Warning not to walk across frozen ponds

FIREFIGHTERS have issued a warning after reports of people running and walking over a frozen pond.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service say people have been taking actions which “risk their life” at a pond in Berry Hill Park, Mansfield.

In a post on Twitter, the fire service warned that ice “may appear thicker than it is”.

A fire service spokesperson Tweeted: “We have seen that a number of people have been running across or walking on frozen lakes and ponds in the Berry Hill, Mansfield, area.

“Please do NOT walk, run, dare others to risk their life.”

It comes as the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for ice across Nottinghamshire this weekend.

The forecaster says “treacherous ice” may develop in areas across the county in the aftermath of the recent snowfall.

The warning is in place between 9pm tonight and 9pm tomorrow.

BURGLARS held a pensioner’s bread knife held to her throat.

The 72-year-old, who has sciatica and uses a crutch, was watching TV at her home in Fairham Road, Keyworth, when three men turned up pretending to be delivery men.

Antonio Richards, wearing a high visibility tabard, knocked on her door on January 7 last year at about 8.30pm. As others waited by a fence, Together they burst into her home, knocking her to the ground.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that she tried to open curtains to call for help, but Richards sat on her chest and one of the gang said: “Tie her up”.

“She feared she would be raped or badly beaten,” said Recorder Charles Falk, who sentenced Richards and accomplice Alex Lonsdale, both of no fixed address.

As she screamed, Richards knelt on her neck and told her he was going to stab her if she did not stop shouting, and one of the others passed him the bread knife.

“In a moment, which must have been truly terrifying, you placed the serrated edge of the blade to the right hand side of her neck.

“Showing some spirit, she managed to secrete her landline phone in her dressing gown pocket and rang 999 and secreted the phone under a cushion,” said the Recorder.

They left the house with packets of cigarettes, a small amount of money and a pair of boots.

As police arrived, one officer saw them walking towards her. Richards ran at her, but she rugbytackled him and they both fell to the ground. Both were arrested. The third man was never caught.

The victim suffered lacerations to the neck, carpet burns, cuts, grazes, red marks to the face, a black eye and fractured ribs.

Richards, 33, who pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, was jailed for nine years and seven months for aggravated burglary, and three months consecutively for assault with intent to resist arrest

Esther Harrison, who represented him, said he was going along with the offence in order to pay off a drugs debt.

Andrew Vout, for 29-year-old Lonsdale, jailed for nine years after admitting aggravated burglary, said he felt utterly wretched about what he has done.

Both men will serve two-thirds of their sentence before they can be released on licence.