Woman was dragged from pub by boyfriend .sx A TERRIFIED woman was dragged from a pub and struck by her irate boyfriend , Durham magistrates heard .sx Police , alerted by May Todd's screams , found her with marks to her face and pinned against a fence by David Newman .sx Fiona Lees , prosecuting , said Miss Todd ran away and Newman was arrested after a sustained struggle .sx She told the court that the pair had rowed before Newman left their house in Braunspeth Estate , New Brancepeth , one evening in June .sx He went for a drink at a pub in nearby Brandon , but later came across Miss Todd and became angry , wanting to know who was babysitting .sx John McGlone , in mitigation , said Newman was unhappy when he saw her out and told her to go home , but an argument developed when she told him she was going nightclubbing .sx Miss Todd had explained her eldest son , aged 16 , from a previous relationship , was watching the other children .sx Mr McGlone said the couple were now reconciled and he had resumed his duties as a father .sx Newman , 27 , an unemployed landscape gardener , was fined pounds50 , and pounds30 costs , after admitting causing fear or provocation of violence and resisting a police constable .sx Magistrates' chairman Allan Thompson told him the " sad part " of the case was that he believed Newman did care for the children .sx Staff catch fuel thief .sx STAFF at a North haulage firm turned detective to trap a diesel thief .sx They hid overnight at their depot and spotted holidaymaker Colin Dowson helping himself to fuel in a raid in the early hours .sx They phoned the police but , when officers arrived , Dowson jumped in his car and sped off .sx A high-speed chase down narrow country lanes ended when Dowson skidded off the road and crashed , magistrates at Hexham heard .sx Accomplice Dowson , 29 , of Spencer Street , Heaton , Newcastle , and an accomplice were seen with two five-gallon drums and a hosepipe trying to syphon diesel from parked wagons .sx After the police chase , Dowson and his companion ran off , but he gave himself up to police the next day as they had his car .sx The jobless father-of-three admitted attempted theft and going equipped for theft and was fined pounds75 .sx Brother rescued as boat sinks .sx PETER Schaap today told how he rescued his brother as a stricken trawler sank off the Tyne .sx The 42-year-old fisherman went to help brother Franz when his vessel Lagan Lomea started taking in water eight miles out to sea .sx Franz , the only man on board , had to jump to the safety of Peter's boat The Triumph .sx " I put a pump aboard his ship and water was going out of her , but as soon as I started towing she started to turn on her side , " said Peter , of Kettlewell Terrace , North Shields .sx " Franz wanted to stay on board , but I talked him out of it .sx He was shattered from bailing out by hand with a bucket .sx " .sx Called Franz was today seeing insurers in Fleetwood , near Blackpool , about the loss .sx The sinking yesterday came as North Tyneside Council waited for results of tests made on Lagan Lomea .sx The public analyst was called in after winch and net wires were found to be hot , even after being hosed down by firemen .sx The catch of fish is in cold storage and is undergoing a series of tests .sx Students dash to safety after blaze .sx Firemen save pair from roof .sx By LESLEY ALEXANDER .sx FIREMEN used an extension ladder to rescue two terrified students from the roof of their house after a suspected arson attack today .sx Clare Packham , 21 , and Darren Ridley , 20 , of Heaton Road , Heaton , Newcastle , reached the roof through a skylight window in the attic after they battled their way through the smoke-filled house .sx They were taken to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary , suffering the effects of smoke inhalation , but they were later released .sx Fire broke out at the rear doors of the three-storey building just after 4am today and smoke quickly swept through the house .sx Sixteen firefighters from Fossway and Pilgrim Street stations took 20 minutes to control the blaze .sx The cause of the blaze is still being investigated , but firemen believe furniture may have been set alight outside the back of the house .sx Gutted Neighbour Marion McClen , 49 , of Guildford Place , said :sx " I was woken by the sound of firemen shouting and I saw the building completely gutted by smoke .sx " There are fires here all the time and the flats across the road in Cheltenham Terrace have been set alight several times .sx " I don't know who is doing this , but there are a lot of glue sniffers in the area .sx " .sx Meanwhile , a second fire caused smoke damage to the back of a garage in Guildford Place early today .sx The cause of the blaze is being investigated .sx Det Insp Trevor Ord , of the East End CID , said :sx " We are treating the fires as suspicious .sx " We would like to hear from anyone who may have seen any activity at the rear of the flat or at the garage in the early hours today .sx " .sx Governor was ignored - claim .sx THE Home Office ignored a request by Brixton prison governor Reg Withers to transfer two IRA suspects who later escaped at gunpoint , it was claimed today .sx The Prison Governors' Association said Mr Withers asked for IRA suspects Nessan Quinlivan and Pearse McAuley to be transferred after receiving information from a source within the jail that they were planning a break-out .sx He took action which he believed thwarted any immediate escape bid , but heard nothing further from the Home Office , Prison Department , the PGA said .sx Mr Withers was also told nothing of the police tip-off and the allegations added impetus to the political row surrounding the escape .sx Schoolgirl is hurt in window fall .sx A NORTH-East teenager was today recovering in hospital after she was seriously injured when she fell from a third-floor window during a school holiday in France .sx Ruth Lawrie , 13 , of Byron Avenue , Hebburn , fractured her hip and suffered other injuries in the accident , which is being investigated by education officials .sx Ruth was one of 38 pupils from Hebburn Comprehensive School on the end-of-term holiday in Dinard , Brittany .sx After the accident on July 22 , she spent nine days in a hospital in Dinard and at the weekend , she was flown back to England .sx She is now in a comfortable condition at South Tyneside Hospital .sx South Tyneside's head of schools division , Jack Burn , said there were five teachers and a trained nurse with the party of children .sx He was happy with the pupil-teacher ratio during the holiday .sx He said Ruth shared a room with three other girls , but none of the others was there when the accident happened .sx Senior school staff involved in the holiday had been questioned by education department officers , but Ruth had not yet been interviewed because of her injuries .sx Mr Burn said :sx " We are satisfied all the guidelines on foreign visits were adhered to and that supervision was more than adequate .sx " .sx Bus company raps closure plan .sx BUS bosses have attacked plans to close one of Newcastle's busiest bus stations , used by thousands of shoppers a day .sx City planners say the underground Eldon Square bus concourse is squalid , noisy and fume-filled and buses using it cause congestion in Percy Street .sx They want operators to use stops elsewhere - and are thinking of building a new bus station at Gallowgate .sx But the idea , outlined in the city council's draft unitary development plan , is strongly criticised by Busways .sx It rejects the congestion claim and declares :sx " The proposal is to be deplored .sx " .sx Improved The company says Eldon Square should be improved , not closed :sx " The concourse is the most conveniently located bus station for shopping purposes in the entire central area .sx " .sx Busways welcomes the statement that buses should be given priority , but adds :sx " We believe the policies need to go further and actively promote the use of public transport to avoid the excesses of congestion which will otherwise occur .sx " .sx The company points out that while more than half the population use buses to get about they represent only three per cent of vehicles on the roads .sx And it says the idea of extending the Metro into the West End of Newcastle is likely to be too costly .sx Improved bus services were a better alternative .sx The company is particularly critical of plans to pedestrianise the Bigg Market and the area in front of the Theatre Royal .sx New cash rules cause row .sx THOUSANDS of council-house tenants in the North-East will be affected if a housing cash shake-up goes ahead .sx Under Government proposals , more money for modernisation and repairs will be given to authorities which meet new Whitehall guidelines rather than the formula which measures an areas's social needs .sx Need Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine said the change would benefit tenants .sx " We are no longer prepared to allocate hundreds of millions of pounds each year to authorities who show scant regard for the conditions in which their tenants live , " he said .sx But the move was criticised by Newcastle City Council leader Coun Jeremy Beecham , who is also chairman of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities .sx " Allocations for housing expenditure should be based on housing need only , " he said .sx " Tenants' chances of having their homes repaired will now depend not on the state of their home but on whether the council can dance to a Government tune .sx " .sx Bidding to stop bail bandits .sx BAIL bandits could face up to two years imprisonment under legislation being drawn up in the wake of research conducted in the North-East .sx The research , published in May , revealed up to a third of all crime is committed by people already on bail for other offences .sx The new crime - committing an offence while on bail - is being considered by Home Office Minister John Patten , who said :sx " There is a hard - -core element we are determined to target .sx This measure would make further criminal activity while awaiting trial simply not worth the risk .sx " .sx Those found guilty of the new offence would be liable for sentence on the original charge as well as the subsequent crime .sx A spokesman for the Northumbria Force , which compiled the research , welcomed the move .sx He said :sx " We are very pleased the Home Office is considering what we have said all along - that there should be a new offence .sx Our own research has already shown that 30 per cent of people on bail re-offend .sx " .sx Fewer crimes in town .sx TOWN centre trouble in Blyth Valley is being slashed , making it one of the safest places in the country , said police chief Ken Latimer .sx Chief Insp Latimer said that new figures show that street muggings in the Northumberland borough were tiny .sx In the five months leading up to May , there were just 123 reported cases of assaults and woundings in the Blyth police sub-division , he said .sx But " 99.9 per cent " of these involved domestic violence in the home or young lads picking on each other while drunk , rather than people being mugged by strangers , he added .sx Addressing the Blyth Valley Crime Prevention Panel , Chief Insp Latimer said :sx " People can walk the streets without fear of attack .sx " .sx He went on to say that a total number of 3,821 crimes had been reported in that period , a drop of nearly three per cent on the same period last years .sx Bends attack diver stable .sx A DIVER is recovering in a police decompression chamber .sx Geoffrey Hardacre , of Windsor Terrace , Whitley Bay , was diving off St Mary's Island when he suffered an attack of the bends .sx An RAF helicopter was diverted from a nearby exercise to rescue Mr Hardacre , 47 , after fellow divers on the boat , Scarthi , raised the alarm .sx He was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary , Newcastle , then transferred to the Northumbria Police diving school's decompression unit at Sunderland .sx A spokesman at the school said :sx " At the moment , he is stable .sx he is showing some slight improvement but it is a slow process .sx " He came in suffering from pins and needles , which is a symptom of the bends , and I believe his case is quite severe .sx " Mr Hardacre has been in the decompression chamber since 5pm yesterday and will stay there until Wednesday .sx " .sx