Press Association revealed that 947 incidents involving “oncoming vehicles” on England’s motorways had been logged in the 12 months to May 11. In a recent court case, Ervis Hatellari, 38, from Woodford Green in north-east London, was convicted after being caught reversing a Nissan Qashqai along the M11 in Essex.

Sergeant Philip Roberts, from Essex Police, said the incident happened at around 10pm on New Year’s Eve 2025 when he saw the car “in the hard shoulder and half in lane one of the M11, with reverse lights on, backing up to junction five.”

When Hatellari was pulled over, it turned out his driving licence had been revoked and the vehicle was being driven while uninsured. At Chelmsford Magistrates Court on July 27, Hatellari was fined £660, banned from driving for a year and also ordered to pay £120 costs and a £264 victim surcharge.

In another case, van driver Daniel Udrescu, 57, apologised for a “moment of poor judgment” when he was caught reversing up the slip road for the M6 toll motorway in Cannock, Staffordshire. He told police when pulled over, at around 10.30pm on April 29, that he was “attempting to get to Glasgow and went the wrong way”, and the officer also spotted that the driver’s seat belt was clipped in place, indicating that Udrescu was not wearing it while driving.

He pleaded guilty last month to both offences at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court and was handed three penalty points, a £445 fine, £120 in costs, and a £178 victim surcharge.

In a third case, Innocent Ayodele, 32, an NHS worker from Manchester, apologised to a court in May after he was caught trying to escape a traffic jam on the M61 by driving the wrong way up an entry slip road. Pc Peter Weatherstone, from Greater Manchester Police, told the court he spoke to Ayodele to ask “what he was playing at driving the wrong way”.

“I could see another driver at the side of another vehicle whom he could have struck”, he wrote in his statement. “I pointed out the dangers of such behaviour, but the driver seemed totally blatant in his necessary to do this simply because he had finished worked and wanted to get home.”

Ayodele told Preston Magistrates’ Court he was trying to get home to his pregnant wife, but with nine penalty points already on his licence he could now face a ban when he is sentenced at a later date. In June, the National Highways said its data showing 947 incidents of wrong way driving could include unconfirmed reports and it insisted “confirmed incidents of wrong‑way driving on motorways remain rare. Every report is treated seriously and acted on quickly”.

Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: “To think anyone could drive the wrong way onto a motorway heading into fast-moving traffic is truly the stuff of nightmares.”

After a record hot summer, the UK will be battered by heavy rain and high winds

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The UK is set to experience more storms and rain over the upcoming autumn and winter seasons caused by an “unprecedented” El Nino event, forecasters have warned. El Nino is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5C above the long-term average, impacting global rainfall patterns and average temperatures.

The natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3C in the coming months, making this year’s weather event “the largest since the 19th century”, according to the Met Office. It creates a heightened risk of drought in the tropics, southern Africa and north-east Australia, while north-western Europe – including the UK – is likely to experience wetter and stormier conditions in the coming autumn and early winter, the forecaster said.

“We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event”, Professor Adam Scaife, head of long range forecasting at the Met Office, said. “I have never seen an El Nino signal this intense in our forecasts.”

He added: “A typical El Nino leads to an equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature rise of between one to 2C, with 2C being a really big event. This implies that if the forecast is accurate – and other forecast systems show similar extreme values – then 2026 will far exceed our recent experience of El Nino and its worldwide climate influences.”

El Nino events also drive an increase in global average temperature, with 2027 forecast to be the warmest year on record. “During large El Nino events significantly more heat is released from the ocean to the atmosphere leading to an increase in global average temperature, particularly in the calendar year following the winter peak of the El Nino,” Met Office Science Fellow, Dr Nick Dunstone said.

“Hence, 2027 is very likely to replace 2024 as the warmest year on record and be another year to temporarily exceed plus 1.5C above the pre-industrial period”.

Professor Stephen Belcher, the Met Office’s chief of science and technology, said: “This summer we have experienced heat waves across Europe reminding us of the effects of climate change, this large El Nino is a reminder that natural variations in the climate system are also at play, adding to the stresses of climate change.”

The unprecedented string of heatwaves and lack of rainfall in recent months has brought the driest July in 190 years and has pushed almost three-quarters (71.3%) of England and all of Wales into drought, putting severe pressure on the water system, wildlife, farmers, emergency services and infrastructure.

Many areas of the country are facing water shortages as reservoir levels have fallen to 62.6% – 16.3% lower than is expected for this time of year, according to Defra. Following an emergency meeting to discuss the heatwave last week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham warned: “We might be in for a wet autumn and winter straight after this, because of El Nino and some of the issues there, which was reported to Cobra.”

Parts of the country were hit by heavier showers on Wednesday and Thursday, with the north-west of England seeing the wettest conditions in the last 24 hours, with 52.5mm of rain falling over the seaside town of Morecambe in Lancashire, according to the Environment Agency (EA).

This represents a third of the region’s rainfall totals recorded over the period between June 1 and August 18 this year, which reached up to 156mm on average, the Met Office said. Significant showers also broke over southern parts of the country, with Pevensey Bay in East Sussex recording 32mm of rain over the last 24 hours, again according to an EA gauge.

The sudden heavy rainfall this week also sparked fears of flash flooding as the water has been hitting parched, dry, hard ground. But forecasters and officials warned it could take months of sustained rainfall before rivers, reservoirs and groundwaters are completely replenished – which is when a drought is officially over.

The National Drought Group, which brings together the Met Office, regulators, government, water companies, farmers, scientists and conservation organisations several times a year, said this week’s rainfall and cooler temperatures will not make any significant impact on current water scarcity.

It also warned drought conditions could persist into the new year as, despite El Nino, current forecasts do not suggest this autumn will have the amount of rainfall required to drive recovery before December. After meeting on Thursday, the panel revealed it is moving from monthly to weekly meetings to step up its co-ordinated response to extreme weather, with human-driven climate change driving increasingly volatile conditions across the UK.

The UK’s fifth heatwave earlier this month saw the hottest day of the year recorded in Kew Gardens, London, on August 13 when temperatures reached 38.1C. August 14 was provisionally a record-breaking 10th day in 2026 where temperatures have exceeded 35C or more, according to the Met Office.

The intense heat has also made 2026 the first year on record to see three separate days where temperatures reached the 37C threshold. Elsewhere, wildfires have ravaged parts of the UK, including in the West Midlands, where a blaze in Stourbridge destroyed 19 homes.

In an update on Monday, the National Fire Chiefs Council said 1,132 wildfires have now been recorded across England and Wales in 2026 so far – a record high for the amount between January and this time of year.

A dad used a bow and arrow to shoot a squirrel in his garden in front of a child on Christmas Day. The small creature was “pinned against a wall” but somehow survived, a court heard on Thursday, August 20.

Matthew Cumming was charged after a shocked neighbour reported him to an animal welfare charity. Cumming, 36, was fined £185 when he admitted an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Airdrie Sheriff Court heard the incident happened at his home in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, on December 25 last year. Karon Rollo, prosecuting, said: “The accused was in the kitchen with a child.

“He looked out to the rear garden and saw a grey squirrel on top of a refuge bin. He sought out a large bow and arrows he had in his property, took aim at the squirrel and shot it.

“The squirrel was struck on the head. It managed to run away – I’m not sure how – but ended up pinned against a wall. A neighbour who observed this was concerned and contacted the SSPCA.

“Officers attended and it would appear that as they tried to dislodge the projectile it fell and the squirrel ran away. When charged by police officers in January the accused replied ‘I’m innocent’.”

The Met Office has forecast the weather for Wales today.

It says: “Another showery day today, with some showers possibly thundery and bringing hail, occasionally merging into longer spells of rain.

“Sunny intervals are likely between showers, and it will feel fresher than recently.

“Maximum temperature 20 °C.”