Pamela Doherty spoke up about John Leathem’s wife after someone referred to her online as “his poor wife”.

The of murdered teenager Paige Doherty has slammed the wife of the killer for sticking by her husband.

Pamela Doherty, 43, was provoked into posting about John Leathem’s wife, Katya Karbowiak, after someone put a comment on a post referring to “his poor wife”.

Leathem, 42, was sentenced to life after he admitted killing the 15-year-old – who who was 4ft 8in – at his deli in Clydebank, in 2016. Paige’s body was found two days later dumped in a wood.

She had more than 140 injuries and had been stabbed 61 times. Pamela wrote on Facebook: “I’ve never said much about what I think about the wife of the man who killed Paige. So here it is.

“When Paige died, I had loads of people say I should tell people ‘don’t blame the wife’.”

Pamela explained that she believes Karbowiak was wrong to stand by her husband. She added: “I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I thought she was maybe ­terrified. Maybe he had threatened her.

“Instead, she defended her husband, even shouting outside Low Moss Prison he was innocent. When people feel sorry for this woman, please remember.”

Pamela told the Record in March about her wish to visit Leathem in jail and challenge him to explain why he murdered.

The interview marked the 10th anniversary of Paige’s murder and since then, Pamela has held a charity ball in her memory to raise funds for Paige’s Promise, set up to help families who lose children in tragic circumstances.

Pamela belives there was a sexual motive for the attack and that Paige was killed because she fought back. She also said she had written previously to Leathem, asking him to accept a visit from her in jail, but he failed to reply.

Pamela intends to try again. She said: “I want him to face me, look me in the eye and tell me why he took my daughter’s life when she had so much ahead of her.”

Pamela also revealed that the justice system had added to the torture she felt at losing her daughter.

She had to delay the funeral for weeks to allow the defence to have its own post-mortem, and when Leathem appealed against his 27-year minimum sentence and saw it reduced to 23, she had no input into the proceedings.

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A Belfast-based arts collective is calling for more funding for the arts in Northern Ireland and more affordable studio space to help the country’s thriving creative sector.

Vault Artist Studios was formed in 2017 as a community driven, non-profit charity, with the initial intention to transform derelict buildings by bringing them back to life, all while providing much-needed affordable artist studio space.

The multi-disciplinary collective has over 100 members consisting of musicians, circus performers, visual artists, photographers and more. Up until this month, the group had spent three years between studio space on Victoria Street in Belfast city centre and at the Shankill Mission building.

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Prior to this, the group had been based on Tower Street in East Belfast for five years, with the building recently demolished to make way for affordable housing. Now, the group has moved into a new home in Bankmore House on Bedford Street, which gives studio space to 30 artists, as well as a gallery and project space.

Further studio space will come from a move back to the East of the city, with a hub opening soon in the former Masonic Lodge on the lower Newtownards Road.

Speaking to Belfast Live, Rob Hilken, a visual artist on the board of trustees for Vault Artist Studios, said they’re delighted with their new space on Bedford Street.

“This is the best building we’ve ever had,” he said. “The gallery space is incredible and our studios are great here, we’re in a busy part of town with lots of businesses, a lot of developments in the are, so it’s a real opportunity for us to engage with the local community.

“This space is going to be essential for us to manage keeping our studio rents affordable because artists are some of the lowest paid workers in the economy. We use these rentable spaces to continue to be affordable to those who would otherwise struggle.

“We’ve designed the space to be multifunctional and we’re working really closely with Linen Quarter BID and they’re going to be taking on the space to run wellbeing workshops for local people and businesses at lunchtime.

“We have one exhibition a month that we programme for Late Night Art, but in between that, there are groups of artists who come and rent our space and put on their own exhibitions here.”

Reflecting on the nomad status of Vault Artist Studio, with moving from derelict building to derelict building being in the collective’s DNA, Rob said: “With these buildings, there’s always a long-term plan for them which we’re not a part of because we can’t pay commercial rents, so we occupy on a short-term basis.

“When we move in we work hard to get a space immediately working for us. We haven’t got unlimited energy to do this, but we’ve got good energy to make things happen in a short space of time.”

The collective’s first exhibition in their new space is titled ‘Mayday Mayday’, a fitting theme in their new temporary home, with the term being both a distress signal and a rallying call for workers to come together.

It comes as funding for the arts in Northern Ireland is less than a quarter of the sum invested in the Republic of Ireland, and half of that in Wales. Of the estimated 14,500 artists in NI, only 29% can work full-time in the arts, with the majority supplementing their income by taking on multiple jobs.

Visual artist Cathy Scullion curated the exhibition, and took a week off on holiday from her day job to put it together. She said: “The exhibition is all about celebrating workers and the working classes. For me personally, there’s a real worry that as the cost of being an artist rises, we’re basically eliminating the ability for working class people to be able to do this type of work and exist in this world.

“It’s something we should all be really concerned about as working class people have a lot of really important and interesting things to say. I come from a working class background myself and I went back to university later in life because when you were younger it was very much drummed into you that that isn’t for you.

“There are still certain parts of the art world you can feel like you don’t belong, so that’s why this exhibition was personally really important to me to be the first thing to launch this new space.”

As for the importance of collectives such as Vault at a time when the costs of being an artist are on the rise, Rob sadi: “We provide studios to people that don’t necessarily make a full-time living from their art, which is very hard to do. Most people have other work, but to justify having a studio that is expensive would just push a lot of people out of the sector.

“So by having this affordable studio space we can include people of all demographics. The whole spectrum of the arts is here, so that’s really important to the city and brings an energy to this place that is so unique.”

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Such groups also add to the fabric of the city, with exhibitions being a central part of the monthly Late Night Art event on the first Thursday of each month at galleries around the city.

Rob said it provides a vital space to get people interested in the arts and to meet new people, with community engagement a vital part of Vault’s mission.

He said: “We have a lot of students who come to the exhibitions, young artists moving to the city who want to meet other artists and embed themselves in the scene. The gallery does a lot for lots of different people.

“We’re hoping local people, the businesses and communities in the local area start to see us as a place where they can come and socialise. Some people don’t necessarily want to go to a pub, or maybe they don’t know anybody in the area, but it’s quite easy to just talk to somebody about a piece of art on the wall.

“On the other side of us there are flats, there are people living in this immediate area. We always have a goal to have an impact locally, we see ourselves as a community of artists and artists in the community as very much a two-sided thing about why we exist.”

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Firearms officers and a dog unit were called to the property in Rosemary Court, near Walmgate, shortly after 1pm on Friday (May 8).

It followed a report of affray that happened earlier on Friday, North Yorkshire Police said.

The force said the incident was “safely resolved” but officers would remain at the property on Friday to conduct a search.

Police cars parked in Rosemary Court, York, on Friday (May 8) (Image: Alice Kavanagh)

One woman visiting a friend in the area said she was surprised by the police presence.

“I had absolutely no idea, we didn’t see or hear anything that was happening,” she said.

A nearby resident said: “I saw three or four police cars before, but it wasn’t too close to me.

“I just keep myself to myself … It’s generally really nice living around here, but we do have police showing up a few times a month.”

A 43-year-old man was arrested in connection with the reported affray on Friday, police said.

The M61 in Greater Manchester is closed in both directions between J2 and J4 (M60/ A666) near Bolton due to a police led incident.

National Highways is advising motorists do the following:

Road users travelling northbound are advised to follow the Solid square diversion symbol on road signs.

Leave the M61 northbound at junction 2.

• Follow the A666 Kearsley Spur northbound for 2.2 km.
• Leave the A666 Kearsley Spur northbound at A666/A6053 roundabout.
• At A666/A6053 roundabout, take the first exit on to the A6053  northbound and follow for 0.3 km.
• At A6053 /A5082 junction, turn left on to A5082 westbound and follow for 2.9 km.
• At A5082/A6 junction , turn right onto A6 westbound and follow for 2.2 km.
• At A6/Watergate Lane roundabout, take the second exit leading to M61 and follow for 0.5 km.
• At Watergate Lane/M61 junction 4 roundabout, take the first exit and re-join the M61 northbound.

Road users travelling southbound are advised to follow the solid circle diversion symbol on road signs.

• Leave the M61 southbound at junction 4.
• At Watergate Lane/M61 junction 4 roundabout, take the third exit to join the A6.
• Follow the A6 southbound for 0.5 km.
• At A6/Watergate Lane roundabout, take the first exit onto A6 eastbound and follow for 2.2 km.
• At A5082/A6 junction, turn left onto A5082 northbound and follow for 2.9 km.
• At A5082/A6053 junction, turn right onto A6053 eastbound and follow for 0.3 km.
• At A666/A6053 roundabout, take the third exit to join the A666 Kearsley Spur southbound and follow for 2.2 km.
• Leave the A666 Kearsley Spur southbound at junction 2.
• Join the M61 southbound at junction 2.

If this closure impacts on your planned route, please allow extra journey time. Plan ahead, you may wish to re-route or even delay your journey.”

Officers carried out a dawn raid where they discovered a large quantity of suspected Class A drugs – including a 20 litre barrel of a substance believed to be in the manufacture of drugs.

Two men have been arrested

Police raided the property on Elmira Way, Salford.

Two men– both aged 29 – were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs, in addition on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of Class A and B drugs.

They remain in custody for questioning.

During searches of the property, officers uncovered a quantity of suspected class A drugs – including crystal meth, ketamine, and other related paraphernalia.

A 20 litre barrel of a substance believed to be used as part of the manufacturing process was also recovered, and will be tested before being appropriately disposed of.

The work comes as part of an ongoing operation, with the warrant conducted by the Violence, Reduction and Exploitation team.

Discovery after raid (Image: GMP)

Sergeant Adam Culpan said: “This morning’s work resulted in significant recoveries and has seen harmful substances taken out of circulation.

“Our proactive teams work diligently every single day to tackle drug-related criminality, in addition to the wider repercussions that it can cause – such as exploitation and addiction.

“If you have any information about criminality in your area, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with police, either directly or anonymously via Crimestoppers.”

Is the name as naughty as it seems, or is there a different way to pronounce it?

Where is Shittlehope?

Shittlehope sits between Stanhope and Frosterley in the upper Wear Valley, tucked into the North Pennines landscape of farmland, steep banks and old mining ground.

The name lives on in Shittlehope Burn, which cuts down to meet the River Wear, and in Shittlehope Shield, a small settlement close to the main road up the dale.

It is the sort of place you are more likely to walk or drive past than search for, until the sign flashes past and the spelling sticks in your mind.

Why the name confuses people

Written down, the first part of Shittlehope looks like a word many people avoid saying in polite company, which is why some visitors try to soften it to “Sheetlehope” or glide over the middle completely.

Online, there are threads where people argue about the “right” way to say it and joke about how broadcasters will cope.

For people in Weardale, however, the joke wears thin quickly: it is simply the name of a burn, a shield and a small corner of the valley they call home.

How do you pronounce Shittlehope?

Locally, Shittlehope – as in Shittlehope Burn and Shittlehope Shield in Weardale – is generally pronounced “SHIT-uhl-hohp”, with a clear short “i” and both parts sounded as written.

In faster local speech, it is often clipped even further to something closer to “SHIT-lup”, the second half tumbling away in a single syllable.

Both versions sit comfortably within the Weardale accent, where vowels are short and place names are often shortened in everyday use.

A call for local voices

Even in an age of mapping apps and street-level images, small places like Shittlehope rarely come with audio guides. That is why local knowledge still matters.

If you live in or around Stanhope, Frosterley or along Shittlehope Burn, how do you say it?

Do you lean towards “SHIT-uhl-hohp”, the clipped “SHIT-lup”, or something else entirely?

Let us know in the comments.

One type of outside light may make burglars “think twice before attempting to break into the property”

Worried homeowners who feel troubled by security and safety have been urged to install one type of light. And it may help prevent a break-in.

Touching on Home Security, one question on a police website asks: “Are external lights a good idea for security?” In its answer, the Ask the Police website, hosted by the Police National Legal Database, issued guidance and said “yes.”

It explained: “Yes they are, outside lights deter potential burglars from dark hidden areas. The best type of external light is one that stays on all the time. Any intruder that has made up their mind to break into a property will more than likely not be put off by lights that are triggered by movement.

“If the light is on all the time then it may make them think twice before attempting to break into the property.” In another question that asks, “how can I protect my home from burglary?”, the site recommends making sure you have taken all the necessary steps to ensure your home is not a target.

It says: “A secure home will reduce the chance of you getting burgled. Many domestic burglaries are committed by opportunists; criminals will look for homes that have little or no obvious security, have doors or windows left open or seem unoccupied.”

It recommends these “top tips” listed below “to help keep your home safe from thieves”.

• Install an alarm system will help to deter burglars.
• Ensure you have a robust, secure front door with British Standard-approved locks and hinges.
• Install outside lighting, such as motion sensor lights so that intruders cannot approach without being seen.
• Lock your doors and windows every time you leave the house, even when you are just out in the garden.
• Consider installing CCTV, as this is good deterrent for thieves and if you are targeted, CCTV can provide valuable evidence.
• When you go out, leave radios or lights in your house on a timer to make the property appear occupied.
• Keep hedges and walls at the front of your house low (under one metre) so burglars have nowhere to hide.
• Keep side and rear boundaries high and add trellis or prickly defensive planting to make it harder for burglars to climb over.
• If you have a sliding patio door, check that it has an anti-lift device fitted so it can’t be lifted out of the frame.
• Move bins or garden furniture that could be used to reach windows.
• Ensure communal doors in flats/apartments are closed and secure, and report any faults to your landlord or maintenance company.
• Never buzz anyone into the building that you do not know, or let them follow behind you.
• Lock and secure any sheds and outbuildings.
• Property mark and register valuable items.
• Think about having your door reinforced with a security door bar.
• Mark your property with a UV marker pen or Security DNA marking Kit – these can be bought online or in some stores.

Waterspouts were spotted spiralling off the Mediterranean coast as flash floods and severe storms battered a popular Brit holiday spot

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Footage circulating on social media has captured the dramatic moment enormous waterspouts spiralled off the coastline of a popular tourist destination.

Southern Spain has been battered by flash floods as fierce storms swept through the region ahead of the summer holidays. Torrential downpours triggered widespread flooding on roads across parts of Murcia, with cars pictured floating in deep floodwater as the deluge hammered the area.

Several marine tornadoes emerged offshore, with witnesses reporting at least three waterspouts. The towering vortexes stretched from dark, brooding storm clouds down towards the Mediterranean, according to the Sun. A waterspout is a rotating column of air that forms over water, capable of producing destructive wind gusts. In extreme cases, winds can reach speeds of up to 250km/h.

Days earlier British holidaymakers in parts of Spain were issued a weather warning.

Spain’s state meteorological agency AEMET reinforced severe weather warnings across Campo de Cartagena, while authorities issued a yellow alert for thunderstorms, cautioning residents about the possibility of hail and powerful wind gusts, reports the Mirror.

An orange alert remained active for torrential rainfall, with forecasters predicting up to 40mm of rain falling within a single hour.

The conditions form part of a broader storm system sweeping across eastern and southern parts of the country, following weeks of warm weather. Meteorologists have cautioned of heavy downpours, electrical storms and rapidly shifting conditions throughout the region.

The severe weather arrives just weeks after storms struck Spain in March, claiming one life. In some areas, rainfall exceeded 250 litres per square metre, with rivers surging to perilous levels.

Earlier this year, Storm Leonardo unleashed more than 15 inches of rain within just 24 hours, forcing mass evacuations, school closures and widespread train cancellations.

The devastating storm also claimed a life in Portugal, displacing thousands of residents from their homes.

Stephen Hendry has made his stance crystal clear after witnessing some alarming behaviour at the World Snooker Championship

Stephen Hendry has warned that European players have to urgently raise their game or risk being left behind in the snooker world. The past two Crucible champions have both come from China, with Zhao Xintong claiming victory in 2025 and Wu Yize emerging triumphant earlier this week.

Seven-time champion Hendry still holds the distinction of being the youngest ever winner, though Wu now sits second on that list following his victory over Shaun Murphy on Monday. A total of 11 Chinese players featured in the main draw in Sheffield from a field of 32, with only England (13) providing more representatives.

“It’s incredible, the talent coming from China now. The young talent is incredible,” BBC pundit Hendry said on his Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips YouTube channel.

READ MORE: Stephen Hendry snubs World Seniors Championship and gives Ronnie O’Sullivan refusalREAD MORE: Jimmy White bites back as he tells snooker star ‘get a life’ in World Seniors row

He added: “They are taking the game to new levels. We need some young blood from these shores – obviously with Stan Moody, Liam Pullen did really well, Antoni Kowalski did really well at the World Championship.

“These three are going to have to step up if they’re going to keep up with the likes of Xintong and Wu Yize.”

English hopeful Moody, 19, made his World Championship first-round debut and established an early advantage against former champion Kyren Wilson before eventually succumbing 10-7.

Pullen was also making his main draw bow at 20 and claimed six frames from Chris Wakelin.

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Kowalski became Poland’s first representative in the tournament at the age of 22 after navigating three qualifying rounds. His run also concluded in round one, with Mark Williams inflicting a 10-4 defeat.

New world champion Wu, also 22, had never progressed past the first round in Sheffield prior to this year. Yet after defeating former world champions Murphy and Mark Selby in this year’s tournament, he has no intention of leaving the city he has considered home since the age of 16.

“I don’t have any plans,” Wu told BBC Sport following his dramatic 18-17 victory in the final.

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He added: “I think I will buy a house or an apartment in Sheffield for practice and the World Championship.”

One more seasoned European player who earned plaudits from Hendry was runner-up Murphy. The 43-year-old received glowing praise during his semi-final victory over reigning champion Zhao, which led him to joke about the pundit requiring an intervention.

Hendry said: “It was nigh on the perfect session. I don’t think Shaun will have ever played as good a session, it was a super-human performance and it needed that to take out Zhao Xintong, because he wasn’t playing badly.”