Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Olly inquest opens after park murder
AN autistic schoolboy who was murdered in a park died of stab wounds to the chest, an inquest heard.
Olly Stephens, 13, was attacked near his home on January 3 and although a passer by tried to resuscitate him, paramedics pronounced him dead.
Two boys, aged 13 and 14, and a 13-year-old girl – who cannot be named due to their age – face a murder trial later this year.
Assistant coroner Alison Mccormick yesterday said his body was identified by dad Stuart at Bugs Bottom fields in Reading, Berks.
The inquest at Reading coroner’s court was adjourned until a criminal investigation concludes.
Hundreds of mourners lined streets for his funeral and his dad called him “a loving, caring, funny soul”.
REPAIR Shop host Jay Blades wept while making a fan who was near the end of his life an “honorary expert” on the show.
Furniture restorer Jay told how the family of a man in his 90s got in touch after realising his days were numbered when he recovered from Covid.
They asked Jay, 50, if he could record a message, so he rang him on Facetime.
Jay said: “When I made him an honorary expert, all the family on the call were crying. I was crying. I recently got a text telling me he’d passed away, but the family were over the moon with what we did.”
Jay will host a new BBC2 series with Repair Shop co-star Dominic Chinea – Jay and Dom’s Home Fix – later this month.
MPS are set to debate the controversial badger cull after more than 100,000 people signed a petition urging an immediate ban.
Some 140,830 of the popular animals have been killed since 2013 in a bid to curb the spread of tuberculosis in cows.
The Wild Justice group which launched the online campaign says shooting is inhumane and “should be banned immediately”.
Crossing the 100,000 threshold means MPS will now consider a debate.
Wild Justice director Mark Avery said: “Petitions of this type rarely change policy but keep up the pressure for change.”
The Government last month signalled the culls would start to be wound down from 2022.