Whitestone Solicitors, Rochdale, News

10/12/25

A Labour-led council has ruled that a nude golden gladiator statue amounts to "unlawful advertising". Grant Adamson, 60, who owns the antique shop where the statue is displayed, says the council has threatened him with a £2,500 fine unless it is removed.

The 20-foot statue, which stands in the car park of his Bulldog Forge antique shop in Ince, Wigan, was originally used to promote the Russell Crowe film Gladiator. Wigan Council claims it is "a criminal offence" to display an advertisement without permission, but Mr Adamson argues that the figure is not advertising anything.

27/11/25

A former Countdown champion who attacked another contestant at a fan convention in what a judge described as a "terrifying incident" has been ordered to remain in a psychiatric hospital indefinitely.

John Cowen, 31, arrived at the event carrying two knives and stabbed fellow champion Thomas Carey in the upper arm, Preston crown court heard during sentencing. The violence unfolded on 14 September last year at a gathering of the Focal Countdown Group, where past contestants and fans of the Channel 4 show meet for informal competitions.

16/10/25

A serving prisoner has been arrested on suspicion of murdering 13-year-old Lindsay Jo Rimer, who was killed more than 30 years ago.

Lindsay, from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, disappeared on the evening of November 7, 1994, after going out to buy a box of cornflakes. Her body was discovered five months later in the Rochdale Canal, but her killer has never been identified.

25/09/25

More than 1,600 couples applied for so-called "deathbed marriages" over the past year, with many seeking to avoid hefty inheritance tax bills, new figures reveal. According to the General Register Office, 1,612 short-notice marriage applications were...

28/08/25

A lift engineer who stole luxury watches and jewellery worth more than £103,000 from a £7 million Belgravia mansion has avoided jail.

Jacques Woods, 25, was part of a team servicing the 8,000 sq ft property in West Eaton Place — complete with a high-speed modern lift — on 28 June 2021 when he pocketed two designer watches and a Cartier ring.