Sunderland anticipate the biggest third-tier crowd for 39 years at the Boxing Day game against Bradford City.

Premiership Rugby agrees to sell a minority shareholding to CVC Capital Partners for a sum understood to be more than £200m

Police were alerted by a member of the public who overheard a victim talking to a bank cashier.

Damian O'Neil
BBC Look North

Middlesbrough manager Tony Pulis says he was "desperately disappointed" at last night's defeat against Burton Albion in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.

It leaves the Teesside club now without a win in five games in all competitions.

Pulis said: "They started better than us in the first five minutes and then we got hold of the game, got a good grip of the game and we had four opportunities where we are through with just the goalkeeper in front of us.

"What summed it up was Flinty's miss in the second half. How he's missed that, goodness knows."

Image source, Getty Images

Relive all Sunday's Premiership action as Bath win at Wasps and Gloucester beat Newcastle Falcons.

Jonathan Carr, 21, was fatally stabbed by Daniel Smith, 20, in a drunken row at his flat in Tyneside.

Saturday's action comes from the National League, National League North and National League South - listen to BBC local radio commentaries.

Redcar Labour MP Anna Turley is calling on people to vote for the BBC Two documentary The Mighty Redcar in the Radio Times awards.

Janine and Shane Scott took Elissa, seven, with them on honeymoon to New York during term time.

Omar Sharif, 24, was convicted of four counts of rape after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

Rapist Omar Sharif is "a manipulative man who knew what he was doing", police have said.

The 24-year-old felt untouchable and treated all his victims with complete disrespect, a court heard.

Sharif, of Brunton Terrace, Sunderland, admitted drugs offences and denied rape, but was convicted of four charges against three victims.

Judge Penny Moreland jailed him for 37-and-a-half years, with a minimum term of 21 years.

Acting Supt Claire Wheatley of Northumbria Police, said: "He preyed on young, vulnerable women he thought would never report him.

"He thought he was untouchable and he thought he could lie his way out of everything."

Mark Denten
BBC Look North

A Sunderland man who plied three young women with drink and drugs and then raped them has been sentenced to 37-and-a-half years in prison.

Omar Sharif, 24, and from Brunton Terrace, organised parties where drink and drugs were available.

He was found guilty last month of four charges of raping three young women aged between 17 and 19.

Image source, Northumbria Police

Sharif was also found guilty of one count of sexual assault, three offences of supplying a class A drug and one count of trying to conceal a sum of £2,000.

His trial at Newcastle Crown Court heard he "lied on an industrial scale" in an attempt to conceal his crimes.

Sharif's uncle Tipu Sultan was murdered in South Shields in 2015.

The trial heard Sharif falsely claimed to have been at the murder scene to try to elicit sympathy from the jury. Judge Penny Moreland described Sharif as a "sexual predator".

A network of “superstops” on Middlesbrough bus routes is being lined up to solve some of the town's worst transport bottlenecks.

Middlesbrough Council has drawn up a ten year blueprint to transform the town’s transport network, including backing a “park and ride” at Nunthorpe railway station, road widening schemes and better traffic signals.

It includes proposals for “superstops” on bus routes with “high quality facilities”.

The council says the passenger hubs would be placed at “key destinations” – including railway stations, Middlehaven, James Cook University Hospital and “district centres”.

They would feature lighting, CCTV, seating and ticket machines and covered cycle storage, according to the council. Councillor Lewis Young, member for infrastructure and economic development, told council leaders the plan would go with its “ambitious housebuilding projects” and help create a “seamless network”.

However, £21.8m still needs to be found to fund the full £45.5m programme of road projects. The council aims to get the extra money from larger organisations such as the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) and the Department for Transport in coming years.

Image source, Middlesbrough Council

Their families have paid tribute to the women who were students at Nottingham Trent University.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A report into the state of a Teesside hospital will have to undergo legal checks before it can be published.

Roseberry Park Hospital, in Middlesbrough, has been dogged by structural defects with its roof, plumbing and fire safety system.

A “task force” was formed by the Tees Valley Health Scrutiny Committee to look at what went wrong and how patients had been affected.

However, the latest committee meeting heard the final findings would need to be checked by legal experts before it can be published.

The hospital, which was built in 2011, is now fully run by the Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV). It was the subject of a long legal dispute over efforts to end the trust’s £321m PFI contract with Three Valleys Healthcare Limited (TVH).

The state of Roseberry Park meant 50 patients had to be transferred to Hartlepool in 2017 due to problems with the building.

It's hoped the review will be published early in the New Year.

Image source, goo

Damian O'Neil
BBC Look North

The jury in the trial of a Sunderland man accused of inciting racial hatred has retired to consider its verdict.

William Charlton, who is also known as Billy, is charged with six counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour likely to stir up racial hatred.

The charges relate to alleged comments made by Mr Charlton at a series of rallies in Sunderland in 2016 and 2017. Mr Charlton, 54, of no fixed address, denies all the charges.

Colin Briggs
Look North

A Northumberland school that was facing closure just a year ago is celebrating a successful Ofsted judgement on its progress.

Corbridge Middle School was among 16 schools included in planned changes to schooling in the west of the County.

But, following a campaign by the schools, and local parents, Corbridge Middle was among those reprieved.

The recent government inspection gave the school another rating of "Good", and noted "marked improvement" in several areas of its performance.

The Shields Gazette

The process which paved the way for an overhaul of maternity, children’s and stroke care services in South Tyneside and Sunderland, external was "fundamentally unfair", a court has heard.

The claim was made during opening arguments today in the legal challenge brought by campaigners fighting the changes.

Image source, Shields Gazette

Hartlepool Mail
Newspaper

A Hartlepool business and hotel are coming together to show the true spirit of Christmas to help homeless people., external

Image source, Hartlepool Mail

Lisa Gallagher
Weather presenter, BBC Look North

After a fairly bright and chilly start it should be a mainly dry day.

There may be the chance of the odd shower in areas close to the Pennines or the east coast.

Maximum temperatures should reach about 7C (45F).