1. Newspaper Articles
Natural disaster story
Headline: WARNING: Freak storm hits the UK
Thousands of homes have been damaged and are without power after hurricane force winds
battered the whole of the UK on Thursday. Weather Forecasters are predicting this to be the
worst storm that’s ever hit the UK in ten years, and from Friday onwards have warned us to
expect gales of more than 100mph.
Many towns have been issued with flood warnings and more than 16 have already been hit
by severe flooding, Surrey Dorset and Somerset have been hit the worse in the UK and
thousands of homes have been completely ruined by the storm. Amanda Smith the Landlady
of a pub in Dorset has said ‘the waves must have been 100ft high and came crashing
through at about 10 this morning, the waves penetrated the second and third floor windows
and flooded the bedrooms completely which resulted in water pouring through the ceilings
and into the pub’. Amanda is looking at around 10,000-15,000 pounds worth of damage to
her pub and could even be faced with more if this killer storm continues.
As well as property being damaged many people have faced severe injuries caused by the
storm and one man thought to be in his 70’s died in a suspected electrocution while trying to
move a tree brought down by power cables in his garden. It is very important that the public
don’t try and fix these problems by themselves as it is very dangerous and David Cameron
has promised to help resolve all the damage caused by the storm.
In the less affected areas there are still travel problems and these include:
 Virgin Trains says the West Coast main line between Preston and Lancaster is
closed until further notice because of a tree on the line
 No trains will run between Liverpool Lime Street and Crewe until about 10:00 GMT
because of a line blockage in the Allerton area
 Virgin is warning customers to expect heavy delays and diversions on all its routes
 Some rail services elsewhere in the UK remain disrupted
For public transport trains have been most affected and hundreds of passengers have spent
several hours stranded on trains after they have lost power in the high winds. Sophie Lyons
was on a train in North Yorkshire when it lost power and was stuck in the area for 5 hours,
she said the emergency heating and lighting lasted only 30 minutes and described the
situation as ‘grim’ saying it was ‘ice cold’. Transport Secretary Hazel Smith has said she will
be asking the urgent question in the commons later today on the issue of travel disruption.
A weather forecaster has said Saturday would be a better day than Thursday and Friday,
although it would still be quite blustery with a mixture of rain sleet and some snow in
England, the wind should have died down and hopefully the storm would have ended.
Crime story
Headline: Police Urge Public to Help Find Wanted Dangerous Man

2. David Sinclair, 44 has been on the run from the police for 3 days since he committed armed
robbery on a local newsagent’s and severely injured a shopkeeper. On Monday the 20th
December David and two friends who have since been arrested entered the newsagents at
9:00 AM carrying guns, it can be seen on the CCTV that they trashed the shop before
pointing the gun at the shopkeeper and shouting at him to empty the till and safe. When the
shopkeeper resisted its thought that David shot him in the shoulder emptied the till himself
and ran out the shop.
The shopkeeper who would rather not be named said ‘I’ve never been so frightened but I
didn’t believe the men would really shoot me and this is why I refused to open the safe, I
regret not just giving them all the money now I just hope David is found and brought to
justice’. Unfortunately as the shop had only just opened there are no eyewitnesses of the
shooting but the shopkeeper has viewed the other two suspects and is positive that the
shooter was David.
The police are urging anyone with any information on the shooter to come forward, there has
been a great response on Facebook by the public sharing this mans image and hopefully he
will be found soon as he is armed and dangerous.
Dogs Trust Story
Headline: A dog is for life not just for Christmas!
The well known charity Dogs Trust are pleading with the public at this time of year to treat
their dogs well and not get rid of them after Christmas. For the charity Christmas is the
busiest time of year as many families get new dogs, unfortunately thousands of dogs are
mistreated and are thrown on the streets after the novelty has worn off.
The charity is urging families not to surprise their loved ones with a dog unless it’s definitely
something they want and are able to look after the animal. A kennel worker from the Dogs
trust based in Manchester has said ‘Its truly heart breaking after Christmas seeing the
hundreds of dogs that have been dumped as soon as the novelty has worn off, our kennels
become completely full and it is hard to re home all of them’.
The charity are also asking the public to donate to the charity around the Christmas season
as this is when they need it the most to donate you can ring 07908425673 or visit the dogs
trust website www.dogstrust.com.