Leicestershire Foxes maintained their outside hopes of a place in the NatWest T20 Blast competition with a five-wicket win over Derbyshire Falcons at Chesterfield.

The Foxes were set a target of 144 to win after putting the hosts in to bat at Queen's Park, Wes Durston hit a fine 89 for the Falcons but Anthony Ireland's career-best 5-22 kept their score well below what the Falcons would have been looking for on the picturesque ground.

Jigar Naik also impressed with a four-over spell which yielded just 20 runs and also brought him the wicket of the dangerous Marcus North.

The Foxes might have come out all guns blazing as they set about chasing down a third win of the season but the pitch was not the easiest to bat on and the slow bowlers caused some problems.

However, Greg Smith played a disciplined innings as he finished unbeaten on 65, a 52-run partnership for the third-wicket with Ned Eckersley keeping the Foxes progressing nicely towards the win.

Smith duly rounded that off with his eighth boundary, Leicestershire winning with four balls to spare.

A video of a driver beating up another motorist in a road rage attack has gone viral on the internet.

The assault was filmed by people travelling in a car following the other drivers along Asquith Way, in West Knighton, Leicester.

The clip shows an angry young man pulling his car in front of another at a set of traffic lights and then starting a fight with the driver.

Leicestershire Police said the incident had not been reported to them.

However, after seeing the video, a spokesman for the force urged anyone with information about the incident to get in touch.

"This was a violent incident and we would urge anyone who witnessed it to report the matter to us," he said.

The video shows the young driver pulling his car in front of another at traffic lights.

He then speaks with the occupants of a third vehicle before shouting at the driver, an older man. He punches him through the open driver's door.

The victim, who is much shorter, gets out of his old Volkswagen to argue, before deciding to get back in his vehicle.

As he drives off, he is punched again. This time, he gets out of the car and a fight starts.

The older man starts swinging, but is dragged to the ground, where he is kicked and punched.

The men who have been filming the incident then decide to intervene and break it up, ignoring the driver of their own car, a woman, who yells at them to call the police. The incident took place on Tuesday, September 10 last year, at Asquith Road's junction with Aberdale Road, but was only posted on the web last month.

Since it was posted online it has attracted nearly 13,000 hits from around the world and 90 comments.

City councillor Inderjit Gugnani, who represents the area where the incident happened, said: "Road rage endangers the lives not only of those involved but innocent travellers as well.

"Asquith Way is a very busy main road and it is very dangerous for people to fight in the middle of the road.

"I would not have encouraged the bystanders to get involved.

"They should have taken the numbers of the vehicles and contacted the police so that the incident could be investigated."

Career-best figures of 5-22 from Anthony Ireland set up Leicestershire Foxes' five-wicket win over Derbyshire Falcons at Chesterfield yesterday.

Ireland's performance kept the home side down to a modest 143 and Greg Smith's unbeaten 65 saw Leicestershire home with four balls to spare.

The Foxes fielded the same 11 that had dismantled Northants at Grace Road on Friday night before rain prevented them crossing the winning line.

Again Ireland was effective up front as he bowled both Chesney Hughes and Gareth Cross in his first two overs, the first of which was a wicket maiden.

Both men fell attempting lavish drives, emphasising the need to bowl straight as, on the small Queens Park ground, any width was punished.

Wes Durston in particular helped himself with boundaries either side of the wicket, although he escaped on 25 when he was missed at midwicket by Ben Raine off Charlie Shreck.

The Foxes did gain a third success when Wayne Madsen fell lbw to Scott Styris with the total on 56, but Durston remained a real threat, joined by left-hander Marcus North.

Styris and Jigar Naik did a good job of containing the scoring through the middle overs.

Naik, who had tidy figures of 1-20 from four overs, took a fine return catch to dismiss North for 20 in the 16th over after the Falcons' fourth-wicket pair had added 56.

Durston had by that stage raced past 50 from just 33 deliveries and had plundered 89 from 63 balls when he was finally caught in the penultimate over off Raine, who also accounted for Scott Elstone in the same over.

An extraordinary final over saw Shreck removed from the attack for bowling a second full toss over waist high, leaving Ireland to step in to devastating effect, claiming the wickets of Tony Palladino, Alex Hughes and Greg Cork in the space of four balls.

To top it all off, Mark Turner was then run-out from the last ball of the innings attempting to steal an overthrow.

A target of 144 looked well within the capabilities of Leicestershire's batting and they would have been bitterly disappointed not to have got home and complete a double over their neighbours. Niall O'Brien's early dismissal did not help them, and neither did the loss of Josh Cobb on 39 after he had smashed Chesney Hughes into the crowd.

However, Smith set out his stall to bat through and, as long as he was in the middle, Leicestershire were favourites.

He and Ned Eckersley added 52 runs in seven overs to keep the Foxes comfortably in front.

After Eckersley fell, Matt Boyce helped take Leicestershire closer to the finish line before he was caught in the deep, Styris following in similar fashion. It was fitting that Smith should crack the winning boundary, his eighth in a 56-ball innings which showed great discipline when there must have been a real temptation to clear the ropes at every opportunity.

The Foxes now have three wins to their name in this season's competition and remain just about alive in the hunt for a quarter-final place.

They will need to win their last four matches to do that, but more performances like yesterday's will help to maintain those aspirations.

8.30am: Delays on M1 southbound between J20, A4303 (Lutterworth) and J16, A45 (Northampton West), because of an accident earlier on. Travel time is around 45 minutes.

8.14am: Charles Street in Leicester has now been re-opened.

7.09am: Charles Street in Leicester closed in both directions between the Halford Street junction and the Humberstone Gate junction, because of a building fire. Police directing traffic.

For more local and national travel information and weather updates see the links below:

MOTORWAY UPDATES: For traffic updates on UK motorways and other key roads - CLICK HERE.

LIVE CAMERAS: Check the M1 through Leicestershire with our live traffic cameras - CLICK HERE.

NATIONAL RAIL: For live UK train updates - CLICK HERE.

FLIGHT INFORMATION: For East Midlands Airport visit: CLICK HERE.

WEATHER: See the latest five-day weather report for Leicester and Leicestershire

CONTACT NEWSDESK: Send us your news and pictures. Tweet us @Leicester_Merc or email newsdesk@leicestermercury.co.uk

Leicester Lions eased to their largest points haul of the season at the Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium on Saturday night with a comfortable 56-36 win against Belle Vue Aces.

The Lions were back to full strength for the first time at home since April 12, and they began the meeting in the best possible way by scoring maximum points when Simon Stead edged Aces rider Chris Harris out wide on the second bend, which allowed his team partner Jason Doyle through on the inside.

Leicester were fortunate to split the points in the reserves' race that followed, as Max Clegg had to start the race 15 metres behind the other three for breaking the tapes.

In the re-run, Josh Bates secured a win for the Lions and Clegg almost caught up with Dan Greenwood for third place.

The home side were hampered again in heat three when Krzysztof Buczkowski was excluded after falling and, in the re-run, Craig Cook and Scott Nicholls were first across the finishing line.

The points enabled the Aces to draw level with Leicester, but that was to be the closest the visitors came to taking the lead in the match.

From there on it was all Leicester as the Lions nosed ahead in the next race when Nicolai Klindt won on his home debut.

Bates passed Tom Perry on the first bend and then capitalised on a mistake by Richie Worrall to move up into second behind Klindt.

Doyle passed Nicholls down the back straight and Buczkowski made up ground on Michael Palm Toft to gain another success for the Rapid Solicitors Lions, which moved their winning margin to six points from five completed races.

In entertainment value, the meeting was developing into an interesting contest as the visitors were trying to get back on equal terms.

When Cook forged to the front, it took a skilful ride by Lions captain Mads Korneliussen to draw level down the back straight and, after taking a wide line around turns three and four, he emerged ahead to win heat six in the fastest time of the night.

Stead then added another win to his total and Greenwood fell under pressure from Clegg for third place.

The outcome added more daylight between the two teams and further points were surrendered by Belle Vue when Nicholls was excluded in a heat eight crash.

The race between the two team captains began with Nicholls gaining the upper hand over Korneliussen, only for the Leicester man to ride a faster line around turns three and four which gave him more speed along the home straight.

Entering the first bend, he lined up his bike to overtake the seven-time British champion on the inside, at which point Nicholls fell and the race was stopped with the Aces rider excluded for causing the stoppage.

The result of the re-run went Leicester's way and, with Belle Vue trailing by 12 points, they gambled with back-to back tactical rides that, if successful, would earn them double points and a way back into the match that was slipping away from them.

In the first, Cook was nominated but he was blocked by Doyle and Stead, who were content to sit behind race leader Nicholls.

The second attempt also ended all-square, but only after Buczkowski caught up with Harris before overtaking him.

Three of the final four heats went Leicester's way, with the only reply coming from Toft, whose win in heat 14 was only the second time in the meeting they had a rider first past the chequered flag.

Lions team manager Norrie Allan was delighted with his side's victory.

"It was the first time that we have fired as a team this season," he said. "Everyone played their part, which made my job so much easier, and each rider in the main body of the team was at some stage involved in one of our four maximums during the meeting.

"The arrival of Josh Bates has made such a difference to our bottom end, and I feel sure Max Clegg would have scored more points had it not been for that early exclusion.

"We weathered back-to-back tactical rides which could have changed the course of the final result, and the way we rode gives me optimism for a better second half to the season."

Leicestershire's batsmen will try to take the form they displayed against India into the LV County Championship when Kent arrive at Grace Road today.

Angus Robson and Greg Smith both hit stunning centuries against the tourists, while Dan Redfern weighed in with an excellent half-century.

That followed on from a determined performance with the ball against India's much-heralded batting line-up, all of which suggests Leicestershire are a considerably better side than their winless status would suggest. Their bonus-points tally, 45 from nine games, compares favourably with most of the sides in the Second Division.

It is simply the fact that, having put in decent performances in the first half of the game, they have developed the habit of losing their way – and with it losing matches.

Director of cricket Phil Whitticase was more than satisfied with the performance that his players put in during the tour match, which came on the back of a 10-wicket Championship defeat by Surrey at the Oval.

"The Indian batsmen retired when they got to 50 or 60," he said.

"Greg and Angus retired after they got centuries but they didn't look like getting out.

"It was a confidence-boosting performance. I was really pleased for Greg. He had been left out of the Championship side against Surrey and wasn't happy about it.

"But he responded in the right way by going out and scoring runs."

Skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan continues to struggle with a back problem and remains doubtful for the visit of a Kent side who County pushed all the way at Canterbury in the opening game of the season.

Former Foxes favourite Darren Stevens will be a threat with bat and ball, but the man who is really impressing for Kent this season is off-spinner Adam Riley.

The 22-year-old former Loughborough student has taken 31 wickets to date and is widely regarded as a player who has an England future ahead of him.

Paul Gallagher's Leicester City career appears to be over after he joined Preston on a season-long loan.

The forward is entering the last year of a four-year contract with City but is unlikely to pull on the shirt again after re-joining the Lillywhites, with whom he spent most of last season on loan.

The 29-year-old, who joined City from Blackburn in August 2009, has not made an appearance since going on as a last-minute substitute for Lloyd Dyer in a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace in April 2013.

The last time he started a game was the FA Cup home defeat to Huddersfield two months before. Gallagher was an ever-present under Nigel Pearson during his first spell as City boss, and was rewarded for his performances with a four-year contract by Sven-Goran Eriksson.

But after Pearson's return, Gallagher has fallen out of favour and will leave City as a free agent at the end of the season, having made 137 appearances for the club and scoring 28 goals.

The Scotland international was a big hit at Deepdale last season, making 35 appearances and scoring 10 goals as Preston reached the League One play-offs.

"It was something we were looking to do with Paul Gallagher over the summer," said Preston boss, and former City captain, Simon Grayson. "He made it very clear to us that he wanted to come back and, after negotiations with Leicester, it is a done deal for the season.

"We are grateful to Leicester for letting him come here."

Meanwhile, City, who return to pre-season training today, have been strongly linked with Sunderland striker Connor Wickham as they look to recruit a new striker.

City's bid to lure Fraizer Campbell to the King Power Stadium from Cardiff has stalled after failing to agree personal terms with the former Manchester United striker, while Brighton are standing firm on their £10million evaluation of Argentine frontman Leonardo Ulloa.

Neither deal is completely dead and the situations could change quickly, but City have been looking at alternative targets and 21-year-old Wickham is now reported to be on their radar.

Nearly £80 million of Government cash has been secured for projects to create jobs and improve roads and public transport in Leicestershire.

The cash has come from a Whitehall Growth Deal announced today and will pay for schemes in the city and the wider county.

Leicester and Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) bid for the money, which will see £28 million provided in the 2015/16 financial year and a further £52 million coming in the following four years.

The initial £28 million will be spent on improving the A50 and A6 through the county and into the city, the regeneration of Leicester's run-down Frog Island riverside area, employment training schemes and other projects.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, an LLEP board member, said the package meant the city council would get £20 million for its plans to improve the area on the banks of the River Soar.

He said: "That is an area of huge potential but it has not been developed because the sites are either too costly or risky for the private sector.

"This money will help us pump prime much-needed development on the wedge of land between the A50 and A6.

"In the 1990s, we transformed the area to the south of the West Bridge with large amounts of Government investment for the City Challenge.

"We are calling the next phase Challenge II and it will help us achieve something similar to the north of the West Bridge."

He said the money would allow the council to buy large sites, prepare them for development and then sell them back to private developers.

It will also allow the council to build roads and possibly a bridge over the Soar so the area is more accessible.

The city council hopes the first phase of the scheme, up to 2020, will see 400 homes built and 20,000sq ft of employment land, creating 140 jobs.

County council leader Nick Rushton said he was pleased £1 million had been secured for Great Central Railway towards its project to link up the divided rail line from Leicester to Nottingham, as well as £3 million to improve rural broadband.

He said: "I am pleased that overall we have secured a good result for the city and county."

The MIRA Enterprise Zone, near Hinckley, will also get money over the next five years.

A woman who was trafficked into the UK and treated like "a slave" managed to flee and live under a false name.

Miriam Michael, a Nigerian, used a forged Portuguese identity card in the name of Anna Sousa to obtain work and open a bank account.

It was only when she was caught shoplifting cosmetics at Tesco in Beaumont Leys, Leicester, that her real identity became known.

Leicester Crown Court was told Michael (24) produced the ID card when she was arrested and it was found to be bogus.

Victoria Rose, prosecuting, said: "In interview, she explained she was trafficked from Nigeria into London in 2005 and was held against her will and repeatedly mistreated.

"In 2009, she left London and moved to Leicester and used the forged identity card to obtain bank accounts and employment."

She had a National Insurance card, bank cards and a library card, all in the false name.

"If the identity card had not been spotted as false, she would have been charged under the assumed identity.

"She was in the country illegally and there's nothing to confirm her account as to how long she's been in the country.

"She has no previous convictions and until she was arrested for shoplifting had been living a peaceful and law-abiding life, paying income tax and National Insurance."

Michael, of Linney Road, Beaumont Leys, admitted possessing a false identity document on May 28.

She was sentenced to a 12-month community order, with 50 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: "Yours is a sad case and I accept you came under threat and were trafficked into this country in circumstances which are deeply unpleasant and kept almost in slavery in London.

"You were given a false identity card while in London and came to live in Leicester and have worked and paid tax and National Insurance.

"The falsity of your Portuguese ID card only came to light when you committed a shoplifting offence, for which you were given a six-month conditional discharge at the magistrates court.

"You were using the false identity you had adopted out of necessity rather than to facilitate serious crime.

"Because your real identity has been discovered you're not able to work until the process for seeking asylum is completed."

Lynsey Knott, mitigating, said Michael "came to the UK at 15 and later came to Leicester".

Miss Knott said: "She's been living under a false identity for some years because she was unlawfully in the country.

"She's now dependent on others to sustain her and doesn't get any assistance from the state. She never wanted to live off the state.

"Solicitors have written to the UK Border Agency on her behalf, seeking asylum or leave to remain and the proper procedures are now being followed.

"She wasn't leading a criminal lifestyle and was earning enough money with cleaning jobs so she didn't have to rely on the people who mistreated her.

"She didn't seek proper assistance earlier out of fear she would be deported."

Firefighters have been tackling a flat fire in Charles Street, Leicester this morning.

Crews were called to an incident in the city centre just after 3am.

A second storey flat in Charles Street, on the junction of Humberstone Gate was well alight.

Police closed Charles Street in both directions between the Halford Street junction and the Humberstone Gate junction just before 3.30am.

The building inspector, who was also called, will be returning to the incident at 9am.

Leicestershire's batting fell apart at Grace Road as they were bowled out for 217 on the opening day of the LV County Championship match against Kent. But the County rallied splendidly after tea and by the close had the visitors rocking on 106-5. Only opener Angus Robson flourished for the hosts as he made 56, the pace of Mitchell Claydon accounting for five County batsmen, including Robson. Rob Taylor (37) and Jigar Naik (25) added 52 for the eighth wicket to threaten some kind of comeback but when Taylor was yorked by Adam Ball with the total on 206 the end was swift in arriving. Kent reached 40-0 in reply but then the Leicestershire seam bowlers struck back hard. They built up plenty of pressure with a nagging line and length and forced the breakthrough when Kent skipper Rob Key was caught off Charlie Shreck's bowling. Ben Raine, Rob Taylor and Nathan Buck also chipped in with wickets before Shreck, playing against his former county, claimed a second success when he had Sam Northeast well caught at second slip by Greg Smith.

Leicester City returned to pre-season training today and manager Nigel Pearson said his players were raring to go for their Premier League campaign.

Everyone except goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, captain Wes Morgan and midfielder Riyad Mahrez, who have been given additional time off after international duty, were at Belvoir Drive for the first official training sessions.

Pearson talked to the media and said his players had come back in good shape after two months off and excited about competing in the Premier League.

"It has been a long break but, coming in today, the players are clearly very focused again for the new season," he said.

"The players who have been here a long time, at least a couple of seasons, have worked very hard to get us in this position, and the lads who have joined us have joined a club that is moving forwards.

"We know we are not going to be able to dominate like last year but it is an exciting prospect and all the players are really excited about having the opportunity.

"We have to prepare in the way we always prepare. The players have come back in good condition physically.

"Mentally it is a bit different than last year because then they had to come back after what was a very negative event (the play-off defeat at Watford).

"They came back in a positive mindset then and we had a successful season. They have again come back with a positive mindset after a very good experience.

"Now we are looking forward to getting our preparation right for the season."