A violent boyfriend told his girlfriend, "I've got to kill you" before grabbing her neck and pressing a pillow over her face.

The terrifying threat happened during one of three separate attacks – when she was also throttled.

Ronald Simon Wesley McLean (28) was jailed for 12 months yesterday.

Leicester Crown Court was told the victim, who was also punched and kicked, has since forgiven him and their relationship continues.

She has been visiting him in custody three times a week and supported him at court.

McLean, of Southfields Drive, Saffron Lane, admitted three counts of causing actual bodily harm, making a threat to kill and damaging two mobile phones and a television.

He also pleaded guilty to damaging a wall, a settee, a fryer, ornaments, a cabinet and a table at his girlfriend's home in Rutland Street, in the city centre.

Victoria Rose, prosecuting, said the first incident in April was in a parked car.

She said: "He put his hand around her neck and she was lifted up out of the seat, gasping for air.

"She told him she couldn't breathe and the next thing she remembers is coming around with her head on her knees."

On June 7, the defendant was at the victim's home when he grabbed her and threw her onto the settee.

Miss Rose said: "He asked her, 'are you scared?'

"He grabbed her neck and lifted her off her feet and threw her onto the settee.

"He dragged her across the floor by her hair and kicked her. There was another grabbing of her neck."

She suffered marks and scratches on her throat and ear as well as bruised legs.

Miss Rose said: "On June 15, he smashed her mobile phone.

"He punched her four or five times to the side of her head as she sat on a bed.

"She started feeling dizzy and could see black and white spots.

"He pushed her backwards and placed his hands around her neck as she struggled to breathe."

He told her: "Today is the day I've got to do it.

"I have to kill you."

McLean took off his top, closed the curtains and grabbed her around the neck.

Miss Rose said: "He picked up a pillow and pressed it over her face and she could feel the pressure.

"All of a sudden he stopped and started to apologise."

His previous convictions include a robbery and a 2008 common assault upon a woman whom he spat at and punched in the face. Carl Gaskell, mitigating, said McLean desisted with the pillow and regretted his actions.

Sentencing, Judge Robert Brown said: "These were three temper outbursts involving unpleasant violence on your partner.

"You've shown some remorse and I know you want to continue your relationship.

"She wants you back and doesn't want you to go to prison and has forgiven you.

"I've taken into account her views but the sentence is for me and you can't do that and get away with it.

"If you lay a finger on her in the future I hope that she will speak up – for her sake and yours."

The number of city councillors in Leicester will stay the same, it has been announced.

However, ward boundaries are set to change.

It follows a review by the Boundary Commission for England, which found the current number of 54 was still appropriate.

The independent review was completed following the election of city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby in May 2011, which saw the policy-making role of councillors massively reduced.

Sir Peter said he was glad the number of councillors would stay the same.

He said: "Councillors have a very important job to do representing their local communities and dealing with issues that really matter at neighbourhood level.

"In a complex, urban environment like Leicester, it's important to have people from all communities on the council and that number of 54 is very much in line with similar towns and cities."

The idea behind changing the city ward boundaries is to ensure that each councillor represents a similar number of people.

The city council will be asked to submit a suggestion, with the Boundaries Commission making the final ruling.

Sir Peter said the commission wanted the size of populations in Leicester's wards to vary by no more than 10 per cent.

He said: "The city council will be looking at the natural communities and what will be sensible for future ward boundaries."

The public have until November 11 to submit their views to the Boundary Commission, which will publicise its draft ward map in February.

For more information about the proposed changes, visit:

https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk

New research has revealed that Richard III suffered from roundworm infection.

The discovery was made by scientists based at the University of Leicester and the University of Cambridge, who have been undertaking analysis of the monarch's remains.

A team of researchers led by Dr Piers Mitchell, of the department of archaeology and anthropology at the University of Cambridge, used a powerful microscope to examine soil samples taken from the skeleton's pelvis and skull, as well as from the soil surrounding the grave.

Dr Mitchell said: "Our results show that Richard was infected with roundworms in his intestines, although no other species of intestinal parasite were present in the samples we studied."

The research revealed multiple roundworm eggs in the soil sample taken from the king's pelvis, where the intestines would have been situated.

However, there was no sign of eggs in soil from the skull, and very few eggs in the soil that surrounded the grave – suggesting the eggs found in the pelvis area resulted from a genuine roundworm infection during the king's life, rather than from external contamination by the later dumping of human waste in the area.

Roundworms are parasitic nematodes, which infect humans when people ingest their eggs via contaminated food, water or soil.

Dr Jo Appleby, lecturer in human bioarchaeology at the University of Leicester, said: "Despite Richard's noble background, it appears his lifestyle did not completely protect him from intestinal parasite infection, which would have been very common at the time."

Roundworm infection affects up to a quarter of people globally, although it is rare in the UK today.

New signing Dean Hammond says he has unfinished business in the Premier League.

The 30-year-old midfielder, who joined Leicester City from Southampton last week on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee, helped Saints gain back-to-back promotions to reach the Premier League two seasons ago.

However, he never graced the top flight and was sent out on loan to Brighton last season – and subsequently helped them reach the play-offs.

Hammond feels he wasn't given a chance in the Premier League and believes City is the perfect club to help him get back there.

"I feel like I have a little bit of unfinished business," he said. "I helped Southampton get to the Premier League and didn't really get my chance. But that is football. It is all about opinions.

"Leicester will be up there challenging. They are such a big club.

"I have come to a club that has a good chance of promotion. If I work hard enough and we do things right then I might get another chance."

Hammond said he has the same feeling about City that he had with Saints when they were making their fantastic push for the Premier League .

"I can totally see similarities to Southampton when we got promoted to here at Leicester," he said.

"We have good players. I could see the quality among the players from my first training session.

"We have a similar manager and facilities. It is a very similar club, it is a massive club.

"Everything is in place with the squad and the facilities to get to the Premier League."

Hammond said he needed no persuading to come to City. "My first thought when I was told of Leicester's interest was I wanted to come," he said.

"My mind was made up because it is a really good opportunity for myself to come and play for a club like this.

"I didn't speak to the gaffer (Nigel Pearson) until the day I signed. I didn't need any persuading. He is a good manager who loves his football.

"I liked what he was saying, about how he wanted to play football and his plans for the club. It all made sense and he is passionate about the club and football, and he is a winner.

"The manager and the club have all the ingredients to be successful."

A landlord who rented out a property for five years without a proper licence has been ordered to pay more than £6,000 in fines and costs by city magistrates.

Harjeet Johal (25), of St Pauls Road, Coventry, pleaded guilty to failing to obtain a House in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) licence, covering a house at Prebend Street, Highfields, Leicester, which he rented out to tenants between 2008 and 2013.

He was fined £5,000 for failing to obtain the licence. He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,277.30 and a victim surcharge of £120, at Leicester Magistrates' Court.

The court was told how the annual rental for the property was more than £17,000, but the last tenants had left in June owing £3,000 to Johal.

By law, landlords of HMOs need to apply for a licence for any property with three storeys or more, and which are occupied by five or more people forming two or more households. The property in Prebend Street accommodated five people.

Councillor Sarah Russell, assistant city mayor for neighbourhood services, said: "Licences for HMOs are there to protect tenants' rights and to ensure the properties meet certain minimum requirements.

"Unfortunately this was not done in this instance."

A city council spokesman said: "Licensing of houses in multiple occupation has been a requirement since July 2006 and landlords and managing agents can no longer rely on ignorance of the law as an acceptable defence."

The city council can advise landlords whether a house in multiple occupation is licensed. Call 0116 252 6382 for more information.

City council engineers have inspected the crumbling spire at St Mary de Castro church.

Building control officers said the spire of the 12th century church in the city centre represented an "imminent danger".

They were called to the site yesterday after the church's own structural engineers found the building was in bad shape.

A previous survey revealed six-metre cracks in four of the spire's eight faces.

A spokesman for the city council said: "Our officers found clear evidence that the condition of the spire has deteriorated to the point where it does represent an imminent danger."

The award-winning Summer Sundae Weekender will not be returning to Leicester.

Organisers of the popular music festival, which had taken place at De Montfort Hall since 2001, made the announcement today.

Festival organiser, Concert Clinic, and the venue said they had decided to "retire" Summer Sundae due to "the current financial climate and wealth of other competing musical events across the East Midlands".

De Montfort Hall general manager Antony Flint said: "Ending Summer Sundae is a reluctant decision for everyone involved."

In 2010, about 18,000 people attended the three-day festival, but the number fell to about 10,000 last year.

After the decline in ticket sales, organisers decided not to hold Summer Sundae this year while they "explored ways to make the festival more financially viable".

Summer Sundae received a £60,000 subsidy from the city council in 2011, and £80,000 in 2012.

When it was announced that Summer Sundae was not being held this year, Mr Flint said it had been losing money but vowed to do everything possible to bring it back in 2014.

However, in a statement today, he said: "The pressures on everyone's finances, combined with a more crowded and still difficult festival market, ultimately means that neither Concert Clinic nor De Montfort Hall can afford to carry on making losses on the scale we both have been in staging this event in recent years."

Instead, De Montfort Hall said it would now look at building on the success of this year's summer events.

They included the two-day music event Simon Says... which attracted more than 2,000 visitors and showcased the best of Leicester's bands.

Mr Flint said: "This summer's events were extremely popular and were very well received.

"Simon Says... was a great success and we're already talking about using it as a basis for doing something along similar lines for next summer and possibly even beyond that.

"Although nothing could be a direct replacement for Summer Sundae, we do have a couple of other opportunities for other music events in 2014 that we will now explore further."

The Summer Sundae Weekender began as a small-scale, one-day event in 2001 and gradually grew into a three-day annual festival.

Over the years, the star-studded line-ups have included Mumford and Sons, Amy Winehouse, McFly, Kasabian and Elbow.

Summer Sundae festival director Rob Challice, of Concert Clinic, said: "We are very proud of what we have achieved. Summer Sundae has provided opportunities for hundreds of artists from the region as well as internationally known names.

"We have worked hard on a number of different options to try and make the festival viable moving forward.

"Sadly, we have found that running a city centre event of this size with such an array of entertainment and professional production standards is just not possible in the current economic climate."

I cannot see past Leicester Tigers or Saracens as the teams to beat in the 22-round Aviva Premiership that kicks off this weekend, writes Martin Crowson. Even with the somewhat 'pot-luck' nature of the play-off system, which means any side reaching the top four can win the title with a bit of late-season form, it will take a mammoth effort for any club to overhaul Tigers or Sarries.

Saracens will be even stronger this season because they have made very few changes to their squad. That continuity will stand them in good stead.

New signings like Billy Vunipola and James Johnston will give them some serious grunt up front, while the vast majority of the squad will have played together for another season and will know each other's games even better.

They will also have a point to prove after last season's unexpected defeat by Northampton Saints in the semi-final at Allianz Park. By all accounts, that riled them to the core last May.

Champions Leicester, meanwhile, are even stronger this season. They have addressed their two areas of concern in the off-season and look a side with very few weaknesses and huge strength in depth.

George Ford's departure to Bath freed up the cash to bring in fellow fly-halves Ryan Lamb and Owen Williams which, along with the genius signing of multi-talented David Mele, gives the club a host of goal-kicking options they did not have last year.

And although Jamie Gibson is not technically an openside flanker, he can provide high-quality cover if ever Julian Salvi, the league's best No.7, is injured.

Tigers re-signed a large part of the spine of their team last season, meaning a core of Lions and England players remaining at the heart of a side many have grown up in.

Leicester also know how to win big games and their near-miss in Toulon last season will give them even more confidence of what is needed on the big day in the Premiership and Europe.

None of this is to say these two sides will have it easy.

If the Saints can make it to the top four, they will have every chance of winning the thing with some stellar names coming through the door this summer.

Lions Alex Corbisiero and George North, along with Samoan scrum-half Kahn Fotuali'i, are box-office additions to a side that lacked box-office appeal last season.

If they stay fit, they can help Northampton reach – and win – the Premiership.

But the money that Saints have spent on those three players has left them unable to bolster a squad that could get cruelly exposed if injuries mount up.

Harlequins will benefit from continuity and the freedom of not defending a title, but do they have the players to beat Sarries or Leicester in the big games?

Bath, Exeter and Gloucester could threaten the top four, and I think the Cherry & Whites may well sneak past Quins and do just that this season.

But Gloucester's front five looks vulnerable in the depths of winter and, no matter how good their backs are, if they don't get good ball, they won't score tries.

Bath have all the ingredients to do well at last, but are perennial underachievers.

They cannot afford to fail this season with their best squad in a decade.

Exeter do not quite have the depth if injuries strike, and Wasps could do well but they will miss Marco Wentzel in the second row and must learn how to win on the road.

Sale will improve while London Irish, Worcester and Newcastle will battle to avoid the drop.

Latest betting: Leicester 15-8, Saracens 5-2, Northampton 7-1, Harlequins 7-1, Gloucester 16-1.

Leicester Tigers have signed Kiwi centre Terrence Hepetema from New South Wales Waratahs.

The 21-year-old centre goes straight into the squad and is available for Tigers' Aviva Premiership opener against Worcester on Sunday.

Tigers could need 15-stone Hepetema after the news that centre Matt Smith is expected to miss three months of action after breaking and dislocating his thumb in training.

With Manu Tuilagi also likely to miss Sunday's game and Anthony Allen only just back from an off-season knee operation, Leicester are suddenly struggling for fit centres with the defence of their title nearly under way.

Richard Cockerill said Hepetema would arrive as a 'project' in the same way that Steve Mafi did in a similar injury dispensation situation two years ago.

Like Mafi, who also came from the Sydney-based Waratahs, Hepetema could find himself playing plenty of rugby during his early days at Tigers.

He made his Super 15 debut against Western Force last season and was due to play against the British & Irish Lions for the Waratahs until Rob Horne was unexpectedly released by Wallaby head coach Robbie Deans for some game-time.

Hepetema was on a short-term deal with the Australian Rugby Union's national academy before arriving in England.

"Terrence spent time with the Waratahs at the end of last season and he is a big lad who will just keep getting bigger and stronger," said Cockerill.

"He has come over here because the opportunity has arisen with the injuries we have had in the centres.

"He has all the traits that you would expect from someone with Maori heritage and is, in some respects, a bigger version of Dan Bowden.

"He is a midfielder who can play at inside or outside-centre, and it will be interesting to see how he develops."

Smith's broken thumb came as a complete accident, but it will take him until November or December before he returns to action.

Also missing from the Tigers line-up this weekend will be second-row Graham Kitchener, who has had a bone spur removed from his foot. He is expected to be out for two weeks.

"It had been giving him discomfort in pre-season, so we took the opportunity to get rid of it now," said Cockerill.

Toby Flood has been ruled out with concussion, while Tuilagi and scrum-half Ben Youngs are big doubts.

A young mother told a jury she tried to forgive the father of her child after he knowingly infected her with the HIV virus.

However, because of his womanising and violent behaviour, they eventually split up and the man allegedly went on to infect a second woman, Leicester Crown Court heard.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, the young mother said before they split the defendant had asked her if they could "sleep with other people so it wouldn't just be us who are HIV positive".

She said: "He believed he hadn't done anything wrong for him to get the virus. He felt he shouldn't have the virus, so he should spread it."

The man, aged 32, denies two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm, by passing on the virus, while living in Leicester, between 2006 and 2010.

The defendant, who was diagnosed with the illness in 2004, allegedly also had unprotected sex with two other women, who did not contract the potentially life-threatening disease.

The man is not being identified because of a court order protecting the alleged victims' identities.

The mother said she began a relationship with the defendant when aged 16 and had no idea of his HIV status.

They lived together and had unprotected sex before, during and after her pregnancy.

She had no other lovers up until when she was diagnosed at the end of 2008, she said.

In November 2008, the couple went to a sexual health clinic because he had complained of an ailment, she said. It was there that staff told her of her then partner's HIV status.

A test proved she had also contracted it – although their child tested negative.

She said: "They told me he (the defendant) was HIV positive and had been for a while. He'd never mentioned it at all."

The woman said he was "a bit guilty" their son was put at risk. She said she tried to "work it through" for the sake of their child.

Under cross-examination, she denied the defendant told her about his condition. She also denied hearing his relatives discussing his health.

The trial continues.

A supermarket has revealed that nearly 700 people applied for 24 jobs at a new store.

Tesco said it received 680 applicants for the positions at the new Tesco Express store, on the site of the former Dominion pub, in Dominion Road, Glenfield, Leicester.

Store manager Dave Rawlings and his team promoted the new jobs online and conducted 50 interviews.

As a result, all the vacancies were filled by local people.

Mr Rawlings said: "The response to our recruitment process has been fantastic.

"As a store, we are delighted to be creating additional jobs for our local community and for local people, helping them back into employment.

"We interviewed and recruited staff from the local area to work in the new store so that it would have a community feel.

"I am thrilled with the new team and I am confident that we will provide the best possible service to our customers.

"We are delighted to be opening the new store and look forward to playing an active role in the local community."

Work on the store is under way and bosses said they hoped to open before the end of the month.

Glenfield county councillor Lynton Yates said the new store would provide a timely boost to the local economy.

The UK Independence Party councillor said: "Any jobs provided in the local economy at this time are to be well-received.

"If these jobs have gone to local people then that is all the better.

"The sheer number of people who have applied for these jobs just shows how tough these economic times are.

"If only the figures were the other way around.

"I think the store will be a useful addition to the area and provide the community with another outlet where they can get necessities."

The store's opening hours will be 7am until 11pm, seven days a week.

Work on a new bus lane along one of the busiest routes into Leicester will cause "massive disruption", claim residents and commuters.

The southbound carriageway of the A426/Leicester Road, through Glen Parva, will close for up to three weeks from Monday.

It will be shut between the Glenhills Way ring road, Leicester, and Little Glen Road, Blaby, while the carriageway is resurfaced and road altered.

Resident Richard Johnson, 49, of Cork Lane, Glen Parva, said: "The timing is absolutely crazy – just as the summer holidays end and children are back at school.

"Safety is a big concern, particularly for pedestrians and schoolchildren.

"Not only will there be gridlock in Glen Parva, where all the side roads will also be closed, but across the area – all the way along the Blaby bypass to Whetstone and Enderby.

"It's going to be catastrophic."

The work is part of a controversial £5 million bus corridor scheme between Blaby and Leicester city centre.

It was agreed by Leicestershire County Council and Leicester City Council in December, despite more than 4,000 people signing a petition opposing it.

Lanes have already been installed along the A426 Lutterworth Road and Aylestone Road in the city, during six-weeks of disruption over the summer.

Joanne Small, Glen Parva Parish Council manager, said: "There's been heavy congestion and significant disruption all through the summer.

"But this will be the first time a whole lane will be closed in our part of the A426.

"It will cause major problems for commuters, residents and families."

"And with schools starting back, it's come at precisely the wrong time.

"We opposed the scheme, but there's not much we can do about it now, other than hope county highways and contractors can mitigate the disruption."

County Hall said the road closures would be in four phases to minimise disruption for residents and bus services. A spokesman said: "However, this means it has taken a little longer to finalise the details.

"Bus operators have been consulted as part of planning the closure and bus specific diversions will be in place to minimise disruption for passengers."

Councillor Peter Osborne, county council cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "This is a major arterial route all the way into Leicester city centre and one of the busiest.

"But unless we do something, there will soon be complete traffic gridlock – for residents in Glen Parva and anyone else trying to get in and out of Leicester."

The chairman of the Richard III Society has asked fellow Ricardians to put a stop to insults and taunts which have caused a rift between Leicester and York.

He spoke after hundreds of negative comments about Leicester were left online by people who think the king should be buried in York.

Dr Phil Stone told the Mercury the situation had "got out of hand" and pleaded with York supporters and, in particular, society members, to remain polite.

He said: "The society has maintained all along its neutral stance and I remind members of that.

"I realise the situation is a passionate one but we have to put a stop to this."

Dr Stone said while he had to remain neutral regarding the final resting place of former monarch, he could see the benefits of both sides.

"I've got members from both sides who are campaigning for their cities, but I have to remain neutral – my main focus is to have Richard reinterred with dignity and honour," he said.

"I understand both claims. For example, I'm not entirely sure about the Minster (in York). I'm not sure where it would put him, it has no specific area, whereas Leicester has a designated burial place.

"I like the fact Leicester would not charge people to visit him. It cost £8 the last time I visited York Minster.

"I find it hard to understand the argument Richard must be brought home to York.

"He was born in the Midlands and died in the Midlands."

Since the discovery of the king's remains, partisan followers of Richard III – mainly from York – have been slinging derogatory words and disrespectful jibes at each other after it was announced the king's bones would be buried at Leicester Cathedral.

Since then, a judicial review has brought Richard's final resting place into question.

It has also prompted York supporters to brand Leicester's cathedral "poxy" and suggest our city has "no integrity" because it only "wants Richard for the money".

A Facebook page set up by the creators of a petition to have Richard III reinterred in York has become a forum for insulting comments about Leicester.

One Yorkist supporter wrote: "Nice one Leicester. Keep on looking desperate and tacky while York retain the dignity and poise you could never in a million years comprehend."

Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth has publicly backed the city's right to reinter Richard III's remains, specified on the exhumation licence given to the University of Leicester by the Ministry of Justice. The licence is now the subject of a judicial review.

Mr Ashworth has also urged people to back the Mercury's campaign to promote a petition which asks for Richard's remains to be buried in Leicester.

He said: "Leicester has the overwhelming case for reinterring Richard and while there's nothing wrong with good-humoured banter, some of the comments are very offensive."

Cash-strapped Hinckley United could be forced into administration this month.

The football club's former chairman, Kevin Downes, said it owed him more than £187,000. He has now started legal proceedings which could see the club being wound up so it can pay him.

A hearing will take place on September 20 to decide what should happen next.

The action by Mr Downes, who co-founded the club in 1997, could ultimately force the liquidation of Hinckley United to pay off the debt.

Alternatively, the hearing judge could rule the club did not have to pay the debt.

Mr Downes said: "If they can't pay me, then either they just hope they can win in court, or they go into administration."

The winding-up petition, as the legal action is called, is not the first directed at the club, which was recently relegated from the Conference North League and now plays in the Calor Southern League's premier division.

In June 2011, there was a similar hearing against the Knitters after a tax bill of £23,479 went unpaid.

In 2010, there was another court case over a £190,000 tax bill.

It is believed the latest debt mostly comes from unpaid rent on a building on the Leicester Road site which belongs to Mr Downes's family pension fund and is leased to the club.

Mr Downes resigned as chairman of Hinckley United in July last year, after losing the support of other board members.

He said he did not know whether the club had any way to pay off the debt.

"People have billed this as me trying to get my hands back on it [the club] but that's not the case, and I would like to see it move to a supporters' trust, because I think the people running it now are not the right people, " he said.

"I love the club and I had 15 great years there. But it's out of my hands now and it's in the hands of the court."

Club shareholder Rob Mayne, a former Hinckley and Bosworth mayor, said the case was of "great concern".

He said: "I know the situation hasn't been good.

"The club could go into administration or liquidation.

"But it won't be the end of football in Hinckley – no one wants to see that."

In a statement, the club's commercial director Paul Moss said: "The board of directors of Hinckley United Football Club are fully aware of the situation.

"At present, the board are considering all the options available to the club to the best of their ability in the very short time available and are working endlessly for the club, supporters and the town to safeguard the future of Hinckley United Football Club."