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Teesside and County Durham stories from this week

News imageLee Currie Logan Currie, 7, pulling the front bumper of a car with bottles and cans resting on it. Logan's grey hoodie is wet with mud and he is wearing small walking boots.Lee Currie
Logan and his dad spent hours clearing the pond

Ann Ming pleas to keep her daughter's killer in jail, Bella Culley's prison sentence has been reduced and otters delight visitors to a river barrage.

Here are some stories from Teesside and County Durham you may have missed this week.

Bella Culley's sentence reduced to two years

News imageRustavi 2 Bella Culley filmed in court. She is wearing glasses and has brown hair in a plait and is wearing a white top Rustavi 2
Bella Culley, pictured at a previous hearing, appeared at Tbilisi City Court on drugs charges

The family of a "heavily pregnant" British teenager who is on trial for drug smuggling in Georgia has paid £137,000 to reduce her sentence to two years, as part of a plea bargain.

Bella Culley, 19, from Billingham, Teesside, had previously been told she could face up to 20 years behind bars or life imprisonment if convicted.

Her mother Lyanne Kennedy confirmed outside Tbilisi City Court the family had transferred the funds, however they were unable to reach the amount for her immediate release.

Ann Ming in minister plea to keep killer in jail

News imageAnn Ming looking to the right of the camera. She has short blonde hair and is wearing gold heart earrings. She is also wearing a black top and is sitting in front of some grey shelves.
Ann Ming says there is an "endless trauma" to the repeated parole hearings for her daughter's killer

A mother who made legal history with a campaign to overturn the double jeopardy law met with the justice secretary to tell him her daughter's killer should not be released from prison in her lifetime.

In 1989 Ann Ming's daughter Julie Hogg was strangled and sexually assaulted, before her body was hidden behind a bath panel at her home in Billingham, Teesside.

Two juries failed to find killer Billy Dunlop guilty but Ms Ming helped overturn the 800-year-old law which prevented people being tried again for a crime they had been cleared of.

Elusive jack snipe delights birdwatchers at hide

News imageAdam Jones A jack snipe crouching among the reeds in a wetland. It has camouflaged feathers brown and cream to blend in with reed stalks. It has tilted its head and looked straight at the camera. Adam Jones
Jack snipe are also known as half-snipe due to their size

An "elusive" and rarely seen wading bird has proved to be a highlight of the autumn migratory season for birdwatchers at a nature reserve.

Birds including the jack snipe have been arriving at RSPB Saltholme, near Stockton, to spend the winter or to have a rest while enroute to warmer climates.

The small species usually prefers to remain camouflaged in dense wetland vegetation, but one started feeding right next to the Wildlife Watchpoint Hide.

Father and son collect pile of rubbish from pond

News imageLee Currie Logan Currie, 7, kneeling in front of a pile of rubbish he and his father collected from a pond. There are bags of cans and a car bumper. He is kneeling next to a camouflaged kayak which his dad used to collect floating rubbish.Lee Currie
Logan spent hours clearing a pond of rubbish

A seven-year-old and his father spent hours clearing a pond of the "unbelievable" amount of litter in and around it.

Logan Currie and his dad Lee Currie, 37, filled bags of rubbish discarded at Maidendale Pond on the outskirts of Darlington on Tuesday.

Their efforts followed anglers noticing increasing amounts of litter around free fishing ponds near the town.

Mr Currie said the pair were there for four hours and could have stayed for eight but were "tired, cold and wet".

Family of otters delighting visitors to barrage

News imageRick Ingham A close up picture of a wet otter standing on a log surrounded in water with orange leaves floating on the surface.Rick Ingham
The otters have become frequent visitors to the Tees Barrage

A family of otters has been delighting nature photographers and visitors to a river barrage this autumn.

The animals have visited the Tees Barrage in Stockton for the last few years and are becoming a more "common" sighting for visitors.

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