The Independent

Home news in brief

- Want your views to be included in The Independen­t Daily Edition letters page? Email us by tapping here letters@independen­t.co.uk. Please include your address

Murdoch spotted in Barbados with new girlfriend

Media baron Rupert Murdoch is in a relationsh­ip with AnnLesley Smith, 25 years his junior, less than six months after his “brutal” split from Jerry Hall, it has emerged.

The 91-year-old was pictured holidaying on a beach in Barbados with Smith, 66. The pair were also photograph­ed holding hands at an airport.

They were reportedly being hosted in Barbados by British billionair­e and JCB chairman Anthony Bamford, the Daily Mail reports. The Independen­t understand­s that Smith and Murdoch met in November before making their debut as a couple at Christmas, when Smith attended a dinner at Murdoch’s home in Mayfair.

Murdoch’s fourth wife, actor and former supermodel Jerry Hall, was left “heartbroke­n” and “devastated” by the abrupt end to their marriage in 2022, with close friends suggesting his children created a rift between them.

Teen appears in court charged with footballer’s murder

An 18-year-old man charged with murdering footballer Cody Fisher in a Birmingham nightclub on Boxing Day has appeared in court. Reegan Anderson is the third man to be charged with the murder of 23-year-old Mr Fisher on the dance floor of Crane nightclub in Adderley Street, Digbeth, just before midnight on 26 December, and has also been charged with affray.

Appearing at Birmingham Crown Court via video link from HMP Brinsford yesterday, Anderson was not asked to enter pleas and will appear again on 17 March. Judge Paul Farrer KC set a trial date for 3 July.

Anderson, 18, of Erdington, was remanded in custody after the hearing. He will appear at Birmingham Crown Court again in March for a plea and trial preparatio­n hearing alongside Kami Carpenter, 21, and Remy Gordon, 22, who were charged with murder five days after the death of Mr Fisher.

Carpenter, of no fixed address, and Gordon, of Cofton Park Drive, Birmingham, are also set to face trial on 3 July, while another suspect has been released on bail. Police have set up a dedicated webpage for members of the public to send footage, pictures and informatio­n to detectives as the investigat­ion into the killing continues.

Crane’s licence has been withdrawn and several other clubs in the city have since installed life-saving bleed kits donated by the

Daniel Baird Foundation, a charity started by Lynne Baird after her son Daniel was murdered with a knife in Digbeth in July 2017. PA

New scan can ‘cure’ high blood pressure

A new 10-minute scan could make way for the most common cause of high blood pressure to be detected and cured, new research has suggested. Using a new type of CT scan, doctors were able to cure high blood pressure by lighting up nodules (tiny growths) in a hormone gland cure and removing them.

The patients were treated at Queen Mary University of London, St Bartholome­w’s Hospital, London and Cambridge University Hospital. According to the study, one in 20 people with high blood pressure have these growths. The nodules glow shortly after an injection is given and highlight an obvious cause for the condition, the scientists said.

The novel findings solve a 60-year problem of how to detect the hormone-producing growth without a difficult procedure that is only available in a handful of hospitals, and often fails. The research also found that, when combined with a urine test, the scan detects a group of patients who come off all their blood pressure medicines after treatment.

Man died after being trampled by cows on walk

A telecoms worker died after being trampled by cows minutes from his home while on a lunchtime walk during a Covid lockdown, an inquest has heard.

Michael Holmes, 57, was fatally crushed by the cattle while his wife Teresa Holmes is in a wheelchair following the incident on 29 September 2020.

Mrs Holmes told the hearing the couple, who were childhood sweetheart­s and had been married for 34 years, had started taking daily walks together while both were working from home during the pandemic.

The inquest heard thet left their house in the West Yorkshire village of Netherton and entered a field at JA Mitchell & Sons Farm, and followed a public footpath up a steep hill but were unaware that several dozen cows with calves were at the top of the slope.

Mr Holmes sustained fatal chest injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, while Mrs Holmes spent six months in hospital after suffering a spinal cord injury and fractured ribs. Mrs Holmes said she has no recollecti­on of the incident, possibly due to her memory “protecting” her. PA

BACK TO TOP

 ?? (Getty/Ann Les l ey Live/Facebook) ?? Rupert Murdoch is in a relationsh­ip with Ann-Les ley Smith
(Getty/Ann Les l ey Live/Facebook) Rupert Murdoch is in a relationsh­ip with Ann-Les ley Smith
 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom