"I think those boys saw a little old lady and thought I was easy pickings, but there was no way I was going to sit there and let them get away with it," she said. "Without thinking I jumped up and ran after them as fast as I could. I was screaming at them too. I felt outraged."

She followed them to the grounds of a nearby hotel and caught one of them by the collar. "He was so afraid he dropped my bag but then managed to wriggle free," said Lane, who was a junior athlete for her county in the 1950s.

The retired nurse, who keeps herself in shape by swimming and walking, reportedly added: "I was delighted to get it back. I haven't run like that since I was a girl. It must have been a bit of a sight."

Police said they were investigating the incident but recommended members of the public do not follow Lane's example.

People from the north of England were up to three times more likely to have hands contaminated with toilet bugs, the study found.

The scientists who carried out the test said they were astonished to find that hand hygiene worsened with every step taken further north.

Hands were cleanest in London, dirtier in Birmingham and Cardiff, and filthiest in Liverpool and Newcastle. The most likely explanation is that fewer northerners are washing their hands with soap after answering the call of nature, researchers said.

It was chiefly men who were responsible for the trend - but in Cardiff and London women were the dirtiest sex. In total, almost 30 per cent of people tested were carrying "faecal" bacteria.

People in Newcastle were up to three times more likely to have the bugs on their hands than those in London.

The proportion of people found to have contaminated hands was 13 per cent in London, 23 per cent in Cardiff, 24 per cent in Birmingham, 34 per cent in Liverpool and 44 per cent in Newcastle.

Among men, the figures increased sharply towards the north. In the same order, they were 6 per cent, 15 per cent, 21 per cent, 36 per cent, and 53 per cent.

Women did not show such a strong north - south divide. A total of 21 per cent of women tested in London had dirty hands, 29 per cent in Cardiff, 26 per cent in Birmingham, 31 per cent in Liverpool and 30 per cent in Newcastle.

But women in London were around three times more likely than men to have faecal bacteria on their hands.

Dr Val Curtis, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who led the study, said: "We were flabbergasted by the finding that so many people had faecal bugs on their hands.

"The figures were far higher than we had anticipated, and suggest that there is a real problem with people washing their hands in the UK.

"If any of these people had been suffering from diarrhoea disease, the potential for it to be passed around would be greatly increased by their failure to wash their hands after going to the toilet."

Dr Curtis's team took random swabs from the hands of 409 commuters waiting at bus stops near London Euston, Birmingham New Street, Cardiff Central, Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle Central stations on weekday mornings.

When they were analysed, 113 of the samples were found to contain bacteria from faeces.

Michele Allen was hired to wear the outfit to promote a local theme park in Middletown, but got drunk at work on the Saturday evening and caused chaos, chasing kids and bringing traffic to a halt.

She also urinated in a nearby yard during her rampage, police said.

Allen refused to calm down once taken to the local police station and according to police was yelling and challenging people to "suck her udders".

The 32-year-old, who was wearing nothing underneath the costume, was forced to wear it in a cell over the weekend and for her first court appearance, when she pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

She has been in trouble before and still owes $2,733 (£1,549) for an outstanding "failure to appear on a solicitation" charge. Middletown Municipal Court Judge Mark Wall said: "Michele is pretty well known to us. She's 'struggled,' to say the least."

"He (Mr Nadel) was behind us and overtook then pulled in," said Pc Wells. "I was about to have words with him about the way he was driving then he said his wife was having a baby," Pc Wells said.

"I think he was hoping for a blue light escort but instead we decided to call an ambulance."

Mr Nadel, 39, returned to his wife Natalia, 31, but seconds later came back to the police to tell them the labour was moving faster than expected.

The quick-thinking police constable noticed that the newly arriving baby was turning blue and moved the umbilical cord which was wrapped around the baby's neck, restoring her oxygen supply. "The head was out and it was kind of blue. We could see the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck," Pc Wells said. "The baby hadn't made a noise at that time so we wondered what we were dealing with. Mr Nadel, a banker from Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, was full of praise for Pc Wells and thanked him for "really helping us". "It was very dangerous," Mr Nadel said. "But she's been checked over by the doctor and everything is okay."

Pc Wells, who has no children of his own and has had no training in delivering babies, was modest about his part in the drama: "I just did what I thought at the time was right."

CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian donkey has been jailed for stealing corn on the cob from a field belonging to an agricultural research institute in the Nile Delta, local media reported on Thursday.
The ass and its owner were apprehended at a police checkpoint that had been set up after the institute's director complained that someone was stealing his crops, the state-owned Al-Ahram daily said.

CROWDS from around the world flocked to Llandeilo last week for the third Land Rover World Sheep Dog Trials.

Competitors from 22 different countries attended the event held for the first time at Dinefwr Park and dubbed it a big success.

The 23-year old owner of the shop in the trendy east Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg, an area known for its vibrant night life, was taken into custody on suspicion of drug-dealing.

"In the shop we found 120 pieces of magic mushroom chocolate and countless cannabis lollipops," said police, who confiscated around 70 sachets containing various drugs, about 20 marijuana joints, a range of pills and some jars of drug-laced honey.

Police said one customer, who appeared intoxicated, was arrested after trying to buy a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms from an officer in the shop!

© Sky News - Thursday 11th September

A courtroom observing a French murder trial could be excused for thinking the presiding judge has gone barking mad.

In what is believed to be a world first, the investigating magistrate has invited a dog to take the stand as a witness. Scooby will give evidence as he is believed to have been with his 59-year-old owner when she was found hanging from the ceiling of her Paris flat.

Police believe the death was suicide, but her family cry murder - and the only witness to see the alleged crime is on four legs.It is hoped Scooby can collar the potential perpetrator, having already played a leading role during a preliminary court hearing in Nanteree, a Paris suburb.

He is said to have hounded a suspect, "barking furiously" after being taken out of the kennel and into the witness box by a vet. French judge Thomas Cassuto praised the mongrel for his "exemplary behaviour and invaluable assistance".

But lawyers barked back - insisting the bizarre spectacle "proved nothing".

One said: "Human evidence is unreliable enough, let alone canine evidence.

"Besides, the victim died two and half years ago, which is seventeen dog years! How is the animal supposed to remember that far back?"

A spokesman for the Palais de Justice in Paris confirmed that the appearance was the first time a dog had appeared as a witness in criminal proceedings in France.

He said: "It was a preliminary hearing. The judge will now decide if there is enough evidence
to go to trial."