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A father-of-two who called a lesbian policewoman a 'tattooed fat d***' has been convicted for the hate crime after a judge accused him of 'living in the Stone Ages.' Louis Risley, 43, was said to have smirked as he verbally abused PC Shelley Quince-Black about her sexuality as she helped arrest him for loitering in someone else's garden on April 12. Back at the police station, PC Quince-Black relayed the homophobic insult as she gave Risley's details to a senior colleague only for the suspect from Warrington, Cheshire, to retort: 'Well you are though, aren't you?' The officer from Cheshire...

Are you ready for one of “the great scientific adventures of the coming decades”? Construction of the largest and most complex radio telescope network in the world officially began today in what is being described as a “historic moment for radio astronomy.” Designed to help astronomers answer some of astronomy’s most fundamental questions, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) was today given the go-ahead at its first council meeting at its headquarters at Jodrell Bank, Cheshire in the UK. Jodrell Bank is home to the Lovell Telescope, the world’s third-largest steerable radio telescope. SKA is going to cost $2.2 billion—and...

BORIS Johnson has appeared to have achieved the impossible by taking back Labour heartlands as early general elections polls today revealed voting intentions for the north west of England have shifted to Tory paving the way for a landslide win thanks to support from the south and the Midlands. Pollster YouGov showed Labour support is collapsing in the north, with prominent industrial counties - some of which that have voted Labour for decades - Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside now jumping ship to Tory in a spectacular show of support for the Brexiteer Prime Minister. The poll shows...

By 937 A.D. 35 years after the initial settlement, Wirral may have been the site of a huge battle between the Anglo Saxons coming from the South and Midlands and a combined army of Viking raiders coming from Dublin and their Scottish allies coming mainly from Strathclyde. No-one is quite sure where this battle took place, although the majority of experts favour Wirral. The main reason is that the contemporary record of the Battle -- the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes the battle having taking place (around Brunanburh) -- which happens to be the old name for Bromborough... The Chronicle also...

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As charges of sexual improprieties shake the landscape around entertainment and politics, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and his staff on Friday were investigating what they believe is an attack by a web robot involving a woman who says she was harassed and assaulted when he was U.S. attorney nearly 40 years ago. “These allegations are completely and unequivocally false. We are looking into the origins of these untrue claims,” said Maria McElwain, Blumenthal’s communications director. Someone calling themselves Linda Flores of Cheshire claimed that Blumenthal assaulted her when she was a summer intern in 1979. Blumenthal went on to the...

The GOP, with 1,639 accredited delegates, adopted a pre-arranged slate of running mates for Rell, whom they hope will be able to take advantage of her soaring popularity in November. They never had a roll call vote, unlike Democrats in Hartford, who battled all afternoon over their gubernatorial candidates. Alan Schlesinger of Woodbridge, a former Derby mayor and state representative, won the GOP nomination to run for U.S. Senate on a voice vote after Rell's speech emptied the gym. Paul Streitz, a Darien businessman, dropped his bid for the nomination on an immigration-reform platform, but was given platform time in...

HARTFORD -- A former mayor of the state's smallest city is thinking big and aiming high. Alan Schlesinger, a former two-term mayor of Derby and six-term state representative, announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate on Monday. Schlesinger is running for the seat Democrat Joseph I. Lieberman has held for 18 years. He is not the only Republican interested in the party's nomination. Schlesinger's announcement Monday coincided with the filing deadline for federal income taxes in Connecticut. "What better day to announce than on 'Tax Day' because I am really concerned our hard-earned tax dollars are...

A bronze lion head dating from the 15th century has been found in Cheshire. The artefact, believed to have been a hat badge, is among 80 items discovered by archaeologists at a building site near Runcorn. Pottery dating back to the 13th century and footings of timber-framed houses have also been discovered at a site near Lodge Farm. Archaeologists believe the items would have been owned by people living in the medieval village of Norton. Jamie Quartermaine, from Oxford Archaeology North, who is leading the project, said: "This is almost the last surviving remains of the old medieval village...

As Connecticut state senators gear up to vote on the high-profile death penalty repeal bill, Dr. William Petit said he believes that those who commit the most heinous crimes should be given the ultimate punishment. "We believe in the death penalty. It's the only just punishment. What about the forgotten people, people tortured? They have no voice," said Petit whose wife and two daughters were murdered in their Cheshire home in 2007. ... In the hours before the afternoon Senate session, Democrats proposed an amendment establishing harsh prison conditions for inmates who would have been candidates for the death penalty...

The man who killed three women in a 2007 Cheshire home invasion was sentenced to death on Friday and addressed the court before that sentence was handed down. Joshua Komisarjevsky will be joining Steven Hayes on death row for killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, in their Cheshire home in 2007. He is scheduled to be executed in July, pending appeals. "I will never find peace within. My life will be a continuation of the hurt I caused," Komisarjevsky said in court. "The clock is now ticking and I owe a debt I cannot repay."...

One of the men convicted of killing a woman and her two daughters during a home invasion in Cheshire in 2007 has filed a motion in court requesting a new trial. Joshua Komisarjevsky was convicted last year of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and her two daughters, Hayley and Michaela. Dr. William Petit was the only survivor. Todd Bussert, one of the three attorneys for Komisarjevsky, says his client admits what he did in the home invasion murders but that trial was not fair. The main reason is because Komisarjevsky was denied a probable cause hearing on the amended criminal charges. Komisarjevsky...

A Cheshire police officer, who was a witness during the trial of convicted killer Joshua Komisarjevsky, and his wife were both arrested by Naugatuck police in connection to a dog-theft incident, police said. Thomas and Dawn Wright, both 39, of Naugatuck, turned themselves in to the borough police department on Wednesday after learning of a warrant charging them with stealing a dog, obstructing an animal control officer and fourth-degree larceny. According to Naugatuck police spokesman Lt. Robert Harrison, a complaint was lodged with police in September after a borough resident stumbled upon a photo of a black pug posted on...

Buckton Castle in Stalybridge by the Earl of Chester was built in the 1100s. It was occupied for less than 100 years during a time when the King of Scotland lay claim to Lancashire and Cumberland. The University of Salford's Brian Grimsditch said, due to the unrest, "local rulers like the Earl had to protect their lands". The university's Centre for Applied Archaeology conducted a three-year dig at the castle and have now concluded it was started to offer protection from Scottish expansion, though a change in political circumstances meant it was never finished. It was built by Ranulf II,...

NEW HAVEN — A jury has found career criminal Steven Hayes guilty of murder and other crimes, including some punishable by death, in the 2007 Cheshire home invasion that led to the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley and Michaela.

In Connecticut, we have about 13 separate Mini Tea Parties throughout the state, one each day of the week for Mon thru Saturday, some days have 2, some days have as many as 3 per day! Today in Cheshire, an Obama Health Care supporter drove by me and 62 other Patriots who were at the weekly Monday Tea Party in Cheshire, Connectuicut.

Station calls time on kissingDean Kirby February 16, 2009 RAIL stations and romantic farewells go hand-in-hand. Tearful clinches as the train prepares to leave - immortalised by Trevord Howard and Celia Johnson in the classic film Brief Encounter - have always pulled at the heart-strings. But not at Warrington Bank Quay Station, it seems. A No Kissing sign has been put up at after concern that commuters were being delayed by passionate embraces. It is now prohibited to do nothing more than shake hands at the station taxi rank. If lovers insist on puckering-up, they now have to go...

New Haven (WTNH) _ The two men accused in the murders of a Cheshire mother and her two daughters will be back in court September 18 for a probable cause hearing. Under heavy guard Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes were whisked into a New Haven Superior Court Tuesday morning to be arraigned on capital murder charges in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters Hayley,17, and Michaela,11. They did not enter pleas and spoke only to yes or no questions. Komisarjevsky and Hayes, both convicted burglars with long criminal histories, were out on parole at the time of...

NEWINGTON, Conn. -- State gun sales have shot up in the days after the wife and two daughters of a prominent Connecticut physician were killed, according to a local gun shop owner. Scott Hoffman runs Hoffman's Gun Center on the Berlin Turnpike. In the past few days, following the triple homicide in Cheshire, Hoffman said that people have been rushing to his store to buy guns for themselves and their homes. "They're scared," he said. "They're scared for their own personal safety and their family's safety, their children's safety and they want a way to protect themselves." Hoffman said that...

A judge getting ready to send Joshua Komisarjevsky to prison in 2002 called him a "cold, calculating predator." Equipped with night-vision goggles and armed with a knife, he would slash his way through screens into houses around his hometown of Cheshire, stealing mostly electronic equipment and petty cash to pay for a drug habit. Steven Hayes had a record more noteworthy for its length than the severity of the crimes - decades of larcenies, burglaries and check forgeries. Hayes committed most of his crimes in the northwest corner, near his home in Winsted - far from Sorghum Mill Drive in...