Updates for Monday, 18 April 2016
A GP and former police medical adviser has been given an extended jail term for sexual assaults on 13 female officers
Norwich cafe faces opposition to plans to extend its opening hours to 03:00
Norwich City's chances of Premier League survival take a blow after a 3-0 home defeat to Sunderland
More news, sport, weather and travel updates from 08:00 on Tuesday
Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather
Staying cloudy this evening, with the chance of some rain. Clear spells developing later.
Minimum temperature: 2C 36(F).
Image source, BBC WeatherTomorrow will be dry with sunny spells. Temperatures reaching 13C (55F), although it will be cooler on the coast.
BBC Weather has more information for you.
More than 90% of children in Norfolk have got a place at their first-choice primary school, according to the county council.
The authority says demand is increasing each year because of population growth, and that it has a duty to respond to the changing need. Parents whose children have missed out can appeal.
Richard Snowdon, head of admissions, said it worked closely with schools to expand as and when necessary to match increasing demand.
Andrew Turner
BBC Radio Norfolk
A circus and street arts trust has had the builders in.
Sea Change Arts, external took over Great Yarmouth's Drill House in 2012, but the roof was too low for a swinging trapeze.
The building is listed, so builders couldn't raise the roof... and instead dug down, building a pit 2.5m (8ft) deep to give extra height.
Janet Harnden
BBC Radio Norfolk
A trainee field study instructor has found the tooth of a baby mammoth just two weeks into his job.
Niall Thorogood made the discovery on West Runton beach, where a mammoth skeleton was famously discovered in 1990, external. Mr Thorogood, who works at the Aylmerton Field Study Centre in north Norfolk, says more people should look for prehistoric finds on our beaches.
Quote MessageEvery time you walk along the beach you probably walk along miles and miles of fossils and different things to be discovered... people don't realise how much the coast has to offer."
Niall Thorogood
Pictures released by Norfolk Police show the extent of the damage to a farm building, external after nearby straw bales were deliberately ignited in Stratton St Michael last month.
Image source, Diss ExpressOur top story today:
Other stories in the news today:
The orphan season has started at the RSPCA's East Winch Wildlife Centre, external, where staff are currently looking after a number of animals including ducklings, blackbirds and leverets.
Image source, RSPCAFour nestling blackbirds are now safe and warm in an incubator, being fed every 20 minutes, after they were accidentally knocked out of a shrub by a football in King's Lynn.
More than 20 ducklings are being cared for, including a group that was seen crossing the road in Snettisham with no parent in sight. Two of three leverets were picked up by dogs, and another is receiving treatment for an eye injury after being attacked by crows.
First Buses is investigating after a bus crashed into a tree near Norwich this morning.
The incident happened at about 08:00 when the vehicle was overtaking a bin lorry in Costessey.
Five children were on board the bus, one of whom got a small cut on the leg. Nobody was seriously hurt.
The back page of today's Norwich Evening News, external:
Image source, ArchantAnother police force is to investigate where Norfolk Police missed opportunities during its investigations into allegations of sexual abuse of female officers by medical adviser Dr Hugh O'Neill, jailed for an additional three years today.
Describing O'Neill as a "sexual predator" who targeted women when they were "particularly vulnerable", Det Supt Kate Thacker said it was possible that some of the victims may launch legal claims against Norfolk Police.
The matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
Norfolk Police has set up a hotline for other possible victims to come forward. The number is 01603 276999.
A doctor who groped female police officers and new recruits in his role as Norfolk Police's medical adviser between 1991 and 2003 was described in court by Judge Anthony Bate as "a disgrace to an honourable profession".
Prosecutor Kate Davey told Norwich Crown Court that Dr Hugh O'Neill had been a "trusted and respected member of the team... part of the scenery within the county's police force."
None of the examinations performed by the 63-year-old doctor formed part of any legitimate procedure and were carried out for his own sexual gratification, Ms Davey told the court, adding that they were often "a smokescreen for sexual abuse".
A paedophile doctor jailed for a further three years after admitting the sexual abuse of female police officers during force medical examinations continued to deny any wrongdoing when he appeared for sentencing at Norwich Crown Court today.
Michael Clare, in mitigation, said Dr Hugh O'Neill "was investigated in 1993 when he denied all matters and again in 2002 when he denied all matters... he continues to deny all matters but has his own reasons for pleading guilty".
O'Neill, previously of Tasburgh, was a GP at Horsford Medical Centre after beginning work as a doctor in the 1980s. His role as a medical adviser at Norfolk Police, which he took on in 1991, included examining new recruits.
The force is now looking into possible failings in the two investigations.
Norwich Crown Court heard that it was not until last year, when 63-year-old Dr Hugh O'Neill was jailed for 12 years for the rape and sexual assault of two girls aged under 14, that his assaults on policewomen were fully investigated.
Prosecutor Kate Davey told the court that allegations about O'Neill's conduct during force medical examinations had first emerged in 1993 but little was done and he carried on abusing women in a "gross and repeated" breach of trust for another nine years.
O'Neill left the force in 2003 after further claims were made but this did not lead to any criminal action.
Norfolk Police failed to investigate claims that a doctor groped female officers and new recruits more than two decades before he was finally prosecuted for sex attacks, Norwich Crown Court has heard.
Prosecutor Kate Davey told the court that allegations about Dr Hugh O'Neill's conduct during force medical examinations had first emerged in 1993 but little was done and he carried on abusing women in a "gross and repeated" breach of trust for another nine years.
O'Neill left the force in 2003 after further claims were made but this did not lead to any criminal action.
Police in Great Yarmouth stopped a driver who was transporting a wardrobe on the roof of a car, held in place by only a thin sheet of bubble wrap.
They posted this picture on Instagram, external, adding: "A passenger was also found laying under the wardrobe doors inside the car, as all the seats were down to transport."
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Two independent financial advisers from Norfolk have been charged with a total of 14 fraud offences by officers from the Eastern Region Specialist Operations Unit (ERSOU).
Alan Taylor, 36, of St Stephen's Street, Norwich, and Russell Taylor, 35, of Old Hall Road, Witton, near North Walsham, have each been charged with seven counts of fraud including conspiracy to defraud and fraud by abuse of position.
The charges relate to the handling of investments between their businesses, Taylor and Taylor Associates Ltd, based in Hoveton, and Vantage Investment Group, between January 2008 and July 2015.
Investigations have revealed that the sums relating to the fraud charges are likely to run into millions of pounds. The two men have been released on conditional bail to appear before Norwich magistrates on June 24.
A GP and former police medical officer has been given a further three years in prison today after he admitting to sexually assaulting 13 female police officers.
Image source, Norfolk PoliceDr Hugh Blaise O'Neill, who practised at Horsford, was jailed for 12 years in January 2015 after admitting two rapes and three counts of gross indecency against two girls under 16.
Last week, the 62-year-old from Tasburgh, admitted 13 counts of sexual assault on a female, relating to 13 female police officers. He worked as a medical adviser for Norfolk police between 1991 and 2003.
O'Neill appeared before for sentencing at Norwich Crown Court this afternoon.
The front page of today's Norwich Evening News, external:
Image source, ArchantAn appeal to raise funds for a disabled man who was robbed in Norwich has passed its target.
Danny Barrett, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, had his wallet stolen while waiting at a bus stop in the city last Monday.
A crowdfunding appeal was set up by Penny Brown after she heard the story. She was hoping to raise £200 so that Danny could have a day out with a friend. So far £325 has been donated to the page.
Norwich City are now just one point above the dreaded drop-zone following their 3-0 defeat to relegation rivals Sunderland at the weekend.
As Canaries fans streamed out of Carrow Road on Saturday, BBC Look East's Tom Williams asked them their reaction to the game.
