The incident took place on the A171 towards Whitby and involved a red quad bike which was reported as stolen to North Yorkshire Police. 

Officers travelling towards Whitby on the A171 spotted the quad bike heading in the opposite direction towards Scaling Dam.

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A police pursuit began when the rider failed to stop.

The chase continued westbound on the A171 before the quad bike turned onto Roxby Low Moor and travelled along Roxby Lane, passing the junction for Borrowby and through Dale House.

The vehicle then turned back towards Whitby on Hinderwell Lane.

Officers brought the vehicle to a safe stop near the Port Mulgrave turn-off, where Hinderwell Lane meets Rosedale Lane.

During the pursuit, the suspect discarded a mobile phone, which was recovered by officers as part of the investigation.

A man in his 30s from the Cleveland area was arrested at 4.39am—just 24 minutes after the initial report—on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, driving without insurance, and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

The quad bike was recovered and the suspect remains in custody.

Video of the incident has been released by North Yorkshire Police to highlight the professionalism and dedication of their officers.

Chief Inspector Alex Langley, of North Yorkshire Police’s Specialist Operations team, said: “This incident highlights the dedication of our officers who work around the clock to protect our communities.

“Thanks to a swift response and coordinated policing tactics, a suspected stolen vehicle was recovered, a suspect was arrested and a potentially dangerous situation was brought to a safe conclusion.”

James and Naomi Miller have accused some residents of being racist after police were called to reports that the family’s quad bike was being driven illegally through the village of Tunstall, near Richmond.

The couple are facing legal action from North Yorkshire Council after fencing off a corner of a field outside the village and installing a mobile home, a caravan and two sheds on the plot.

The Millers, who have Romani heritage but say their families have lived in Skipton for five generations, purchased the land earlier this year and moved onto the site with their two adult sons.

In a post on social media following the incident on Wednesday, the couple said they wanted to let the people know who called police that no action was taken as the quad was road legal with insurance and road tax.

The couple say there “must be ten quads a day” which drive through the village but do not get reported to the police.

They add: “Yous are wasting your racist time; we are here to stay, we are going nowhere.

“We are Yorkshire bred and born. We are not travellers. Ask Richmond the difference. They have just had to endure them on car parks — that’s not us. We own our land and we’re decent Yorkshire people.”

The couple have previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that they aware local residents think they was building a traveller site on the field, which they have called Miller’s Meadow.

The couple have said they are very community-focussed and just want to be left alone to live in peace.

They added in this week’s social media post: “I keep telling you, keep on and I will sell this land to 20 traveller families for a pittance, and then maybe youse will see the difference between us and what you say we are.”

The post adds that the couple run three successful businesses.

It adds: “It took six months to do this, not a bank holiday weekend. This is our home bought and payed for and yes I pay more in tax a year than a lot of youse will earn.”

North Yorkshire councillor for the Upper Dales, Yvonne Peacock, confirmed that the authority was taking legal action over the land.

“The council is taking enforcement and I am working closely with the planning authorities and the local parish council,” she added.

North Yorkshire Council said it did not comment on ongoing cases.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has contacted North Yorkshire Police for comment on its response.

Bolton Destitute Animal Shelter has been named a finalist in both the Best Animal Rescue/Charity and Outstanding Contribution to Animal Welfare categories, having been selected from more than 16,000 nominations.

The nominations are part of the Pet Industry Business Awards.

The shelter announced the news on social media, thanking supporters for helping it reach the finals and urging residents to cast their votes.

Juke the dog (Image: Bolton Destitute Animal Centre)

A spokesperson from the shelter said: “I can’t believe we are finalists for not one but two awards. We are in such shock and so happy that our amazing team has been recognised for all the hard work they do.

“We hope this brings more awareness to our rescue so we can help even more dogs and cats who need our support.

“In all the 100 years we have never been finalists in any awards ceremony, so we are all over the moon.”

The organisation said the recognition was for the animals that have passed through its doors over the years, as well as the staff, volunteers and supporters who help keep the charity running.

Voting is now open, with the shelter encouraging people to back its bid for the awards.

Voting closes on October 11 and you can vote for Destitute Animal Shelter through the awards website.

Leah Smith, 29, was forced to medically retire as an NHS A&E receptionist

A young woman diagnosed with a rare condition is only able to consume tea and biscuits. Whenever Leah Smith, 29, ate anything, it would result in severe bloating and swelling, causing her abdomen to resemble a pregnancy bump. She described being “violently sick” and vomiting undigested food that had remained in her stomach days later, leading her to lose 6st in 10 weeks at her worst.

Leah endured her symptoms for a year before receiving a diagnosis of gastroparesis (stomach paralysis) — a condition where the nerves responsible for signalling her stomach to empty became paralysed, leaving her unable to pass food into her intestines. Her condition is so severe that she has since had a Hickman line fitted to her chest, through which she receives her nutritional feed.

She must wear the device for 12 hours a day, five days a week. Leah was compelled to take medical retirement from her role as an NHS A&E receptionist and has been advised that tea and biscuits are the only things her body can now tolerate. She has also revealed that she can no longer recall the taste of food, yet still “loves” to cook.

Leah, from Benfleet, Essex, said: “The only things I can really manage are tea, coffee with lactose-free milk and occasionally the cream from the middle of a custard cream biscuit. To me it isn’t strange not eating anymore, as I know the complications that come with it – but in fact I actually enjoy cooking.

“I don’t actually miss eating my favourite foods as I’ve actually lost the memory of the flavour of them. My life now revolves around my TPN connection and disconnection times.

“I was put on the machine because doctors told me that I was starving to death. I would say it affected my life at the beginning, as friends didn’t really know what I would be comfortable with. But I still go out to family meals, just because I don’t eat doesn’t mean I can’t get the socialisation from it.”

Leah explained that she has suffered from digestive problems since her teenage years, but her condition gradually deteriorated until around June 2023, when she suddenly found herself completely unable to eat.

She said: “I realised my stomach seemed to hold onto food for about three days before I’d be violently sick. My digestive system just wasn’t moving food through properly.”

Leah also began shedding weight at an alarming rate, prompting her to visit her GP in early July 2023. She underwent blood tests, an endoscopy, CT scan, capsule camera and ultrasound, yet doctors were unable to pinpoint the cause of her symptoms. Leah also attempted to modify her diet in a bid to ease the pain.

She said: “Weirdly, the only thing I could tolerate for a while was ready salted Pringles. I basically lived off them for months.”

As her health continued to deteriorate, Leah was repeatedly admitted to hospital suffering from severe malnutrition and starvation ketosis.

She said: “I lost around 6st in about 10 weeks, but because I was still technically within a healthy BMI range, I often felt like people didn’t understand how seriously ill I was.”

She also claims she was told her symptoms were “psychological or linked to my autism”, which she says has left her sometimes to struggle to “trust herself and symptoms”. Leah underwent a succession of increasingly complex nutritional interventions as medical professionals searched for answers.

Initially she was fed through a nasogastric (NG) tube, which passes through the nose into the stomach, before subsequently receiving a nasojejunal (NJ) tube, which feeds directly into the small bowel. A turning point finally arrived when Leah paid privately to consult a gastroenterologist in August 2023.

She said: “He immediately suspected gastroparesis linked to my Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and arranged a gastric emptying study.”

Gastroparesis, meaning “stomach paralysis,” occurs when the nerves that control stomach emptying fail to function properly, causing food to move too slowly through the digestive tract. It affects just 14 in every 100,000 people in the UK, according to Guts UK, the national charity for the digestive system. A gastric-emptying study confirmed that Leah’s stomach was barely emptying at all.

She said: “After three-and-a-half hours, I still had full stomach contents sitting there undigested when it should have emptied much earlier.”

Leah was subsequently referred to a specialist intestinal failure team, before being admitted to hospital in November 2024 to commence Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN). A method of delivering complete nutrition directly into a person’s bloodstream, in her case via a Hickman line, means she now receives daily nourishment straight into her bloodstream through a tube leading into her chest, powered by a device called a Micrel pump, which she carries in a blackout rucksack.

According to Guts UK, there is no cure for gastroparesis. Specialists at Guts UK state that Leah’s experience of TPN feeding is exceptionally uncommon due to the high risk of complications, including infection. Now, two years on, Leah says that living with gastroparesis continues to impact every aspect of her daily life.

She said: “Simple things like hoovering, walking my dog or going out with friends completely wipe me out. I wish people understood how serious and life-changing digestive conditions can be.”

According to a YouGov poll, commissioned by the charity Guts UK, 28% of adults who have experienced digestive symptoms have felt embarrassed by them.

Being overweight may not be as risky for your health as we’re so often told. Indeed you might be no worse in terms of heart health than skinny people.

Provided your waist is slim, that is.

But it’s bad news for people who aren’t overweight, yet have a larger waist – this can increase their heart disease risk by up to 50 per cent.

That’s the surprising suggestion from a new US study.

For years a healthy weight has been determined by your body mass index (also known as your BMI), calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by height in metres squared.

But increasingly it’s been recognised that having a round middle can increase your risk of heart disease and other serious conditions, with the NHS saying your waist should measure less than half your height.

Now a new study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, provides further evidence of the importance of waist size.

Researchers, from Johns Hopkins University in the US, analysed data from 260,000 people over 20 years, tracking their rate of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure.

They found that people with an ‘obese’ BMI (30 or more) but who had a relatively small waist didn’t have significantly higher cardiovascular risks than people with a healthy BMI (18.5 to 24.9) and low waist measurements.

The most at-risk group were those with a normal BMI but a large waist.

The problem with a larger waistline is that it indicates that a dangerous type of fat, visceral fat, is starting to accumulate in and around vital organs, explains Naveed Sattar, a professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow.

This visceral fat triggers several mechanisms in the liver that contribute to an increased risk of heart disease.

Professor Sattar explains: ‘Excess fat in the liver screws up your sugar metabolism and increases your risk of diabetes [a major risk factor for heart disease].’

It does this by interfering with the body’s ability to respond to the hormone insulin, which clears excess sugar from the bloodstream – this leads to insulin resistance and poorly controlled blood sugar levels, which can damage blood vessels over time.

‘When the liver has excess fat, it also releases more of a harmful fat called triglycerides, into the blood,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘Researchers now believe higher triglyceride levels also accelerate heart disease over time.’

Belly fat is also linked to higher blood pressure, although it’s not known exactly why.

‘The problems caused by a build-up of visceral fat – such as fatty liver, high cholesterol and high blood pressure – can then start to feed into each other,’ says Dr Mayoni Gooneratne, a former NHS colorectal surgeon and medical director at Personalised Health Clinics.

‘When you develop several of these problems at the same time, we call this metabolic syndrome, which is associated with a much higher risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.’

While older men for example are more prone to storing fat around their belly – partly due to a fall in the hormone testosterone which alters fat distribution – anyone can develop it, says Professor Sattar.

Professor Naveed Sattar says the problem with a larger waistline is that it indicates that a dangerous type of fat, visceral fat, is starting to accumulate in and around vital organs

But if belly fat is so dangerous, what can you do to get rid of it?

The good news is that visceral fat is very responsive to weight-loss programmes.

Nader Silver, a preventive cardiology fellow at Johns Hopkins University, who led the new research, says losing just 5 per cent of body weight makes a difference.

The more you lose the greater the benefit, he says.

This echoes research published in 2020 by Roy Taylor, an emeritus professor of medicine and metabolism at Newcastle University, which found just 10 to 15 per cent weight loss could put some people into remission from type 2 diabetes.

High-intensity exercise (such as sprinting, followed by periods of lower intensity such as walking), is one of the most effective ways to shed excess pounds – followed by running, fast swimming, skipping or tennis, according to a 2024 review of studies involving almost 5,000 overweight or obese people, published in Obesity Reviews.

‘High-intensity interval training places a substantial energy demand on working muscles, increasing their uptake of glucose from the bloodstream,’ explains Dr Gooneratne.

And it helps to train your muscles to burn fat for energy more easily and efficiently.

But you don’t necessarily have to exhaust yourself to reap rewards.

A combination of moderate intensity exercise – such as brisk walking – and HIIT is also effective in reducing visceral fat, reported the International Journal of Obesity in 2021.

The best results came from three 30 to 60 minute sessions each week.

Muscle-strengthening exercises are also useful – aim for two sessions a week – because muscles use glucose for energy, so the more muscle you build the more glucose you can take up from your bloodstream.

This in turn helps to regulate your blood sugar levels, reducing your cardiovascular risk, says Dr Gooneratne.

Diet-wise, the best evidence is for eating a predominantly plant-based Mediterranean-style diet – rich in vegetables, legumes (chickpeas, lentils, beans), wholegrains, nuts, seeds and olive oil, along with moderate amounts of oily fish (such as salmon or mackerel; at least two portions a week), meat and dairy.

A 2022 trial published in the journal BMC Medicine found this kind of diet produced a greater reduction in visceral fat than standard healthy-eating guidance.

Participants who followed a ‘Green’ Mediterranean diet (essentially a Mediterranean diet with even more plant foods and less red or processed meat, plus walnuts and green tea every day) lost 14.1 per cent of their visceral fat – even though overall body fat dropped just 3.9 per cent.

Those following general healthy guidelines lost only 4.2 to 6 per cent of their visceral fat.

Researchers think the benefits stem from high levels of fibre and powerful plant compounds that reduce disease-causing inflammation in the body.

Research shows that avoiding or drastically cutting back on other foods is also vital.

These include sugary drinks, refined carbohydrates (such as breakfast cereals, pastries, white bread, biscuits and pies), ultra-processed foods, processed meats and excess saturated fat, which is associated with insulin resistance and greater abdominal fat accumulation.

Cutting back on alcohol can also make a big difference.

Melanie Murphy Richter, a dietitian at L-Nutra Health, which runs medical nutrition programmes, says there is scientific logic behind the term ‘beer belly’.

‘Alcohol contains seven calories per gram, so it can add a significant amount of energy without providing much fullness.

‘Many alcoholic drinks also contain sugar, and alcohol can lower our inhibitions around food, making larger portions or late-night eating more likely.’

In addition, the body prioritises processing and expelling alcohol, a toxin, temporarily slowing the burning of fat.

Frequent alcohol consumption can also raise the level of harmful triglycerides, thereby contributing to the build-up of fat in the liver.

The good news is that belly fat responds rapidly to these strategies even before you see changes in your body.

As Melanie Murphy Richter explains: ‘In some people visceral fat may begin decreasing before the visible, pinchable fat around the stomach changes dramatically – so metabolic health may be improving before someone sees the exact aesthetic change they were hoping for.’

By OLIVIA CHRISTIE, NEWS REPORTER

Published: 22:01 BST, 17 September 2026 | Updated: 07:55 BST, 18 September 2026

Ed Sheeran‘s cousin has branded the pop star a ‘coward’ and said he is ‘not a good person’ after Macklemore was dropped from the singer’s tour over his support for Palestine. 

The American rapper delivered pro-Palestinian speeches and donned the keffiyeh scarf while opening two of Sheeran’s performances in New Jersey earlier this month. 

Jethro Sheeran, who at 44 is nine years older than his cousin and has been locked in a bitter feud with him in the past, responded to the row by saying he was ‘ashamed’ of his relative. 

In a furious post on Facebook, he said: ‘Finally it’s all coming out! I’m ashamed of my cousin Ed and what he’s done. 

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‘Finally the world and all his fans see through him. He’s not a good person, I don’t like his music so I can’t say he’s even a good artist.’ 

Sheeran, who is a long-term friend of Macklemore, has insisted he had nothing to do with the decision to drop him from the tour. 

Insiders previously told the Daily Mail the episode had left Sheeran ‘seriously upset’, because he has always been careful to keep his own politics private.

Jethro Sheeran added that despite the pair spending the school holidays writing tracks together, his 35-year-old cousin ‘screwed him over’ once he became famous. 

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Jethro Sheeran (right) and his famous cousin Ed are at the centre of a bitter family row

Macklemore (R) was dropped from Sheeran’s (L) tour after he delivered a politically motivated speech in support of Palestine

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The bone of contention that sparked the feud centres around a track called Raise Em Up which Jethro recorded with Ed in 2010. It also featured in the 2013 movie All Stars.

Jethro had recorded a remixed version which co-credited Ed and featured his face in artwork.

He had hoped that re-releasing the track would help raise funds to help his daughter, Skyla Rain Sheeran, who is also an aspiring singer, get a start on a career in music.

But lawyers working for Ed’s record label, Warner Music, soon contacted Jethro to say they would take him to court unless he dropped references to Ed on the track. 

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‘Ed Sheeran! He is shady and he’s dropped Macklemore himself I believe 100 per cent he’s a coward,’ Jethro continued in his post on Facebook. 

‘In my opinion he’s a bad human. Just my opinion from my experiences.’

Several celebrities have backed Macklemore’s comments on Palestine, including Lewis Hamilton, who wrote: ‘Thank you for using your voice, standing with you.’

Activist Greta Thunberg said: ‘Full solidarity and free Palestine. Artists’ very active silence in the face of injustice and genocide will not be forgotten.’

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Pop star Paloma Faith added: ‘You are a rare and important voice…thank you for existing…. This is so articulate and so powerful. You are a hero.’

Jethro, who is nine years older than Ed, says that when the now world famous singer was growing up the cousins would ‘hang out’, writing and recording tracks together

Macklemore delivered his politically-motivated speeches when he opened Sheeran’s shows at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on September 4 and 5.

He was due to open for the singer at eight of the remaining ten shows on his tour in America, but on Monday it was announced he had been dropped.

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Breaking his silence amid the backlash, Sheeran insisted Macklemore coming off the tour was the ‘promoter’s decision’, not his.

He added his audience is often young people ‘from different backgrounds’ who do not expect his shows to be a political forum.

Sheeran lost more than 200,000 Instagram followers in 24 hours amid the row over Palestine.

And after the news of Macklemore’s departure, all of Sheeran’s remaining support acts have also stepped away from the tour.

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The Daily Mail has contacted Sheeran’s representatives for comment.  

Officers from Shildon’s neighbourhood policing team seized the item on Thursday (September 18) because of ‘concerns it was being used as an offensive weapon’.

The catapult that was seized by police (Image: POLICE)

Sharing an image of the catapult on its social media page, the policing team said it would “continue to take action to tackle ASB.”

A full statement from Shildon’s neighbourhood policing team said: “Officers have seized a catapult following reports of it being used to target wildlife and cause criminal damage.

“Over the last few months, Shildon Police have seen an increase in youth-related ASB involving wildlife and criminal damage.

“The catapult was seized due to concerns it was being used as an offensive weapon and in connection with these reports.

“Officers will continue to take action to tackle ASB and protect our community.”

Thomas Tuchel is set to announce his England squad for four upcoming Nations League matches this morning. The Three Lions face Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic twice in the extended three-week international break.

It will be the first time Tuchel is able to get his group back together since the Three Lions crashed out of the World Cup in disappointing fashion against Argentina earlier in the summer.

Despite the fact England face four matches in the revamped international hiatus, Tuchel is NOT expected to pick an expanded squad. His German counterpart, Jurgen Klopp, has gone for a massive 44-man Die Mannschaft contingent for the next 21 days before players return.

But Tuchel is set to go with a 26 or 27-man squad, as he normally does. This is barring the 35 he chose for March friendlies against Uruguay and Japan, where he gave a final chance to a number of players before the World Cup.

Cole Palmer is reportedly expected to return, whilst there could be call-ups for Rio Ngumoha and Alex Scott.

Stay tuned for the latest from Tuchel’s latest squad announcement below…

The crisis has its roots in drugs. The archipelago has long been a strategic stop-off point on the “drugs superhighway” from the Americas and Southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand, but methamphetamines are increasingly spilling into a domestic market.

This has driven an HIV crisis because of the way these drugs are being used: the widespread sharing of blood, needles and syringes has transformed a small, background outbreak spreading via unprotected sex into an explosive epidemic.

“It’s a clash of two epidemics,” Eamonn Murphy, the Asia-Pacific director at UNAIDS, told the Telegraph. “[Methamphetamines] fuelled the flames. Fiji had a small fire, but throw injecting drug use on it and see where we get: a 12-fold increase in just 12 years.”

Although the Pacific nation formally announced an outbreak in January 2025 – mobilising $10m Fijian (£3m) and creating a national HIV taskforce – the country has still struggled to rein in transmission.

One major problem has been delays in the introduction of a needle and syringe programme, because of politics, red tape and stigma in the largely Christian and conservative country.

The scheme, which had hoped to launch at the start of the year, is considered critical because a major driver of new infections has been a lack of access to clean needles and syringes. Despite existing research, critics have claimed it will encourage drug use – and with an election next year, the subject has become contentious.

An innovative institution in the heart of Cambridge is helping ambitious young people secure places at world-leading universities

For Cambridgeshire families looking beyond the traditional school experience, Abbey College Cambridge offers something different: an education designed to prepare ambitious young people for success in a global world.

Located at Homerton Gardens, just behind Hills Road Sixth Form College, Abbey College Cambridge combines outstanding academic achievement with a modern, university-style approach to learning. With no uniform, small class sizes and an emphasis on independence, confidence and critical thinking, students are encouraged to develop as individuals while striving for academic excellence.

The college is renowned for helping students secure places at elite universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London and other leading institutions worldwide. Year after year, Abbey students achieve exceptional examination results.

This year 91% of all A-level grades were A* – B, with two-thirds at A*-A. But what truly sets the school apart is its focus on developing future leaders, innovators and professionals.

A diverse and internationally minded community

Students learn alongside classmates from across the globe, creating a diverse and internationally minded community that reflects the world they will enter after school. Daily interactions with peers from different cultures and backgrounds help students develop a global outlook, strong communication skills and the confidence to thrive in an increasingly interconnected society.

Abbey College Cambridge also offers specialist programmes that give students a head start when applying for highly competitive university courses. The college’s acclaimed Medical Preparation Programme provides aspiring medics with expert guidance, interview practice, admissions support and opportunities to explore careers in healthcare. Similar pathways support students with ambitions in fields including engineering, STEM subjects and business.

Charles joined the school in Year 9 last September and has already seen the benefits of this unique learning environment.

He said: “I have noticed how different this school is from other schools. Instead of our learning being trapped in the classrooms, Abbey uses its position in Cambridge to extend learning beyond the classroom and into the real world. Through the weekly University of Cambridge lectures, we can engage directly with world-class teaching, researchers and politicians discussing current global issues and innovative research.

“Being given access to a university-level of ideas as one of the youngest students has improved my academic maturity. Topics like politics, AI, science and social justice are easier to understand now because they have been explained using real examples from experts. This has also helped me understand difficult ideas in lessons and use real examples in discussions instead of just relying on memorising information.”

For families considering options beyond the traditional educational route, Abbey College Cambridge provides a supportive environment where students are known as individuals, encouraged to pursue their passions and equipped with the skills needed to succeed at the highest level.

Discover a different approach

This autumn, families are invited to experience the Abbey College Cambridge approach at a series of upcoming events:

• Young medics afternoon (Wednesday, September 30): An engaging opportunity for students interested in medicine and healthcare to discover more about medical careers, university applications and what it takes to gain entry to competitive medical schools.
• Young creatives afternoon (Thursday, October 22): Perfect for aspiring artists, designers and creative thinkers, this event explores creative career pathways while showcasing how students can combine academic success with artistic ambition.
• School open morning (Saturday, November 14): Meet teachers and students, explore the facilities and discover how Abbey College Cambridge’s distinctive educational approach helps young people achieve exceptional outcomes.

The school is also delighted to offer generous scholarships for entry into Year 9 in September 2027, recognising academic excellence, talent and potential. These awards provide local students with the opportunity to join a vibrant and high-achieving community that nurtures both personal growth and academic success.

Whether your child aspires to study medicine, pursue a creative career, gain a place at a world-leading university, or simply thrive in an environment that values individuality, Abbey College Cambridge offers a different path to academic success.

To find out more or to book your place at one of the upcoming events, visit the Abbey College Cambridge website.