The date and time for Leicester Tigers' European quarter-final against big-spending French side Toulon has been confirmed.

Tigers will play on the Sunday, April 7, with a kick-off time of 5.30pm local time (4.30pm in England).

The tie will be televised live by Sky Sports.

The venue for the game is still to be confirmed. Toulon are doing everything in their power to keep the  game at their Felix Mayol stadium.

Tournament organisers European Rugby Cup (ERC) state that a quarter-final venue has to have at least a capacity of 15,000 people.

With the Felix Mayol able to hold only 14,700, initial indications were that the fixture would have to be moved to another venue in the south of France, with Marseille the early favourite. However, Toulon have plans to build a temporary stand to increase capacity.

Toulon's coaching staff and players are understood to be keen on keeping the game there to give themselves the best chance of victory.


The full details of the draw for the Heineken Cup latter stages is:

Saturday, April 6
ASM Clermont Auvergne v Montpellier
Venue: Stade Marcel Michelin (3.40, 4.40 in France)
Television: Sky Sports

Saracens v Ulster
Venue: To be decided (6.30)
Television: Sky Sports

Sunday, April 7
Harlequins v Munster
Venue: Twickenham Stoop (2.0)
Television: Sky Sports

Toulon v Leicester Tigers
Venue: To be decided (4..30, 5.30 in France)
Television: Sky Sports/Sky Italia

Semi-finals
Saracens or Ulster  v Toulon or Leicester Tigers
 Clermont  or Montpellier v Harlequins or Munster
Games to be played April 26, 27 and 28

Leicester City striker Jeff Schlupp will continue to train with Manchester United until the end of the week.
This is his second week at the Premier League leaders. Initially, it was thought he was only stopping for seven days.
City manager Nigel Pearson would not reveal whether the spell would turn into a transfer deal for the 20-year-old striker, who has been used as left-back cover by City this season. 

Pearson said: "Jeff is enjoying himself there and he is there until the end of this week.
 "It is good experience for him. Whether it becomes more is something for the clubs to discuss. I have spoken to him two or three times and things are going well."
Pearson has previously stated that United were "having a good look" at the youngster.

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson has refused to be drawn on whether experienced midfielder Richie Wellens is to go out on loan.
Wellens has been the subject of speculation that he could go out on loan again as he bids to return to full fitness after a knee injury.

Reports suggested that five clubs had expressed an interest in taking the midfielder on a temporary basis.

But Pearson refused to be drawn on his plans for Wellens, other than to say he was now fully fit.

"Richie is fit and comes back into contention (for Huddersfield)," he said.

"We are not running on a massive squad. You will have to wait and see on that one."
Wellens spent the end of last year on loan at Ipswich Towm before returning to City.

A runner is preparing to take on the toughest challenge of his life by running 10 marathons in as many days.

When most competitors line up for the start of the Windermere Marathon, in the Lake District, on Sunday, May 19, Craig Johnson, will have already completed the undulating lakeside course nine times.

The 39-year-old IT manager, from Coalville, already has eight marathons under his belt – including two Leicester and two London events, as well as one New York.

"The Windermere Marathon route is considered to be one of the country's toughest courses, making the 10 in 10 a true test of mettle and depth of character," said Craig.

"I'm under no illusions whatsoever– it's going to be without doubt the most challenging 10 days of my life."

Craig is one of 16 intrepid people taking on the challenge for Brathay Trust youth charity.

He said: "The Class of 2013, as our group has become known, will join an illustrious collection of 59 other individuals to have completed the ultra distance endurance event."

Craig is more than half way towards his £5,000 fund-raising target, having collected £2,789 through donations from colleagues at Westleigh Developments, in Whetstone, charity quizzes, an auction and raffles.

He said: "The Brathay Trust does excellent work supporting underprivileged and disadvantaged kids and young adults.

"I'm fortunate enough to have no real worries in my life and I'm blessed to have two wonderful children.

"But there are those who haven't been provided with opportunities in their early years."

Every penny raised will go to the trust, which organises outdoor pursuits, training and team-building activities for young people, outside education and employment

Trust spokesman Mark Bushell said: "It's probably the toughest physical challenge Craig will face in his life.

"It takes a certain type of person to take on this kind of event and we believe he's got what it takes, not just physically but mentally."

Craig took up running in 2005.

"I played rugby but that came to an end due to a collar bone injury," he said.

"When I started running, I weighed 18 stone. Now I'm under 14.

"I started off running one mile and that nearly killed me, so I've come a long way."

Craig is now running 50 miles a week and has returned from a training weekend at Brathay Hall, Cumbria.

"The next 16 weeks are going to be a roller-coaster ride," he said.

"I'm sure there will be good days and bad days, days when I question my own sanity and days when I feel invincible.

"But I have to keep level headed and not do anything silly that will jeopardise the main event in May."

Craig's wife Jayne said: "We think he is crazy, but very brave."

For details and to make a donation visit:

www.justgiving.com/ BigJohnson10in10

A series of measures has been unveiled today to help nearly 30,000 of the poorest families in Leicester and tackle growing child poverty.

Council and business leaders are to work with schools, community and volunteer groups to help people struggling to make ends meet.

Leicester Child Poverty Commission has outlined 66 steps – both short-term and long-term and related to education, health, family finances and employment – to help the most deprived people in the city.

Its proposals include establishing a citywide network of food banks, helping credit unions set up offices in deprived areas where doorstep lenders are thriving and offering low- cost council loans for essential furniture and white goods.

There are 26,000 children from families in poverty according to the Government's definition of their income being less than 60 per cent of the national median income.

That is about £357 a week for a couple with two children.

Deputy city mayor Rory Palmer, who established the commission in 2011, warned the city was on the verge of a child poverty emergency, saying: "That figure of 26,000 is deeply worrying. It is more than a third of young people.

"We need to do something to help because there is powerful evidence about the impact it has on their lives.

"It can leave them nine months behind in their educational development and that can have a long term effect.

"We need to shield young people from the worst effects of poverty.

"As a city council we have to take the lead but we know we can't do it alone which is why we need to work with business, MPs the public sector, and volunteer groups."

"Our recommendations are not a wish-list that can't be afforded. They are feasible and practical and would make a real contribution to tackling the worst impacts of child poverty in Leicester."

The national Child Poverty Action Group is also involved in the strategy.

Chief executive Alison Garnham said: "Children living in poverty are more likely to be left behind in education. They are almost twice as likely to live in bad housing. They miss out on experiences most of us regard as part of growing up. These proposals must serve as a spur and framework for action, so that all children have decent childhoods and no child is denied the opportunities that others take for granted."

The commission also wants to encourage energy companies to provide fairer tariffs, including removing penalties in tariffs for those who use paper billing, and support "grow and eat" schemes to encourage healthy eating and mitigate rising food costs.

A summit is also to be convened with the 25 leading employers in the area to discuss the role of businesses and employers in reducing child and family poverty.

The council will track the progress of the recommendations and publish a report before May 2014 on their impact.

Police caught a man with a crop of 30 cannabis plants, after calling at his home looking for his brother, a court heard.

Adam Dixon (36) pleaded guilty to producing the class B drug in December.

John Hallissey, prosecuting, told Leicester Crown Court: "The police knocked at his door and assumed, by the nervous look on the defendant's face, that his brother was there. They asked to be let in to search for his brother."

The defendant let them into the property in Gilmorton Close, Aylestone, Leicester.

Mr Hallissey said: "In one of the bedrooms there was a tent erected, lined with silver foil and containing fans and lights, as well as 30 cannabis plants.

"He said he was growing them to smoke them. There's no evidence to suggest anything other than personal use."

Police had been trying to speak to the defendant's brother about an unrelated matter.

Unemployed Dixon, who represented himself in court, told Judge Sylvia De Bertodano he had an on-off cannabis habit for some time and was cultivating the cannabis to save money.

He said: "I didn't want to commit crime to pay for it, so I thought I'd grow my own."

Dixon was given a 12-month community order with a requirement to attend a 20-day education, training and employment programme.

Sentencing, Judge Bertodano said: "If you come back with a second offence of this nature, even for your own use, it may well be a prison sentence."

Dixon was also ordered to pay a £60 victim surcharge.

All defendants dealt with in court for offences committed since last October are now also liable for automatic victim surcharge payments.

A robber who raided a petrol station and made off with takings from the till has been jailed for four years.

Nelson Mubiru (27) was also involved in two unrelated assaults.

Leicester Crown Court was told that on July 9, 2011, he went into the All Hours BP filling station, in Leicester's Hinckley Road, at 3.30 am.

David Lee, prosecuting, said Mubiru bought a bar of chocolate, before demanding money.

He said: "There was a struggle as he grabbed a mobile phone from the cashier and got him in a headlock. The cashier bit him and retrieved the mobile phone enabling him to call 999."

He said the defendant ripped out the till drawer and made off with £350.

Mubiru, of Battenburg Road, off Fosse Road North, Leicester, admitted the robbery.

He also pleaded guilty to wounding a man and possessing an offensive weapon, on August 13, 2011.

The court heard that Mubiru fell out with an associate for not paying his share of petrol money towards a lift home.

It resulted in the associate kicking the defendant's front door, causing Mubiru to lose his temper.

Mubiru grabbed an iron bar before chasing the man down the street – even pursuing him into a shop – and assaulting him.

The victim suffered a 4in cut on his back, as well as bruising.

Mubiru also received injuries, which the prosecution said the victim caused in self-defence.

The defendant also admitted causing actual bodily harm to a man on June 23, 2011.

Mr Lee said Mubiru assaulted the man on Aylestone Road, after recognising him as a customer who complained about him a week earlier, at the restaurant where he worked.

He punched the victim, knocking him into a shop shutter, causing a cut to his head needing four stitches.

Judge Sylvia De Bertodano said she accepted that Mubiru, who fled from war-torn Rwanda after his father was killed, led a "respectable" life when he came to the UK.

He attended university, got a job and undertook charity work. However, he went off the rails after being wrongly accused of "a serious allegation," of which he was later found not guilty.

Judge Bertodano said: "It placed you under a shadow and you started behaving in a way entirely uncharacteristically during those two months in the summer of 2011.

"I hope you pick up where you were before this unfounded allegation was made against you and go back to living the respectable life you had before."

Paul Prior, mitigating, said in relation to the wounding offence, Mubiru grabbed a metal bar in order to challenge someone who came looking for trouble "by kicking his door".

The sight of cars covered in snow might not be unusual in the current cold snap, but one made completely out of snow is most definitely a rarity.

This sporty looking number is the work of Mark Bashota, 42, who runs his own car valeting firm in Fosse Road South, in Leicester's West End.

The car took Mark and employees Alan and Luan more than six hours to complete during a slow work day on Tuesday.

"The original idea was to build a life-size Range Rover Evoke but it was too high, so we had to settle for something smaller but sportier," said Mark.

The lads used some old tyres and spare hub caps for the wheels, plastic sheeting for the "tinted" windows effect and a stick for the aerial.

A Ford badge from an old car was added as the finishing touch.

"None of us have any particular artistic talent but we gave it a go," said Mark.

"I think it looks good and the woman at the car sales reception where we work thought it was real. I've since added a £999 price tag, too.

"The whole thing was to attract customers and give families something to look at and talk about while they're waiting.

"So far, it's been a big hit with children in particular – they think its great and go wild for it."

A jury has returned a verdict of misadventure at the inquest of a man who hanged himself at a young offenders' institute as he feared deportation back to Nigeria.

Riliwanu Balogan was found hanged in his cell at Glen Parva Young Offenders' Centre the day after his 21st birthday and was resuscitated. But he died at Leicester Royal Infirmary eight days later on May 16, 2011.

Young offenders' centre senior officer Paul Mayfield told the inquest Mr Balogan had been detained on immigration issues and was awaiting deportation back to Africa.

Mr Mayfield said: "He told me he had nothing to live for.

"He said, 'I'll be deported back to Nigeria. I've got no-one back there. I'll be living in the slums'."

Mr Mayfield said Mr Balogan had been transferred to Leicester from HMP Woodhill, Milton Keynes, after becoming infatuated with a female prison officer.

He had a history of using a ligature while in prison, using his socks to tie around his neck on January 15.

He said Mr Balogan had mental health problems and had been moved to a "safe cell" as he had been classed as a suicide risk.

Psychiatric nurse Alison Wilford said she had been called to deal with a superficial cut on Mr Balogan's neck on May 7.

She said: "He was quite willing to speak to me, talking about his 21st birthday and the prospect of his deportation, almost giving a list of his problems."

She said the cut, a small nick with a razor blade, was not serious and she did not regard it as a suicide attempt.

Dr John Grenville, who carried out a review of the death, told the inquest: "Even under continuous supervision his chance of carrying out suicide would have remained high.

"In my opinion, the healthcare teams recognised that Mr Balogan was a vulnerable man and affected him with what help and support they could."

A pathologist's report gave the cause of Mr Balogan's death as a hypoxic brain injury and bronchial pneumonia.

Coroner Martin Gotheridge said Mr Balogan had been brought to England when he was seven.

He was abandoned in London and spent time either in foster care or children's homes.

"He was not a British citizen and not legally in this country. His solicitor told him that all means of appeal against his deportation had been exhausted.

"It was even more daunting to him to be sent to Nigeria where he did not know anyone – his mother was dead, his father was living in another country in Africa and he had no contact with any siblings.

"It is not surprising that he saw no hope."

Mr Gotheridge expressed sympathy to the members of HM Prison Service involved with Mr Balogan.

He said: "It can be very disturbing for them, even if they are at no way at fault."

Leicester City's Anthony Knockaert is likely to be giving Huddersfield nightmares ahead of their FA Cup clash tomorrow.

That's the view of team-mate David Nugent, who has seen the young Frenchman score four times in the two Championship encounters.

Knockaert produced two stunning individual strikes as City beat the Terriers 2-0 at the John Smith's Stadium, in October.

He then repeated the feat with another double on New Year's Day and set up two more as City hammered Huddersfield 6-1 at the King Power Stadium.

The latest win is part of a dreadful run that has seen Huddersfield win only one game in the past seven, in the FA Cup third round.

They have not won in the Championship since November 10 – a run that saw manager ex-City player Simon Grayson sacked yesterday.

Academy boss Mark Lillis and development coach Steve Eyre will take charge for tomorrow's game.

Nugent believes Knockaert, who has scored seven times since joining City from French club Guingamp in the summer, has a psychological edge over the Terriers after his match-winning performances.

"Anthony has a great record against them and he likes playing against Huddersfield," he said.

"He has scored four in two against them and they will be worrying about that. It will probably be in their minds how good he is and that they know how good we are."

City boss Nigel Pearson acknowledged Knockaert has been in a thorn in Huddersfield's side, but said City carry other potent threats.

"Anthony has been very good in those games but the team has also played very well in the games we have played so far," he said.

"We are in good form and we want to continue the momentum on Saturday. We want to progress in the cup."

Huddersfield defender Jack Hunt said the Terriers owe City one for their humiliating defeat at the King Power Stadium.

"We can win and we'll certainly be using the game down there as motivation, because it was a horrible day," he said.

"Along with our League One play-off final defeat by Peterborough at Old Trafford, it ranks as my worst experience in the game.

"Leicester are a good side, but we can play far better than we have been doing, and we have a chance to go out and prove that."

City have sold out their 4,000 allocation for the game, which is not expected to be threatened by the recent wintry weather.

The John Smith's Stadium has undersoil heating and no disruption is expected from the heavy snowfall expected later tonight.

The fianceè of a man who died after a flat fire has told how the heroic actions of her 10-year-old daughter saved three lives.

Claire Neale's partner, Darren Watson, died on Saturday night, 12 hours after being rescued from a blaze at the home they shared in Victoria Street, Loughborough.

Yesterday, Claire told how her daughter, Tegan-Louise Britt, rescued a six-year-old child who was staying at the flat, returned to drag her mother out and then tried in vain to wake Mr Watson.

She said: "Tegan got the other child out before coming back for me and then trying to wake Darren up.

"It's only thanks to her efforts and the grace of God that four lives weren't taken.

"She can't sleep, she can't take it in. She feels guilty that she couldn't save Darren as well. She feels numb."

"I can recall trying to get back into the fire to get Darren out. The neighbours kept taking me downstairs.

"I didn't want to get into the ambulance to take me to hospital until Darren was out.

"Darren was in the next bay to me in intensive care, but then they took him to a side ward. I was with him until he took his last breath."

Claire was treated in hospital for smoke inhalation.

She said: "I've not just lost Darren, there were 44 years of my life in that flat. We're just taking each day as it comes."

Among mementoes lost were photographs of Claire's son, Robert Wooding, who died, aged seven weeks, in 1992.

She also has three daughters and a son.

Elayne Brooker, landlady at the Custard House pub, in Baxter Gate, where Claire works and Darren, 39, was a regular who did odd jobs, is organising collections of cash and household items to help the family get back on their feet.

She said: "Daz was a gent and a big part of this pub.

"He used to help out by doing the barbecue at family fun days."

Donations of household items and furniture have poured in since news of the tragedy spread across the town.

Claire, who is living with Elayne and her partner, Lee Askew, while Tegan is staying with relatives, said: "I want to say a heartfelt thank- you to all those who have donated.

"Everybody has rallied round, the support has been amazing."

Mr Watson moved to Loughborough two years ago after separating from his wife and their three children in Wales.

His mother, Angela Osborne, 73, of De Lisle Court, Loughborough, said: "The separation hit him hard and he was missing his children. He thought the world of Tegan.

"He was sociable, he had a heart of gold and wouldn't hurt anybody."

Sister Judy Osborne, 34, of Thorpe Hill, Loughborough, said: "It would have been his 40th birthday next week, it's mine tomorrow and we were supposed to be going out to celebrate.

"It will be his son's 11th birthday on the day of his funeral.

"He was the best brother I could ever have."

Leicestershire Police and the fire service are still carrying out an investigation to establish the cause of the fire. The fire service initially stated the blaze was caused accidentally.

Mr Watson's funeral will be held at Loughborough Crematorium on Friday, February 1 at 11.45am. Family flowers only.

Donations can be made to Leicester Royal Infirmary's intensive care unit.