The ‘Thursday Murder Club’ writer will take centre stage at the popular event in September.

Acclaimed author and broadcaster Richard Osman will share centre stage at a prestigious literary festival in Stirling in September.

Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival today reveals that the star of pointless and author of the best-selling Thursday Murder Club novels is the final early release headliner for the 2026 event.

He first visited the Stirling festival when as an unpublished author and his crime novels are now a regular fixture on bestseller lists around the world.

He said: “Can’t wait to come back to Stirling and the incredible ‘Bloody Scotland’ festival. I can 100 per cent guarantee this event will contain mirth, merriment, murder and mayhem, though not necessarily in that order. See you there!’

Other big names released so far include Lee Child (who sold out within 24 hours), S A Cosby, Tana French and Lucy Foley all of whom will be interviewed on stage by guest programmer, Denise Mina.

Richard Osman will be interviewed by long time friend and fellow crime writer, Mark Billingham. Tickets are on sale at www.bloodyscotland.com

The rest of the Bloody Scotland 2026 programme will be revealed at The Golden Lion in Stirling at noon on Thursday, June 4, followed by an event at 1.30pm with J D Kirk.

Bloody Scotland is Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival, providing a showcase for the best crime writing from Scotland and the world, unique in that it was set up by a group of Scottish crime writers in 2012. Full information at bloodyscotland.com

All of the authors shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize have been invited to attend the programme launch. The long-list for the McIlvanney Prize will be revealed later in the month.

The 2026 festival begins on Friday, September 18 and concludes on Sunday, September 20.

The festival takes place in various venues (including The Albert Halls, Made in Stirling and the social hub of the festival, The Golden Lion Hotel) in the historic city of Stirling.

The Bloody Scotland board is made up of crime writers Lin Anderson, Craig Robertson, Gordon Brown, Abir Mukherjee plus Muriel Robertson and Catriona Reynolds.

Bloody Scotland receives vital funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland and Stirling Council. They are also grateful to their many sponsors and supporters including The Glencairn Glass, H W Fisher, Waterstones, The Open University in Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates, Lumo, Arnold Clark and Go Forth Stirling along with a wide range of publishers.

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports culture and creativity across all parts of Scotland, distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com.

Follow on X, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot

Edit”STIRLING: Richard Osman set for top festival”

A man sustained severe facial injuries following an attack by what’s believed to be an “XL Bully” dog. The incident has sparked a police investigation to locate the dog and its suspected owner.

Luke Sanderson, 25, was set upon by the animal while speaking with another man. He was left with significant facial wounds in and around his mouth. A graphic image below, which some readers may find upsetting, shows the severity of Mr Sanderson’s injuries.

Mr Sanderson’s mother, Jo, revealed her son required up to 50 stitches for his wounds following the attack in Towyn Way West, Towyn earlier this week

She explained how it happened on Bank Holiday Monday when Luke was talking to a man and was then bitten on the mouth. Always keep on top of the latest Welsh news with our newsletter

“I was inside the house and Luke came in and his mouth was covered in blood. The police are involved and are now searching for him and the dog,” said Jo.

“Luke seems okay, it has traumatised him though and he doesn’t want the dog attacking anybody else. He is also worried it may attack a child. He was told he was lucky.”

“He went into hospital Monday night, got home about four in the morning. He went back Tuesday for day surgery where he had about 40-50 stitches. He’s on antibiotics and eye ointment. He’s got to go back on the 4th (of June) for another appointment.”

She added: “I am trying to keep calm about it because my son doesn’t want to make a fuss. He says, ‘I am still walking, still talking and I can leave the house – I’m fine’. That’s how he sees it.”

North Wales Police have launched an appeal to trace Darren Sheridan, aged 45, in connection with the incident.

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A North Wales Police Denbighshire Coastal and Abergele appeal said: “Wanted. We are actively looking for Darren Sheridan (45) of Kinmel Bay. He is wanted on suspicion of failing to control a dangerous dog, and breach of a Domestic Abuse Protection Order (DAPO).

“If you have seen Darren, or have any information as to his whereabouts, please contact us via our live webchat or on 101 quoting ref 26000418267.”

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Real ended their 2025-26 campaign trophyless, with rivals Barcelona sealing the La Liga title with a 2-0 El Clasico victory.

Los Blancos’ Champions League run also ended with a 6-4 aggregate defeat by German champions Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

After leaving Real in 2013, Mourinho returned to England for a second stint at Chelsea, winning the third of his three Premier League titles, plus the EFL Cup, in the 2014-15 season.

Following his departure from the Blues by mutual consent in 2015, Mourinho joined Manchester United on a three-year deal in 2016.

He won the Europa League, EFL Cup and Community Shield during his first season at Old Trafford, but was sacked in December 2018 after a poor run of results.

Mourinho also had spells at Tottenham, Serie A side Roma, where he won the Europa Conference League in 2022, and Turkish club Fenerbahce, before taking over at Benfica.

The BBC’s topical debate programme Question Time began in an usual way this week, featuring a panel of iconic people who all passed away decades ago.

Winston Churchill, Frida Khalo, Mahatma Gandhi and Emmeline Pankhurst briefly featured to introduce the programme’s topic – artificial intelligence (AI).

The programme went on to discuss the consequential issues of AI for the present day and beyond.

The real life panel consisted of Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister; Julia Lopez, shadow secretary of state for science, innovation and technology; Mo Gawdat, author, entrepreneur and former chief business officer at Google X; Laura Gilbert, senior director of AI at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change; and Victor Riparbelli, founder and CEO of London-based AI company Synthesia.

Watch the full programme here.

Six years ago, the government rejected a House of Lords select committee proposal to add the Champions League final to the list of “crown jewels” events, which would have ensured it would always be free-to-air.

Highlights of the Champions League final will be available on the BBC Sport website and across social media channels 15 minutes after the trophy lift, and on BBC iPlayer and television later in the evening.

Live commentary will also be on BBC Radio 5 Live.

The Champions League final had been free on ITV each year from 1993 – with the exception of the 1994 final, which the BBC showed live – until BT Sport won the rights, starting from 2015-16.

BT Sport continued to make it available without a subscription through to 2023, simultaneously broadcasting the game on its YouTube channel.

This changed after BT Sport was bought by Warner Bros Discovery and rebranded as TNT Sports.

While the finals remained available without cost, fans needed to sign up for a discovery+ account to get access.

Discovery+ has been replaced by Warner Bros Discovery’s new streaming service, HBO Max, which has no free option.

Fans will not need a full TNT Sports subscription, and can instead sign up for HBO Max for one month.

The cheapest subscription starts at £4.99, which would include all three matches, though most Sky customers already get HBO Max at no extra cost.

From 2027-28, TNT Sports will lose its European rights.

Paramount+ has picked up the Champions League, while the Europa League and the Conference League will move to Sky Sports.

Warner Bros Discovery has been approached for comment.

Canadian national Kenneth Law, 60, has admitted charges of aiding suicide relating to Canadian victims – he has been linked to deaths in the UK

A Canadian man who sold lethal substances online to people across the world, including the UK, has admitted charges of aiding suicide.

Kenneth Law, 60, appeared in court in Ontario, Canada, on Friday where he formally entered his guilty pleas to a total of 14 counts, all relating to Canadian victims.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said 79 UK victims who died as a direct result of purchasing Law’s products will form part of the wider case into his offending.

Authorities informed the victims’ families that Law would not face criminal proceedings in the UK because of the potential for the hotel cook to challenge the extradition after being convicted of similar offences in Canada.

After his Canadian convictions, British prosecutors described Law as a “serial offender who callously exploited many vulnerable and innocent people exchanging their lives for his financial gain”.

He sold 1,200 packages to 40 countries across the world from Canada-based websites – with 286 individuals in the UK receiving the products, leading to 112 deaths.

The NCA and CPS said in a letter to bereaved families that it had been established Law sent 330 products to the UK in total.

Explaining why the UK victims would be taken into the Canadian case, the letter said: “We recognise that this may be painful to hear, and that some victims and bereaved families may have hoped to see a separate prosecution in England and Wales.

“This difficult decision was reached only after detailed consideration of all available options.”

The senior investigating officer at the NCA, Damon Hayes, told reporters including British victims in the Canadian case “guarantees all victims and families in the UK will see justice”.

He added: “This approach is not unusual in cases involving serious offending that crosses international borders.

“This will allow the judge to take into account the full extent of Law’s criminal behaviour, including the fact that his actions resulted in the deaths of people in this country.”

Victims’ families have criticised the move, with one bereaved father saying: “I am angry but not surprised.”

David Parfett, the father of philosophy student Thomas Parfett, who died aged 22 after taking his own life in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, added: “For months, we have been told that the system is working and that existing measures are enough. They are not.

“If our own country will not put anyone on trial for these deaths, the very least it can do is hold a proper inquiry into how they were allowed to happen.”

The sister of 21-year-old Aimee Walton, from Southampton, who died in 2022, said that “doors have been shut” for families seeking justice.

Adele Zeynep Walton said: “The question for our own country is simpler still: who here will examine how the British state let this happen, and what it will do so that no other family goes through it?

“A foreign sentencing hearing cannot answer that. Only a statutory public inquiry can.”

Since opening its investigation in April 2023, the NCA has worked with 45 police forces across the UK to gather evidence on Law’s offending.

Specialist CPS prosecutor Andrew Hudson told reporters that “no victim has been left behind as part of this process”, adding that including British victims will “ensure that the full devastating extent of his criminal conduct is seen and considered by the sentence in court.”

Law was also investigated by police in the United States, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.

– Call Samaritans for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org.

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South Lanarkshire Council are set to sell the property off.

A council house in Bothwell with serious structural problems is to be sold off after repair costs were found to be more than double the property’s market value.

The former tenant of the two-bedroom property at 13 Morven Way raised concerns about cracks throughout the building and the overall condition of the property — and was permanently rehoused.

The property has been lying empty ever since, and will now go before South Lanarkshire Council’s housing and technical resources committee on June 3, where councillors will be asked to approve the disposal of the house on the open market.

The single-storey end terrace house, which was built in 1960, was flagged after the tenant’s concerns prompted a full structural assessment.

The report by Grossart Associates identified serious defects throughout, including internal and external separation cracks, an off-level floor slab, and wall cracks throughout.

A report by housing director Stephen Gibson, which will be tabled at next week’s meeting, states that the inspection “identified an on-going structural problem within the property, with serious defects noted throughout.”

He wrote: “The total cost of reinstatement works to 13 Morven Way is estimated at £162,687.

“All works included within these costs are mandatory. Any works that were deemed non-essential have been removed from costings to cap the costs of this project.

“It should be noted that, even if these works were carried out, there is no guarantee that structural issues would not re-emerge following this.

“Similar style of properties within the Bothwell area have sold for £87,000 on the open market. Therefore, the reinstatement works to 13 Morven Way are just over double the market value of similar type properties.”

The works required are extensive — stripping out the interior, replacing the roof, installing new external render and windows, and strengthening the external walls.

The recommendation is to sell the 13 Morven Way property as it stands, with any proceeds going into the Housing Revenue Account’s Capital Programme.

With the local authority in the midst of a housing emergency, the council’s estates team “will actively monitor the market in an attempt to buy back other ex-council properties within the area to replace this property.”

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Micaela Church completed the challenge in just two days to raise money for the at-threat facility which cares for her disabled brother.

A woman has smashed a £10,000 fundraising target by completing four Edinburgh Marathon Festival events in a single weekend- running 78km in two days for the disabled brother she helps care for.

Micaela Church completed the 5km (3.1 miles) and 10km (6.2 miles) on Saturday, followed by the half marathon (21.1km / 13.1 miles) and full marathon (42.2km / 26.2 miles), raising vital funds for Capability Scotland’s Our Inclusive Community Project (OICP).

The new development will replace Upper Springland, the Perth residential facility where her brother Matthew lives, which faces a significant flooding risk that threatens its long-term future.

Matthew, who was born with cytomegalovirus, lives with learning disabilities, autism, epilepsy and severe anxiety that requires round-the-clock specialist care.

When Micaela and her siblings became his welfare guardians following the sudden loss of their mother five years ago, Upper Springland’s support proved invaluable to the whole family.

Micaela said: “The team at Upper Springland have taken the time to truly understand Matthew, his needs, his anxieties and the things that bring him joy.

“Knowing he is safe and genuinely cared for gives our whole family peace of mind. That’s what I’m running for.”

The new OICP facility will include a specialist hydrotherapy pool and that detail has driven every training mile. Swimming is where Matthew is at his happiest and the thought of securing that for him, and others like him, gave Micaela’s campaign its purpose.

Micaela remembered her mother returning from the Edinburgh Marathon Festival with a medal, convinced she had won. Decades later, she ran the same course carrying that memory with her.

Ailsa Wallace, head of fundraising and communications at Capability Scotland, said: “What Micaela is taking on is extraordinary both the physical challenge and the dedication behind it.

“Upper Springland has served people from across Scotland for over 40 years. The OICP will ensure that exceptional care continues in a modern, purpose-built environment that truly reflects it and fundraising like this brings that future one step closer.”

To support Micaela’s challenge, visit: justgiving.com/page/manymilesformatthew

To find out more about Capability Scotland, visit: https://www.capability.scot/

Twisted David Harker has been behind bars for more than 27 years for butchering mum-of-four Julie Paterson in 1998. 

Harker cut off Ms Paterson’s limbs and head before disposing of her torso in a black sack and dumping it in a house on Polam Lane – and even boasted about frying her thigh and eating it. 

The now-51-year-old, who had already been refused parole eight times, faced another hearing on May 13, this year. 

But a parole board has once again denied Harker’s release or an open condition in order to  “protect the public from serious harm”.  

Harker was said to ‘charming’, but he had a chilling dark side (Image: Contributor)

The parole board decision summary reveals Harker, who became eligible for parole in 2013, chose not to make any representations about his release and did not attend the hearing. 

It details how there have been “signs of change” in his behaviour in custody, with no disciplinary findings since 2015.

He has also undertaken an intervention to increase motivation and engagement and a programme intended to strengthen the methods he can use to reduce violent tendencies. 

The panel considered a dossier containing 356 pages of reports, including submissions on behalf of the Secretary of State arguing against release.

The person responsible for managing Harker in prison, two probation officers who would be responsible for him in the community if he were to be released, and a psychologist all expressed the view that he did not pass the test for release or open conditions.

The panel decided not to release Harker. He has 21 days to appeal for reconsideration. 

Harker – who was likened to Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs – was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in February 1999.

At the time, psychiatrists who examined him on behalf of both the defence and the prosecution agreed that his responsibility for his actions at the time of the killing was “substantially diminished by a severe psychopathic disorder”.

He was jailed for life. 

Ms Paterson first went missing in April 1988 and a murder investigation was launched when parts of body were found in a bin liner hidden in a garden hedge the following month.

Julie Paterson went missing in April 1998 (Image: Contributor)

She was just 32 when she died – and the rest of her remains have never been recovered. 

Detectives believed the evil killer had kept her decapitated head in the corner of his bedroom for several days before deciding to remove it, with her limbs and head never being found. 

At the time, officers trawled through 20,000 tons of rubbish at Coxhoe tip, in County Durham, dragging rivers and ponds and searching sewers, but to no avail.

When Harker was held on remand at Ashworth Hospital, in Liverpool, before being convicted, he told The Northern Echo what had happened to the mother.

Police searching for Julie’s remains at a County Durham landfill site in 1998 (Image: North News)

While Harker had refused to talk to the police about it, he openly admitted his guilt to former Echo reporter Karen Westcott during a call, then through twisted letters, and then in person.

Harker, who has the words “subhuman” and “disorder” tattooed on his scalp, admitted in these letters that he was making a mask out of human skin and intended to use the flesh of his victims to complete it.

He wrote: “I would have gone on until I was caught.

“The coroner would be busy in Darlington if I ever got out.”

Harker also told the Echo in person that he had consensual sex with Julie at his flat on Harewood Grove before he strangled her with her tights in his bedroom.

He said coldly: “It just happened.”

Ms Paterson’s family have long pleaded with Harker to reveal where he disposed of her body.

However, he has refused to answer their desperate calls to finally put their beloved mam to rest.