Woman 'bit off boyfriend's tongue'

A woman bit off her boyfriend's tongue after asking him for a french kiss, a court heard. Mark Coghill said his seemingly loving girlfriend, Tracy Davies, suddenly "turned into the likes of Mike Tyson", chewed off half his tongue and spat it out on the floor in front of him. The 45-year-old was rushed to hospital by ambulance but doctors were unable to stitch it back on.

Jurors were told that when police arrived at Mr Coghill's home, Davies handed officers the severed flesh in a small plastic bag and said: "We had a domestic and I bit his tongue off, here it is." Divorcee Mr Coghill said he had been dating Miss Davies for three months when he invited her to his house to celebrate his birthday on October 10 last year.

After drinks and a meal, Miss Davies became upset about the fact that her doctor had recently told her she was not pregnant, the court heard. Mr Coghill, of Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, said he tried to comfort Miss Davies and she said to him: "You haven't given me a proper, nice, smoochie, tongue in, sort of kiss for a few days."



He said: "I had wanted to anyway but she asked me to do that. She was nice and beautiful and passive then within a few seconds she turned into the likes of Mike Tyson." Mr Coghill added that within a few seconds, Miss Davies was biting hard on his tongue. He said: "I screamed, thinking it was some kind of joke for a few seconds, then I screamed more and more and more and tried to tap her on the head.

"I couldn't kick her off or push her off or anything like that. I was just hoping and praying she would stop but she didn't. She had my tongue in her mouth and she went 'mmmm' as though she was satisfied. She looked at me straight in the eyes, she made sure I saw half of my tongue was actually in her mouth and she spat it out on the carpet."

Davies, of Gateshead, denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent and claims she does not know how the injury was caused. The trial at Newcastle Crown Court continues.

Man becomes father aged 75

A London pensioner has become one of the world's oldest fathers - at the grand old age of 75.

Paul-Louis Mariasusay was delighted that his new bride has presented him with a baby son, just months after they married.

The veteran dad already has two daughters, one of whom is older than his new 38-year-old wife Gena, and five grandchildren.



But the retired BT engineer was still thrilled at the new arrival - a bouncing baby boy called Xavier who weighed in at a healthy 7lbs 11ozs.

He said: "I may be a pensioner, and it is almost 40 years since I looked after a baby, but I haven't forgotten how to change a nappy and it is just marvellous to be a father again.

"The baby came as a complete surprise. I had no idea that I could still become a father at my age but Xavier is a lovely gift."

Motorist stopped by police for laughing

Gary Saunders, a company director, was using a hands-free phone when he burst out laughing at a joke told by his brother-in-law, who he was talking to. A few moments later he noticed a traffic officer flashing his lights at him and gesticulating at him to stop his Renault.

When Mr Saunders got out of his car, the policeman told him:"Laughing while driving a car can be an offence."

The officer spent half an hour questioning his suspect before reluctantly allowing him to carry on his way. However, he took another hour-and-a-half of Mr Saunders' time by ordering him to produce his licence and other documents at a police station. Mr Saunders, the managing director of Spontex Workwear, of Liverpool, said the delay meant that he missed an important appointment.

"I couldn't believe it when he told me I'd been pulled over for laughing," he said. "I was driving very safely in the Birkenhead Tunnel and took a call. He said something funny and I was laughing - simple as that. I never took my eyes off the road and was in full control of the car. I definitely wasn't speeding so I asked what the problem was and he told me I was laughing too much."

He went on: "The officer accused me of throwing my head back in a dangerous way, which I denied since it is definitely not something I do. It became a bit ridiculous when he wanted to know the colour of my hair as I have alopecia and there isn't a hair on my head. When I pointed this out he asked: 'What colour was your hair when you had some?'

"It went from ludicrous to unbelievable. He definitely had a bee in his bonnet about something and I got the brunt of it. In the end he reluctantly admitted that he had nothing he could accuse me of, but still required me to take my documents to the station."

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Woman calls 911 over McDonald's McNugget shortage

Told McDonald’s was out of Chicken McNuggets after paying for a 10-piece meal, a Fort Pierce, Florida woman called 911.

Three times.



“This is an emergency, If I would have known they didn’t have McNuggets, I wouldn’t have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don’t want one,” Latreasa L. Goodman told police. “This is an emergency.”

The McNugget meltdown happened last week at a McDonald’s in the 600 block of North U.S. 1 and ended with Goodman, 27, getting a notice to appear in court on a misuse of 911 charge, according to a recently released police report.

Full story here, with audio of all three calls.

Dog stranded by trucker's death offered a way home

A puppy stranded in Nebraska by the death of a trucker is getting a flight home to California.

The dog named Zak was with 59-year-old Robert Shields on Sunday when Shields' tractor-trailer rig drifted off Interstate 80 and hit a bridge support in Omaha.

Police said Shields might have had a heart attack. The year-old dog was only scratched.



Shields' wife told the Nebraska Humane Society the family desperately wanted Zak home in Poway, Calif.

Humane society spokeswoman Pam Wiese (WEECE) put out a call for help. American Airlines general manager in Omaha, Michele Henry, said yesterday the airline will pay the dog's fare of about $300.

Zak is expected home later today.

There's a news video here.

Pink dolphin appears in US lake

The world's only pink Bottlenose dolphin which was discovered in an inland lake in Louisiana, USA, has become such an attraction that conservationists have warned tourists to leave it alone.

Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.



Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

He said: "I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter. It was absolutely stunningly pink. I had never seen anything like it. It's the same colour throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.



"The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its colouration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.

"The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it's albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws."

Elderly woman trapped in bucket for 3 days

An elderly Burlington County, New Jersey woman is grateful to be alive after accidentally getting stuck in a large recycling bucket for nearly three days.

The bizarre incident began on Sunday when 76-year-old Mary Davis apparently tripped and fell into the bucket back-side first inside the garage of her Pemberton Township home.

"I got bruises all over me trying to get out of the can … I couldn't move my legs or my arms," David said from inside her hospital room at Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mt. Holly.



Neighbour Michelle Ayala called police after not seeing Davis for the past few days and learning Davis' daughter had not heard from her mother since Saturday. Ayala was with police when they went inside Davis' home early Tuesday morning. Davis was found stuck in a U-shape in the still upright bucket.

"I turned and I looked and I just saw these feet and at that point, I kind of moved closer and then she looked up and she was like, 'I'm here,'" Ayala explained. Davis was then taken to Virtua Memorial Hospital for treatment and an examination.

Police are crediting a space heater in the garage, normally used for Davis' dog, for her survival.

With news video.

Gunman steals toilet paper from elderly couple

Two elderly people in Jacksonville, Florida were held up at gunpoint in their home on Monday. According to the police report, it happened shortly before 9 a.m. on Phoenix Ave.

The man and woman were sitting in their living room when a stranger opened the door and walked in.

He pointed a pistol at the man and said, "Give it up man, the brown wallet." The man said he had no wallet, and the suspect searched him.

He then turned the gun to the woman and demanded her money. She also said she had none.

The suspect then took two bundles of toilet paper from the house and ran off down Winthrop St.

As for the reference to the "brown wallet," the man told police he normally carries his Social Security money in a brown wallet, but hadn't had his cheque yet, so he didn't have the wallet with him.

Kashmir houseboats shut down as health hazard

The romantic houseboats of Kashmir's Lake Dal, built by British Raj officials as Himalayan holiday homes, are to be closed down as an environmental hazard.

Throughout years of heavy fighting in Kashmir's militant insurgency, tourists have still flocked to Dal Lake to stay in a piece of living colonial history – many have wooden porches where guests can relax while gazing at breathtaking mountain vistas and listening to the calls of the fruit and vegetable-sellers from their floating 'shikara' shops.



But while it may appear idyllic, the volume of waste generated by this tourist haven has turned the lake into a latrine. Environmental campaigners say millions of litres of raw sewerage are pumped into the lake everyday.

Ironically, it has in some ways made the lake look even more beautiful. The combination of untreated sewerage and phosphorous and nitrogen in the water acts as a super-fertiliser which has promoted the growth of ferns, duckweed and green algae, which in turn is killing other aquatic life.



Now the courts have called time on the 1200 houseboats it blames for the pollution and ordered their owners to shut down until they agree a new waste disposal system to keep the lake clean.

The Houseboats Owners Association said it will challenge the ban which it says will devastate the tourism industry. "Houseboats have a unique place in Kashmir's beauty. We agree the lake has been harmed by the houseboats and we'll ask officials to chalk out a new programme to deal with the issue. But tourists have made advanced bookings for the next six months. Where will they go?" said Mohammad Azaim Tuman, Chairman of the Houseboat Owners Association.

Wife fed husband's penis to stray dogs

A jealous wife sliced off her cheating husband's manhood with a kitchen knife – and threw it to the dogs.

Raging Kailasben Vyshali, from Mehsana, India, drugged her husband with sleeping pills, served in a cup of tea, after he came home from seeing his mistress.

Then while he slept she chopped off his penis with a razor sharp blade and threw it into the street where it was snapped up by a pack of stray dogs.

“The hospital managed to save his life but the rest of him was never found. He’s certainly never going to cheat again,” said one doctor.

Pub landlord and wife forced out over smoking incident

A pub landlord is having to climb a scaffolding staircase to get into his first-floor flat through a window after being sacked for smoking in his own bar.

Paul Brown, licensee at the Brown Cow in Hope Street, off Walmgate, York, said he lit up after closing the pub early one night, believing that smoking legislation would not apply when the pub was shut But a licensing officer carrying out a routine check spotted him and fined him £50. Mr Brown said he had now been sacked for “gross misconduct” by Samuel Smith’s Brewery.

He said he and his wife, Carol, were able to stay in the flat for the time being, but because the brewery did not want them going through the pub to get to their accommodation, it had arranged for scaffolding to be erected at the back so they could climb in through a first floor window.



Mr Brown said when he had been fined, he had thought about fighting it but then decided to pay up and forgot all about it. But last week, an area manager from the brewery had told him he was being sacked for gross misconduct and he had to quit running the pub on the spot.

He said he was able to continue living in the accommodation upstairs for the time being, but the brewery did not want him gaining access through the bar and had therefore changed the locks on the door into their flat. It had then ordered contractors to install scaffolding at the back of the pub, so as to create a staircase up to a first-floor window, through which he and his wife had to climb to get into their home.

A tearful Mrs Brown said: “I can’t believe this has happened. They make us feel like criminals – all because Paul had a ciggy.”

With news videos.

Pub landlord falls foul of bad language

A publican who banned swearing is quitting - after drinkers deserted his bar.

Ian Milne, 50, was fed-up hearing foul language, so he took a stand and outlawed it.

But the move backfired and his bar, The Royal Hotel, in Keith, Banffshire, has been almost empty ever since.



Ian said: "It is extremely disappointing but this just isn't a nice place to be any more. The locals have boycotted the place. We got rid of a bad element but haven't been able to replace it."

Ian's crusade was not suported by the police, who told him swearing is not illegal.

Jane Martin, of the local community council, hopes the pub stays open as a place "where people can swear if they want to".

Just to get that straight

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Woman accidentally swallows engagement ring during proposal

If you're planning a surprise engagement proposal to your girlfriend, think twice before you get too clever.

A Farmington man's clever plan didn't turn out as planned, but it sure did make for a memorable engagement. Reed Harris planned a surprise engagement for his girlfriend Kaitlin Whipple.



The couple went to the local Wendy's, and invited a group of friends for milkshakes.

Harris put the engagement ring in Whipple's shake, and challenged everyone to a chugging contest. Whipple won the contest, but her ring was nowhere to be found.



So off to the emergency room they went, where an X-ray proved that Whipple did swallow the ring.

After a few days and a lot of fibre, Whipple got her ring. She's now wearing it on her finger.