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Ed Balls sacks £100,000-a-year Baby-P Social Services boss . . . and says she doesn't deserve a pay-off

Sharon Shoesmith and Baby P

Council chiefs at the authority responsible for protecting tragic toddler Baby P were sacked today after a damning report into its failings in the months before he died. Head of children's services at Haringey Council Sharon Shoesmith, pictured, was immediately removed from her £100,000 position.

LATEST: Home Office 'mole' breaks cover to 'set the record straight' over Tory MP leaks

The Home Office 'mole' Christopher Galley sits alongside his lawyer at a press conference today

The civil servant arrested over the alleged Home Office leaks to a Tory MP today broke his cover to make a public statement.

BBC in new decency row after Torchwood star John Barrowman exposes himself during live broadcast

John Barrowman

The BBC was engulfed in another decency row today after John Barrowman exposed himself live on air. Doctor Who actor John Barrowman revealed himself in a pre-watershed Radio 1 show.

Parents' anger at Lapland theme park 'sham' which costs £25 a ticket

Lapland New Forest

Man arrested for lighting Guy Fawkes Night bonfire on village green under law dating from 1880s

Brett Duxfield

A father-of-two has been hauled into court after breaking a law which dates back to the 1880s by lighting a village bonfire.

Babysitter accused of murdering boy, two, by smashing his head against bannisters

Suzanne Holdsworth

A babysitter murdered a toddler by repeatedly smashing his head against bannisters in her home, a court heard today.

Muslim peer banned from driving after sending text message moments before fatal car crash

Lord Ahmed

Muslim peer Lord Ahmed today admitted sending and receiving text messages while driving on a motorway just before he was involved in a crash in which a man died.

Boy, 11, killed after being hit TWICE in hit and run smash

Ikea on North Circular Road

An 11-year-old boy was killed after being hit twice in a hit and run outside a branch of Ikea, police revealed today.

Counsellor sacked for refusing to give sex therapy to gay couples because it was 'against his Christian beliefs'

Gary McFarlane

A Christian relationship counsellor was sacked because he refused to give sex therapy sessions to gay couples, a tribunal heard today.

Mother loses libel case against daughter who wrote book about her abusive childhood

Carmen Briscoe-Mitchell

A mother today lost her libel case against her barrister daughter over a book which accused her of sustained childhood cruelty and neglect.

Pensioner killed by his own car after thief repeatedly drove over him as he blocked path

Walter Bollen

A pensioner mown down and killed by his own car as he tried to stop it being stolen battled 'like a trooper' to fight off the thieves, eye witnesses said yesterday.

Arranged marriage wife 'murdered husband after luring him to hotel room with her lover'

Yasira Pervez and Khurum Mukhtar

Man arrested for lighting Guy Fawkes Night bonfire on village green under law dating from 1880s

bonfire

Police shoot man dead after stand-off at 'Omen' cathedral

Guildford

The man shot dead by police outside a cathedral was named by sources today.

Welcome to Soviet Britain: The towns where half the population relies on the state for a job

Castle Morpeth

Labour's public sector spending has created a wave of 'Soviet' boroughs where around half the population depends on the state for work, figures have revealed.

Climate change targets could push up household bills to £500 a year, says Government chief

Lord Turner

Household bills could rise by a quarter if Britain is to meet its greenhouse gas reduction target, the Government’s top global warming adviser warned today.

Parents offered £100 DNA test to find future sports stars

DNA testing - searching for sports gene

Parents are being offered a £100 DNA test which promises to reveal which sport their child is most suited to play.

Face of the Mumbai monster: Doctors care for gunman who carried out hospital attack

azam

WORLD NEWS

Clinton        

Sea turns red as 150 whales are battered to death against rocks in mass stranding off Australian coast

whales

Arrest... or assault? Judge's disgust after soldier is held down and hit eight times by POLICE

Mark Aspinall's conviction was quashed on appeal. The judge said he was 'appalled' at the police violence

A judge has condemned an apparent police assault on a soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Somali pirates attack and chase cruise ship carrying British tourists

The Nautica, pictured here in Oman last year, was attacked and chased by pirates in the Gulf of Aden yesterday

A luxury cruise ship carrying said to be carrying 29 Britons has been shot at and chased by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

Pictured: Motorist's lucky escape after teenage yobs drop concrete block on car

concrete block

Two motorists were injured when yobs dropped concrete onto their cars. In one case, a large piece of concrete smashed through the sunroof of a Land Rover Discovery, narrowly missing the driver.

The NHS nurse who was paid £100,000 in one year

nurse

An NHS nurse has broken the £100,000 pay barrier for the first time as the drive to cut waiting lists brings lucrative rewards for senior staff.

Hungover motorists are 'four times more dangerous than sober drivers'

Hangover

Driving with a hangover is four times more dangerous than getting behind the wheel wide awake and sober, scientists say.