A drunken reveller randomly punched an accountant in the street, breaking his jaw.

The 30-year-old victim ended up in hospital, where he had an operation to have two titanium plates inserted into his lower jaw.

Matthew Webb (22) admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on the night of August 4 last year.

He was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for one year, with 100 hours of unpaid work.

Leicester Crown Court was told he had been drinking heavily with a friend.

He believed his drink may also have been spiked with ketamine, said his barrister, James Varley.

David Allan, prosecuting, said the incident happened in Belvoir Street, in the city centre, at 11.50pm.

He said: "The defendant was walking along with an arrogant attitude.

"He punched the victim in the face as he was passing.

"The defendant said nothing and just looked at him.

"It was completely unprovoked.

"Witnesses saw the defendant smirking as he skipped backwards a few steps, like a boxer expecting a reaction."

The victim, who did not at first realise how badly he was injured, pointed the defendant out to two police officers.

They spoke to Webb, who appeared "very drunk" but gave them his details.

Mr Allan said Webb also went to hospital at 2.10am that day complaining of feeling unwell and saying he might have taken ketamine. He was later sent home.

Webb, of Hattern Avenue, Stocking Farm, Leicester, was arrested a few days later.

Judge Michael Pert QC told him: "You broke a man's jaw.

"It's an illustration of the dangers of excessive alcohol leading to late-night violence in the city centre."

Mr Varley, in mitigation, said Webb was "of previous good character and had a good upbringing".

Mr Varley said: "A number of people have come to court to support him. References speak well of him. He had everything going for him and he's made a stupid mistake.

"He was out celebrating the birth of his daughter and drank far more than normal.

"On the night, he was so drunk he went to hospital because he was so out of it.

"He maintains his drink was spiked with ketamine and he can't recall anything of that night."

The tweets, which included references to taking drugs, were posted by the teenager between the ages of 14 and 16, but have now been deleted.

There were calls for Miss Brown, from Sheerness, Kent, to resign from the £15,000-a-year post she was appointed to last week, but Kent Police and crime commissioner Ann Barnes defended her.

Miss Brown said: "I deeply apologise for any offence caused by my use of inappropriate language and for any inference of inappropriate views.

"I am not homophobic, racist or violent and am against the taking of drugs.

"If I'm guilty of anything it's showing off and wildly exaggerating on Twitter, and I am very ashamed of myself, but I can't imagine that I'm the only teenager to have done this.

"As one example, the line about hash brownies is a reference to a Scooby Doo film.

"I have a genuine interest in working with young people, as demonstrated by my current work as an apprentice for a local authority helping teenagers in a community."

Mrs Barnes said she did not condone the nature of the tweets but asked for some perspective due to Miss Brown's age.

"I do not condone the content and language of Paris's tweets," she said.

"I suspect many young people go through a phase during which they make silly, often offensive comments and show off on Facebook and Twitter.

"I think if everyone's future was determined by what they wrote on social networking sites between the ages of 14 and 16, we'd live in a very odd world.

"Thousands of people have already seen and heard this young lady articulate her ideas and been impressed by her maturity and her commitment during challenging interviews on the national and local media before this story broke.

"She has said herself that young people grow up very quickly these days and it's often difficult for them.

"This is a very difficult time for her personally, but she will learn quickly from this and rapidly mature into the confident young person we are already seeing."

Mrs Barnes, 67, also defended her decision to appoint a youth commissioner, which was a manifesto pledge during her election campaign – £5,000 of the teenager's salary comes from her own.

"The idea of a youth commissioner was born out of my long experience in the world of policing, as a teacher and as a parent.

She said: "There is a growing gap between younger people and the police and other agencies of law enforcement.

"Young people are too often demonised by certain elements in the press. This new post is a practical step aimed at engaging with them."

Celebrity atheists are being asked to help pay for the renovation of a society's headquarters.

Members of Leicester Secular Society are writing to 40 well-known people, including Richard Dawkins and Ricky Gervais, in a bid to raise £40,000 for the project.

The society is also appealing to local secularists to support the scheme to improve the Victorian building in Humberstone Gate.

Work will involve installing an accessible toilet, new kitchen, hearing loop, second fire exit and internal renovation.

The total cost is about £65,000, but the organisation has £25,000 in its reserves which it will use.

Harry Perry, president of the branch, said: "There are certain pressing problems on the ground floor where we have our meetings.

"We've appealed to about 40 celebrity atheists but I don't want to rely solely on them – we'll need our members to help us, too.

"The last census also identified that 24 per cent of the city are non-religious, so we're reaching out to them for help as well."

He said a number of attempts to secure funding had been unsuccessful and the organisation needed the full amount by the end of July.

"We approached the Heritage Lottery Fund, but it said there wasn't enough of a heritage aspect," said Mr Perry.

"The Big Lottery Fund turned us down, too, because it's too much about the building and not enough about the community.

"In fact, 95 per cent of sources of funding require we are a charity or a religious organisation and we're neither."

Leicester Secular Society has about 150 members and has used the grade-II-listed building for 130 years.

It hosts a variety of events, including talks, lectures and meetings by a number of organisations.

Leicester City Council has offered to look at ways of supporting the society with some of the renovation work.

Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "We'll help where we can with the project. In particular, we'd like it to include some work to the front of the building.

"The Secular Hall is a very important building in Leicester and unique one in the country.

"It has a proud history and is a place where people such as William Morris came to talk about not just secularism but society more generally."

Donate via their website at:

www.leicestersecular society.org.uk

Andy King believes Leicester City's performance at Brighton could be a turning point, despite being disappointed at not claiming all three points.

Five games remain in the Championship and Saturday's 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium leaves Nigel Pearson's men in seventh but still bang in the play-off equation.

After the dismal 2-0 defeat at Barnsley on Easter Monday, King reckons City are now back on track.

"We are massively disappointed not to have got all three points," said the 24-year-old midfielder.

"We played well, got ourselves into the lead and were looking fairly comfortable, so for them to score right at the end was disappointing.

"It was a much better performance than the one at Barnsley. Sometimes in football, you get off-days like that, but that is no excuse.

"We weren't good enough, it wasn't acceptable. We owed the supporters a performance, we owed ourselves a performance and I think that is what we got.

"Brighton are a good team at home so, to come here and play the way we have done, is an encouraging sign. We're disappointed we've only got the one point.

"Now we have to look at the next game. We're still in with a chance of the play-offs and we're playing teams in and around us, so it is in our hands.

"If we keep putting on that sort of performance, we know the results will turn our way."

Speculation about Pearson's future has been rife after a spell of 12 league matches that has reaped only seven points.

The players, however, are fully behind him.

"You can see with a performance like this one that we are 100 per cent behind him," said King.

"That has never been in question, by anyone. The job we have done so far this season has been good, but that hasn't been the case during the past couple of months, everyone knows that.

"We have five games left to make something of our season. We are all behind each other and are working hard on the training ground."

King was impressed by the performance of Jeff Schlupp, who led the line at Brighton.

"He's got that electric pace, which is a nightmare for defenders," said King.

"He played brilliantly, as he did when he came on against Barnsley. He is a bright prospect and he's going to be an outstanding player."

Questions have been raised about Conservative county council leader Nick Rushton's decision to miss a key meeting at County Hall next week with an election looming.

Councillor Rushton is on an extended Easter holiday with his family in America and will not be back for the next council cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Deputy council leader Byron Rhodes will run the meeting in his absence.

The meeting will be the third of nine to take place without Coun Rushton since he took over the leader's role in July after the resignation of David Parsons.

He missed a July meeting, when he was in America, and a pre-Christmas meeting.

Opposition councillors at County Hall questioned his decision to miss the meeting – at which a number of key decisions will be made – ahead of polls on May 2.

Changes are proposed to the council's budget and the future of children's centres will be discussed, along with the A426 bus corridor project.

Speaking from America, Coun Rushton said he had chosen to be away on holiday with his wife and teenage son during the school holidays to get some work-life balance.

County Hall's Liberal Democrat group leader Simon Galton said: "I am surprised Nick will not be at cabinet because it is the last one before the election and the Tories have deliberately spiced up the agenda with some pre-election goodies.

"They want to put £1 million back into the road maintenance budget, which is something we proposed at a recent council meeting and they rejected out of hand as impossible.

"Nick is a very different kind of leader to David Parsons. He does delegate more and he may say that is his style.

"I do find it strange that he is not here, hands on, running his party's election campaign.

"We are right in the thick of the campaign now. UKIP are out and about looking to take votes off all of us but particularly the Tories.

"My role (as group leader) at the moment is marshalling the troops and preparing for the election which is only weeks away.

"It surprises me Nick is not doing the same."

Labour group leader Max Hunt said: "When Nick took over he made quite some play of the fact he would be doing things differently and that he would be a leader for Leicestershire who would not be spending lots of time away.

"It's a shame he does not appear to be leading the council in the way he said he would. If he can be in the United States for a large proportion of the time, he will find it difficult to stop his members taking extended breaks.

"I would have thought he would want to be here. The time just before elections is when people expect us to be knocking on their doors.

"It's when we, as councillors, listen the most and learn the most."

Coun Rushton said: "The whole of Leicestershire doesn't rely on me being there.

"We are a collegiate administration. I have great confidence in my cabinet.

"We are not just one dominant leader and Byron Rhodes is perfectly capable.

"I've made sure it is a fairly light agenda."

"I have a business, a big job at North West Leicestershire (district council) and being leader at County Hall takes up a lot of time.

"I also have a wife who is 39 and a 15-year-old-son. I have missed two cabinets when he has been on holiday.

"I decided to take a few days off after Easter. It's a work-life balance. I can't defend it any more than that.

"I will just have to take a bit of flak from political opponents."

Mr Rushton said during his holiday he had been in regular contact with council officers and Tory colleagues in Leicestershire by phone and e-mail.

The Guildhall welcomed its 50,000th visitor to the Richard III exhibition at the weekend.

The temporary display, which opened in February, will remain until a permanent exhibition opens in the former Leicester Grammar School building next year.

It has been welcoming an average of about 900 people a day.

Among 3,500 who have left comments in the visitors' books are people from Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Italy and Spain.

Families have queued around the block to learn about the discovery of monarch's remains in a nearby car park, in August last year.

The 50,000th visitor, 13-year-old Charlie Elwell, arrived yesterday afternoon with her mother Susan and friend 95-year-old Albert Richards.

They had travelled just over 50 miles from Walsall, in the West Midlands, because they had seen a programme about the exhibition on television.

Charlie said: "I like history and we have done Richard III at school. So it was really interesting to come to Leicester to see all about him. I love the exhibition."

Mum Susan, 49, said: "We saw all about it on the television so we wanted to come to see for ourselves.

"It is really good. We also visited the cathedral.

"It is quite a coincidence that I am wearing the white rose of York on my hat."

Albert said: "To see our history like this is very exciting."

The group was given a bag of goodies, including Richard III memorabilia, theatre tickets and a voucher for a meal.

Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "It's incredible that 50,000 people have already seen this exhibition, with many of them coming from all over the world.

"There is clearly a huge amount of interest in this discovery and we will be doing our utmost to ensure our new visitor centre captures this interest and gives visitors a unique insight into the life and times of Richard III and the rich history of our city.

"It's a lovely exhibition – although it's quite small and was put together quickly, so it's just a taste of what people can expect when the full-time exhibition opens this time next year."

The exhibition at the Guildhall, which stands in the shadow of Leicester Cathedral, where the king will be reburied next year, tells the story of the dig through four narrators.

The historian, the archaeologist, the bio-archaeologist and the scientist all describe different parts of the Greyfriars project.

The exhibition also features a model of Richard's skull, on loan from Loughborough University, and a number of interactive touch-screen tours.

In the visitor's book, Jean and Les wrote: "Fabulous! I have changed allegiance from Henry VII."

"Excellent exhibition – very clear and easy to follow. We'll definitely come again," wrote Mary

Nicole said: "Very interesting and pleasing exhibition. Must be seen."

Ben Ennis, customer service assistant at the Guildhall, said: "When people say they've come from America we jokingly ask if they've come specially.

"But we are finding that lots of them are actually making a special trip to Leicester because of the discovery.

"It was lovely that our 50,000th visitor also came from out of the county."

Running the marathon as Richard III, see Page 17.

Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill praised his players for "doing the club proud" after their Heineken Cup hopes came to an agonising end in Toulon.

Tigers lost a titanic battle as Jonny Wilkinson kicked all of his side's points in a 21-15 victory, held in the pulsating atmosphere of the Stade Felix Mayol.

Leicester led 9-0 at one stage after completely dominating the opening half-an-hour, but yellow cards to Toby Flood and Dan Cole allowed the home side to score 12 unanswered points while they were off the field.

Cockerill said that was key to the game.

"The yellow cards killed us and put the wind in their sails, especially in that first half when we were 9-0 ahead and they were under pressure," he said.

"We could have won it and the players fronted up massively.

"If the ball had bounced our way when Adam Thompstone was attacking at the end, we would have won it.

"Nobody can say we bottled it. I'm proud of the players. They did themselves proud and the club proud.

"It was a titanic battle between two good sides and two big clubs. What we have got, money cannot buy, and the willingness of these guys to play for this club is tremendous. I'm not going to beat myself up, or be upset with the players because they lost by six points in a game like this. They gave absolutely everything.

"Many sides come here and get well beaten – we didn't. Credit to Jonny Wilkinson for kicking his goals, but we move on having played well and with our heads held high."

Tigers suffered when Tom Croft had to leave the pitch with a back spasm in the first-half.

Yet, while Croft is expected to return to action soon, loose-head prop Marcos Ayerza is likely to be out for the season with a suspected broken clavicle picked up when lock Bakkies Botha made a run towards the line.

Cockerill believed that was clear foul play by the South African.

"Marcos has broken his clavicle from the knee that Botha put in," said Cockerill.

"I have asked the citing commissioner to look at it. If two of my blokes have been sent from the field for slapping the ball down, you have got to look at that.

"For the yellow cards, Flood was trying to catch the ball and Cole's was an instinctive reaction.

"That is frustrating, but I don't want to detract from a very good performance from both sides. We came here with a plan to play at them and put them under pressure – and we did just that.

"We were under pressure at times and the physicality of their side is very good.

"They are not top of the French championship for nothing.

"We are disappointed but will move on, and we have one tournament to concentrate on now. That is where we will concentrate our energy."

On paper, a point from a game against one of your Championship play-off rivals looks a good one.

Victory would have been even better – and Leicester City almost achieved that against Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.

It was, however, the level of performance that caught the eye.

Yes, City are going through a poor run of results, only one win since the end of January and a meagre three points from their last eight league games.

For much of that time, the team have not lived up to expectation, culminating in the woeful display at Barnsley on Easter Monday.

This time, however, was a little different and, although they travelled back to the East Midlands with only one point, manager Nigel Pearson and his players will be greatly heartened by their performance on the south coast.

City have what appears to be the toughest run-in of them all. After the visit of Birmingham on Friday, they have to lock horns with Bolton, Crystal Palace, Watford and Nottingham Forest.

Their rivals appear to have an easier passage. The Championship, however, is fiercely competitive and there have been many shocks and surprises.

What price, for instance, would you have put on struggling Peterborough beating leaders Cardiff twice?

So it is all to play for, and the beauty is that it is in City's hands. Win your last five and you are guaranteed a play-off place.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? But it can be achieved, and supporters can take heart from what was a vastly improved display.

Pearson, under pressure because of the poor run, has the full backing of the club's owners. And it goes without saying he will not give up on the target of Premier League football until the mission becomes impossible.

The City boss, acutely aware of sub-standard display at Barnsley, shuffled his pack against the Seagulls.

Although a disciple of 4-4-2, he decided a 4-3-3 system could do the business.

He was right. Jeff Schlupp led the line, flanked by Ben Marshall on the right and David Nugent on the left. The key was the return of Danny Drinkwater and captain Wes Morgan.

Drinkwater showed no signs of the illness that forced him to miss the Barnsley debacle. He was busy, probing and always available on the ball.

Morgan has been a giant in the heart of the defence all season, and it was clear his presence was one major reason why Brighton created so little.

There were other good performances, but it was the collective spirit that was so evident.

Matty James gave City a lead they looked like maintaining to the final whistle. However, Kazenga LuaLua drilled in a late equaliser to shatter their hopes.

On paper, one point achieved. In reality, there were a number of plus points in terms of performance. Do not write off City yet.

Viewers who saw Shivi Ramatour's performance in MasterChef on Friday could be forgiven for thinking she has the competition in the bag.

The singer-songwriter impressed judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace with her imaginative, if risky, dishes as she got through to the knockout week.

She also won praise from three former BBC MasterChef winners, one of whom said he would willingly have paid for the food in a top restaurant.

Shivi, 27, who grew up in Cosby and attended Leicester High School, told viewers she was both nervous and excited about trying to make it through to the next stage.

Despite having a fish and seafood allergy when she was younger, Shivi opted for a fish-based main dish.

Drawing on her Latin-American, Trinidadian and Indian roots, she prepared medallions of monkfish with callaloo crab ravioli, lime beurre blanc sauce, with okra crisps, wilted spinach and pancetta. This was followed by her favourite cocktail in dessert form – a pina colada comprising a coconut souffle, buttered rum ice cream, caramelised pineapple and spiced pineapple tuille.

Gregg was concerned about mixing lime with butter in the main dish.

He said: "I am intrigued by Shivi's food. I am worried about the lime beurre blanc."

But after he tasted both dishes, he said: "I think that woman is an extraordinary cook."

John, commenting on the presentation, said: "I take my hat off. It looks fantastic."

He congratulated her on her technique and said the fish was "lovely and soft".

Past winner Tim Anderson said it was risky to attempt a souffle in the competition, but he would have willingly paid for it in a restaurant.

Previous champion Thomasina Myers loved the monkfish and the ice cream and another former winner, James Nathan, was also full of praise for both dishes.

John Torode's only slight reservation about the main course was that it could have done with a grind of pepper.

Shivi was joined by two other contestants in the knockout week.

Afterwards, Shivi said: "Thomasina is my idol and I was so pleased she liked what I prepared.

"It was also very exciting as I used to suffer from allergic reactions to fish and shellfish.

"But recently I have been able to eat fish so I have been catching up learning to cook various varieties.

"My friends in Leicester have contacted me to say they saw me on television and are delighted I made it through to the knockout week.

"My parents are also surprised. They did not know I loved cooking so much."

Her mum Alison, who lives in Leicester, saw the show online after returning from holiday.

A family's home was trashed when a gang of up to 100 youths gate-crashed their daughter's house party.

Kevin and Lesley Norman now face a bill of up to £3,500 after drunken youths turned up without warning at their Enderby home and went on a three-hour rampage.

The mayhem happened after a youth – not their daughter, 16-year-old Brodie, or any of her close friends – issued a general invitation to the party on Twitter, giving the address.

An estimated 80 to 100 youths turned up after 10pm on March 31.

Mr and Mrs Norman had been happy to leave Brodie and a handful of her close friends alone in the £350,000 detached house for the evening.

But after the open invitation was posted on Twitter, the youths turned up and began tearing through the family's home. Cooking oil and sauces were smeared or squirted over floors and walls throughout the house and then topped off with flour.

Bedrooms were ransacked and possessions thrown out of windows into the garden.

Wardrobes were opened and their contents strewn on the floor.

Two youths are said to have smashed a £200 antique chair with a baseball bat.

Garden ornaments, including antique terracotta pots, were also smashed.

The family said they had traced the youths, who they said were contrite but had been unable to account for their actions.

Mr and Mrs Norman said they were speaking out about their ordeal to warn other parents how even trusted and responsible young people's parties could be hijacked if advertised online.

Mr Norman, who was away for the weekend, said: "Our daughter asked if she could have a few friends over for the evening.

"These are kids we've known for years and, of course, we trust our daughter.

"The trouble was caused by people who just turned up because someone put it out on Twitter.

"It was mayhem but my daughter and her friends were too scared to do anything."

Mrs Norman, who arrived home shortly after 1am, when the troublemakers had left, said: "I was too shocked to say anything when I walked in.

"My whole body was shaking, but I couldn't even cry. It looked like a bomb had hit the house. Everything was obliterated.

"Brodie and her friends were on their hands and knees, doing their best to clean up the mess.

"They stayed until 4.30am but the place was a mess days later. We're still finding damage.

"I've done a rough tot-up of the damage and it came to more than £3,400.

"Brodie told us what had happened and that she had been running around the house screaming at these people to leave.

Mr and Mrs Norman believed many of the youngsters were emulating events in the film Project X – in which three friends hold a house party which quickly escalates out of their control.

Some of the youngsters discussing the party on Twitter in the days after it referred to the film, which was released last year.

Mrs Norman said: "A lot of them were saying it was an amazing party and a British Project X.

"The way some of them were talking about it, you could tell they had no idea of the destruction and hurt they had caused."

The family has found out that most of the youths were from the area.

They have spoken to a number of youths in the presence of their parents.

Mr Norman said parents were extremely upset to hear what their children had done and offered to compensate them.

The couple understood one of their daughter's friends called the police when he realised the party was getting out of control.

However, a spokeswoman for the police said the force could find no record of a call.

"It was with great sadness that l learned of Lady Thatcher's death. We've lost a great leader, a great Prime Minister and a great Briton"

— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) April 8, 2013

Very sad to hear of death of Baroness Thatcher.Her memory will live long after the world has forgotten the grey suits of today's politics.

— Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon) April 8, 2013

RIP Baroness Thatcher .x

— Harry Styles (@Harry_Styles) April 8, 2013

Maggie Thatcher has died. Suppose history will judge her now...

— Joseph Barton (@Joey7Barton) April 8, 2013

Love her or hate her, few British Prime Ministers in history were so well known, or so admired, here in America. #Thatcher

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 8, 2013