A 45-year-old man who was sheltering in a bus stop from the rain in Northampton was robbed by two men.

The man was standing in Wellingborough Road, Northampton, near the junction with Wantage Road, when he was held by one of the men while the other stole his bag.

The robbery happened on Saturday, January 25.

One of the robbers is described as a white man, about 5ft 6in, with a medium build. He was wearing a blue jeans and black or grey hooded top. The second man was also white, about 5ft 6in, with a stocky build. He was also wearing blue jeans and a black or grey hooded top.

Witnesses, or anyone with information, can contact Northamptonshire Police on 101. Alternatively, information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Burglars who tried to break into a house in Lings, Northampton, left empty-handed.

The attempted burglary happened in Spendfield Court between 9.30pm on Tuesday January 21 and 12.30pm on Wednesday January 22. Police released the information this morning, February 3.

A spokesman said: “The offenders tried to enter the house by forcing open the front door. They were unsuccessful but broke the lock and damaged the door.”

Witnesses to this incident, or anyone with information, can call Northamptonshire Police on 101. Alternatively, information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Thieves stole iPads, a MacBrook Pro and coins dating back to 1850 were stolen in a raid on a house in Northampton.

The burglary in Buckingham Close, East Hunsbury, between 8am and 8pm on Thursday, January 30.

A spokesman said: “The offenders broke in to the house by forcing a back window. Once inside, several items were stolen including iPads, a MacBook Pro and coins dating from 1850 to the present day.”

Witnesses to this incident, or anyone with information, can call Northamptonshire Police on 101. Alternatively, information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Two maintenance staff have been taken to hospital after a suspected chemical spill at a Northampton school created chlorine gas.

Emergency services have been called to Greenfields School and Sports College in Goldings, Northampton, at about 9.30am. The school, which is in Prentice Court, is for children with disabilities and specific learning needs.

Two staff for Amey, the company which owns and maintains the school building, were taken to hospital, although it is not known whether they were exposed to the gas.

A member of school staff earlier said about a dozen children had been taken to hospital, but Greenfields has since said the information was not correct. The children were in fact taken home by the ambulances.

Terry Hollowell, the school business manager, said the schoool will be closed “until further notice”.

A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “We’re aware that the school is planning to close for the day and are contacting parents.”

There were more than a dozen emergency vehicles at the school. It is believed that the chemical spill was near the school’s swimming pool. Early reports say that two chemicals mixed in the plant room and created chlorine gas.

The fire service said there was little risk to surrounding residents, but asked them to keep all doors and windows shut until at least 5pm.

A spokeswoman from Northamptonshire Police said at 1.22pm: “Police are still at the scene to deal with traffic management and support the fire and ambulance services.

“The school has now been safely evacuated and none of the children have suffered ill health as a result of the incident.

“Residents in the immediate area have been asked to keep windows and doors closed whilst the incident is dealt with.

“Two adults are being treated at Northampton General Hospital with mild breathing difficulties.”

Four East Midlands police forces have agreed to merge their special operations teams, to provide specialist services including search teams, armed response units, dog sections and roads policing officers.

The region-wide service will cover Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire, and the commissioners and chief constables said it will “significantly increase the number of officers each force can call upon for specialist assistance as and when required.”

The forces, which already collaborate in many areas of policing, including the investigation of serious and organised crime and homicides, have selected a senior management team to lead the service when it goes live on March 31.

Neil Rhodes, chief constable of Lincolnshire Police, said: “The first point to make is that the public will not notice any discernible difference in the service they receive from their police force.

“Our local response teams will always be first on the scene of an incident or crime.

“What we are doing is creating a greater pool of expertise and specialist skills for each of our forces to call upon when dealing with crime in our communities.

“While each of our individual forces has its own issues and areas of risk that we need to find local solutions to, it does not mean we have to address those issues in isolation and that is very largely what police collaboration is about.

“A single regional structure will give us substantially more flexibility and resources than the old arrangements.”

Police are appealing for witnesses to an assault where a boy was punched and chased through Northampton town centre.

The attack happened between 7pm and 9pm on Monday, January 20, in the Market Square, when the 17-year-old victim was approached by a man who started an argument with him.

The man then punched him and briefly chased him before walking away in the direction of College Street.

The offender is described as white with a local accent, in his 30s with a skinny build, stubble and short ginger hair. He was wearing a dark blue jacket with a red stripe.

Witnesses, or anyone with information, can call Northamptonshire Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

A 33-year-old man from County Durham has been charged with four robberies which took place in Northampton town centre during the past month.

Peter Elvin, aged 33, was arrested on Sunday in Northumberland and will appear at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning.

Elvin is charged with four robberies, three counts of possession of an offensive weapon in public place, one count of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and one count of possession of a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid.

Elvin is alleged to have carried out robberies at Ladbrokes in Wellingborough Road on January 27, Santander in Mercers Row on December 30, Hatton Gold Jewllers in St Peters Walk on January 10 and Thomas Cook in Abington Street on January 22.

Residents living in south Northamptonshire are among the first to be able to sign up for the ‘next generation’ of high speed broadband which ‘went live’ yesterday.

Government minister Ed Vaizey was at the launch which marked the first stage of deployment in Northamptonshire of new fibre powered green cabinets which support speeds of up to 80Mbps.

Most residents and businesses in the town can now benefit from faster speeds from the 10 fibre cabinets with other cabinest also ‘live’ in Weedon and Paulerspury, supporting 4,175 homes and businesses.

In the coming weeks, a further 17 fibre cabinets will be switched on across Towcester, Silverstone, Long Buckby, Braunston, Blisworth and Weedon to support 8,157 premises.

Cllr Andre Gonzalez De Savage, Northamptonshire County Council cabinet member for strategic infrastructure, economic growth and public protection, said: “This is undoubtedly one of the biggest impacting projects we’re involved with which will make an enormous difference in bringing prosperity to the county.

“More and more, the internet is used in nearly every aspect of our lives both in business, public services and leisure.

“Having widely available superfast broadband is essential if we are to compete in the digital global economy and I’m delighted that we’ve reached such a significant stage of this initiative.

“BT has delivered more coverage two months earlier than expected at this stage of the project which is a real achievement.”

As part of this first deployment phase, engineers laid about 90km of optical fibre cable and are installing a total of 41 new fibre broadband cabinets throughout the Superfast Northamptonshire Project area

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said: “The ‘switching on’ of the first tranche of superfast broadband cabinets marks the start of a remarkable transformation of broadband throughout Northamptonshire.

“The UK already does more business online than any other European country and widespread access to superfast speeds will provide a welcome boost to Northamptonshire’s economy.”

This is part of a £11.4m investment in the county by Northamptonshire County Council, BT and the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to deploy fibre-based broadband to more than 50,000 premises by the end of 2015.

Bill Murphy, BT’s managing director for Next Generation Access, said: “This ambitious project will boost the productivity of local businesses and help to attract a more diverse range of high-growth companies to the area.

“It will play a major role in creating prosperity in the county.

The project establishes the foundation for Northamptonshire’s plans to secure access to superfast broadband for all businesses and homes in the county by 2017.

The new fibre based network will be open to all communications providers

For more information, visit www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/buy-it-now.

A deal to lend the University of Northampton £14 million for its new Waterside campus will be debated by Northamptonshire county councillors next week.

The funding proposal breaks the £10 million value of loans allowed by the council which means it has to be approved by cabinet.

The funding will take the form of a third party loan in which the county council will receive the cash and pass it to the university.

In November, the Government confirmed an application for funding by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP) for the new campus had been approved by the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB).

Councillor Bill Parker, cabinet member for finance, said: “The university’s plans to create a waterside campus will be a massive boost to the local economy. The plans were nominated by NEP for a new concessionary lending rate for infrastructure projects.

“It’s clearly a hugely significant element in the regeneration of the Northampton which includes projects like the £3m makeover of our main shopping centre in Northampton, a £20 million redevelopment of our train station and a £7million project to bring a new bus interchange to the town.

“The council is effectively acting as a conduit for the loan, so there will be no financial strain for the council. Repayment of the principal amount and interest will be met by cash flows from the university.”

The cabinet meeting takes place at 2pm on Tuesday, February 11 in the Blue Room at County Hall in Northampton. The council’s full report is available on its website.

Moulton College has been selected as a possible team base for one of the countries taking part in the rugby World Cup in 2015.

England will host the World Cup next year and up to 50 bases are required for the 20 teams due to take part.

Each team base must include an indoor and outdoor training facility, a gym, an indoor swimming pool and a hotel.

Moulton College is on the approved list, which means it could be chosen as a country’s base, depending on where their matches are being played.

There are more than 80 contenders to be one of the 50 team bases. The final team base list will be confirmed later this year.

Principal of Moulton College, Stephen Davies, said: “This is an excellent opportunity to get behind Rugby World Cup 2015.

“Selecting Moulton as a potential team base is an honour and a ringing endorsement that the outstanding facilities here are truly world class – something our students in the rugby academy certainly benefit from with several representing England at all levels”.

Robbie Speirs, commercial manager for Moulton College, said: “The criteria that was set by the inspection team was of a very high standard.

“Every detail was assessed to make sure that the visiting teams would have the highest quality of resources available to them.

“Having achieved ratification the work now begins liaising with the tournament organisers and the various team mangers and looking at the logistics of planning a smooth and seamless training operation.

“Having worked with many national and international sports teams including many England squads, we understand the needs of visiting teams very well at Moulton.

“We are very excited that the college will play an integral part in the build up to one of the Planets major sporting tournaments.”

A woman was robbed by two men, one of who was wearing V for Vendetta mask, in a Northampton street.

The robbery happened on Sunday, January 26 at 9.30pm in St Andrew’s Road, Semilong.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said: “The victim, a 28-year-old woman, was knocked to the ground and had her mobile phone stolen from her.”

One of the men was wearing grey clothing with a hood. The other was in dark clothing and a ‘V for Vendetta’ style face mask.

Anyone with information can call Northamptonshire Police on 101.

Alternatively, information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Plans to build nearly 26,000 homes in Northampton by 2029 will be discussed for the second time tonight after it emerged there was a procedural error when they were voted through last month.

The proposals, which have been in gestation since 2006, say that 41,760 homes will need to be built across West Northamptonshire by 2029, with 25,758 of these in Northampton borough.

Residents and politicians say there are serious concerns over a lack of infrastructure, congestion on already-crowded roads, flood risk and pollution.

The latest version of the report, which is called the joint core strategy, was debated by the West Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit in December.

Under the proposals, Daventry is set to receive just 6,984 more homes, nearly 19,000 fewer than Northampton.

West Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit says the plan is necessary to ensure controlled housing developments.

The result of the original meeting was declared invalid when it emerged that a substitute councillor on the committee had not been nominated in time.

The re-running of the meeting will take place in the council chamber at Daventry District Council tonight at 6pm.

The Northamptonshire Labour Party is calling for emergency talks with Northamptonshire Police following an outspoken attack on elected members by Chief Constable Adrian Lee.

Mr Lee hit out at magistrates and councillors last month, saying they do not know what happens on the county’s streets after dark.

He also claimed that councillors were bullied by drinks companies into blocking moves aimed at dealing with alcohol-fuelled incidents.

Councillor John McGhee (Lab, Kingswood) is the Leader of Labour Opposition at County Hall.

He claims the Chief Constable needs to engage in constructive discussion rather than making comments that are without foundation.

He said: “I would like to meet with Adrian urgently to discuss his comments.

“I can assure residents of Northamptonshire that the Labour Group would never entertain lobbying from drinks companies, nor would we allow ourselves to be bullied by them.

“These comments are without foundation, and the chief constable needs to explain what he means by them.

“The chief constable knows that we would be only too happy to help him, but we can’t provide support if we are not asked.”

Councillor Julie Brookfield (Lab, Corby West), Labour’s representative on the Police and Crime Panel, said: “These comments are most unfortunate. I would be more than happy to support Chief Constable Lee on introducing changes to how we deal with binge drinking and incidents that stem from the late night economy.

“The reality is the chief constable has not come to me or any of my colleagues with a package of measures that he would like us to support. He is in charge of policing our town centres and we would only be too happy to help him if we can.”

Special constables have increased their patrols and launched an electronic security marking scheme following a spate of burglaries at nine schools in Northamptonshire.

Since the start of the latest school year, nine primary schools in Northampton, including a school for disabled children, have been broken into and electrical equipment has been stolen.

Operation Annex will see specials register valuable items and offer people crime prevention advice.

Specials Inspector Peter Hazelgrove said: “There has been a number of thefts from schools and other facilities recently, during which a number of iPads and other electronic devices have been stolen and we understand this is causing concern in the community.

“My team, made up completely of special constables, is offering to go out and register any equipment people have. While we’re registering people’s equipment we’ll also offer them SmartWater, a type of forensic, traceable DNA.

“My team of specials is also increasing patrols around vulnerable locations, completing both high visibility and plain-clothes duties.”

Anyone with a large number of valuable electronic items can email OperationAnnex@northants.pnn.police.uk with the name and address of the organisation, a contact name and a phone number.

The man accused of killing Giuseppe Miceli searched for his own name and the word “murder” on the internet shortly after the coin dealer was killed in his Northampton home, a court heard.

Mark Ellson, aged 41, is also said to have searched for terms including ‘best place to hit head’ and ‘how hard hit someone knock them out’ shortly before the attack on Mr Miceli last July, a jury at Northampton Crown Court was told.

Ellson, who denies murder, also visited the Chronicle & Echo’s website to see if there was a report about Mr Miceli’s death.

Mr Miceli, aged 71, died some time between 11.10am on Friday, July 12, 2013 and 12.30pm the following day, at his home in Bants Lane, Duston.

The jury at Ellson’s trial heard that Martin Gibbs, a computer forensic examiner from Northamptonshire Police, examined a laptop computer Ellson had been using, and discovered a number of words he had searched for in the days leading up to, and after, the time Mr Miceli died.

First, Ellson is said to have searched for ‘Miceli’ and ‘Bants Lane’ and then searched for details about collectible coins on auction site eBay, the court heard.

On another occasion, he is said to have searched for ‘best place to hit head’ and ‘Best place to hit head knock them out’, before searching for ‘how hard hit someone knock them out’, and then the same phrase with the words ‘back of head’ and ‘hammer’ as a suffix.

Then on July 13, Ellson is said to have made a number of searches on a public computer in a tourist information centre in Nottingham for his own name, ‘Northampton news headlines’ and ‘Murder Northampton’

On the morning of July 15, he is said to have made separate searches for ‘Giuseppe Miceli’ and ‘murder Northampton’, and also visited the Chronicle & Echo website to see if there were any details of the story.

There were not, as the report did not appear on the Chron’s website until later that day.

On another occasion, Ellson is said to have searched for ‘overdose drugs lethal amount’

Another witness, who knew Ellson when he lived in Wellingborough, described him as a “sponger” in a statement read earlier in the day.

Ellson knew the woman through a mutual friend and texted her regularly complaining that he was short of money, the court heard.

He told the woman he had been given a £700 fine for a motoring offence and needed to borrow £300 towards it, which she lent him.

She then lent him a further £150 when he said he had an “urgent bill” which needed paying. He only repaid £100 of the total amount, it was said.

The woman, who then broke off contact, said: “I’d had enough of his moaning about having no money. I did not want him sponging from me any more, so I deleted his number.”

The trial continues.

Traces of Giuseppe Miceli’s blood were found on a laptop case seized from murder suspect Mark Ellsom when he was arrested, a court heard.

The case of the computer was sent away for forensic investigation.

And the results showed there was a “one in a billion” chance of it not being Mr Micelli’s blood, a jury at Northampton Crown Court was told.

Mr Miceli, aged 71, died of head injuries some time between 11.10am on Friday, July 12, 2013, and 12.30pm the following day, at his home in Bants Lane, Duston.

Ellson, aged 41, formerly of Wellingborough, denies murder.

Giving evidence at the trial, forensic scientist Penelope Griffiths said the one in a billion figure was a “conservative estimate.”

She also said clothes seized from Ellsom were checked for blood, but none was detected.

Describing the crime scene, Mrs Griffiths said she found blood on the doorframes and doorhandles of the bathroom and lounge, but not the front door.

There was also blood on the floor of the living room, on the sofa, on an armchair, and on a number of surfaces.

Mrs Griffiths said that at various points after the attack, Mr Miceli had sat in his armchair; laid on his sofa and attempted to stem the flow of blood with a towel, as well as walking into the bathroom.

There was also blood on surfaces which would have been consistent with Mr Miceli being hit while he was on the floor, or slipping over and falling “extremely heavily,” Mrs Griffiths said.

Mrs Griffiths said it was not possible to ascertain what order these events occurred, although she could be sure each had happened.

Describing the DNA profiling, she said: “A sample was taken of the blood spots. Both were sent for full profiling, and both matched fully the blood of Giuseppe Miceli.”

Ellson denies the charge of murder. The trial continues.

The sister of Paul Barber said she feared her brother was going to kill someone unless he was given professional medical and mental health support.

Giving evidence at the inquest on Tuesday, Paula Lloyd-Chamberlain said she believed her brother’s behaviour had changed after he started overdosing on the medication he took to treat the Parkinson’s Disease he suffered from.

Mrs Lloyd-Chamberlain told the jury she knew in December 2006 that her brother’s marriage to Ms Robinson had deteriorated due to his behaviour.

She said her brother spent time in John Radcliffe Hospital in April 2007 and was diagnosed with diamorphine dysregulation syndrome.

Mrs Lloyd-Chamberlain said his condition appeared to improve when he was in hospital as his medication was properly regulated, but he then deteriorated as soon as he was released.

She said her brother became “obsessed” with Ms Robinson and went to her workplace on May 9 and made threats to kill her.

Mrs Lloyd-Chamberlain said she attempted to stop him from following Ms Robinson by getting hold of his car keys and hiding his car.

However, Barber would get round this by hiring a car.

In a bid to stop her brother overdosing on his Parkinson’s medication, Mrs Barber spoke to his doctor and made sure he was only prescribed pills in small amounts.

However, Barber got hold of more medication by buying it off the internet.

Mrs Lloyd-Chamberlain said she took a call from her brother in May 2007 when he told her that he had handed himself into Campbell Square police station and told officers that he needed help as he feared he was “going to hurt someone”.

Mrs Lloyd-Chamberlain said that when she heard about the fire on New Year’s Day, she had thought “oh my God” as she had “grave fears” that something like this was going to happen if nothing was done to stop it.

A flood warning has been issued by the Environment Agency for the River Nene in Northamptonshire.

People living in low-lying areas near the river between Daventry and Billing are being warned to take precautions as more heavy rain is predicted during the weekend.

People living near tributaries of the river in Daventry, Weedon, Badby, Nether Heyford, Bugbrooke, Blisworth, Collingtree, and Moulton are also being warned about possible floods.

The A5 at Kilsby is partially blocked at the A428 junction, because of flooding. Drivers are also warned to take care due to flooding on Banbury Lane near Rothersthorpe.

Paul Mustow, Flood Risk manager at the Environment Agency, said: “We’re preparing for yet more heavy rain into the weekend, which is falling on already saturated ground following the wettest January on record.

“We urge people to stay safe and not to walk or drive through flood water which can be dangerous.”

Police are trying to find a mystery woman who may have vital information about a burglary.

On December 20 last year, a house in Rushden was broken into and a number of items were stolen, including an iPad.

Three weeks after the burglary, the owner of the iPad noticed photographs of a mystery woman had been attached to the device’s iCloud account, which is an online data storage service.

It is thought the woman could have unwittingly bought the iPad from the people who stole it.

Anyone with information about the burglary, or who knows the woman in the picture, can contact Northamptonshire Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

A document that recommends building nearly 26,000 homes in Northampton by 2029 has been voted through to consultation for a second time.

The result of the original meeting on the plans was declared invalid, after it emerged that a substitute councillor on the committee had not been nominated in time.

At the second staging of the meeting at Daventry District Council on Wednesday, the vote was tied, as it was at the Guildhall in December.

And again, the chairman of the meeting, Daventry district councillor Chris Over, made the casting vote in favour.

The report, which is called the joint core strategy, was voted through by the West Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit, made up of councillors from across Northampton, Daventry and South Northamptonshire.

The proposals, which have been in gestation since 2006, say that 41,760 homes will need to be built across West Northamptonshire by 2029, with 25,758 of these in Northampton borough.

Residents and politicians say there are serious concerns over a lack of infrastructure, congestion, flood risk and pollution.

Robert Boulter contacted the Chron on behalf of a number of action groups, including Hunsbury and Collingtree Residents Alliance, Wootton Brook Action Group, Collingtree Park Residents Association and Hardingstone Action Group.

He said: “I don’t think it was terribly democratic, or the right result. This has been an eight-year process. They’ve said they can’t go back to the drawing board, and I understand that.

“But Northampton is defined by its boundary. They scrape every possible available site, and it is risky.

“They have been trying to develop this area ever since they bought the golf course.

“In Collingtree, we can’t get our heads around it. We are hemmed in on four sides, and all the traffic leaves by Rotary Road going to the A45.

“I can’t see the advantages in the short or long term.”

Mr Boulter also said the organisation of the meeting was a “farce”, as 65 to 70 residents intended to travel to Daventry, but were told the room was not big enough to accommodate them.

In an email to Mr Boulter, Daventry District Council said: “The council chamber at Daventry has limited capacity and would not be able to accommodate the numbers of residents you refer to in your email.

“If there is a large public attendance for the meeting is very likely that not everyone would be able to be accommodated in the building.”