Learner motorist Anna Hibben who killed beloved in pile-up prior to revelation military she hadnt been pushing spared prison

A teenage learner driver who killed her boyfriend in a high-speed crash and then lied that he had been behind the wheel has walked free from court.

Anna Marie Hibben, then 17, had failed her driving test three times when she drove along a country road at night at an estimated speed of between 57 and 63 mph.

The car veered off the road and smashed into a tree, killing 17-year-old Gary Pitchford.

No licence: Anna Hibben had failed her driving test three times when she drove her boyfriend Gary Pitchford"s car. He died when she crashed into a tree

Hibben repeatedly told police at the scene she had not been driving his Peugeot106 but one of her sandals was found wedged beneath the brake pedal. In court the Judge accepted that she had no memory of who was driving.

The Leeds University student eventually admitted causing death bycareless driving and having no insurance but escaped with a nine-monthsuspended sentence, a three-year driving ban, and a three-month curfew.

Judge Christopher Ball QC told her: ;You were driving that car lateat night, you were an inexperienced driver, not necessarily a gooddriver, still learning. Perhaps you thought you were better than youwere.

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He added young people do not realise how dangerous cars are, saying:;They are full of self-confidence but they do not have the experiencethat comes with maturity, and time and again make the sort of mistakethat you made that night.

The case will reignite the debate over whether 17-year-olds should be allowed to drive on the roads.

The Daily Mail has campaigned for the driving age to be raised to 18to help cut the number of accidents caused by young drivers.

Road safety charity Brake, which has also called for an increase inthe minimum driving age, said the sentence was ;atrociously low.

Chief executive Mary Williams said: ;Young peoples cognitiveabilities finish developing in their mid-20s, while theirthrill-seeking development is complete by the time theyre 15.

;So the teenage years are exceptionally dangerous for young drivers who are more prone to take risks.

;We have been calling for the driving test age to be raised to 18 oreven higher. The higher you go, the fewer deaths you have.

Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex heard how Hibben, from West Merseain Essex, had been going out with Gary for four weeks when the tragedyhappened in Langenhoe, near Colchester, in May last year.

A woman who heard the car race past her home moments before thecrash told police she ;tensed up because she knew the driver was goingtoo fast.

Prosecutor Kwame Inyundo said the driver of an oncoming car wasforced to brake sharply and steer off the road to avoid a more seriouscollision with the car which had already crashed.

Gary, of Colchester, who hoped to become a fireman, was cut from thewreckage by a fire crew. He was airlifted to Addenbrookes Hospital inCambridge but died two days later.

Police who examined his silver Peugeot said it was barely recognisable as a car.

Hibben, who is now 18, told police she could not remember anythingabout the accident but later told her boyfriends brother,Wayne, that she had been driving.

Catherine Bradshaw, defending, said: ;She is extremely remorseful.She wishes she could put herself in Garys place. She wishes she couldgo back in time.

Garys family described him as a ;great lad.

In a statement they said: ;He was kind and polite and we just cannotbelieve he is gone. He had a fine smile and a great sense of fun, whichwe will always remember him for. He will be greatly missed.

One in five new drivers aged between 17 and 19 crash within a year of passing their test..

This story has been adjusted to more accurately reflect the court proceedings.

Odd integrate Sir Clive Woodward and Martin Johnson can replenish their vows Six Nations Rugby

Mark Souster & , : {}

Picture the scene. Twickenham, this summer. Sir Clive Woodward pulls into the car park of the RFUs shiny new offices, steps out and looks at the towering new South Stand above.

He smiles and says to himself: It is good to be back. He turns and sees Martin Johnson approaching, the two architects of Englands world domination seven years ago. The pair shake hands. They may have been Englands odd couple but as history has shown, they were a highly effective double act. A new era begins.

As matters stand, it is a hypothetical scenario but it is one that has been, and continues to be, the subject of intense discussion and speculation at the highest levels within Twickenham. In the new set-up, their roles might change from those of yesteryear, but Johnson would still report to Woodward, a man for whom he has the utmost respect. With 18 months to go to the next World Cup in New Zealand, time is short. As hosts in 2015, England cannot afford to stagnate.

If Johnson and Woodward were to be reunited, it would be the end product of a process that some would like to see begin sooner rather than later and include the return of Woodward at the expense of Rob Andrew. Woodward would become the new director of elite rugby as a man for whom the job specification could have been written a role that he narrowly missed out on 3 years ago, to his continued chagrin.

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That was when Andrew, who had been director of rugby at Newcastle Falcons for the best part of a decade, came with a late run to overtake him, with his appointment being rubber-stamped by Francis Baron, the chief executive, who leaves the RFU in July.

Andrew played an important role in the negotiations with the Guinness Premiership clubs that brought about the long-term peace deal signed two season ago. However, his control of the elite game has not met universal acclaim. As the temporary team manager on the tour to New Zealand in 2008, he was the subject of intense criticism as the trip disintegrated in the wake of rape allegations and two heavy defeats by the All Blacks. He pointedly refused to take responsibility for that, a criticism that in the wider context of the elite game and Englands failings has been levelled at him subsequently.

There is a belief that change is needed at Twickenham on the executive as well as playing side and that the appointment of the new chief executive, together with perhaps a new director of elite rugby, will reflect this mood. Russell Reynolds, the headhunting firm, was recently charged with finding a successor for Baron, but there would appear to be no rush to have whoever that may be in situ, possibly even until the late summer.

The appointment panel will be led by Martyn Thomas, the RFU chairman. Whoever takes over must have a greater empathy for and understanding of the game than it is felt Baron possessed. Staffing levels of more than 500 will also be closely looked at.

At the weekend, Lawrence Dallaglio made it clear where he felt the blame lay for Englands playing shortcomings, squarely with Andrew and the environment he has created. There is so much that is not right about the England set-up, the former England captain said. In the hard-to-stomach category, the lack of honesty has been right up there with the lack of creativity.

Andrew was quoted as saying, England are on the way back, there is no question of that. Please, do not insult our intelligence.

He is firmly in the Woodward camp. I believe Johnson was a good choice [as England team manager], but I am also convinced that he could have done with Woodward backing him up. Woodward is the man for the big picture, the guy who establishes a squads core values and gives them an overall purpose and the means to achieve it.

Clive talked endlessly about world-class standards producing world-class players; he got us to focus on being the No 1 team in rugby, not just in European rugby. He committed to providing us with the best facilities, but said he expected world-class standards in return.

Those comments have put Andrew on red alert, wondering whether it is the start of an orchestrated campaign to remove him. He will be aware, too, that Woodward, who regrets the manner of his messy departure from Twickenham, has made it clear he would wish to end his career in the game he loves, having provided England with their greatest triumph under his watch.

Catch him if you can Rico Suave the burglar who was a strike at Oscars

Chris Ayres, Los Angeles & , : {}

To the Los Angeles Police Department he is well well known simply as Rico Suave.

A smooth-talking femme fatale with dim hair, thick eyeglasses and an unblemished wardrobe, Rico is a high-society swindler, means to speak himself in to and out of usually about any situation.

But the insolence of his ultimate heist has left even maestro detectives with their jaws on the floor: less than 48 hours prior to Sunday nights Academy Awards, with the military out in force, bodyguards at each spin and the CIA pronounced to be on high rapt for a militant attack, Rico walked in to the swankiest road house in Beverly Hills, talked his approach in to the apartment of a billionaire guest, and left with at slightest $45,000 (30,000) value of jewellery.

He has been pulling off such robberies given last summer, investigators believe, with his sum transport right away roughly positively over 6 figures.

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The Four Seasons thievery suggests that Rico is apropos ever some-more ambitious. Celebrities who were possibly in the five-star road house over the week finish or had not long ago been there for Oscars events enclosed the British actors Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones, as well as Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Adrien Brody and the American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.

He has all the creation of that singular multiply of worldly cat burglar, Lieutenant Paul Vernon, of the LAPD, told the Los Angeles Times. He combined that the law-breaker sounds really similar, formed on earthy coming and MO, to the same man we have been perplexing to find given October, but that until the hotels CCTV footage has been analysed, we wouldnt be means to discuss it for sure.

Key to Ricos success, investigators say, is his fluency in Spanish and his capability to skirt the part. To lift off the Four Seasons job, it is thought that he ready to go in the dim fit of a road house superviser and befriended his victim, the Cuban-born sugarine nobleman Jos Pepe Fanjul, by creation small speak with the billionaire and his mother in the lift.

Later that night, he showed up at the couples apartment and told them that he indispensable to repair an air-conditioning vent. After he left they realised that their personal property had left missing.

Having noticed CCTV footage from alternative robberies via Los Angeles given last August, detectives are assured that Rico tall and thin, and regularly in costume is the solitary culprit.

In the initial situation he simulated to be a part of of a salsa rope personification at the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park, circuitously Hollywood. With slicked-back hair and musicians outfit, he assured the front table staff at the Wilshire Grand road house to give him the key to the bands room. Minutes after he walked out with $9,000 in income after interlude at the front table to palm out a duplicate of the bands ultimate CD.

He had stolen that, too.

Weeks after Rico struck again at the circuitously Marriott hotel, this time preying on the Mexican football group Chivas de Guadalajara. Wearing bar regalia, he was filmed by security cameras hugging a little of the players prior to asking the front table for entrance to the teams suite. As before, he was in and out in usually a couple of minutes, this time concealment a utilitarian $10,000.

Detectives concur that the crimes they know about competence usually be the tip of the iceberg. It is right away thought that Rico who shares his scrupulous nickname with that of a Hannah Montana impression and a Puerto Rican wrestler has used his deceit to aim multiform alternative Los Angeles hotels as well as the Staples Centre, home of the Lakers and Clippers basketball teams.

In the latter incident, that took place last October, a man in a engineer fit with a clipboard in his palm and certification trustworthy to his slot was seen erratic by the locker bedrooms of the Staples Centre whilst Israels Maccabi Electra basketball group were personification the LA Clippers.

The man was Rico of that, detectives are sure. He came tantalisingly close to being caught, with security staff at one point throwing him out for carrying a fraudulent ticket. But he talked his approach behind in, and by the finish of the night the Tel Aviv group had been relieved of $26,000 in income and valuables.

Investigators think that the conman competence be utilizing Spanish-language headlines outlets to lane his victims when they arrive in Los Angeles.

As for accomplices, the military contend that there are probably none.

The think appears to work alone, Lieutenant Vernon said.

Smooth operators

• Juan Carlos Guzmán-Betancourt, a Colombian conman, stole 150,000 in jewellery, income and oppulance equipment from tip British hotels by sanctimonious to be a guest who had lost his key. By the time he was held last year, he was longed for in Britain, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Thailand and Japan

• Jody Harris, an Australian, told victims that she was a doctor, mobsters niece or businesswoman, afterwards stole their identities. During a year on the run, Harris taunted military in phone calls whilst spending stolen income on diamonds and a extraction poodle. She was charged in 2008 with temperament rascal and locked up for 4 years

• A teen became well well known as the Barefoot Bandit after an 18-month thievery debauch on the halcyon islands of Washington state, when he lived in at leisure houses and evaded police, afterwards began hidden aircraft. Colton Harris-Moore, 18, took at slightest 3 planes from farming airports in 2009 and crash-landed them. Fans began wearing T-shirts with his face printed on them. He is still at large

• The 2002 movie Catch Me if You Can, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is formed on the real-life story of Frank Abagnale Jr, who done millions of dollars as a conman in the 1960s starting at the age of sixteen by posing as a pilot, alloy or counsel in twelve countries. After five years in jail, he warranted millions by a bona fide commercial operation as a security expert and advising the FBI

Source: Times archives

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Revenue drops Portsmouth authorised plea Portsmouth

Times Online & , : {}

Portsmouth"s hopes of presence were currently since a progress when Her Majesty"s Revenue and Customs supposed the club"s move in to administration.

The uneasy South Coast bar transient being wound up after HMRC deserted the explain that the team"s owners Balram Chainrai did not have the authorised right to put the bar in to administration.

Portsmouth face a nine-point reduction from the Barclays Premier League for entering administration.

HMRC"s preference to dump their box was only the progress Portsmouth had been seeking for after slicing 85 Fratton Park jobs yesterday.

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Some members of physical education instructor Avram Grant"s backroom staff were enclosed in the cull, nonetheless nothing of them were high-profile. But Andrew Andronikou, the Portsmouth administrator, has betrothed fans that no players will be changed on forward of the FA Cup semi-final.

"Selling players is an choice but initial I need to present the theme with the Premier League," Andronikou said. "I need their concession.

"As an pick from seeking at the Premier League more advanced TV money, I referred to to them to presumably open the window to concede me to sell dual players on a loan-back.

"However, I will not be seeking to sell players prior to the semi-final and I will not be seeking to terminate loan agreements prior to the semi-final. The notation I begin tinkering with the football piece it will be a big mistake. I can guarantee I will leave that until after the semi-final.

"The players are really most stable by the PFA and unfortunately I am incompetent to have any cuts in the personification staff. They are really most the emporium window of the bar so instead I goal they can capture a customer to this club."

Chainrai, who took carry out of Portsmouth after the bar defaulted on loans from him, insists he will get his income back. Portsmouth have debts totalling over 80 million and became the initial Premier League bar to come in administration department department department department last month.

"I don"t feel I"ve lost the money," Chainrai said. "I feel the income is there, I can see it. If the bar is alive my income is alive."

Chainrai certified his priority is to find a customer for the 2008 FA Cup winners. "The main design is to sell off the bar to a little consortium or establishment or person, who would be means to be obliged sufficient to brace it and run it properly," he said.

"I"ve listened by my lawyers that they are in conversations with multiform parties. They are low in to talks that could finalise in the really nearby future."

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Cameron tries to woo electorate with matrimony offer (contains video)

Francis Elliott and Sam Coates & , : {}

David Cameron has propelled matrimony to the centre of the choosing debate after startling the Tory celebration true with a guarantee to spell out his flagship process prior to polling day.

Rallying the infantry after a squeezing of the check lead, the Conservative personality pronounced that he would have known sum of taxation breaks for tied together couples in the manifesto.

The endeavour was given in an unscripted residence at the partys open discussion in Brighton, but comparison total insisted that it was intentional. Mr Cameron has formerly caused fear between traditionalists by suggesting that the Tories might not deliver rewards for tied together couples in the subsequent Parliament, prior to hurriedly restating his commitment.

The Conservatives have resisted on condition that sum of how they would shift the taxation complement to recognize matrimony given the guarantee was initial done during Mr Camerons care campaign.

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Many Tory traditionalists foster the negotiable taxation stipend plan drawn up by Iain Duncan Smith, the partys former leader. However, comparison total concur that this proposal, that would cost �3.2 billion underneath Mr Duncan Smiths blueprint, would be formidable to account early in the subsequent Parliament. Senior Tories appeared held off ensure by yesterdays announcement.

Mr Cameron certified yesterday that the British people have still got a little big questions about the Conservatives with usually 70 days to go prior to the expected check date.

The celebration was rocked during the center of the discussion by a YouGov check for The Sunday Times that showed their lead over Labour dropping to dual points, suggesting that Gordon Brown could be in a on all sides to form a minority government. The Tories had a 26-point check lead eighteen months ago.

Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, compounded the doubt in the ranks by suggesting there is a graphic probability that people could arise up with Gordon Brown on the stairs of No 10 for an additional five years. Mr Cameron told his celebration to get up and quarrel in an residence he hoped would convene activists and win over puzzled voters. He pronounced there was a nationalistic avocation to opinion Tory and betrothed to cut levels of immigration but pronounced that he had altered his celebration for good.

The economy would be the key issue of the election, he said, but gradual warnings about the necessity with a considerably some-more upbeat prophesy of the future.

He will strengthen the sense of coercion this week by environment out the changes to the preparation complement that he would have in the days after an election. An Education Bill would be introduced to Parliament, with the target of carrying it on the supervision books by July.

The open discussion comes in sheer contrariety to Octobers jubilant gathering, when the celebration enjoyed double-digit leads. Internal tensions over the robustness of the debate appurtenance have been exacerbated as aides sense either they are expected to suggest to one side members of a destiny supervision led by Mr Cameron.

The Tory personality pronounced it was utterly right that his celebration was carrying to quarrel tough for victory. They dont palm ubiquitous choosing victories and governments on a image to people in this nation . . . This choosing was regularly going to be a genuine choice: Labour or Conservative, Gordon Brown or me. And this choosing was regularly going to be a genuine quarrel for the party, a quarrel to have certain we suggest the nation we love . . . It is an choosing we have to win since the nation is in a finish mess, and it is the nationalistic avocation to spin it around, he said.

e-Poll: Do you await David Cameron"s plan to suggest taxation breaks to tied together couples?

Losses at taxpayer-owned Lloyds bloat to 6.3bn on bad debts

Francesca Steele & , : {}

Lloyds Banking Group currently suggested a loss of �6.3 billion for last year as the bad debts swelled to �24 billion after the lender was forced to write down the worth of bad investments finished by HBOS.

Despite the loss, that compares with a �6.7 billion loss in 2008, the bank, that is 41.3 per cent owned by the British taxpayer, is approaching to compensate out about �200 million in bonuses to the staff.

The figure is far next the �1.7 billion the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) earmarked yesterday for bonuses since Lloyds does not have an investment promissory note division.

A mouthpiece reliable that the Lloyds reward pool would be a really small commission of the total income for 2009, that was �24.6 billion.

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Eric Daniels, the Lloyds arch senior manager who, to one side the former chairman, Sir Victor Blank, helped to drive the takeover of HBOS in 2009, has waived his annual reward for a second year.

This follows identical moves by Stephen Hester, the arch senior manager of RBS, as well as John Varley, the Barclays boss, and Bob Diamond, the president.

Mr Daniels was underneath measureless vigour in Aug last year when a little shareholders called for his departure, following Sir Victor who stepped down among annoy over the shotgun merger of HBOS.

The �24 billion in bad debts owes especially to deals finished by HBOS, that invested heavily in genuine estate and took equity in a series of skill companies that suffered high falls in the worth of their portfolios over last year.

Lloyds pronounced that it bad debts, or spoil charges, had additionally been driven by stagnation and the diseased economy.

However, the bank pronounced that it approaching them to be reduce this year and that it believed they had appearance in the initial half of 2009, with cumulative loans benefiting from improvements in the housing market. Bad debts fell by twenty-one per cent in the second 6 months of last year.

Lloyds said: "Given the stream mercantile outlook, we design to see a identical gait of half-yearly alleviation via 2010, with serve estimable reductions in 2011 and beyond."

Overall, the bank pronounced that it had finished a orthodox pre-tax distinction of �1 billion in 2009.

This total takes in to comment a organization to help the poor benefit of �11 billion after the merger of HBOS in Jan last year, reflecting the actuality that Lloyds paid for HBOS for extremely less than the book value. The banks �6.3 billion loss for 2009 excludes this organization to help the poor gain.

Lloyds lifted a jot down �13.5 billion in Oct by offered shares and managed to equivocate the Government"s Asset Protetction scheme, that was set up to defense banks from their majority poisonous loans.

The organisation pronounced that it approaching the British economy to grow by 1.8 per cent this year.

Today the revised GDP total for the fourth entertain will explain to what border the UK has emerged from recession.

In January, the total showed that the economy grew by usually 0.1 per cent in the 3 months to Dec 31.

Lloyds has emphasised the recognition as a sell bank.

However, total published yesterday by the Financial Obudsman Service indicated that Lloyds, that owns Halifax, Britains greatest debt lender, is the majority complained about bank in Britain, reception roughly a entertain of all new complaints lodged opposite monetary businesses from Jul to December.

Lloyds shares fell in early trading, down 1.95 per cent to 53.7p.

Andy Murray beats Igor Kunitsyn in true sets to reach second turn in Dubai

Barry Flatman, Sunday Times Tennis Correspondent, Dubai & , : {}

Three weeks and a day after carrying to confront the man he reveres as the excellent ever to fool around the game, Andy Murray returned to confronting a small mortal for opposition.

And he found it unpleasant work after revelation that for ten days of his interregnum he murky but a impulse of earthy exertion. Im a bit bruise right away and there were times I was unequivocally out of breath, pronounced Murray after commencement his Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships debate with a 6-2, 6-3 win over 111th-ranked Russian Igor Kunitsyn.

The law is I havent got behind to work scrupulously nonetheless so I wasnt awaiting to fool around my most appropriate tennis. It doesnt take you prolonged to lose your compare fitness but I indispensable a mangle to modernise myself mentally.

Murray poured ridicule on the idea the early piece of the contest will benefaction no some-more than an eventuality for a small peaceful reconstruction exercise. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro competence be on the list of absentees and the Scot would crop up to be one of the favourites for the title.

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Kunitsyn won by the subordinate eventuality but still presented the undiluted approach for Murray to get behind to foe after doing, by his own admission, not really most since his Melbourne exertions. For a whilst the universe No 4 was since a enough work out for him to mangle an early persperate but in conclusion the cove in category in between the dual players was as well good as Murray, right away effectively the tournaments second seed following the withdrawal of Federer, won by comprehensively.

After being lengthened to 3 deuces and being forced to save a integrate of mangle points in his opening use game, he afterwards showed he who perseveres comes up with the goods. The second diversion of the compare lengthened close to twenty-five mins with fourteen deuces and Murray eventually prevalent on his eighth mangle point.

From afterwards on he was frequency lengthened nonetheless there is obviously a small approach to go prior to Murray recaptures compare fitness. His preference not to fool around last weeks eventuality in Marseilles annoyed contest executive Jean-Francois Caujolle but was deemed required by the Scot to concede his physique and mind enough rest.

For most of the time opposite Murray appeared unbending and a small pretentious in his transformation about the justice but that is usually to be expected. Certainly he appeared in a small annoy after he overstretched on one sell during the marathon second diversion but he was still means to continually outdo Kunitsyn whose usually tip turn feat this year came in the opening turn of the Australian Open opposite Argentinas Jose Acasuso.

Murray competence have limped around in his understanding undershorts for a impulse or dual but he still dismissed thirteen aces, won 48 per cent of the points on his opponents initial offer and pennyless offer twice in each set prior to finishing off the twenty-eight year-old from Vladivostok who changed as high as 35th in the universe mid by last year prior to saying his ranking plummet.

Presumably things will be tougher in the second turn when Murray, seeking to improved his jot down of reaching the Dubai quarter-finals in each of the last dual years, faces possibly Serbias machiavellian Janko Tipsarevic or the Italian Andreas Seppi who were since additional time to hope for on the opening day of the event.