A Stranger's London
£11,000 for two days work
An elderly spinster was charged £11,350 for two days' work tidying up her garden.Then she had to pay out another £739 to have the shoddy work put right, Oxford Crown Court was told. She agreed to the work without asking for an estimate when contractor Michael Joyce and another man turned up in a van at her bungalow, the jury heard.
In two mornings Joyce and other men relaid a drive, tidied up paths, lopped trees and demolished two sheds at the house in Grove, Oxford.
The spinster, 64-year-old Millicent bill Powell, was then presented with a bill for £9,500 labour and costs and told materials would be another £2,000 the court heard.
The prosecution said: "She told the men this was almost all her savings, but they took no notice."
Miss Powell handed over £11,350 in cheques and cash but stopped one cheque for £8,000 after calling in the police. Joyce, 26, of Slade Park, Oxford, denies obtaining the money by deception. The case continues.
Dash for dog
A dog injured in a road accident was driven to a vet in an ambulance. The dog, owned by a policewoman, was given oxygen on the floor of the ambulance and its life was saved.Now the ambulance controller who authorised the journey has been reprimanded. A senior ambulance official in Birmingham, where the incident happened, said: "It was a serious misuse of the service. It will not happen again."
Chatterbox's £600 phone
Chatterbox schoolgirl Paula Lumley has been banned from using the phone after running up a £600 bill. Paula, 14, of Birmingham, got hooked on British Telecom's Talkabout service in which several callers can hold a conversation at the same time. Now her mother is having the phone cut off.Suspicious wife's court plea fails
An unreasonably suspicious wife lost her plea for a divorce in the family division of the High Court.Mrs Gay Digby accused her husband, Gerald, a company director, of being "abusive, unpleasant, surly, and churlish," and asked for a divorce because of his unreasonable behaviour.
But in dismissing her petition, Judge Hunter said that Mr Digby, aged 50, was a man of "outstanding forebearance," who had shown "patience and sympathy" for his wife. On the other hand, Mrs Digby, aged 51, was "a rather cold, utterly self-centered and somewhat neurotic woman," the judge said. When tea, semolina, and other household items disappeared from the pantry, she suspected her husband, and changed the locks.
Seven years ago, sexual intercourse between them ceased because she suffered an allergy and feared she would come out in a rash if her husband came near her.
The couple, who were married in March, 1957, and have a grown-up son live in a 14-roomed house in Foxley Lane, Purley, South London.
Famine busker praised
Billy Sage, aged 31, a busker, was given an absolute discharge at Liverpool Magistrates' Court for collecting money for a charity without a permit, after the magistrate heard that he was collecting for the Ethiopian famine appeal.His solicitor said: "Mr Sage decided he wanted to do his bit to help the victims. He was so keen he started collecting straight away instead of waiting for a permit. He has now got it and is an official collector for Oxfam with a permit.'
The court was told that by singing for charity, Mr Sage had collected £2 by the time he was arrested on December 6. The magistrate, D Thomas Hobday, told Sage: "We are very sorry that you got tangled up with the judicial machinery in your effort to help others."
Dog calls Police
Sasha the guide dog made straight to the Police station when her blind mistress was mugged. Mrs Joan Gowland, 58, of High Wycombe, has her purse snatched and Sasha chased the mugger but returned when M Gowland said "Police". Sasha knows the word. Mrs Gowland said "She led me to them."Nude wife of curate
Churchgoers have learned the naked truth about Curate's wife Rosie Evans. She is a nude model.Blonde Rosie poses for teenage art students at a college 30 miles from her husband's parish. But the Rev Nuc Evans, Curate at St Laurence Church in Ludlow reckons gossips should mind their own business.
He said, "stories spread about the art classes will only be misconstrued. We do a lot of good work here."
Blasting his wife's critics. Mr Evans, 27 said: "Anyone who reads the Bible knows Jesus was persecuted. People would have to look to their conscience about what they have done to others Rosie, 23, said: "some people can be a bit old-fashioned."
The Rector of St Laurence's Church, the Rev John Baulsch, said "Whatever the Curate's wife does through the education authority of the country is fine."
