Manchester United have been put off expanding the capacity of their Old Trafford stadium "in the near future" because of logistical problems.

Image source, Getty Images

Plans have been drawn up three times in the last decade with a view to redeveloping the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand and take the capacity of England's biggest club ground to more than 80,000.

However, with a railway line running directly behind it, and houses just beyond that, work on the stand is considered hugely complicated.

"It would be a multi-season challenge and it isn't certain that there's a way of doing it which doesn't render us homeless," said Manchester United managing director Richard Arnold.

A struggling secondary school in Burnley is to shut after proposals for its closure were agreed.

Image source, Google

Hameldon Community College will close on 31 August 2019, after Lancashire County Council voted to shut the school.

A consultation into its future was launched last year.

The council's Susie Charles said the school had recently received another rating of inadequate from Ofsted, was running at a financial deficit, and had very low attendance figures.

She said closing a school "isn't something that is done lightly and it certainly would not be happening now if the arguments for closure weren't as strong as they are".

A phased closure will take place to minimise disruption to existing pupils.

Pupils currently in years 7, 8 and 9 will move to new schools for the start of term in September 2018, while current year 10 pupils will remain at the school to allow them to complete their exams.

A dog "saved the life" of his 86-year-old owner by scaring off a robber who was attacking her.

Rescue dog Axel jumped in when he saw owner Joyce Ackerley being hit on the head by a raider who tried to grab her necklace as she "pottered" in the garden of her Salford home on Monday.

The German shepherd-Akita-cross pounced on the robber, bit him and then chased him as he fled down the street.

Mrs Ackerley said Axel was her "hero" and he had "saved my life".

• Former council leader Richard Farnell denies lying to an inquiry into child sex abuse in Rochdale
• A struggling secondary school in Burnley is to close its doors next year, councillors agree
• The owner of a set of historic books thought to have been stolen from somewhere around Merseyside or North Wales is sought by police

A woman in Runcorn has fought off a man who knocked on her door demanding cash while brandishing a knife.

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Cheshire Police said a man knocked on a door at Lockgate West in Windmill Hill at about 20:00 BST on Wednesday and when the door was opened, he put his foot inside the house.

The 50-year-old woman who opened the door managed to push him outside the house and close the door.

The man is described as white, around 5ft 3ins (1.60m) tall and in his early 20s. He had a slim build, very short black hair with one to two-day stubble and he spoke with a local accent.

Det Con Nathaniel Walkowiak said it was a "terrifying incident" and the woman had been "brave".

A three-year-old girl with a rare brain tumour has been given an honorary place on the racecard for this year's Grand National.

Image source, Family handout

Edie Molyneux, from Liverpool, has the 41st spot in Saturday's race at Aintree and is listed as Spider-Ede to represent her favourite superhero Spider-Man.

Edie is in Mexico for treatment after her family say UK doctors told them her tumour was "inoperable".

Bradley Lowery, 5, who died in July had the first honorary spot last year.

The leader of a drugs gang that ran a cocaine supply ring worth more than £2m has been jailed for nine years.

Image source, GMP

Marcus Anderson, of Brooklawn Drive, Prestwich, admitted orchestrating the group that trafficked cocaine across the north of England and the Midlands.

The group used encrypted phones, safe houses and couriers to move drugs, Greater Manchester Police said.

Anderson, 32, was jailed for nine years at Manchester Crown Court for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

Andre Knott, 33, of Houghton Road, Manchester, was jailed for seven years for the same charge.

A minute's silence will be observed in Liverpool on Sunday to mark the 29th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

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Flags on Liverpool's Cunard Building, Town Hall, St George’s Hall and Central Library will be flown at half-mast in remembrance of the 96 people who died at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final match.

A silence will be observed at 15:06, the time the game was stopped.

Bells at the Town Hall will toll 96 times and digital screens on Lime Street and the M62 will display the words "Never Forgotten".

The Mersey Ferries will also mark the anniversary by sounding their horn, and traffic will be stopped for one minute at both tunnels.

Other organisations taking part in the silence include National Museums Liverpool venues and Tate Liverpool.

Former Rochdale Council leader Richard Farnell has denied lying to an inquiry investigating child sexual abuse in the town.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse report said Mr Farnell, who was in charge between 1986 and 1992, "lied to the inquiry during his evidence".

In a statement, Mr Farnell said he was "shocked" at the findings of the inquiry and said he told the truth.

He said there was "clear evidence" that he was not informed about Knowl View during his time as leader.

He added:

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• A former council leader's claim he was unaware of child sex abuse in Rochdale "defies belief", a report has found
• A three-year-old girl with a rare brain tumour has been given an honorary place on the racecard for this year's Grand National
• Lancashire County Cricket Club made an operating profit of £2,347,000 for 2017, an increase of 92% on the previous year

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Greater Manchester Police will "consult with the inquiry" to establish whether any possible criminal offences require investigation.

Ass Ch Con Debbie Ford said the force "have welcomed this inquiry from the beginning as it publicly scrutinised these difficult and complex issues.

"We have fully co-operated throughout and, today, we acknowledge its findings. “This is a comprehensive report and we will now take time to fully understand the outcomes and any potential learnings.”

Daniel Wolstencroft, a member of the Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel which was consulted during the independent inquiry into child sex abuse in Rochdale, has called for action to be taken against the borough's former council leader Richard Farnell.

"In my own personal opinion he has got blood on his hands, [because] he denies knowing about the abuse," he said.

"So for me he was complicit in the abuse. He needs holding to account."

Mr Farnell was twice leader of the council - from 1986 to 1992 and from 2014 until December 2017.

The Labour Party immediately suspended his membership following publication of today's report.

The report found that Mr Farnell "lied during his evidence" to the inquiry, and that it was "shameful that he refused to accept any personal responsibility for the young lives blighted by what happened".

Rochdale Borough Council's chief executive has apologised for the fact that many vulnerable children in the town were "failed" for many years.

Steve Rumberlow said "certainly in the case of Knowl View School, there were significant failures of leadership and management and a failure to investigate concerns in order to protect children.

“While the inquiry found no evidence of cover-ups or political pacts, it is clear from its report that council officers and school staff failed in their most basic duty of care towards children.

“Although the failure to understand the risks at the time was not unique to Rochdale, the consequences of the failures for the children involved were exceptionally serious.

“The council has apologised and acknowledged that children were failed. I repeat that apology today and say again that we are truly sorry."

The chair of the inquiry into child sexual abuse in Rochdale said she was "deeply disturbed at the evidence of extensive abuse and the institutional responses to that abuse".

Thirty witnesses gave evidence in person and 28 written statements were offered in evidence.to the Inquiry, which sat for three weeks in October 2017.

One survivor of child sex abuse in Rochdale, who asked to remain anonymous, has told the BBC that he is "still feeling the pain and suffering" aged 70.

Claiming he had been abused by former Rochdale Liberal MP Cyril Smith at Cambridge House boys' hostel, he said: "There was this man there who I can only describe as enormous.

"Very big. To me he looked massive because I was only small for my age.

"He asked me to take my pants down and turn around and face the wall. He started running his hands all over my body and he started bringing his hands up my side and my legs."

An independent report into historical child sex abuse in Rochdale examined why the town's former MP Cyril Smith was never charged with any offences.

Before he died aged 82 in 2010 he was the subject of accusations and investigations but never faced trial and even received a knighthood in 1988.

A Lancashire Police investigation concluded in 1970 - the year he first ran for public office - that he was hiding behind a "veneer of respectability" and had used his "unique position" to target eight boys at a hostel - Cambridge House - during the 1960s.

The boys said Smith, the hostel's honorary secretary, spanked their bare bottoms and carried out intrusive medical examinations despite not being qualified to do so.

But the then director of public prosecutions Sir Norman Skelhorn chose not to charge him.

From 1997 onwards, Greater Manchester Police investigated allegations of physical and sexual abuse in residential homes, with the Lancashire Police file concerning Smith and a further witness statement submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 1998.

Two additional statements were submitted in 1999. The inquiry said a prosecutor advised Smith should not be charged despite coming to the view there was a "realistic prospect of conviction".

The panel said: "His review of that advice in 1999 did not consider that those new complaints were capable of lending further support to the case. A valuable opportunity was, therefore, lost to prosecute Smith during his lifetime, and for the complainants to seek justice."

Martin Digan, a former social worker who blew the whistle on the allegations in the 1990s, said today's independent report into child sex abuse in Rochdale provided "vindication".

Former Rochdale council leader Richard Farnell has been suspended as a member of the Labour Party, it has been announced.

Mr Farnell, who led the council between 1986 and 1992 and again from 2014 until December 2017, was heavily criticised in an independent investigation into how the authorities dealt with child sex abuse allegations in the town.

The report said it was "shameful" Mr Farnell "refused to accept responsibility for young lives blighted" by abuse.