The first HD-2D Final Fantasy game may be retro-inspired but it’s very far from being shallow nostalgia bait, even if Cloud Strife is in it.

For fans of classic – that is, old school – Japanese role-players, Square Enix’s creation and application of its HD-2D technology has been very welcome. It allows the company to take venerable 2D games and breathe new graphical life into them, keeping the original isometric viewpoints and 2D characters but dropping them into lush-looking 3D worlds.

Until now, the technology has been applied to the Octopath Traveler and Dragon Quest franchises (as well as the recent The Adventures Of Elliott) but Final Fantasy fans have long wondered what it would be like if some of the early games from that franchise received the HD-2D treatment. Well, they need wonder no more, because Final Fantasy Resonance, the first HD-2D Final Fantasy game, is due to be released on October 22 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

It may sound like an original Final Fantasy game – and it feels like one in gameplay terms – but Resonance is loosely based on one of the more obscure elements of the franchise, the free-to-play 2015 mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. It’s a strange connection, that you don’t need to know anything about to place Resonance, but if that’s what’s given Square Enix the confidence to experiment then so be it.

Despite the complications inherent in its origins, Resonance is coherent, distinctive, and polished. We managed to play it for the best part of an hour at Gamescom, on Switch 2, a console that has always felt a particularly well-suited platform on which to play HD-2D games.

Our play-through consisted of about 10 minutes of random overworld exploration, followed by the whole of a dungeon, including its final boss battle. We had been given a fair bit of help, in the form of a decent stock of typical Final Fantasy potions and restorative items, plus a full battle group consisting of four characters.

That wouldn’t necessarily have been a given at that point in the game, since Resonance features two main playable characters, Rain and Lasswell, but has a feature called Visions, which allows you to add other characters from the franchise to your battle party. Which explains why our party included Cloud Strife himself, who proved useful since he has the ability to automatically sense enemies’ elemental weaknesses (although the traditional Assess ability is also present in the game).

In a brief potter around the overworld, which looked superb in the distinctive HD-2D style, the first element of Resonance which stood out was its turn-based battle system. That’s old school turn-based as well, with no sign of the ATB (Active Time Battle) mechanism from the more modern games, which means you know exactly when team members are able to make their moves.

Despite that retro element you’re still able to do pretty much anything that you can in any other mainline Final Fantasy game: select abilities or items, cast spells, summon when allowed, and even launch resonances. These are attacks that are unique to characters and depend on their pre-defined character class. Resonances can only be triggered later on, in longer battles, so they were somewhat akin to limit breaks, although limit breaks are also present – and indeed proved quite decisive in some of the more epic battles.

Having had a taste of the overworld, we descended into a dungeon named the Wind Shrine. Instantly, Resonance demonstrated the range of its visuals, with some highly polished cut scenes, cleverly mixing 2D and 3D animations.

The Wind Shrine itself proved to be a classic Final Fantasy dungeon, involving a certain amount of environmental puzzling: a pretty labyrinthine built on many levels, with lifts and horizontally-moving blocks to trigger. As is customary in Final Fantasy dungeons, it was dotted with random enemies and contained plenty of obscure corners and cul-de-sacs in which chests could be found, yielding mainly crystals and the odd weapon.

According to Square Enix, Resonance’s storyline contains plenty of Final Fantasy staples, including the likes of crystals, airships, espers (which can be summoned in battles) and moogles.

Having negotiated our way through the Wind Shrine’s labyrinth (a process which took about 35 minutes, including the odd exploratory deviation) and equipped a couple of our characters with superior weapons which we found, it was time to take on the boss, a pretty fearsome Wind Demon. Even after we discovered his weaknesses we had to rely on the use of the odd phoenix down and curative spell (we also had some group-curing mist potions in our inventory).

Eventually, through judicious use of limit breaks and resonance attacks, along with making hay when we managed to stagger him and the minions he regularly summoned, we prevailed after a good 10 or so minutes, triggering another lavish cut scene.

Despite its retro undercurrent, with the HD-2D visuals and turn-based battling, Final Fantasy Resonance fells surprisingly modern in terms of its gameplay. Its battle system offers more or less the full range of options to which we have become accustomed in the 3D Final Fantasy games, and is certainly way more sophisticated than the battle systems in other HD-2D games, like the Octopath Traveler games and Dragon Quest remakes.

Plus, it looks superb, with a typically vibrant colour palette, as seen in other HD-2D games, and some pretty lush cut scenes. Naturally, a short demo left question marks concerning how big its world might be and how long it might take to finish, and we got very little insight into what the story is about.

But what we played left us feeling confident that it will be a worthy addition to the Final Fantasy catalogue, and one which is especially suited for playing on the go on the Switch or Switch 2. We’ll bring you a definitive verdict when it arrives in October.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

MORE: Final Fantasy 7 Revelation confirms April release date and story DLC

MORE: The Blood Of Dawnwalker launch day interview – ‘there’s constant stress’

MORE: Tomb Raider: Legacy Of Atlantis preview – the new old Lara Croft

With her penchant for showstopping outfits, it’s no surprise that Amal Clooney had another stunning look for her second night in Venice.

But the human rights lawyer needed a helping hand as she exited her private boat to enjoy a night out with her husband George at the glitzy film festival.

Amal, 48, opted for a dramatic turquoise dress adorned with fringed sequins as she arrived in a private boat before being helped to shore.

George cut a dapper figure in a smart navy blue suit as he and Amal headed out for the evening, hours after he’d paid tribute to her during a powerful speech.

The 65-year-old Hollywood actor, who picked up the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on Wednesday, made sure to praise his ‘badass’ lawyer wife Amal.

Amal, a British-Lebanese human rights lawyer, has represented Yazidi survivors and helped secure historic legal victories holding ISIS members accountable for genocide.

Amal, 48, opted for a dramatic turquoise dress adorned with fringed sequins as she arrived in a private boat before being helped to shore

‘By the way, my wife’s the only person to have ever put ISIS on trial and won,’ he lauded. ‘She’s a badass, and she gets the job done. We do it for our families. We do it for our friends.’ 

He added: ‘Amal’s taken some very difficult stands over the years, and we’ve had to face some pretty heavy criticism based on that. I wrote an op-ed about President Joe Biden. I got some s***.

‘We have really interesting conversations around the table. But you know, we also have two nine-year-old kids, and we have a normal family life, and there’s a lot of laughing and a lot of love, and we’re very lucky, and we’re really aware of that.’

Clooney also added that he braces against people telling actors to ‘shut up’ about human rights and political issues.

‘I didn’t give away my freedom of speech the minute I became an actor,’ he defiantly said. ‘It also means that people can get mad at you and not like you anymore. Fair enough. That’s how this works. 

‘You can’t demand freedom of speech and then say, “But don’t say bad s*** about me”. Right? That’s the deal.’ 

Taking a swipe at President Trump, Clooney added: ‘I get mean tweets from the President of the United States. That’s okay. I can handle it. I’ll do all right. I’ll be fine. But that’s part of life.’ 

Clooney and Trump have taken plenty of swipes at each other over the years. 

George cut a dapper figure in a smart navy blue suit as he and Amal headed out for the evening, hours after he’d paid tribute to her during a powerful speech

The 65-year-old Hollywood actor, who picked up the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on Wednesday, made sure to praise his ‘badass’ lawyer wife Amal

On Wednesday, Clooney launched a scathing attack on the US administration, branding those in charge ‘the least qualified people’ and slamming what he said was a complete absence of ‘decency’.

‘We’ve had some other difficult times but this is one of them,’ he said. ‘There is a great word, kakistocracy, which is a country run by the least qualified people. I think maybe we have a kakistocracy right now but we will get through it.

‘We will have an election in November that should be a check and balance and then in 2028, with any luck, we will have some restoration.’

The Oscar-winning star went on to denounce Trump’s administration as ‘cruel’, arguing that basic standards of decency had disappeared from public life.

‘The idea that cruelty is the base, that being cruel and unkind is part of the fun of all this,’ Clooney told press, in the latest of a string of attacks the actor has made against the running of the US.

‘You see what the secretary of defense just tweeted out a picture about women in the military in Canada and you’re going, “What is wrong with you?”

‘”Where is the sense of decency in all this?” I’m ashamed of all of that but we will get through it and we will come out better on the other side.’

Clooney drew on a tweet by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appearing to mock the physical appearance of an overweight female Canadian soldier presenting a medal at a youth camp.

On Monday night, Hegseth posted the image from a cadet training center in British Columbia with the caption: ‘This is real’.

Calling himself an optimist, Clooney said he remembered living through dark times in the country’s history – which he likened to today.

‘I’m old enough to have been through 1968 in the States when every city in the United States was set on fire and we lost Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy in the same year,’ he said.

‘There was tons of violence. The Capitol was surrounded with tanks. We’ve had some other difficult times, but this is one of them.’

Police allegedly uncovered the exploitation of vulnerable young people across the west of Scotland.

Two people have been arrested in connection with alleged human trafficking offences as part of a police operation targeting retail crime across the west of Scotland.

A 62-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman were arrested and charged on Thursday, September 3, following enquiries under Operation Dynos, part of the Retail Crime Taskforce.

Police believe vulnerable young people are being targeted and exploited to steal alcohol from shops across the west of Scotland.

Officers say the operation is also focused on protecting children and young people from being coerced into criminal activity.

Constable Paul Steell said: “We remain committed to tackling retail crime, while continuing to safeguard young people from harm and coercion into criminal behaviour. We will continue to gather evidence and use all resources at our disposal to tackle this type of crime.”

The pair are due to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday, September 4.

The latest arrests bring the total number of adults arrested in connection with the alleged criminal exploitation of children and young people under Operation Dynos to nine since the operation began in April 2025.

Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.

You’re likely storing your onions in the wrong place

Tips for storing food are always handy to know – not only for bananas and potatoes, but also for prolonging the freshness of your onions. Onions, a kitchen essential across the UK, are often kept in the fridge alongside other vegetables, but this is far from the ideal environment for them.

If you notice your onions beginning to sprout, soften, or develop mould, they are likely not being stored properly.

YouTube content creator Jerry James Stone has shared his top guidance for keeping onions in prime condition “without them rotting or going mushy”, offering his expertise in one of his videos.

He advised: “I’m going to talk to you about how you properly store onions – if you do it correctly, you can actually store them for up to six months.”

Advertisement

He continued: “Onions hate being in the fridge, that’s the first thing – never put them in the fridge. If you do, they actually rot and go mushy.”

Jerry stressed that the cold and damp environment of a fridge is entirely unsuitable for whole onions, as they require the complete opposite conditions.

Given their tendency to absorb moisture, refrigerating them can cause onions to become soft and deteriorate far more quickly — though this does not apply to peeled or pre-cut varieties.

“The other thing about onions is they prefer to be in a dry place, that’s cool, and has good ventilation,” Jerry continued.

“Avoid storing them in a cramped drawer; instead, aim for a pantry where there’s plenty of air movement. That’s [ventilation] super crucial as they emit quite a bit of moisture.

“One thing you definitely don’t want to do is store onions anywhere next to potatoes. Because of the moisture and ethylene gas onions put out, they cause potatoes to sprout. The food you can store onions next to is garlic – they prefer the same environment.”

If you have bought onions from a supermarket in a plastic bag, it’s recommended to remove them from the packaging before storing them. The plastic can trap moisture, which may result in mould developing.

To stay fresh, onions require enough ventilation, so it’s worth considering storing them in a net or mesh bag, which promotes better air circulation and helps to control moisture levels.

For short-term storage, if you intend to use the onions within a couple of days, leaving them in a bowl on the kitchen worktop or inside a cupboard will do.

For longer-term storage, however, onions should be kept in a cool, dry and dark space, away from direct light, such as a cellar or garage.

The exact timeline of the recent Nepal flooding disaster is becoming clearer. At 8:37am, instruments recorded what was initially interpreted as an earthquake near Nepal’s border with China. Seven minutes later, CCTV recorded the Gyirong Port border post being destroyed by a massive debris flow and flood.

Nepal’s flood authorities learned about the incident at about 9:00am and sent out an emergency SMS alert at about 9:15am. But by that time, Nepal was already deep into a major disaster.

The 38 minute gap between the tremor being detected and the emergency alert is striking. But it would be wrong to assume Nepal’s authorities could simply have acted on the initial signal: at the time, it appeared to be a small earthquake, rather than a much rarer mountain collapse. The flood also arrived too swiftly for water-level sensors: they went almost immediately from recording normal levels to being destroyed.

The more interesting question is what a better-integrated warning system might have made possible. Could seismic readings, satellite images and other observations have been combined quickly enough to recognise what was happening and alert people further downstream?

Existing early-warning systems have often been designed around particular hazards such as regular rain-caused floods or glacial lake outburst floods (Glofs). But this disaster was neither a Glof nor a regular flood. Instead it appears to have involved a rare, large-scale collapse of rock and ice, which turned into a devastating debris flow and flood.

As a recent study of a strikingly similar flood in India last year argued, this type of hazard is largely absent from existing warning frameworks. As warming destabilises glaciers and thaws permafrost, such events are likely to happen more often.

Cascading mountain hazards that cross borders

In July 2025, a glacial lake in Tibet burst and swept down this very same stretch of river into Nepal, killing at least nine people and leaving around 20 missing in Nepal. Eleven people were also officially reported missing on the Chinese side.

After the flood, Nepal and China agreed in principle to share real-time information about floods, landslides and glacial lakes. However, despite Nepal’s foreign minister raising the issue during a visit to China in May 2026, no formal agreement has been signed.

Across the Himalayas and Hindu Kush mountain ranges, rivers, weather systems and infrastructure frequently span national boundaries. Our ongoing research shows a hazard that begins in one place can have lethal consequences – and create new warning requirements – far downstream.

A warming climate is increasing these risks by thinning glaciers, thawing permafrost and destabilising slopes, even if climate change isn’t the sole explanation for every disaster. Meanwhile roads and hydropower projects are putting more people and infrastructure in threatened valleys.

Cooperation has to come before the disaster

Some cross-border early-warning arrangements already exist between Nepal and its neighbours, particularly for recurring floods. But sudden, cascading events such as the recent disaster pose a different challenge. A warning has value only if it travels the whole distance – from a sensor in the mountains, through scientific agencies, national and local authorities, to households in the valleys and plains below, in the minutes that matter.

Community-based flood warning already works in parts of Nepal’s Koshi basin, where upstream gauges and trained local volunteers buy downstream villages precious time. A regional early warning system would have to link these community-level systems with national and cross-border monitoring, so that information can move from the source of a hazard to the people at risk. That means agreeing in advance what should be shared, how warnings should be passed between countries and agencies, and what action they should trigger.

That requires institutional changes and political commitment, as much as new technology. The region’s existing water treaties were written to divide flows and manage dams and barrages, not to govern cascading hazards in the high mountains. Governments could establish permanent bodies responsible for Himalayan rivers and their associated hazards. Featuring both scientists and policymakers, and linked to counterparts in neighbouring countries, these public bodies would be mandated to share data, jointly monitor glaciers, lakes and slopes, and coordinate warnings across borders.

The aim would be to make cooperation routine and sustained between disasters, rather than improvised in a crisis when events may unfold too quickly for international debate. None of this requires neighbours to resolve their wider disputes; it asks only that disaster warning be ring-fenced as shared humanitarian infrastructure that keeps working unabated.

The technologies for predicting and monitoring high-mountain hazards are improving fast. We now need more international scientific and policy cooperation, and warning systems capable of turning these observations into rapid action.

Number One Bar and Coffee House called last orders for the final time on Sunday (August 30) after almost 10 years on Skinnergate. 

The Grade II listed building, which was formerly home to Lloyds Bank, was put up for sale last October after previous owners David and Paul Pearson decided to move on. 

It was confirmed in July that the building had been snapped up by new owners – and shortly after it was announced that the venue would be transforming into an Irish bar. 

Number One Bar in Darlington (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)

Number One will soon become Grace Kelly’s – named after the iconic Hollywood film star.

The new venture is inspired by the likes of other popular haunts in the North East such as The Dubliner and Katy O’Briens. 

Once open, it will feature daily live music and will be open until late on weekends. 

New pictures taken today show how work is already underway inside the venue, where furniture has seemingly already been ripped out. 

Scaffolding can also be seen inside the venue, while various wood panels are on the floor beside several round tables. 

Number One Bar in Darlington (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)

New owners the D&J Pub Group previously said: “Grace Kelly’s Irish Bar is scheduled to open in late September to early October and will bring with it all the atmosphere of bars like the Dubliner and the very popular Katie O’Briens”.

Number One first opened on Skinnergate in late 2016 following a major refurbishment of the former bank, which had stood empty for years.

The bar was touted as bringing a “slice of London” to Darlington with a city-style interior at the time. In recent months the bar only opened on Fridays and Saturdays until late. 

The building was put up for sale last October with a price tag of £699,000 when the Pearson brothers, who also own fitness chain One Gym, announced they were moving on. 

They decided due to other business interests that were taking up their time as well as other commercial property in the town.

Number One Bar was sold at an undisclosed sum earlier this year.

John Swinney has refused to commit to stopping violent thugs who attack women being given bail or getting released early from jail.

The First Minister failed to back calls for immediate action despite pledging ‘personal leadership’ to protect women from violence and saying recent cases in Scotland have been ‘appalling’.

It came as he was confronted by opponents following the recent deaths of 35-year-old Stacy Hunter and Samantha Lee, 54, who were both killed by their partners or exes.

Ms Hunter was killed by her estranged husband Jim Mair, 43, in Houston, Renfrewshire, three weeks after he was released on bail after being accused in court of strangling her. He then took his own life.

Ms Lee was killed by her partner Joseph Greer, 40, with a claw hammer in Aberdeen while he was banned from approaching her. He was jailed for a minimum of 22 earlier this year.

The Tories, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all raised concerns about violence against women in the opening First Minister’s Questions of the new Holyrood term, just days after Mr Swinney pledged a new Misogyny Bill in his programme for government.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay highlighted the murder of both Ms Hunter and Ms Lee by ‘dangerous scumbags who were freed to kill’.

He demanded that a statutory presumption against bail for those accused of violent, sexual or domestic abuse offences in solemn case is reinstated following its repeal in 2023, and also called for him not to proceed with automatic early release of men who commit violence against women after two-thirds of their sentence.

Mr Findlay said: ‘His consultation document even admits that this “could have an impact” for victims of violence against women and girls. This cannot be allowed to happen.

‘I’ve written to the First Minister this morning setting out a range of constructive proposals to protect women and girls.

‘Will he stop violent thugs who attack women from being given bail, and stop them from being freed early?’

Mr Swinney said he would be happy to meet to discuss issues with Mr Findlay and victims of ‘heinous crimes’.

He said: ‘What I will do is apply the leadership that I’ve set out to parliament to make sure that we have in place a combination of different measures.

‘There are of course criminal justice aspects of this whole issue that have got to be set out. But there is also the principled leadership to communicate to men and boys in our society through every aspect of the work of the State the unacceptability of violence against women and girls, and I will lead that effort within Government.

‘And if there are constructive contributions to be made in parliament then I will of course welcome them but I ensure Parliament of the determined leadership that I am going to give to address this issue.’

Earlier, Mr Swinney pledged ‘personal leadership’ on tackling violence against women and girls and admitted that ‘the experience over the summer has been appalling in Scotland and it has to be remedied’.

Scottish Labour acting leader Dame Jackie Baillie highlighted soaring numbers of sexual crimes, rape and domestic abuse, as well as delays between reporting incidents and convictions.

Citing the murder of 28-year-old Claire Inglis in 2021 when her boyfriend Christopher McGowan was bailed to her address as well as the call of Ms Hunter’s for GPS tracking of violent offenders on bail, she demanded a clear timetable of when ‘life-saving changes’ will be enacted.

Mr Swinney said the cases ‘give us all cause for concern about the fact those individuals were on bail and were able to perpetrate the heinous crimes that they were able to perpetrate’ and highlighted that pilot work is underway on GPS tracking and he wanted progress as quickly as possible.

But Ms Baillie said: ‘Actions speak louder than words and so I want to press him on that timetable for GPS tracking because women’s lives are being lost whilst it is not in place.

‘The epidemic of violence against women and girls in Scotland demands immediate action and we cannot afford any more delay.’

John Swinney pledged ‘personal leadership’ on tackling violence against women and girls

Advertisement

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton also raised the murder of Vikki Soloman, 44, by her ex-partner Lee Greenan in Edinburgh after police didn’t attend a call asking for help. He later died in custody.

Mr Hamilton said: ‘There is a pattern here of women being let down by the system, horrifically let down, and with fatal consequences.’

He added: ‘For Vikki, for Stacy, for all of those currently facing abuse, will this government act with urgency before more women die at the hands of men?’

Mr Swinney said: ‘Yes, we will.’

Following the exchanges, the First Minister’s official spokesman said he ‘wants to work constructively with others’ on the issue.

But when asked if any commitment can be given that domestic abusers and sex offenders won’t be given early release, he said the consultation on the issue has recently closed and ‘that process will have to play out’.

HAVANA (AP) — The U.S. government on Thursday slapped new sanctions on Cuba in a fresh push to strangle the island’s economy and deepen its multiple crises.

Among those hit with sanctions are Fidel Ernesto Castro, grandson of former President Raúl Castro, and Cuba’s Oil Industry Supply Import Company, known as Abapet. The company is responsible for importing special equipment and spare parts needed to sustain Cuba’s crumbling power grid.

The sanctions aim to push Cuba’s critical machinery offline and exacerbate its energy crisis, said Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert and managing principal at Obsidian Risk Advisors, a consulting firm.

“The U.S. is trying to really tighten the screws as much as possible,” he said.

“The Trump administration seems to have no seriousness to accept any change from Cuba other than a toppling of regime. Marco is not going to let that go,” he added, referring to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Erickson anticipated that Cuba’s government would try to circumvent the sanctions “because they have to.”

“They’ll get creative in how they try to procure these maintenance parts,” he said, warning it would be a costlier alternative, which in turn would raise inflation and further hurt Cuba’s economy.

Islandwide blackouts have become increasingly common, while daily outages in Cuba now surpass 24 hours as the aging grid fails and fuel reserves dwindle ever since U.S. President Donald Trump in late January threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island.

“The goal in theory is to create so much civilian hardship and suffering that they have no option but to essentially rise up and topple their government,” Erickson said. “It is an attempt to cause a humanitarian crisis.”

Talks earlier this year between the U.S. and Cuba have since halted, while sanctions have increased in recent months.

Erickson said he expects the U.S. to keep targeting smaller and smaller state companies to try and push them “into a death spiral.” The U.S. has previously sanctioned entities including Cuba’s state-owned oil and gas company.

The U.S. State Department made the announcement just hours after Cuban officials held a press conference to share more details on the historic economic reforms approved in June.

Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

A man murdered a woman and dumped her body in a canal with the help of his daughter.    

John Anslow and Hayley-Marie Ferguson used paving slabs to weigh down Chereiss Bailey’s body before she was ‘disposed’ of in Great Bridge, West Midlands, in September last year.

West Midlands Police launched an investigation following a tip-off and during a visit to Ferguson’s home they made the grisly discovery of blood-stained clothes in a wheelie bin.

Her father was arrested following comments made by Ferguson while in custody.

The body of 36-year-old Ms Bailey was found in the canal on October 7, 2025, where she was found with washing line cord and attached to paving slabs.

Police later described Anslow as presenting ‘himself as a vulnerable wheelchair user when he was in fact a violent predator’. 

Now, Anslow, 65, and Ferguson, have both been found guilty in connection with the death of Ms Bailey.  

Ms Bailey, who occasionally worked as a sex worker, was last seen alive on CCTV entering Anslow’s house on September 27 last year.

Hayley-Marie Ferguson who helped her father dispose of Ms Bailey’s body using pavement slabs to weigh her down 

Chereiss Bailey was last seen alive on CCTV entering Anslow’s house on September 27 last year. Her body was recovered from the canal ten days later 

Advertisement

Once inside, she was subjected to a traumatic assault which led to her death.

The following morning Anslow cancelled visits from his community carers and called Ferguson for help.

She packed paving slabs and travelled by taxi to her father’s home, claiming she was helping him with gardening. 

Later that evening she attended a Peaky Blinders-themed event before returning to her father’s home in the early hours of September 29 to help dispose of the body.

Harrowing footage recovered from CCTV and images found on Ferguson’s phone showed Ms Bailey’s body being wheeled from the house in Anslow’s distinctive wheelchair with bright orange wheels.

Anslow pushed the wheelchair while Ferguson walked beside him towards Ryders Green Road.

The pair then dumped Chereiss’s body in the canal known locally as ‘eight locks’.

Afterwards they travelled home separately, with Anslow back in his wheelchair and Ferguson walking unaided.

Pictured one of the paving slabs recovered from the canal which was used to weigh down Ms Bailey’s remains 

West Midlands Police at the scene where Ms Bailey’s body was recovered 

West Midlands Police launched an investigation on October 4 after a member of the public reported that a woman had been killed and ‘disposed of’ in the canal network at Great Bridge.  

This led to the arrest of Ferguson and then her father.  

Following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Anslow, of Stour Street, West Bromwich, was found guilty of murder and preventing a lawful burial.

Ferguson, of Heronville Road, West Bromwich, was found guilty of assisting an offender and prevention of a lawful burial.

Paying tribute, Ms Bailey’s devastated family said: ‘Chereiss was a much-loved daughter, sister, mother, auntie, granddaughter and friend, but those words alone could never explain what she meant to us.

‘She had a huge personality, a beautiful heart and a way of making her presence known wherever she went.

‘Life was never quiet when Chereiss was around, and we would give absolutely anything to have that noise back.’

The family added that the ‘hardest part’ was knowing how much life Ms Bailey had left to live. 

CCTV footage shows Anslow and Ferguson wheeling Ms Bailey’s body in a wheelchair 

Pictured: Ferguson at a Peaky Blinders-themed event. After the party she travelled back to her father’s home to help dispose of Ms Bailey’s body 

Advertisement

They continued: ‘There should have been more birthdays, more Christmases, more laughter, more family memories and so many ordinary days that we never imagined we would have to live without her.

‘Most heartbreaking of all, her little boy has been robbed of growing up with his mum beside him. We will make sure he grows up knowing exactly who she was, how much she adored him and how fiercely she was loved.

‘We want Chereiss remembered for Chereiss. For her smile, her humour, her kindness, her love for her family and all the little things that made her who she was.’

Detective Inspector Michelle Cordell, from West Midlands Police Homicide Unit, said: ‘Chereiss was a vulnerable young woman with her whole life ahead of her.

‘She was a mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, auntie and niece and was deeply loved by them all.

‘It is difficult to comprehend the abhorrent actions of John Anslow and his daughter Hayley Ferguson late September last year.

‘Anslow had presented himself as a vulnerable wheelchair user with extremely limited mobility. He was in fact a violent predator. His daughter Hayley had also presented as having limited mobility, evidence of which proves otherwise.

‘I hope today’s verdict provides some comfort to Chereiss’s family who have acted with incredible dignity and restraint throughout this difficult process, and who continue to grieve her loss.’

Anslow and Ferguson will be sentenced at a later date.

North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi has resigned, ending the tenure of an immediate hire in Bill Belichick’s NFL-to-college coaching transition who had been on on paid administrative leave as the subject of a school investigation.

The school announced Lombardi’s resignation Thursday. It also stated it would continue its ongoing investigation and “consider all appropriate corrective actions” as needed.

The school has not released specifics of that probe, noting in its July 27 announcement that employees and athletes aren’t permitted to address the topic “as is standard procedure with personnel matters.” Three days later, UNC released another statement that said its Office of University Counsel was conducting an investigation, an announcement coming on the first day of preseason camp.

Two people with knowledge of the situation previously told The Associated Press that a human resources complaint from a former employee was involved. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the school wasn’t publicly discussing case details.

Attorney Tom Mars, who is working with Lombardi, released a statement from his client confirming the resignation Thursday.

“I want to thank Chancellor (Lee) Roberts and Bill Belichick for the opportunity to serve as the GM of UNC Football,” Lombardi said in the statement. “I have decided it’s best for me to resign my position as GM to allow the team to focus on the ’26 season.”

The resignation comes five days after the Tar Heels beat TCU 15-10 in Dublin, Ireland, to start Belichick’s second season in Chapel Hill. Belichick went 4-8 last year after leading the NFL’s New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles.

Lombardi attended for Belichick’s introductory news conference in December 2024, with Belichick announcing that day that the former GM of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns would serve as his college-level GM.

A few months into Belichick’s tenure, Lombardi said the goal was running a college program in a way similar to the NFL, saying the Tar Heels “consider ourselves the 33rd (NFL) team” because of the staff connections to the pros. That confident statement didn’t align with the on-field results; the Tar Heels had more more double-digit losses (five) than wins, along with multiple off-the-field distractions.

Lombardi was given a three-year deal paying him $1.5 million in base salary through the 2027 season. That made him by far the country’s highest-paid college football GM for the 2025 season, according to a USA Today salary database, another incongruity with the Tar Heels’ results.

At the college level, GMs across sports generally have front-office roles dealing with roster construction and negotiations over player compensation, with the heaviest work coming in the offseason.

Belichick said on July 30 that the team was “working through some things” in adjusting duties to compensate for Lombardi’s absence. Roberts said later that day the situation was “distressing to me and everyone else in the administration … that this is something that we have to have to spend time on.”

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here