Live: Huddersfield breaking news, M62 and travel

M62 weather warning

There are currently strong winds on M62 between J21 A640 (Milnrow) and J24 A629 (Ainley Top). The matrix sign has been set to 40 mph.

Do you know this man?

Police in Halifax have released a CCTV image following a burglary on New Year’s Eve at a property on Free School Lane.

The incident occurred between 6.20pm and 6.45pm when entry has been forced to the property and items of jewellery stolen.

Anyone who has any information about the incident, or can identify the person in the CCTV is asked to contact Calderdale CID via 101 quoting 13170607901.

Information can also be passed to Crimestoppers anonymously and in confidence on 0800 555 111.

Chaos as lorry gets stuck on roundabout

A lorry stuck on a roundabout in Ravensthorpe has been causing traffic chaos.

Several people posted photos of the stranded lorry on social media earlier today.

One said the lorry had been “stuck all day”.

Kelly McGowan, who took the photo above, said: “It was causing a lot of traffic problems.”

Richard Wayte, who took the photo below at around 9.45am, said the lorry was still there at 1pm.

The lorry has since been moved from the scene.

Child aged five 'used in distraction burglary'

Police have issued a general warning to the public following a report of a distraction burglary where a child was allegedly used in the offence.

The incident is reported to have occurred on Friday, December 29 at an address in the Lidget Green area of Bradford.

At around 7pm, the suspect knocked at the door of the address and offered to remove some rubbish from the garden for a small payment to which the occupant, a male in his fifties, agreed and handed over some cash.

The child, who was believed to be a girl of around five years old, then asked for a drink and entered the house to make one.

The occupant later found that around £40 had been taken from his wallet.

The suspect is described as a white male of stocky build and around 5ft 8ins tall.

He had short brown hair, was wearing a high visibility jacket and spoke with what the occupant believed was an Irish accent.

Detective Inspector Warren Pitman, of West Yorkshire Police said: “While this appears to be an isolated incident, it is a commonly known way for criminals to steal from your property.

“We would advise people not to accept offers of work from doorstep callers and to report this kind of activity to the police.”

Anyone with information about the incident in Lidget Green is asked to contact police on 101, quoting crime reference 13180002703.

Hunt for three men after baseball bat attack

A man was attacked by three men armed with a weapon thought to be a baseball bat.

The incident happened yesterday at around 3.45pm on Oxford Street in Batley.

The 27-year-old male victim was walking down Purwell Lane onto Oxford Street when a dark coloured vehicle pulled up.

Three males got out of the car and assaulted the victim, with what is believed to be a baseball bat.

The victim managed to get away from the suspects and they then fled the scene.

They were described as three Asian males.

DC Simon Thomas, of Huddersfield CID, said: “This was a frightening and unprovoked assault on a lone male.

“I would urge anyone who has any information about this incident or witnessed anything in the area to contact the police to assist with our investigation.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the police via 101 quoting crime reference number 13180002369 or information can be passed independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Area

Appeal to trace thieves who stole bike

Have you seen this bike or the men who took it?

Officers are appealing after it was stolen from a home on Robin Lane in Heckmondwike. The distinctive Ribble Carbon bike was taken in a burglary between 5.20am and 5.35am yesterday morning. Around the time, three men were seen in the area, however there is no further descriptions of their appearance.

If you have any information about these individuals or have witnessed the incident, please contact PC Oliver Coates at Kirklees CID on the non-emergency number 101.

Accident on the Stanningley Bypass

One to be wary of if you’re travelling between Leeds and Bradford this afternoon...

Homeless "hero" admits stealing from Manchester bomb victim

A homeless man who was hailed a “hero” for helping victims of the Manchester terror attack has admitted stealing from a woman as her granddaughter lay dying.

Chris Parker, 33, who now lives in Halifax, took the purse and iPhone off Pauline Healey as her granddaughter Sorrell Leczkowski, 14, lay dying yards away. He appeared at Manchester Crown Court today facing eight charges of stealing and fraud.

He has pleaded guilty to stealing an iPhone 6 belonging to Mrs Healey, to the attempted theft of a bag belonging to an unknown person, and to using a debit card belonging to Mrs Healey in McDonalds between May 23 and 26.

Parker pleaded not guilty to the attempted theft of a coat of an unknown person. He also denied three counts of fraud, including the use of Mrs Healey’s bank cards in Tesco Deansgate, Transport for Greater Manchester and McDonalds in Manchester between May 24 and May 26.

Judge Hernandez agreed to let Parker’s not guilty pleas lie on file. Judge Hernandez told the defendant a custodial sentence is ‘likely’. He will be sentenced on January 30.

Felix decorations raise thousands for charity

Sales of Christmas decorations with pictures of Felix the Huddersfield Station Cat have raised nearly £3,000 for charity.

Staff at Huddersfield Station were selling the baubles with Felix’s face on in the run up to Christmas, and have now announced the total raised for Dementia UK.

The decorations racked up £2,755.07 for the cause. A fantastic effort, and not Felix’s first stit at raising money for charity! The famous feline, who has 125,000 fans on Facebook, has raised cash for all types of causes with charity stunts and merchandise sales, including Huddersfield Samaritans, Fairy Bricks and Cash For Kids.

Man jailed for defrauding pensioner

Reporter Stephanie Finnegan is in court.

Full story on our website shortly.

National news

Here’s today’s daily dose of crazy...

SIX HELD BY POLICE INVESTIGATING FAR-RIGHT TERROR GROUP NATIONAL ACTION
Five men and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of belonging to banned far-right terror group National Action. West Midlands Police said the suspects, aged between 21 and 37, were detained under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act today. The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led with no threat to the public’s safety, the force said. National Action was made a proscribed terrorist organisation in December 2016, the first extreme right-wing group to be outlawed in the UK.

TRUMP BOASTS OF ‘BIGGER NUCLEAR BUTTON’
Donald Trump has boasted that he has a bigger and more powerful “nuclear button” than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The comments came on Twitter this morning when he responded to claims from Pyong Yang on Monday that the leader had access to launching nuclear missiles. A tweet from President Trump’s account wrote: “Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”

TRAVELLERS WARNED OF DISRUPTION FOLLOWING WRATH OF STORM ELEANOR
Storm Eleanor has unleashed violent winds of up to 100mph across the UK, leaving thousands of homes without power and injuring motorists. Widespread disruption is expected today after the storm swept across the country overnight carrying heavy rain, hail and dramatic thunder and lightning. Falling trees caused injuries in several parts of the country when they fell on moving cars. A yellow warning of wind was extended for all of England and Wales, most of Northern Ireland and the Scottish Borders until 7pm today.

Teenager to be sentenced over Linthwaite stabbing

A Huddersfield teenager will be sentenced later this month after a 16-year-old was stabbed near Colne Valley High School.

Victim Danny Brook was hospitalised and needed surgery to his bowels following the knife attack on Hazel Grove in September. A 16-year-old, who cannot legally be named due to his age, was subsequently charged in connection with the attack.

Death of skip lorry driver - full report

Here’s what we know so far about the discovery of a body near junction 25 of the M62 yesterday afternoon.

Police officer accused of child cruelty charges

A West Yorkshire Police officer is facing charges of child cruelty.

Sgt Mark Horwell and Northumbria Police officer Claire Wallace are both accused of ‘pouring water’ over a child’s head in Tyneside on August 6 last year. Both have appeared at North Tyneside Magistrates Court.

Horwell, 48, faces two charges, including allegedly jointly taking part in pouring water over the child and a separate offence of “application by force of pushing [the youngster] into a taxi”. Wallace, 40, faces two charges, which relate to the 40-year-old allegedly assaulting the child and allegedly “pouring water over [the youngster’s] head on more than one occasion in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health”.

Horwell, of Manor Oaks Tree, Sheffield, and Wallace were both released on bail and will appear before Newcastle Crown Court on Friday.

Man's body found at M62 junction

Police have said that the body of a man was found by a truck at junction 25 of the M62 yesterday.

Officers closed the slip road near Brighouse after the articulated skip wagon was seen sat stationary with its engine running. Police found the body of a man in his forties on the embankment nearby.

The man’s family have been informed and his death is not believed to be suspicious.

A spokesperson for police said: “Police are appealing for anyone who may have been travelling along the M62 east bound and has seen an articulated skip wagon pulling up ahead of the slip road, the driver exiting the vehicle, or who has seen the vehicle travelling along the carriageway prior to 11.25am.

“Equally, officers would like to hear from any drivers travelling along the section of motorway with dash cams who may have captured the vehicle travelling, or stationary and would ask those motorists also come forward.

“Officers are working to determine the circumstances of what took place but there is not believed to be any third party involvement at this time. Anyone with any information should contact Calderdale CID via 101 quoting log 820 of January 2.”

Police forced to clear the road of resident mob...of geese

This unruly gang of ne’er do wells have been ruffling feathers down in Calderdale...

Sometimes saying ‘boo’ to a goose just isn’t enough. This tweet has gone viral overnight after the video was posted by local officer Pc Saif Khan last night.

NHS 'better prepared than ever' for winter

An NHS chief has defended the decision to defer non-urgent care until the end of the month, saying the NHS had entered the winter period “in a way that we’ve never prepared before”.

Professor Keith Willett, director for acute care at NHS England, has acknowledged that the delay to planned operations and routine outpatient appointments until the end of the month, due to severe winter pressures, is “not ideal”. Speaking on BBC Radio 4 this morning, Prof Willett said the NHS was “better prepared” and clear recommendations were being implemented to deal with pressures.

He said: “A crisis is when you haven’t got in place mitigations and you haven’t got a plan to deal with it. We’ve gone into this winter in a way that we’ve never prepared before, so we went into the winter before Christmas having cancelled fewer elective operations than we had previously, discharges from hospital were at a lower level than they had been previously, so we were better prepared.”

Roads remain closed due to water leaks

Halifax Road in Queensbury is still closed in both directions due to a burst water main between Ford and Shibden Head Lane, near to the New Dolphin pub.

Work is under way to deal with the leak.

This road near Brighouse also remains closed this morning.

Hade Edge villagers hit out at BT over internet loss

Villagers left without internet access for two weeks have slammed BT for lack of effort to fix it.

Around 150 houses in Hade Edge lost internet access on December 20 and some are still not re-connected two weeks later. There are estimates that at least 11 households remain without internet access but the figure could be as high as 20.

Today's Examiner

Here is our front page this morning, leading on the news of a ram-raid at Aldi’s Slaithwaite store yesterday.

It's blowing a reet gale out there

Storm Eleanor has hit and you may have noticed it’s looking - to make an understatement - a little blustery outside this morning...

We are running separate live updates on the storm including how it is affecting the roads here.

M62 update

All open this morning at junction 25 Brighouse after police closed the slip road yesterday following a ‘concern for safety’.

We’ll hopefully have an update from police on this later. Also, one lane closed on the M62 westbound if you’re heading across the Pennines this morning.

This is due to a broken down lorry around junction 20. Traffic is coping well. No major incidents to report so far this morning but we’ll let you know if this changes.

Good morning, Huddersfield

Welcome to the Huddersfield Examiner’s breaking news service.

Stay with us throughout the day to be the first to know everything that’s happening across Huddersfield and the rest of West Yorkshire.

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