A teenager has told of her terror as a family and friends were rescued from a sinking boat. Kirsty Mehta, 14, of Steeple, near Maldon, was left clinging to the side of the motor cruiser after it ran aground then listed violently. Jason Taylor, 36, a chicken
Part of the maternity unit at St Peter's Hospital will be temporarily closed because of midwifery staff shortages - the second closure in a year. Mothers can still have their babies delivered at the hospital but postnatal service has been suspended from
A hero neighbour has told how she rescued an elderly grandmother from her burning home. The woman, who didn't want to be named, managed to persuade her 88-year-old neighbour to leave her smokelogged house despite her being frozen with shock. Firefighters
A man survived a snake attack as he walked his dog on Danbury Common on Saturday. Fifty-three-year-old David Barnes, of Main Road, collapsed in agony 10 minutes after he was bitten on the foot by an adder. He was driven by his son, Simon, to the accident
Doctors were trying to save a man's sight after he was brutally beaten with his own snooker cue. The 30-year-old local man left a snooker club in the town centre just before the attack. After coming down the escalator near Costa Coffee, he was approached
An environmental group has forked out £80,000 towards building a new cycle path which will link Colchester with quiet roads towards Tiptree. The new path will be opened on August 31 and it forms part of the National Cycle Network which aims to provide
A couple were seriously injured after their tandem was in a collision with a 7.5 tonne bread lorry on the A12. Fred and Anna Muskett were today recovering in Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, after the accident on Monday morning. They had just completed
Police have warned motorists planning to drive through town on the day of Wickford Carnival that they face lengthy delays. The force will draft in special constables from across south Essex to cope with the double pressures of the carnival and the Essex
A pleasure park could close for good this winter unless a new deal can be struck up with Southend Council, the operator has warned. Mike Dolby, who runs Never Never Land on behalf of the council, warned he was on the verge of quitting the seafront children's
A Southend school which is rebuilding its reputation after failing its Oftsed inspection last year, will not get a slice of £6.4 million Government cash for failing schools. The cash has been earmarked for the Fresh Start scheme by the Department for
A huge public survey has been launched across south Essex to find out what people think of plans for a multi-million pound Southend United stadium and leisure park. The club's glossy, eight-page brochure has been distributed to 280,000 homes as far afield
The award winning radio show hosted by ousted Essex FM dance DJ John Leech has been replaced by a Top 30 compilation show. And the new man at the helm is the former late night show presenter Chris Brooks, new station bosses GWR have announced. Mr Leech
Thieves stole all the birds from an aviary at a training centre for people with learning disabilities. About 25 to 30 birds were taken from the centre's garden at School Road, Messing, on Saturday night. Anyone with any information is asked to contact
A former gun shop worker who shot dead an armed robber is now working as a firearms officer with Essex Police, it has been confirmed. Peter Lamb, 49, shot Colin Budd, 19, nine years ago after the teenager burst into the former Ward and Co gunshop, in
A man was killed when he was decapitated by a train in a horrific late-night incident on the track near Basildon Det Con Trudy Shepherd, of the British Transport Police in Southend said the tragedy, which is not being treated as suspicious, occurred at
Detectives have launched a hunt for a "cowardly" gang armed with a metal bar who terrified three teenagers in a late-night attack. The gang struck on Thursday night in Pitsea and ordered the victims to hand over their jewellery, watches - and even their
Two men have died in separate road accidents over the Bank Holiday weekend. Teenage pedestrian Chukwuma Bryan died after he was involved in a collision with a truck on the A12 Kelvedon bypass at about 4am on Saturday. Mr Bryan, 19, of Oaklands Avenue,
A grieving mother today told how her son lay in front of a speeding train to be with his father - who died exactly four years earlier. Richard May, 21, had battled with a drugs addiction since the death of his beloved father, Raymond, from a heart attack
Pier traders have praised a quick response to fix their vital water supply, but criticised the council for putting their livelihoods at risk yet again. Just six weeks after business owners on the pier went without any water for a week, traders faced the
Petrol campaigner David Windsor has taken his protest to the capital by chaining himself to railings at the Tower of London. The 77-year-old pensioner from Stanway has already hit the headlines by blocking Colchester High Street earlier this year to protest
My apologies to the band Hefner, who I learnt are from Brentwood. Prior to the V2000 weekend at Hylands in Chelmsford, I insinuated that Grasp, the Chelmsford/Southend modern mod-rock band, were the only Essex-lads on site. Well, that was incorrect. They
Detectives today launched a murder inquiry after a man was shot dead at a house in Thurrock. The breakfast-time shooting happened at the house in the Little Thurrock district of Grays. Police and paramedics were called to the house in Parkside where they
Sun lovers were showered in white powder when wind carried chalk spray from a nearby farmer's field over their country club. The Health and Safety Executive was called to the scene when the cloud of agricultural lime swept through the Courtlands Country
A set of controversial mobile phone masts next to a Canvey school could be pulled down if a battling councillor gets his way. Power has never been turned on to the masts which were put up last year, but Lionel Hart (Con, Canvey East) has been campaigning
Canvey Island followed up the midweek hammering of St Albans by comprehensively outplaying a Sutton United side who are desperate to regain the Nationwide Conference status they lost at the end of last term. For long spells this was an almost embarrassingly
Darlington ended Southend United's unbeaten start to the Third Division season by taking advantage of a lacklustre display from the sloppy Shrimpers at Roots Hall on Saturday. Blues manager Alan Little had demanded a positive response from his team following
A self-confessed gangster has told of his lucky escape from an underworld killing which took the lives of his friends in a snowy country lane in Rettendon. Man mountain Carlton Leach, known as "The Muscle," has revealed how he should have been in the
A mother crushed her teenage son when she accidentally reversed her car into him at a shopping complex. The 37-year-old woman had been backing into a parking space having arrived at Clacton Factory Shopping Village on the Gorse Lane industrial estate
An athletics official fighting for his life in hospital after being hit by a throwing hammer was today in a stable condition. Norman Stang, 58, of Stane Fields, Marks Tey, was injured when a hammer, thrown by a woman competitor, bounced off the side of
