Nine lifestyle and environmental changes starting in childhood could prevent a third of dementia cases according to an international study.

The panel of 24 international experts identified a range of modifiable risk factors they believe to be responsible for around 35 per cent of all instances of dementia, including Alzheimer’s.

Different risk factors were said to make an impact at different stages in life, having an accumulating effect.

Better education in early life and addressing hearing loss, high blood pressure and obesity in mid-life could reduce the incidence of dementia by up to 20 per cent, the research suggests.

In later life, stopping smoking, treating depression, increasing physical activity, managing diabetes and enhancing social contact could reduce dementia rates a further 15 per cent, according to the findings.

Professor Lon Schneider, a member of the team from the University of Southern California in the US, said: “There’s been a great deal of focus on developing medicines to prevent dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

“But we can’t lose sight of the real major advances we’ve already made in treating dementia, including preventive approaches.

“The potential magnitude of the effect on dementia of reducing these risk factors is larger than we could ever imagine the effect that current, experimental medications could have. Mitigating risk factors provides us a powerful way to reduce the global burden of dementia.”

The Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention and Care brought the experts together to review a wealth of existing research and data and make evidence-based recommendations.

Their conclusions are published in The Lancet journal and were also presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London.

In the UK an estimated 850,000 people are living with dementia, most of whom have Alzheimer’s.

An estimated 90,000 people have dementia in Scotland. Around 3,200 of these people are under the age of 65.

The Lancet commission also looked at the effectiveness of non-medical treatments for people with dementia.

The experts found that psychological and social interventions were better than anti-psychotic drugs for treating dementia-related agitation and aggression. Some forms of non-medical therapy such as group cognitive stimulation and exercise led to improvements in mental ability.

A terrified mother has revealed how “all hell broke loose” as the plane she was travelling on dropped towards the sea.

Nickola Tye was travelling back from a holiday with her friends in Ibiza when the plane she was on began to nosedive towards the sea.

The 39-year-old said that an alarm went off on the plane before she the captain told the crew over the tannoy to “prepare for an emergency descent”.

She said: “It was about half an hour into the flight and families were nodding off but all of a sudden the alarms went off.

“I’d never heard them on a plane before. That’s when the captain started shouting over the tannoy and all hell broke loose.

“The hostesses didn’t look as calm as you thought they might do in the situation and then the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.

“That’s when everything went silent. We were all in a state of total shock and the plane started to drop dramatically.”

The passenger plane was flying from Ibiza to Leeds with 180 passengers on board when what’s been described as a “minor fault” forced the pilot into the emergency dive.

The Jet2 operated plane levelled out as soon as it reached a safe altitude and landed at Barcelona airport.

The airline has since said that the flight was diverted due to a “minor technical issue”.

Nickola said that, during a rational moment, she decided to text her husband Nathan and tell her family that she loved them.

Nickola said: “I didn’t have my two young children or husband with me and all I could think was I’m not going to get to see them again.

“Because we were getting lower I was able to write a text to my husband. I said ‘the plane is dropping and the oxygen masks have dropped down, if anything happens I love you’.

“It was awful after we landed. When it’s all happening your brain goes into shock but when we landed that’s when it all hit us.

“That’s when people started crying. There was a woman at the front who could not be consoled.”

Nickola and her friends Lucy Colley and Kate Broomhead eventually boarded another plane back to Leeds around four hours later but many were too scared to get back on it.

Jet2 has since apologised to those who were on the plane.

A church in Daventry hosted its first priesthood ordination last week.

The reverend Michael Bates was ordained to the priesthood in the Church of Our Lady of Charity and Saint Augustine by the right reverend Peter Doyle, the bishop of Northampton.

Michael, who hails originally from South Africa, came to Daventry in 2006. He worked at Staverton Park Hotel, Wheatsheaf Court Nursing Home and Badby Park.

During that time he became interested in the Catholic faith and became a Catholic in 2008.

He then felt called to the priesthood and pursued studies at the Royal English College in Valladolid and at St Mary’s Seminary at Oscott.

He was ordained a deacon in July 2016 and is now serving at the Cathedral in Northampton.

The Mayor of Daventry, Cllr Lynne Taylor, was present at what was a special occasion for the town's Catholic community.

Reverend Bates' first mass followed on the Sunday which provided an opportunity for the church's congregation to come together and celebrate.

Reflecting on the Sunday's events Parish priest Seán Healy said: "It went very well. It was a lovely kind of celebration of our community which, over the years, has become more multicultural."

Four schoolboys from Daventry Southbrook Comprehensive put their heads together when they designed and built a car of the future, guided by their tutors, Richard Haste and Andrew Hopkins.

The vehicle featured an extra hatchback rear section which could be clipped on in seconds for extra storage, meaning the team built a car and a half.

The car also caused a stir among industry experts as it included a secret that was meant to be under wraps until the 1980s – two years after this photo was taken.

The car featured four-wheel steering so it could almost move sideways. This design lead the BP Buildacar judges to award the boys first place in the competition.

The four-wheel steering, which designers were saving for the 1980s, meant the Southbrook car could turn full circle almost in its own length.

Like all other entries, it was built from odd bits and pieces from scrapyards, and was assembled at a cost of £150.

Pictured with the car are, from left to right, Kevin Pearson, David Perkins, Andrew Pearson and Mark Holmes.

They collected a new Austin-Morris minibus and gold-plated city car trophy to take home as reward.

A Daventry district primary school continued to be rated 'good' following a short Ofsted inspection earlier this year.

Braunston Church of England Primary School was visited for the first time since it was previously judged as 'good' in January 2014.

The school's co-headteachers were praised for quickly and accurately identifying areas for improvement and subsequently addressing them, and this resulted in pupils' standards remaining above the national level.

Sue Rigby and Gwenda Barker, co-headteachers at Braunston CE, said: “We are delighted that Ofsted has recognised what wonderful children we have at our school and how hard our staff and whole school community have worked to achieve this result”.

They added: "This is particularly pleasing since we also received a judgement of 'outstanding' in our recent inspection carried out by the Peterborough Diocese."

The report also recognised that pupils’ behaviour and conduct were a strength as they were seen to listen attentively, follow instructions swiftly and engage productively in the tasks they were set.

The schoolchildren support each other well in their learning and can articulate how the school’s policies and procedures support them in making progress.

Inspectors found that parents were consistently positive in their views of the school. One parent interviewed by an inspector described the school as "awesome" and "“having a very special place in my heart".

Could your kids be playing with a hidden fortune? According to new data, households across the UK could contain more than £50 million worth of highly-collectable LEGO.

The iconic building block toy has seen an average year-on-year increase of 12 per cent in value since the millennium, according to Zapper.co.uk.

That’s a better return than you’d get with gold, say the tech trade-in company, who in 2017 have traded tens of thousands in LEGO already.

However, they estimate that a potential £54m fortune – based on average LEGO trade-in prices – is sitting in attics, disused toy boxes and cupboards across the UK.

In total there are around 48 million pieces in the UK - enough to build a life-size replica of Buckingham Palace (and even a little Royal Family to sit inside).

The company say that loose LEGO still holds value and can be a great money maker for enthusiasts. However, it’s the rare and collectable items which are causing the spike in value, with some figurines and sets are selling for staggering amounts.

LEGO’s most valuable figurines

1. Mr Gold Figurine - £1,799.99

2. The Hobbit: Azog - £1,756.66

3. Star Wars: Boba Fet (Cloud City) - £280

4. Guardians of the Galaxy: The Collector - £278.27

5. DC Legends of Tomorrow: Atom - £170

6. Star Wars: White Boba Fet - £170

7. Star Wars: Lando Calrissian (Cloud City) - £115.94

8. Lord of The Rings: Bilbo Baggins - £75

9. Harry Potter: Professor Trelawney - £59

10. Harry Potter: Beletrix Lestrange Dual Face - £49.99

11. Harry Potter: Hagrid - £49

LEGO’s most valuable sets

1. Star Wars: Ultimate Collector’s Millennium Falcon – selling for £3,113.02 (RP £342.49)

2. Café Corner – selling for £2,499.96 (RP £89.99)

3. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Castle 5378 – selling for £1,617.46 (RP £69.99)

4. Harry Potter: The Knight Bus – selling for £221.03 (RP £29.99)

5. Star Wars: Death Star 10143 – selling for £3,189.99 (RP £249.99)

6. Green Grocer 10185 – selling for £1,629.95 (RP £99.99)

7. Lego Batman: The Tumbler, Joker’s Ice Cream Surprise – selling for £679.99 (RP £39.99)

8. Emerald Night Train Set – selling for £989.95 (RP £69.99)

Patrick Neill, CEO of Zapper, commented: “There’s more than 48 million pieces of LEGO in the UK, which means the potential for re-sale is huge. If the whole of the UK were to cash in on their collections, it would mean seriously big money. Of course, that’s not going to happen, but what our data does reveal is that there’s huge potential for those with LEGO collecting dust to make some fast money.”

Many loft-diggers have already got wise to the golden bricks, with some unusual ‘hot-spots’ in the top ten - which in total have shifted 624,500 pieces of LEGO this year to date.

Two pack sizes of Doritos have been recalled by their manufacturer due to allergy concerns.

The Chilli Heatwave snacks have been pulled from shelves by parent company Pepsico, because they contain milk, which is not mentioned on the label.

This means the product is a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy or intolerance to milk or milk constituents.

The affected product details are: Doritos Chilli Heatwave, pack size: 150g with a best-before date of 07/10/2017, batch codes: GBC209 166 and GBC209 167 (time code affected between 23:47 - 01:00) 7174

And, 90g Doritos Chilli Heatwave, with best-before date of 07/10/2017 and batch codes: GBC207 166 and GBC207 167 (time code affected between 23:47 - 01:00) 7187

No other PepsiCo products are known to be affected.

A company statement read:

“If you have bought the above product and have an allergy or intolerance to milk or milk constituents, do not eat it. Instead please call PepsiCo’s consumer care line on 0800 274777 for a full refund.”

Most of us can’t tell what’s wrong with a faked picture - underlining the threat to democracy by the spread of made up propaganda, a study shows.

A study of more than 700 people found four in ten couldn’t tell a fake picture from a real one.

Their success rate at detecting a phony image of a real-world scene was only 60 per cent, said scientists.

And even then those that did notice something wrong could only spot what it was 45% of the time.

The findings shed fresh light on the growing problem of fake news - seen during the recent UK and US elections.

Lead author Sophie Nightingale, a PhD student at Warwick University, said: “Our study found although people performed better than chance at detecting and locating image manipulations, they are far from perfect.

“This has serious implications because of the high-level of images - and possibly fake images - people are exposed to on a daily basis through social networking sites, the internet and the media.”

She said the phenomenon could endanger national security as well as democracy.

Ms Nightingale said: “The rise of photographic manipulation has consequences across almost all domains from law enforcement and national security through to scientific publication, politics, media and advertising.

“Currently however science knows very little about people’s ability to distinguish between original and fake images.

“The question of whether people can identify when images have been manipulated and what has been manipulated in the images of real world scenes remains unanswered.”

The study published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications used a bank of 40 images created from 10 originals sourced from Google Images - six of which were changed in five different ways.

These included both plausible and implausible physical manipulations to create 30 altered pictures.

The 707 participants in the online test were shown 10 images at random that included each of the five manipulated types and five originals and were never shown the same one twice.

An average 60 percent were correctly identified as being manipulated when participants were asked “Do you think this photo has been digitally altered?” - just over the chance performance of 50%.

But of the people that answered “yes” only an average 45 percent of manipulations could be correctly located when a grid was placed over the image and participants were prompted to select the regions where a change had been made.

Co-author Dr Derrick Watson explained: “We found people were better at detecting physically implausible manipulations but not any better at locating these manipulations, compared to physically plausible manipulations.

“So even though people are able to detect something is wrong they can’t reliably identify what exactly is wrong with the image.

“Images have a powerful influence on our memories so if people can’t differentiate between real and fake details in photos, manipulations could frequently alter what we believe and remember.”

In a second experiment using an image set created by the researchers 659 people completed an online task that tested their ability to locate manipulations regardless of whether or not they said there was one present.

The results revealed ability to detect something wrong was similar - an average 65 percent of the time - to the first experiment.

But manipulations were accurately located in the image 39 percent more of the time than expected by chance.

This suggests people are better at the more direct task of locating manipulations than the more general one of detecting if a photo has been manipulated or not.

Dr Kimberley Wade, another of the researchers, said: “People’s poor ability to identify manipulated photos raises problems in the context of legal proceedings where photos may be used as evidence.

“Jurors and members of the court assume these images to be real, though a manipulated image could go undetected with devastating consequences.

“We need to work to find better ways to protect people from the negative effects of photo manipulation, and we’re now exploring a number of ways that might help people to better detect fakes.”

Last year a study found up to 80 percent of students in the US couldn’t tell the difference between sponsored content and a real news story.

Fake news refers to news from dubious sources, advertising content, or stories that are just totally made up - but which still go viral on Facebook and Twitter.

The following people were sentenced at Northampton Magistrates’ Court:

MAY 25:

Ioan Mireut, aged 30, of Preston Court, Northampton, stole groceries including sausages, meat products and fruit worth £426.43 belonging to Sainsbury’s; conditional discharge for 12 months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £20 and costs of £105. Failed to surrender to custody; conditional discharge for 12 months.

MAY 26:

Gheorghe Stoica, aged 23, of Earl Street, Northampton, failed to give information relating to the identity of a driver; fined £600, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £66 and costs of £85, licence endorsed with six points.

Munyaradzi Zimowa, aged 27, of Meadow Close, Northampton, breach of a community order; no adjudication, dealt with original offence as follows. Assault; community order to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £85 and costs of £70. Failed to surrender to custody; ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.

MAY 27

Jonathan Stein, aged 29, of Kingsthorpe Grove, Northampton, damaged a glass pane on a door; conditional discharge for six months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £20, compensation of £100 and costs of £85.

MAY 30

Connor Malone, aged 24, of Dryleys Court, Northampton, stole a box of Galaxy chocolate; community order made. Stole a case of Galaxy cookies and a case of Dairy Milk worth £24 belonging to Aldi; community order made, ordered to pay compensation worth £24. Possession of cannabis; community order made. Stole laundry products worth £45 belonging to Select Convenience; community order made and ordered to pay compensation of £45. Failed to comply with a community order; no adjudication, dealt with original offence as follows. Stole baby milk, drink and a kitchen towel worth £33.97 belonging to Tesco; community order made. Stole toiletries worth £658.80 belonging to Wilkinsons; community order made. Stole items worth £101.98 belonging to Halfords; community order made.

MAY 31:

Aaron Cox, aged 34, of St Paul’s Court, Norfolk Terrace, Northampton, harassment; jailed for 42 days suspended for 12 months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £115 and costs of £85.

Andrew Gammage, aged 50, of Riverside, Northampton, failed to comply with a community order; suspended sentence of 140 days suspended for two years imposed, ordered to pay costs of £60.

Lukasz Kierpal, aged 35, of Junction Road, Northampton, failed to comply with a community order; no adjudication, dealt with original offence as follows: Drink-driving with a breath test reading of 53mcgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath; community order made to carry out 150 hours of unpaid worlk. Possession of class A and class B drugs; community order to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work. Used threatening or abusive words or behaviour; community order to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Scott Miller, aged 40, of The Briars, Northampton, assault; jailed for 56 days suspended for 18 months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £115 and costs of £85. Assault; jailed for 56 days consecutive suspended for 17 months.

JUNE 1

Paul Spiers, aged 35, of Axe Head Road, Northampton, assault; pleaded guilty sent to Northampton Crown Court for sentence.

Ryan Thornhill, aged 19, of Gordon Street, Semilong, Northampton, broke into Teddy’s barber shop and stole electronic items worth £2,280; community order made, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £85 and costs of £150.

JUNE 2

Marian Pavel, aged 42, of Lowick Court, Northampton, driving while using a mobile phone; fined £300, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £30 and costs of £85, licence endorsed with eight points. No insurance; fined £40.

Razvan Vasile, aged 38, of Arrow Head Road, Northampton, no insurance; fined £200, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £30 and costs of £85, licence endorsed with six points. No test certificated; fined £66.

Shaun Roadnight, aged 37, of Crowthorp Road, Northampton, possession of a class C drug; conditional discharge for six months.

JUNE 5

Samuel Congreve, aged 20, of Worcester Way, Stefen Hill, Daventry, driving without due care and attention; fined £180, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £30 and costs of £85, licence endorsed with six points.

Aaron Evans, aged 31, of Friars Crescent, Northampton, drink-driving with a breath test reading of 80mcgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath; fined £392, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £39 and costs of £85, banned from driving for 12 months.

Tina Ferrio, aged 57, of St Michael’s Avenue, Northampton, sent an electronic message that was grossly offensive; conditional discharge of 12 months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £20 and costs of £85.

Alexandru Frunzeano, aged 27, of Baker Street, Northampton, drink-driving with a breath test reading of 67mcgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath; fined £323, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £32 and costs of £85, banned from driving for 18 months.

Michael Jarrold, aged 33, of Harlestone Road, Northampton, drink-driving with a breath test reading of 68mcgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath; fined £120, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £30 and costs of £85, banned from driving for 18 months.

Michael Keable, aged 31, of Kingsley Road, Silverstone, drink-driving with a breath test reading of 57mcgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath; fined £205, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £30 and costs of £85, banned from driving for 15 months.

Anthony O’Beirne, aged 28, of Lark Rise, Woodfields, Northampton, drink-driving with a breath test reading of 91mcgs of 100mls of breath; community order made to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work; ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £85 and costs of £95, banned from driving for 23 months.

Christopher Pym, aged 31, of Belfry Way, Borough Hill, Daventry, drink-driving; fined £120, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £30 and costs of £85, banned from driving for 18 months. Driving not in accordance with a licence; fined £40, no insurance; fined £80.

Charles Rollin, aged 48, of Mill Lane, Northampton , used threatening or abusive words or behaviour; conditional discharge for 12 months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £30, compensation of £50 and costs of £85. Possession of cannabis; conditional discharge for 12 months.

Aleisha Sampson, aged 37, of Entwood Drive, Northampton, drink-driving with a breath test reading of 105mcgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath; community order to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £85 and costs of £85, banned from driving for 26 months.

Dean Sergent, aged 35, of Churchill Avenue, Northampton, stole razor blades worth £80 from Morrisons; conditional discharge for 12 months. Stole tracksuit bottoms worth £32.99 belonging to Sports Direct; conditional discharge for 12 months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £20 and costs of £85.

Isaac Sweeney, aged 37, of Monmouth Road, Northampton, stole a quantity of Jack Daniels worth £125 belonging to Asda; conditional discharge for 12 months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £20, compensation of £125 and costs of £45.

Dawid Leszek, aged 29, of Semilong Road, Northampton, no insurance; no separate penalty. Driving not in accordance with a licence; no separate penalty. Stole a car; jailed for three months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £115 and costs of £85.

Rosalind Casey, aged 44, of Stonebridge Court, Northampton, assaulted a police officer; conditional discharge for 12 months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £20 and cost of £85.

Eugen Chiriac, aged 27, of Wellingborough Road, Northampton, driving while disqualified; jailed for eight weeks. No insurance; no separate penalty. Additional offence of driving while disqualified; jailed for 18 weeks,ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £115 and costs of £85, banned from driving for 12 months.

Dawid Leszek, aged 29, of Semilong Road, Northampton, failed to comply with a community order; no adjudication, dealt with original offence as follows. Caused another person to fear violence; jailed for three months suspended for 18 months.

Joe Webber, aged 32, of Old Watling Street, Long Buckby Wharf, stole two strimmers worth £200 belonging to Harlestone Heath Garden Centre; jailed for 12 weeks suspended for 12 months, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £116, compensation for £120 and costs of £85.

JUNE 6:

Daniel Moore, aged 24, of no fixed abode, drug-driving; community order made, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £85 and costs of £85, banned from driving for 14 months. Driving while disqualified; community order made. No insurance; no separate penalty. Had a lock knife in a public place without good reason. Had an imitation firearm, namely a cigarette lighter disguised as a Beretta pistol; community order made.

Marta Kostanska, aged 33, Manfield Road, Northampton, drink-driving with a breath test reading of 42mcgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath; fined £300,ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £30 and costs of £85, banned from driving for 12 months. Failed to surrender to custody; fined £100.

Ahmad Ansari, aged 21, of Balfour Close, Northampton, no insurance; fined £346, ordered to pay a surcharge to victim services of £34 and costs of £85, licence endorsed with six points.

Messages claiming to be from WhatsApp are being sent by fraudsters intending to steal banking and personal information.

Action Fraud - the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime - has received reports of emails and texts being received by long-term users of the messaging app, claiming that their subscriptions have expired.

However, WhatsApp stopped charging users in 2016 following the company’s acquisition by Facebook, who took over after buying it for £11.4bn in 2016.

The claim your “subscription will be ending soon” and ‘bill’ for a fee of 0.99p is an attempt to gather banking information.

It follows other problems for WhatsApp customers - last year some users were being tricked into downloading a fake ‘gold’ version of WhatsApp which infected Android devices with malware.

Users are advised that if they receive one of these emails or text messages, not to click on any links. Instead, they should delete it and report it to Action Fraud at http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud. Anyone who does click on one of the links, should run antivirus software to ensure your device has not been infected with malware.

The UK could be set to bask in three months of hot weather as an ‘African blast’ of hot air heads north to Britain.

Forecasters say the UK is likely to enjoy higher than average temperatures between July and September with highs of as much as 36 degrees predicted for the three month period

The first few days of this week will be unsettled with some areas experiencing showers, but following this, highs of around 30C will be reached in some parts of the country.

The Met Office’s prediction for July to September says: “The chances of a very hot summer are increased compared to normal, although relatively low overall.

“There is a shift in likelihood towards warmer-than-average conditions.

“For July-September, above-average temperatures are more probable than below-average.

“The probability UK average temperatures fall into the warmest of our five categories is 30 per cent. The coldest category is 10 per cent.”

And Brian Gaze, forecaster at The Weather Outlook, said: “Highs of 36C are on the cards this summer, with warm air expected to blow in from Africa. After a superb start to summer, bursts of heat ahead have the potential to be hot, hot, hot.

“A plume of very warm air could arrive from midweek, with temperatures approaching or exceeding 30C in the south.”

Discount clothes retail giant Primark has recalled pairs of flip-flop over fears they contain a chemical linked to cancer.

Three pairs of flip flops sold in the store for almost six months this year have been recalled by the clothes store.

A Primark spokesman confirmed the flip flops contain chrysene, which is commonly used in dark-coloured dyes.

The following product codes are affected:

Kimball Numbers:

Khaki - 02387/07, 08, 09

Black - 02387/01, 02, 03

Blue - 02387/04, 05, 06

The product was on sale in stores from the 4th January 2017 to the 2nd June 2017.

A statement issued by the firm said: “It has come to our attention that the footwear product detailed above does not meet the Primark usual high standards for chemical compliance. We have found levels of a restricted substance in the product in excess of the 1.0 mg/kg requirement.

“With the safety of our customers and respect for the environment at the forefront of our minds we have taken the decision to recall this product and are therefore inviting you to return this item for a full refund.

“If you have purchased this product then please return it to any Primark store where you will be offered a full refund. You will not be required to provide proof of purchase.

Two men captured on CCTV images are being sought by police in connection with a burglary at an industrial estate in Daventry.

The incident took place in Gresley Close on Drayton Fields Industrial Estate on May 31, between 6pm and 8.45pm.

The police want to speak with the men as they believe they could help their investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

A Northamptonshire firefighter has marked his approaching retirement after 31 years’ service by doing a charity bike ride in full breathing apparatus.

Paul Cushing joined Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) as an 18-year-old, serving at the Mounts station in Northampton for 20 years before joining Moulton’s Green Watch in 2006.

He decided to raise money for The Fire Fighters Charity by undertaking a sponsored bike ride in his breathing apparatus and full firefighting kit, which weighs around 20kg. He completed the ride last Friday, 21 July, and has so far raised more than £1,300.

He said: “I was going to do my route to work because I always cycle, rain or shine, but then I thought it would be nice to ride between Moulton and the Mounts.

“I chose the charity because they have really good rehabilitation centres for injured firefighters, those suffering serious illness, and their families. Touch wood I’ve never had reason to need their support but lots of people I’ve served with have and they’ve been absolutely brilliant. This felt like a good chance to give something back.

“I’d originally thought about doing the ride on a unicycle, but even just on my regular bike I knew I’d get a few funny looks riding along in all my kit! The support I’ve had has been great, the fire service is like a family and I’ve made some great close friends over the years.”

Paul was accompanied on his round-trip ride of approximately nine miles by son Reece, sister-in-law Esme and colleague Kev Hardwick, plus wife Joanne who drove a back-up vehicle in case of punctures. The group were waved off by Paul’s mum Linda, Laura Harden of The Fire Fighters Charity, and friends and colleagues from NFRS.

Other events to mark Paul’s retirement in September will include a charity rugby match between his team, Northampton Heathens RFC, and Mens Own FRC.

Mark Ainge, head of service delivery at NFRS, said: “I first met Cush 31 years ago in the yard at Moulton during our firefighter training. We joined the service just 10 weeks apart and have been friends ever since.

"He’s been an invaluable team member, providing specialist training and sharing his expertise with many other firefighters in Northamptonshire and I know I speak for many when I say he will be very much missed.”

People can sponsor Paul here.

Cyber hackers are trading online passwords of at least 178,000 accounts belonging to people in Northamptonshire every day in a bid to extort them for cash and goods, a group of undercover online moles has found.

And across the UK that number has spiked rapidly over the past four months, with an extra 1.4 million so-called "identities" being added to hidden "crypto" marketplaces since March in a shocking sign that illicitly obtained personal data has become one of the fastest growing tradeable commodities online.

So-called "dark web" marketplaces are now even offering money back guarantees for bulk purchases of people’s account passwords, which can come coupled with one or a mix of email addresses, credit card numbers, usernames and even personal details such as first cars and mothers’ maiden names.

Now Johnston Press investigations and the Northampton Chronicle and Echo has teamed up with London data firm C6 to reveal the true extent of the booming identity trade among the criminal underworld.

The study has revealed that in Northamptonshire a total of 178,207 are almost certainly unaware that, at the very least, their email address and password is on sale with the hardest hit postcode being the NN3 area - which includes the areas of Abington, Bellinge, Boothville, Weston Favell and Moulton in the East of Northampton.

The worrying numbers have been collated over a series of years by a team of cyber moles embedded in the murkiest reaches of the dark web, observing wholesale transactions through encrypted chat rooms.

Chief operating officer of C6, which runs the hasmyidentitybeenstolen.com website, Emma Mills, said the rapidly growing number of people at risk of being defrauded needs to act as a wake-up call.

She said: “As consumers, we have never really paid the price for fraud we’re used to the banks picking up the credit and debit card losses, we don’t see the downside to ourselves of being careless with our personal information.

“We don’t clearly understand the impact of having our identities compromised and how long and painful it is to re-build that genuinely, it causes problems with applying for credit or any other form of account.”

Often the online marketplaces sell only partial information about an individual that can be fledged out over a period of time.

One site visited by Johnston Press Investigations allowed users to bulk purchase Paypal accounts for one US dollar per account, with a minimum purchase of 100 at a time.

The store, which also purported to sell Ebay accounts, offered an 80 per cent working guarantee.

On its own, a person’s streaming service account details - a username and password - could be seen as innocuous. But profiles can then be ‘enriched’, often over a series of months, or even years.

If, like half of all internet users, a person uses the same password for multiple accounts those Netflix login details could be crucial to gaining access to a person’s email address - and with it a host of other accounts simply by pressing the ‘forgotten password’ button.

Once the identity is rich enough, fraudsters can open credit card accounts in a person’s name, buy goods and transfer money.

They can also sell on the so called -’full person profile’ in bulk.

Modern day gangs have a sophisticated hierarchy, Ms Mills said, operating in similar ways to a credit bureau, working from postcode area to postcode area, gathering details from a range of sources.

“They will have a group of people searching the electoral role, for example,” she added.

“They will start on a post code and start working through it.

“If someone knows your email, where you live and your date of birth it becomes quite a rich record.

“Once that information is gathered they can then sell it to a gang to ‘phish’ for your banking details.

“They will sit between you and the genuine site watching your keystrokes on the computer, they will know when you are logged on to your internet banking account.

“When you enter the 4th, 5th and 6th digit of your password they will know that.

Then they will be patient.

“They will watch you log in on multiple occasions until they have built up a full picture of you.”

And while early dark web sites were largely text-only, many are ditching their functional aesthetics in favour of more user-friendly interfaces.

“These sites are just like any online shopping site now,” said Ms Mills.

“You can find which bank you want to buy details from, you can select what bank of card you want to buy. You could choose to buy gold cards for example.

“Depending on what that brand indicates, that gives them an idea of the credit worthiness of its owner.

“They will even issue you with a money back guarantee if you cannot make the transaction work within 24 hours.

“Some of them offer good customer service - some have a helpdesk. The idea is they want you to continue to go back.”

The ability to steal details en masse represents a far cry from the fraudsters of the 1990s seen hanging outside call centres in the hope of convincing employees to evince confidential information.

And the number of stolen identities being traded online is rising at an alarming rate.

In March, 9.3 million UK identities were circulating in the hidden web to C6’s knowledge. As of July that total had risen to 10.8 million.

Ms Mills said that the amount of personal data for sale spikes whenever a major company’s data has been breached. But a company spokeswoman added that a spike has been in progress for the last three months, leading to the possibility that the recent Wannacry attack and other large scale breaches, such as that on AA customers, could be a contributing factor.

But, perhaps more concerning, is the theory that the recent rise could be down to a number of unreported hacks that companies are unwilling to disclose through fear of reputational damage.

“Things like the Ashley Maddison breach - a massive spike, the Talk Talk breach, a massive spike,” Ms Mills said.

“It comes in in a big bulk and gets divided out for criminal gangs to do things with.”

Ms Mills said C6 Intelligence sees spikes of data entering the dark web long before companies have told their customers, though she praised Talk Talk as one of the few exceptions.

In 2014, C6’s online moles saw a massive rise in customer details from a range of telecommunications companies on the dark web, not just Talk Talk.

“Either the same consumers were hacked because they were using the same username, e-mail password combinations,” said Ms Mills. “Or other organisations were similarly hit and did not disclose it.”

C6, owned by Acuris, has been researching this type of data since 2002 and works by updating a database of known records being traded in the far reaches of the dark web.

Its website, hasmyidentitybeenstolen.com, allows users to see whether their address or data has been compromised.

A Daventry district school was rated 'good' by Ofsted in all areas following an inspection earlier this summer.

Weedon Bec Primary School was visited in June for its first Ofsted inspection.

Among the positives found were a strength in the school's governance, the systems in place to ensure quality of teaching, learning and assessment, pupils' behaviour both inside and outside of the classroom, and the "bright and stimulating" early years environment.

Parents' were said to be "overwhelmingly supportive of the school" with the report stating they were unanimous in their view that children are happy, safe and making good progress.

As for areas of improvement, Ofsted highlighted that teachers should give pupils more opportunities to practice spelling, punctuation and grammar skills by writing at length in subjects across the curriculum.

It also reported that adults in the early years could improve in explaining activities to children thoroughly and maximising opportunities during the activities to deepen children's knowledge and understanding.

Headteacher Antony Witheyman was said to be "passionate about pupils learning through experiences outside the classroom" and this was evidenced by the number of educational trips children went on including visits to the Royal Opera House, the Houses of Parliament, 10 Downing Street, London Zoo and Northampton University for a science day.

The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare was seen as good, with pupils both confident and self-assured.

A council worker whose husband suffered serious injuries in a road collision is taking on a 100-mile bike ride to raise money for the Air Ambulance Service which helped save him.

Katherine Daniels is taking part in The Prudential RideLondon London-Surrey 100 on July 30 to thank the service for coming to her husband Aidan’s rescue on Father’s Day last year.

Aidan was involved in a collision while out on his bicycle, and was helped by an Air Ambulance crew at the roadside before being airlifted to hospital in Coventry where he underwent a ten-hour operation to fix his shattered knee caps and left wrist.

Katherine, a planning officer at Daventry District Council, said: “We’re so grateful to the Air Ambulance crew, who did everything they possibly could at the scene to make Aidan feel comfortable before taking him to the hospital.

“I am lucky to have Aidan around, and I know other people have been in worst situations. The Air Ambulance does a fantastic job, and people rely on them in potentially life-threatening situations, so I wanted to do something to say thank you for everything they do.”

The Prudential RideLondon London-Surrey 100 is the biggest closed road cycling event in the UK, setting off from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park before following the exact route used for the 2012 Olympic Road Race – including the infamously gruelling Box Hill climb.

And while Katherine has completed sprint distance triathlons, 5km swimathons, and a half-marathon in the past, she has been putting in extra training for what she expects to be her toughest challenge yet.

“Before this year, the furthest I’d cycled was 58 miles, and I used to think 30 or 40 miles was a long ride!” said Katherine.

“I do like my cycling, but this is one of the biggest challenges I have done so I’m hoping all the training will be enough.

“It’s a worthwhile cause, and I am happy to be mad enough to go through this challenge to raise money for a service which I consider invaluable. I really appreciate everyone’s support and thank you for any donations.”

People can sponsor Katherine here.

Older people could be “prescribed a dog” because it increases their physical activity by half an hour a day - especially in rainy Britain, according to new research.

A five year study of more than 3,000 middle aged and elderly people in Norfolk found those who had a dog were 20 per cent more active - when the weather was at its worst.

Scientists say taking Fido walkies is key to staying healthy in later life - reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer and even dementia.

It it lopped an average of 30 minutes off the time they spent sitting each day - and the greatest benefit was during winter.

Regular dog walkers did more activity when the thermometer dropped below 10 degrees Celsius than petless counterparts managed - on the warmest days!

On shorter days and those that were colder and wetter all the participants tended to be less physically active and spent more time sitting but dog owners still went out.

Project lead Professor Andy Jones, of the University of East Anglia, said it suggests dog ownership or community schemes for dog walking could form part of ‘exercise on prescription’.

He said: “We were amazed to find dog walkers were on average more physically active and spent less time sitting on the coldest, wettest, and darkest days than non-dog owners were on long, sunny, and warm summer days.

“The size of the difference we observed between these groups was much larger than we typically find for interventions such as group physical activity sessions that are often used to help people remain active.”

Almost one in five of the sample (18%) said they owned a dog and two thirds walked it at least once a day so were classified as regular dog walkers.

The entire sample spent an average of around 11 hours every day sitting and tended to be less active when it rained, was cold and the days were short.

But during cold wet winters exercise levels of dog owners were typically 20 per cent higher.

Fewer than half older Britons get the recommended weekly 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity.

Research has shown regular brisk walks is good for mental - as well as physical - health by boosting blood flow to the brain.

Lead author Dr Yu-Tzu Wu added: “We know physical activity levels decline as we age but we’re less sure about the most effective things we can do to help people maintain their activity as they get older.

“We found dog walkers were much more physically active and spent less time sitting overall. We expected this.

“But when we looked at how the amount of physical activity participants undertook each day varied by weather conditions we were really surprised at the size of the differences between those who walked dogs and the rest of the study participants.”

The study showed owning or walking a dog was one of the most effective ways to beat the usual decline in later-life activity - even combating the effects of bad weather.

Dog owners were sedentary an average 30 minutes less per day, according to the findings published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The study involved 3,123 people aged 49 to 91 in the long-running EPIC Norfolk cohort study who wore a pedometer round their waist that measured physical activity over seven consecutive days during waking hours.

They also provided information on regular exercise.

Bad weather and short days are known to be one of the biggest barriers to staying active outdoors so researchers linked walking to weather conditions and season on each day of the study.

Prof Jones said: “Physical activity interventions typically try and support people to be active by focusing on the benefits to themselves but dog walking is also driven by the needs of the animal.

“Being driven by something other than our own needs might be a really potent motivator and we need to find ways of tapping into it when designing exercise interventions in the future.”

Borrow my Doggy, a nationwide UK network, which provides regular group dog walks for people who aren’t dog owners, might be one such option, they suggest.

The findings follow a similar study by Glasgow Caledonian University last month that found pensioners who take their four legged friends out daily walk an extra 22 minutes per day compared to those who don’t own a pet.

The Scottish team said GPs should be encouraged to suggest older people get a dog or share one to encourage them to walk more.

Daventry Area Community Transport (DACT) was given a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the equivalent of an MBE for voluntary groups, in June.

Rob Kinning, the group's chief executive, now wants to thank his fellow volunteers by purchasing shirts sporting the DACT logo together with the Queen’s Award logo to celebrate their achievements.

Rob, 53, and DACT's transport booking officer Martyn Wood, 37, will first have to complete the Three Peaks Challenge, as they attempt to raise £5,000 to pay for the shirts which will be given to all 170 volunteers.

The challenge will see the pair scale the highest peaks in England (Scafell Pike, 978m), Scotland (Ben Nevis, 1345m) and Wales (Snowdon, 1085m) in just one day.

You can donate here.

A Daventry Museum exhibition was recognised when it won Museum Event of the Year at a Northamptonshire award ceremony last week.

The Centenary Commemoration of the Battle of the Somme was the winning exhibition in the Northamptonshire Heritage Forum Awards and that completes back-to-back prize winning for Daventry Museum after its British Science Week event was victorious at last year's ceremony.

The museum also received a highly commended award in the Best Exhibition category for the Law and Order exhibition held earlier this year.

The Forum Awards showcase excellence within museums, galleries and historic houses in Northamptonshire, and a spokesperson for Daventry Museum said they were thrilled to have been recognised.

"The awards would not have been achieved without the dedication and hard work from the volunteer team and support from the town council," said the spokesperson.

A project to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One in November 2018 is now in development following the success of the winning exhibition.