Leicester City striker David Nugent looks sharp and ready to play in the Premier League, says assistant manager Craig Shakespeare.

Nugent notched his third goal of an already impressive pre-season campaign in sumptuous style at Walsall.

Last season's top-scorer curled the ball from the edge of the area with the outside of his right boot into the top corner.

His sublime finish followed a brace at Ilkeston last week as well as finding the net with another stunning effort against Everton, in Thailand, which was ruled out for offside. The 29-year-old has admitted he has a point to prove in the Premier League after a disappointing spell in the top flight earlier in his career.

Shakespeare said he could see the determination in Nugent's body language from the moment the players reported back for pre-season training after the summer break.

"When he came back on the first day of pre-season, he looked ready to play and, by that, I mean he looked sharp, upstairs as well as downstairs, and he has taken that into his football," said Shakespeare.

"I think he feels settled now, with signing his contract, but from me reading his body language he looks like he is enjoying his football and he has looked very, very sharp in his physical stats as well as his football."

The former England international is one of a few members of the City squad already to have Premier League experience.

Nugent had a disappointing spell at Portsmouth, following an £8million move from Preston, but struggled to nail down a starting spot.

He moved to Burnley on loan, where he scored six goals in 30 top-flight appearances for the Clarets.

But since his move to City, Nugent has been the club's leading goalscorer for the past three campaigns, breaking the 20-goal barrier for the first time in his career in last season's romp to the Championship title, as well as leading the way in assists.

City midfielder Dean Hammond is also backing his team-mate to continue that form in the Premier League.

"He had a fantastic season last year and he's carrying it on," said Hammond. "Great striker, Nuge. He's got Premier League experience, wants to prove himself once again in the Premier League and he is going the right way about it."

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More than 330 Leicester City Council employees were paid more than £50,000 last year, according to latest figures.

The authority's statement of accounts for the year 2013/14 show 337 members of staff were in pay brackets from £50,000 to £135,000 – 18 more than there were the year before.

Despite the increase in the number of higher-paid employees, the council says it has actually trimmed back its senior management costs.

It says the figures do not give a true reflection of the situation at Town Hall, where the authority has been dealing with large cuts to its grants from Whitehall. According to the accounts, it is estimated that Government funding for the council has fallen by about £50 million a year between 2010/11 and 2013/14.

Last year's budget strategy included plans to reduce annual expenditure by £11 million over two years.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "Of those 337, only 125 are council officers. Two-thirds of them are teaching staff who have their pay set by school governing bodies.

"Since I was elected, the number of managers in the very top tiers has fallen from 28 to 21. The senior management pay bill has been cut by 30 per cent from £2,646,000 to £1,869,000 in the last three years.

"By anyone's standards, that is a dramatic pruning."

The mayor said he was not sure there was much scope for further senior management reductions because staff were needed to implement further cuts in the coming years.

The council's accounts show that in 2012/13, there were five employees paid between £100,000 and £135,000. In 2013/14, there were eight, not including chief operating officer Andy Keeling, who was paid £137,560.

Mr Keeling's salary was reduced from £140,234 the year before, but his total remuneration package for 2013/14 was £158,931 – a rise of £5,113. The council's contributions to his pension rose from £12,621 to £21,353.

A council spokesman said of the 337 staff being paid more than £50,000, 14 fell into the bracket because of redundancy packages.

A further five were transferred from the NHS to take on the council's new public health responsibilities and 39 received the national one per cent pay award, elevating them into a higher pay band.

Last year, the council paid £3,826,860 in redundancy and termination packages to 326 employees. Of the departing staff, 271 were paid less than £20,000.

A payment of £181,588 was shared by two departing members of staff in the £80,000 to £100,000 pay bracket.

Tory opposition councillor Ross Grant said: "It's fine for the mayor to talk about 30 per cent cuts to top officer costs, but those top officers who have gone have in some cases been replaced by interim staff and that can be expensive.

"The savings get wiped out elsewhere and the services are disrupted."

Competition for places in the Leicester City dressing room will be vital to their Premier League survival hopes.

That is the view of both City assistant manager Craig Shakespeare and midfielder Dean Hammond, who believe the squad has strength in depth "in abundance".

City romped to the Championship title using just 23 players, the joint-lowest alongside fellow promoted side Burnley.

While manager Nigel Pearson has kept most of his title-winning squad together, he has complemented it with the signings of Marc Albrighton and Matt Upson, both with Premier League experience, goalkeeper Ben Hamer as well as club record signing Leonardo Ulloa.

City's assistant manager said this extra competition for places will keep everyone on their toes.

"I think all footballers appreciate competition. I think sometimes when there is not competition, they can be a bit too relaxed," said Shakespeare.

"We need that competition and we will need to pick and choose teams."

Hammond knows how competitive it can be in the City camp. The 31-year-old was utilised mainly, but effectively, as a substitute last season due to the excellent performances of Matty James and Danny Drinkwater.

"You need competition for places, you need it within the whole group," said Hammond.

"I expect there will be more players coming in and there is competition every day in training. But that improves you as a player." One area that looks exceptionally competitive is up front. Both David Nugent and Jamie Vardy have started pre-season in excellent form.

But with Ulloa also joining the ranks, and Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Chris Wood and Tom Hopper also in the mix, it looks highly unlikely that all three with be afforded starting spots in the first game of the season.

"We are very strong in that position now," said Hammond. "Leo has come in and he is a very good player but Nuge and Vards last season were fantastic and they have continued that during pre-season.

"But you want that, you want that within that group. They can all score goals, they have all got different attributes. It will be difficult to make a decision."

Pearson has utilised a number of formations during pre-season, predominately switching between his tried-and-tested 4-4-2 and the 4-2-3-1 that is now favoured so much in the Premier League.

Shakespeare admitted, while they have not decided upon a preferred formation, they will have to be flexible.

"We spoke to the players and we have tried out different formations. We haven't decided yet," said Shakespeare.

A confidence trickster enjoyed a luxury lifestyle after duping victims into buying corporate event packages which never existed.

Sarjinder Singh Dhillon, also claimed state benefits while driving luxury cars, including a Bentley Continental, and spent £84,000 on private schools for his two children.

He used false names to dupe staff at various companies into believing they were buying hospitality seats at Wimbledon, the Grand National, Ascot, The Ashes and Six Nations.

Even after his arrest in February 2013 for offences while trading as Rothschild Enterprises, he went on to set up Hamptons Events and continued the scam, dishonestly obtaining about £35,000 in total, Leicester Crown Court was told.

Dhillon (42), who failed to declare any income to the taxman or pay any tax between 2007 and 2013, had £128,000 of unexplained income going through a business account.

This week, he was jailed for two years and five months for a total of 21 offences.

Dhillon, who has never passed a driving test, also fraudulently obtained car insurance for vehicles owned at different times, including a Porsche Carrera, an Audi RS4 and Audi S5, a VW Golf, a Range Rover, a Renault Megane and a Ford Fiesta.

He lied about having a £50,000 salary while claiming benefits to obtain a £160,000 re-mortgage on his home in Beacon Road, Loughborough, said Esther Harrison, prosecuting.

Judge Philip Head said: "What you've been doing over the last seven years shows me you're a fundamentally dishonest person.

"You were receiving some income from a legitimate source but wholly failed to declare it and at times were receiving state benefits, although there are no charges in relation to that.

"You received £164,000 during that time but the prosecution say £128,000 was unexplained and you were cheating the public out of tax and national insurance. It's not possible to say how much they were cheated out of but it must have been many thousands of pounds.

"You spent it on private school fees for your children and significantly on expensive cars including a Bentley and a Porsche.

"You cheated victims out of £14,000 worth of corporate hospitality packages and never delivered them, between September 2011 and February 2013. You claimed to the police you were an honest but incompetent businessman.

"You then sold five further packages worth £20,370 that weren't delivered, all done in breach of bail and flagrantly disregarding the fact you were going through the prosecution process, between April 2013 and January.

"Your barrister says you're a genuine but over-optimistic businessman, but various transactions were clearly dishonest.

"I'm told you've repaid a significant sum back to the losers but that was only after you were caught."

The court heard customers who complained about not receiving tickets for corporate events they paid up-front for were often "fobbed off" with excuses.

Dhillon admitted nine counts of fraud relating to the corporate events scam, one of fraudulently obtaining a re-mortgage, one of dishonestly obtaining car insurance – by failing to declare he had no driving licence – and one count of acquiring criminal property in the form of unexplained cash deposits into bank accounts.

He admitted nine offences of converting criminal property, or money laundering, by paying £84,907 school fees to Loughborough Endowed Schools, between 2006 and 2013, and purchasing various vehicles.

Cameron Scott, mitigating, said: "There were some successful packages delivered but, at some stage, he found he was unable to fulfil commitments and was starting to rob Peter to pay Paul.

"He's repaid the money by borrowing from his father-in-law and taken full-time employment.

"He's deeply ashamed and sincerely remorseful and feels he's disgraced his family, friends and the community."

Fire crews were called out to two separate single-vehicle road collisions in Kirby Bellars near Melton within an hour of each other.

The first, in Leicester Road, happened at 11.25pm last night.

The second happened in Station Road at 27 minutes past midnight this morning.

Crews from Birstall, Melton and Leicester's southern fire station were involved.

No-one was trapped in either of the incidents.

A touring caravan parked in a layby near Market Harborough was destroyed in an arson attack just after midnight.

It's the second such incident in the area in the past few days.

The caravan involved in the latest incident was parked in Gallowfield Road, off the A6 on the outskirts of the town when it was deliberately set alight.

A crew from Market Harborough dealt with the blaze and had to call for a second fire engine for additional water supplies.

On Tuesday firefighters were called to a touring caravan deliberately set alight outside Justin Park caravan site, in Northampton Road.

Fire crews were called to rescue a teenager from the flimsy roof of a garage in Edward Avenue, Braunstone, Leicester yesterday.

It's understood a 15-year-old boy had gone onto the roof to help a neighbour.

When he got up there the neighbour realised the roof was too flimsy to take his weight and called the fire service.

A crew from Leicester's southern fire station brought the youngster down safely shortly after 6pm.

Leicester City failed to win for the first time this pre-season as they let slip a lead in a 1-1 draw at League One Preston.

Liam Moore scored a sumptuous first-half volley to give City the lead at the break, but Preston equalised midway through the second period following a mistake from Kasper Schmeichel.

City began the match at lightning pace. Jamie Vardy latched onto a through ball from Gary Taylor-Fletcher inside 30 seconds, but his dink over the goalkeeper was met by a recovering Preston defender.

Taylor-Fletcher then created an opening for himself, collecting Ritchie de Laet's floated cross, manoeuvring into space before seeing his attempted lob drop way wide.

The match then descended into a rather tepid affair, until a goal from an unlikely source in the 25^thminute brought some flair to proceedings.

Following David Nugent and Danny Drinkwater's superb strikes against Walsall on Wednesday, Leicester again produced a fine goal, this time from centre-back Moore.

Paul Konchesky's lofted left-wing cross looked to be drifting out of play, but Taylor-Fletcher stretched out a right leg to hook the ball back into the centre of the box, where Moore waited.

The youngster took the ball on his chest to set up a sweetly-hit volley that curved away from the grasp of Preston 'keeper Jamie Jones before kissing the post on its way in.

Vardy was substituted for Riyad Mahrez in the 35^th minute, as a precaution, as the game again became rather lacklustre.

The hosts created their best opening five minutes from the end of the half. Three City defenders drifted across to the right following the run of Josh Brownhill, who was able to find Kevin Davies unmarked.

The veteran striker had plenty of space and time on the edge of the box, but dithered on the ball and Moore was able to recover to make a block.

Substitute Mahrez then found space in the box but blazed over from a tight angle after Leo Ulloa had flicked on a corner.

Preston created two more opportunities as the first period neared its end, but Scott Laird fired straight at Schmeichel, and Brownhill struck just over.

City started the second half the brighter of the sides. Anthony Knockaert wiggled his way through challenges and hit a tame effort into the hands of Jones, while Matty James hit a 25-yard shot just wide of the right-hand post.

But, soon after, in the 57^th minute, Preston got themselves on level terms. After Moore conceded a free-kick on the right flank, second-half substitute Will Hayhurst produced a teasing in-swinging ball.

Schmeichel came and flapped, leaving an unmarked Tom Clarke to nod into the empty net.

The equaliser sparked Preston and their fans into life. The Lilywhites flung several dangerous balls into the Leicester area, with one falling to Davies, whose shot was smothered by Schmeichel.

The tempo of the match slowed as a raft of changes were made, including the introduction of former Deepdale favoruite Nugent, who received a generous round of applause from the home crowd.

Leicester dominated the rest of proceedings and came close on a number of occasions as they searched for a winner. Chris Wood found himself free in the box, but needed a firmer contact on his header, while Andy King's headed attempt was well-saved by sub 'keeper Thorsten Stuckmann.

Marc Albrighton cut inside the box but saw his shot blocked, while Wood glanced a header wide from the resulting corner as City's attempts to keep up their 100% pre-season record proved futile. 

Preston North End (4-1-4-1): Jones (Stuckmann 61); Woods (Wiseman 46), Clarke (Keane 61), Wright, Buchanan (Hayhurst 46); King; Humphrey (Little 61), Welsh (Byrom 77), Brownhill (Browne 46 (Garner 77)), Laird (B Davies 61); K Davies (Hugill 61).

Leicester City (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel (c); De Laet (McCourt 77), Wasilewski (Morgan 70), Moore (Kennedy 70), Konchesky; Drinkwater (King 70), James (Hammond 70); Knockaert (Albrighton 70), Taylor-Fletcher (Nugent 61), Vardy (Mahrez 35); Ulloa (Wood 61).

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson admitted his side were "slightly off the pace" as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Preston.

City were unable to hold on to their first-half lead at Deepdale that came through a stunning volley from centre-half Liam Moore.

Preston leveled the scores and ended City's 100 per cent pre-season record when Tom Clarke took advantage of a mistake from City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

Pearson said he learned a lot about where his players were at, as his side builds up to their Premier League opener against Everton in two weeks.

"I don't like conceding any goals but I would expect us to do better than that, but that is something for us to work on," said Pearson.

"We were slightly off the pace today. We weren't as fluid at times as we have been. There were various reasons for that and it always interests me when people want to read too much into pre-season games

"I like us to win as often as possible and it's a good habit to have but when you have occasions like today where we have not quite found the fluidity that I would expect from us then it is a good lesson in the sense that we can speak about the fact that we have got to be at full tilt.

"There has to be some perspective. It is pre-season. I cast my mind back to last year and the Northampton game (a 2-1 pre-season defeat), it's not the end of the world when results don't go right. What you are looking for is the players to have an understanding of what we are trying to do and got our application right.

"We have very good competition for a number of places now. It will be an interesting last couple of weeks."

There was an injury concern in the first half when Jamie Vardy was replaced by Riyad Mahrez just after the half-hour mark.

Vardy had missed the pre-season opener at Ilkeston after picking up a knock in training but made his return for the Everton game in Thailand.

Pearson confirmed that Vardy had a tight thigh and was substituted purely as a precaution.

"I want him available for the start of the season, so I don't see any mileage in putting players in situations where there is a potential for them to actually injure themselves and keep them out the side. It was just a precaution," said Pearson.

A colourful cavalcade of sights and sounds brightened a drab, dull rainy Saturday as the Caribbean Carnival took to the city's streets this afternoon.

The hundreds of dancers, some as young as three, looked bedraggled but not bowed as the carnival procession wound its way from Victoria Park through the city centre.

The rain, which came down for most of the hour-long parade didn't deter crowds who came out in their thousands to watch.

Others stood in the wet, as if in solidarity with the dancers soaked to the skin in their skimpy outfits.

But the sun appeared in time for the thousands who flocked to Victoria Park in the parade's wake ready to enjoy an afternoon and evening of music, dance and food.

The theme of this year's carnival was a celebration of the life of Nelson Mandela, who died last year.

South African flags, portraits of Mandela and slogans of support were evident throughout the procession.

Among those in the parade were the 60-strong Vibrant Warriors, based at the Afro Caribbean Centre, in Highfields, Leicester, whose ages ranged from five to 37.Their headgear bore the single word "Freedom".

Leader and dance instructor Angela Parkes said: "Our group stands for unity, love, freedom and diversity and we are proud to remember Nelson Mandela today."

Dancer Shannon Flavin, 11, of Eyres Monsell, Leicester, said:"I just wanted to be here today to show people what we can do."

Jessica Tebbutt, 11, of the group, who made her own outfit, said: "It's my first time and I am excited to be here."

Around 100 dancers from Essential Rejuvenation and New Force, who come from Braunstone Town and Beaumont Leys were also in the parade.

Krystal Shepherd, 31, of the group, said: "We love being here and the rain cooled us down a bit when we were dancing."

Another local dance group, The Klik, reunited for this year's carnival after disbanding eight years ago as its members drifted away to college, university and work.

Vanessa Francis, 44, who was the carnival queen in 1997, said:"There are about 40 of us, aged from three to 44 and the clothes the children of different ages are wearing represent the different stages of Mandela's life, farming, his tribe and others wearing prison outfits to represent his years spent in jail."

Group member Uriah Williams, 11, of Leicester, said: "It's exciting, I've been looking forward to the day and going around Leicester."

Shaznay Dobson, 10, also of Leicester, said: "I've been looking forward to having fun and seeing what other people were wearing."

Before the parade set off from Granville Road City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "Mandela himself would have felt this carnival to be a fitting and moving tribute."

Bystander, pensioner Christine Reynolds, from Loughborough, said; "I think it's marvellous, all the different people and cultures taking part, it's a really nice atmosphere and a bit of the Caribbean on your doorstep."

Jim Baker, 42, of Aylestone, Leicester, said: "It's one of the highlights of the year and people dancing despite the rain just shows the Leicester spirit - just get on with it."

Henry Warren, 35, of Leicester, said: "It's something really exciting for Leicester, I come every year. I watch the floats go by, pick my favourite one and follow it."

Ann Walker, of Knighton, Leicester, said: "It's amazing, brilliant, it's like the sort of thing you see on TV from Notting Hill.I don't know how they keep their energy levels up."

Chief Superintendent Stuart Prior, the officer in charge of policing the carnival, said:"It's been a lovely colourful, musical event so far ins spite of the weather and now the sun's out for people to enjoy the food, music and dancing on the park."

After the parade the £3 entrance fee to the park - brought in for the first time since a cut in funding by Leicester City Council - was waived. Caribbean Carnival Committee chairman Dennis "Sugar" Christopher said: "We wanted to make sure people came to the park because of the bad weather and we had a few complaints from stallholders about the numbers in the park. "People had come prepared to pay and when we waived the fee we asked for donations instead and people were putting in £5 and £10 notes.But I don't want people thinking the same will happen next year. "I would like to thank all the agencies who were involved, those who took part in the parade in the rain and all the people that came to support us."

Firefighters were called to a wood off the road from Staunton Harold at Newbold Coleorton to deal with a car which had been deliberately set alight.

A crew from Coalville dealt with the incident just after 7.30am yesterday which destroyed the vehicle.

Firefighters were called out after flames from a motorbike deliberately set alight spread to a house.

Three crews, two from Coalville and one from Shepshed, went to the incident in Loughborough Road, Thringstone, near Coalville,  shortly before 2am today.

They wore breathing equipment to deal with the blaze which destroyed the motorbike which was in the front garden of the property.

The fire also caused 10 per cent damage to the house.No-one was injured in the incident.

Four casualties were treated at the scene of a three-vehicle crash in Glenfield yesterday.

The incident, in Station Road, shortly after 4.30pm, was attended by two crews from Leicester's western fire station.

Firefighters and paramedics dealt with four casualties with minor injuries at the scene.

A woman was injured when a car was involved in a single-vehicle collision on the A46/A50 northbound slip road on the Western Bypass last night.

Two fire crews, from Leicester's western and southern fire stations, attended the incident in which someone was initially reported trapped.

When they arrived they discovered the woman had managed to get herself out of the vehicle.

She was given first aid by firefighters before being handed over to paramedics after the incident at around 10.45pm.