Leicester City's Chris Wood says he has a chance of being fit to face Charlton Athletic at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday.

The striker's absence because of a knee injury has been felt by City as they have lost their last two games without him.

However, Wood, who has scored seven goals in six games since joining City on New Year's Day from West Brom, said he was hopeful he will be able to return to action against Chris Powell's Addicks.

"The injury is all good," he said at yesterday's fans signing session at the King Power Fanstore, when 2,500 City supporters queued up to meet the players, who stopped for three hours instead of the planned 90 minutes.

"It is coming along nicely and I still have a few days of treatment to get it right. Hopefully, it will be okay for Tuesday.

"That is the plan. If everything goes well during the next few days, there is a chance I can be involved.

"It is always going to be tough when you come back from an injury, but it is just one of those things you have to deal with.

"Every footballer goes through it. It is about dealing with it and making sure we get the right result on Tuesday."

Wood said he hoped to continue his excellent partnership with fellow striker David Nugent on Tuesday.

The pair were in great form until Wood picked up the injury in training before the defeat at Peterborough last weekend.

"I will go back out there and do my job, and link up with whoever is up there with me and, hopefully, that is Nuge," said Wood."

Wood's excellent form in January led to him being named in the three-man short-list for the player of the month award, but he just missed out to Watford striker Matej Vydra.

"To settle so well at this club and then to get nominated for the award is something I will never forget," said Wood. "It is amazing. Vydra is a quality player, a good striker, and he has done so well for Watford.."

The "failure of a number of specific" mental health staff was the root cause of a woman taking her own life, a coroner has ruled.

Leicester coroner Catherine Mason said Sally Ann Vye jumped from cliffs at Beachy Head, Sussex, while her mind was unbalanced, on June 20 last year.

The previous day, a care support worker had allowed Miss Vye, 39, to walk out of the Bradgate Unit at Glenfield Hospital, contrary to policy.

A four-day hearing at Leicester Town Hall heard her absence was not discovered until nearly eight hours later, following a call from her parents.

After the verdict, her father, Ronald Vye, of Tennyson Way, Melton, read a statement on behalf of himself and his wife Marilyn.

He said: "Sally was very kind, considerate and generous. She made us into a happy family, sharing many wonderful experiences together that will give us fond memories in time.

"This inquest has heard that on June 19 a number of staff on the Beaumont Ward, from the top to the bottom, failed to do the jobs that they were paid for.

"As a result, Sally was unaccounted for for eight hours before she was reported missing.

"She was therefore denied the chance of being intercepted before she reached Beachy Head.

"Nothing can bring Sally back, Marilyn and I will miss her for the rest of our lives."

The inquest was told a number of policies and procedures had been breached by staff on the unit's Beaumont Ward.

One person said she saw nurses celebrating a doctor's birthday with cake at about the time Miss Vye absconded, and that the ward was chaotic at the time because of problems with other patients. This was denied by a senior manager.

Mrs Mason said there was a failure to properly observe and record details of Miss Vye's mental condition.

She said when Miss Vye absconded it was known or should have been known there was a real risk of suicide.

Mrs Mason said: "Yet the observations and authorised period of unescorted leave specifically prescribed were not followed. This failure had a clear and direct causal connection with Miss Vye not being found sooner.

"The root cause of this incident is a failure of a number of specific staff to follow the systems and processes in place to monitor Miss Vye's leave and her whereabouts."

Mrs Mason said she was pleased to hear of significant improvements at the Bradgate Unit since the tragedy.

The inquest was one of seven into deaths of mental health patients in the care of the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust between November 2010 and June 2012, with one still to be heard.

It has emerged the coroner will investigate three further cases of mental health patients who died in the trust's care.

Recording a narrative verdict, Mrs Mason said: "Despite the known existence of a real and immediate risk to Miss Vye's life from self-harm, she was able to go missing, undetected, for nearly eight hours."

However, she said it would never be known if earlier realisation of her disappearance could have prevented her death.

Paul Miller, divisional director for adult mental health services at the trust, said: "We fully accept the coroner's verdict.

"A number of errors by individuals contributed to Miss Vye's death, which fell well short of the level of care we expect from our staff.

"I can provide reassurance that we took immediate action at the time and have implemented recommendations and actions to make sure we reduce the risk of a tragic incident such as this happening again."

Anthony Allen is showing the sort of form that could make him an England regular.

The centre has two caps to his name, which he picked up six years ago while playing for Gloucester.

But since his move to Welford Road, in 2009, he has had to be content with a place in the England Saxons squad.

Team-mate Matt Smith said earlier this week that, if he was an England selector, he would be picking him.

Allen was flattered by Smith's sentiments and said he hopes to add to his two full caps.

"I want to play for England, that's that," said the 26-year-old. "I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing here and, hopefully, the opportunity will come, it's just not to be yet. But, hopefully, soon.

"I just want to be doing the right thing here, playing well and being confident, so I'll be ready and confident, hopefully, when the opportunity comes – that's the plan."

After two weeks rest during the LV= Cup period, Allen has hit the ground running – his clever pass against London Welsh last Saturday played in Niall Morris for his try.

"I am happy with my game at the minute," said Allen. "I made a few good breaks, good decisions, some nice passes and am generally pleased all round.

"It was quite nice to have the two weeks to reflect and get my body back right.

"It's nice to get a bit of freshness in the legs and body, come back and push on."

Allen also paid tribute to his centre partner Smith after he was awarded his 100th cap against London Welsh.

Smith reached the landmark in the 28-12 victory on Saturday playing alongside Allen in the Tigers back-line.

In doing so, Smith and his father, Ian, became the first father-and-son duo to make 100 appearances for Tigers.

"We get on really well off the pitch," said Allen.

"It's a tight-knit group here at the club in general, but there are individuals that get on well and I'm good friends with Smithies.

"On the pitch our relationship is also good because we've played together a lot.

"The first couple of seasons after I came here we played a lot, just before Manu (Tuilagi) came on the scene."

Leicester Tigers welcome back three of their England stars for the biggest game of the Aviva Premiership so far this season.

Tigers, who are top, take on champions Harlequins, who are second, in front of live Sky TV cameras this evening at a sold-out Stoop (5.15).

Fly-half Toby Flood, centre Manu Tuilagi and No.8 Thomas Waldrom have all been included in the starting line-up after being released by England with no Six Nations action this weekend.

Scott Hamilton also returns to the back-line in place of injured winger Niall Morris, while Brett Deacon starts in the back-row alongside Waldrom and Julian Salvi, with Tom Croft rested.

Scrum-half Danny Care returns for Quins from England duty, and a changed back-line sees Matt Hopper move to outside-centre to partner Jordan Turner-Hall.

Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill is in no doubt about the importance of the fixture.

He believes it is almost a case of his side playing for "double points" in the next couple of games. After Quins, Tigers entertain third-placed Saracens a week today.

The unpredictability of fixtures at this time of year, when clubs can lose key players to the Six Nations, was underlined last week when Harlequins slipped to second after being beaten at home by Wasps, while Saracens lost to London Irish.

Tigers, meanwhile, were taking care of their own business by beating London Welsh 28-12 to move to the top of the Premiership.

Cockerill knows that his side face nothing less than a stern examination at the Stoop, but is well aware that a Tigers win would not only boost their own ambitions of a home semi-final, it would also set back Harlequins' ambitions. The same is true of the clash with Saracens.

"Quins are coming off the back of a defeat at home, which doesn't happen very often," he said.

"We have a pretty good record there in recent history, but they beat us at Welford Road earlier in the season.

"When you are playing the sides around you, it is like having double points to go for and we have two weeks of that with the Saracens game coming up next Saturday."

The value of the four points Leicester picked up against the Exiles became even more evident as Quins and Saracens lost ground in the play-off race.

"Looking at the results from last weekend, it just goes to show that anyone can get caught out on the day," added Cockerill. "We play Saracens after Harlequins, then we face Sale at Welford Road. None of those games are easy and we have to pick up as many points as we can in that period."

Leicester Tigers boss Richard Cockerill summed up the situation perfectly for Premiership clubs during the Six Nations.

"It's about winning", said the director of rugby after his side had just beaten London Welsh 28-12 with eight players missing due to the internationals.

The statement was perfectly illustrated as, by the end of last Saturday evening, Tigers had leapfrogged today's opponents Harlequins and Saracens, who come to Welford Road next Saturday, to go top.

Champions Harlequins were surprisingly beaten at home by Wasps and Saracens suffered a shock defeat at London Irish.

As Cockerill is only too well aware, results like this are always possible during the Six Nations

Tigers lock Louis Deacon, who is captain today, said having experienced heads at Welford Road makes the captain's job much easier when the internationals are away.

Tigers have seven players away with England's Six Nations squad – Dan Cole, Geoff Parling, Tom Youngs, Ben Youngs, Toby Flood, Thomas Waldrom and Manu Tuilagi – plus prop Martin Castrogiovanni away with Italy.

But even without their star names bolstering their ranks, Tigers were too good for London Welsh last Saturday.

They will also be boosted for today's top-of-the-table clash with Harlequins as Flood, Tuilagi and Waldrom have been made eligible for selection and all play.

Deacon said that, even with so many senior players absent, his role as captain does not change much.

"There are still a lot of leaders around," he said. "Geordan Murphy is still around. There are a lot of experienced guys, like George Chuter, who are not necessarily playing at the minute but they still lead by example in training and the guys listen to them because of their experience.

"Having those guys around makes it a lot easier for me and I just try to get on with the playing.

"What we pride ourselves on is that we never really make any excuses when we do lose about players being on international duty – we just get on with it and everyone who steps up into the squad does as good a job as the guy who was there before.

"It's always a good period for us because, mentally, the guys really want to do well and don't want to let the club down or their team-mates, and it is generally a good period for us when people do step up."

Tigers now have the chance to cement their place at the top of the tree as they face the second- and third-placed sides over the next two weeks.

"We've got two tough games coming up, Harlequins this week and Saracens next week," said Deacon.

"It's always going to be tough. Harlequins have got bragging rights over us at the minute – they have won the two games we've played them.

"I've not actually played them the last three times so I am looking forward to getting stuck into them."

He also acknowledged the importance of these games as Tigers look to cement their place in the top two.

"There are five, six teams that are around the top that are all fighting to get into the top four and it's tough to get in there year after year," he said. "But you want a home semi-final so to get into the top two is key."

Butchers in Leicestershire have reported a rise in trade on the back of the horse meat scandal.

They believe consumers are starting to turn their backs on processed meat and the supermarkets that sell it in favour of traditional butchers.

Andrew Sykes, who runs Andrew Sykes butchers, in Leicester Market, said: "I have seen an increase in the number of customers coming to us since the story came out about horse meat.

"We have had a lot of people joking about the horse meat but, at the same time, asking good, serious questions about traceability.

"Customers want to buy quality meat and want the reassurance they don't necessarily get from supermarkets, and we are more than happy to help, as our meat travels very few miles before it is put on display."

Michael Mason, a butcher at Joseph Morris, in Whetstone, said: "We have got our own slaughterhouse so people know where the meat is coming from. We have got a whole lot busier over the last couple of weeks."

Peter Kendall, director of the National Farmers' Union, has been urging people to buy British, buy local and support UK producers of high-quality meat.

He said consumers had the right to know where their meat comes from and said that by going to butchers they would get fresh, quality produce from a reliable source.

The horse meat scandal was uncovered almost a month ago when traces of horse DNA were found in processed burgers being sold in British supermarkets.

Since then, some European meat processing factories have been found to be using horse meat in products being sent to Britain and, most recently, a slaughterhouse in Yorkshire and a meat firm in Wales have been raided.

Rob Manley, 50, the senior market officer at Leicester market, said: "Our indoor trader butchers have seen an increase in trade since the horse meat scandal. You can see the meat in front of you and you know what you're buying."

Sean Jeynec, of W Archer and Son butchers, in Clarendon Park, Leicester, said: "I would like to hope that this increase in customers will last and people will keep coming back to local butchers they can trust."

A bar has been refused permission to hold all-night discos after police reported the applicant had a string of criminal convictions.

Andrew North applied to the city council for permission to extend the opening hours at Synergy bar, in Church Gate, Leicester, until 10am on six days, spread over this month and next.

But after a licensing hearing at which police highlighted Mr North's convictions, his temporary event notices were refused.

Licensing hearing chairman Councillor John Thomas said: "We are not confident all of the licensing objectives will be observed."

In a letter to the committee ahead of the hearing, Pc Tejas Mavani, of the city police licensing unit, said Mr North had 24 previous convictions for crimes of violence, driving offences, damage to property and theft.

Bar owner Bimal Parmar was present at the hearing.

He already has a licence to open until 1am, Monday to Thursday, and until 2am on Fridays and Saturday.

Mr North had applied for temporary event notices for "music night/disco" events from 2am to 10am on February 23, 24, and 25 and March 2, 3 and 4. Mr North said one of the events was a surprise birthday part for his niece.

"I was just hiring the venue out on the Saturday and going to get Mr Parmar's licence for the Friday," he said.

"Mr Parmar will have door staff there. The public will be safe.

"We're not even using the Sunday. The only reason we applied for it is when we went down there the lady behind the counter advised us to go for the 24 hours."

Pc Mavani also attended the hearing.

He said Mr North had been at other premises to which police had been called regarding noise complaints.

He said: "With regards to the other premises, we have been there and there have been issues with noise and Mr North has been there and disconnected the speakers. Mr North has been there – whether that has been incidental or behind the bar.

"I'm still not sure what level of participation Mr North had there.

"There is a specific part in the application to state what the event is and in both applications it says 'music/disco'.

"There is nothing about a birthday party.

"It seems an excessively long time to put in an application for each of these nights.

"The crux of this is the application is by Mr North."

He said he was concerned about the "consistency and recentness" of Mr North's convictions.

The members of the committee – councillors Thomas, Baljit Singh and Mustafa Kamal – decided to issue a notice effectively refusing the application.

Last Friday, a constituent came to see me. She is a single parent with children aged one and 15. She lives in a two-bedroom flat and needs more space – she shares her bedroom with her youngest child.

The overcrowding is affecting family relationships. She was quite desperate. She cannot afford to live in the private rented sector, social rented housing is her only option.

She is being as flexible as she can in looking for a place to move to but it has to be somewhere her oldest child can get to school fairly easily.

Almost every month since my election, I have been contacted by families who have outgrown their homes.

We need to build more social housing and that is happening.

Local authority housing waiting lists rose from one million in April 1997 to 1.8 million in April 2010.

By April 2010, house building had fallen to its lowest peacetime levels since the 1920s, with the social rented housing stock falling by 421,000 units from 1997 to 2010.

These are problems we are trying our best to resolve.

We have invested £19.5 billion in affordable housing and will deliver 170,000 new affordable homes by 2015.

But we also need to see more movement within our social rented sector and that is the premise behind our plans to limit how much housing benefit is paid to tenants whose homes are under occupied.

Nearly one third of working-age social housing tenants on housing benefits are in accommodation that is too big for their needs.

That equates to nearly a million spare rooms being paid for by taxpayers and is denying hundreds of thousands of people the chance to adequately house their family.

It is likely they needed that extra bedroom at some point. But often the tenant is still in a property which is now too big.

I can already see in Charnwood that there are now more three-bedroom properties being marked as available on the choice-based lettings system.

I hope with these reforms we will begin to see the same flexibility in the social rented sector seen in the private sector.

Also this week we announced our proposals for social care funding.

At the moment, many older people and people with disabilities face paying the limitless, often ruinous costs of their care with little or no assistance from the state.

While those with assets of less than £23,250 receive support, those with assets above this level receive none.

This is desperately unfair, particularly for those who have worked hard all their lives to pay their mortgage, save for their future or to have something to pass on to their loved ones – only to see their property sold and their savings wiped out.

This happens to more than 30,000 people every year.

There are two key elements to the package to address this unfairness.

First, a cap on reasonable care costs at £75,000.

Currently, the lack of a limit on costs and the unpredictable nature of care needs leave many people facing vast bills, with almost one in five older people facing bills over £75,000.

So, from 2017, the Government will pay for care costs incurred by individuals over this level. This equates to £61,000 in 2010-11 prices, compared with the Dilnot Commission's recommended cap of up to £50,000.

We have come as close to this as possible but have to recognise the extremely tough economic situation.

It's important to stress the intention is not that people should have to pay up to £75,000.

But by creating certainty this is the maximum, they can make provision through insurance or pension products so they are covered up to the cap.

Second, we will introduce new financial protection for those with modest wealth.

The Government will step in earlier to pay a proportion of residential care costs, with the threshold more than quadrupled, from £23,250 to £123,000.

Taken together, the measures are expected to directly benefit an extra 100,000 people.

The vast majority of state support will be provided to the 40 per cent of older people with the lowest income and wealth.

This is about protecting people with the greatest lifetime care needs, not the greatest wealth.

The package will cost the Exchequer £1 billion a year by the end of the next Parliament and will be met in part by extending the freeze on the Inheritance Tax threshold.

Only 5,000 additional estates will be brought into inheritance tax and this package is all about ensuring people do not lose an inheritance they have worked hard to pass on.

The remainder will be funded from public and private sector employer National Insurance contributions associated with the end of contracting out as part of the introduction of the single tier pension.

I am sure there will be those who argue these plans do not go far enough – and of course there is always more we would like to do and like to fund.

But I hope readers will recognise this Government is facing up to problems which have not been addressed for years and there are no quick fixes.

A robbery victim feared he would be blinded after two drunken thugs repeatedly punched and kicked him.

Hitesh Chauhan suffered severe injuries, especially to his face and eyes, when he was attacked and robbed while walking to work in Belgrave, Leicester, last summer.

Gordon Wright and Richard Mason, who were this week jailed for the attack, had been drinking heavily when they attacked the 34-year-old married father-of-two.

Mr Chauhan said he had tried to flee but the pair caught up and started raining blows on him. As he lay helpless on the ground, possibly unconscious, they stole his phone and wallet.

He said: "I still don't understand why they did this to me. I did nothing to them to deserve this.

"They were following me and I tried to get away from them, but they caught up with me and began hitting me. It went on for such a long time. I think I blacked out at one point.

"I was taken to hospital and I was in a lot of pain. There was a lot of damage to my eyes and all I could think was 'I am going to lose my sight'. The doctors told me that was possible but, thankfully, I am getting better and my eyes are okay.

"I am fully satisfied with the punishment the court has given these men.

"It means they cannot do something like this to someone else for some time."

Mr Chauhan's wife Rakhi, 33, said: "Physically, my husband is okay and getting better, but he is scared and is still asking why these men did this to him.

"He had lost a lot of blood and there were terrible injuries around his eyes and on his body. It was horrible and our two sons were also very upset to see their father like this.

"The doctors told us he was lucky they were able to save his sight. It was a very difficult time for our family.

"Until this happened, my husband wasn't scared of anything, but now he doesn't like to go out at night because he is worried something like this could happen to him again.

"We will get through this together because we are a very strong family. We are just glad those two men have been sent to prison."

Leicester Crown Court heard on Wednesday that Wright and Mason began following Mr Chauhan in Belgrave Road shortly before 5am on August 25 as he set off for work at a city bakery.

Wright, of Tomasson Road, Crown Hills, Leicester, and Mason, of Barley Close, Glenfield, admitted robbing Mr Chauhan of a mobile phone and a wallet.

Wright (27) told the court he had drunk 30 cans of beer. He was jailed for three years and 10 months.

Mason (20), of Barley Close, Glenfield, was said to have played a lesser role in the mugging and used no violence.

He told the court he had drunk 15 cans of beer before the attack.

He was jailed for two years and eight months.

Sentencing, Judge Michael Pert QC told the pair: "Notwithstanding a number of witnesses, you carried out an attack of gratuitous violence over and above what was necessary to take his property.

"It had a profound effect upon him.

"He's understandably worried when he's in his home, when he's out and worried for members of his family when they're out.

"These are profound effects an offence of robbery can have on people."

Experts said yesterday's dramatic meteor strike in Russia was not linked to an asteroid which passed the Earth a few hours later.

Video footage of an 11-ton meteor streaking past the Russian city of Chelyabinsk turned into an internet sensation yesterday, after the space rock broke through the Earth's atmosphere and crashed into a lake. More than 500 people were injured by damage caused by the shock wave.

The meteor hit the stratosphere at about 33,000mph – three times the speed of a bullet – at about 9.20am (local time), before slowing and exploding into smaller pieces.

Just a few hours later, a 150ft asteroid, known as 2012DA14, came within a whisker of the Earth as it flew by the planet at a distance of 17,100-miles – closer than many communications and weather satellites.

However, the phenomena were not linked, experts have said.

Josh Barker, from the Near Earth Orbit Information Programme, based at the National Space Centre, in Leicester, said: "We're pretty certain that it isn't related because of the direction of travel.

"2012DA14 is travelling from south to north and any fragments would probably fall in the southern hemisphere.

"The Russian meteor's flightpath wasn't consistent with what we would expect if it was related to 2012DA14."

The last time an equivalent object to 2012DA14 hit the Earth was in 1908, when a 45 to 70 metre-wide meteorite levelled 80 million trees in an 830- square mile area in Siberia. RELATED ARTICLES: Asteroid tracked by National Space Centre Leicester as it zips past Earth VIDEO: Footage captures Russia meteor blast which injures 500

More than 280 young people have been left without jobs and training courses after an organisation aimed at tackling youth unemployment collapsed.

Stride taught budding bricklayers, car mechanics, beauticians and shop workers from across Leicestershire.

Yesterday, 85 apprentices and 33 staff at the group were made redundant when it ceased operations after its bank account was frozen.

Another 200 students have seen their training courses come to an abrupt end.

It comes after Revenue and Customs officials launched a legal bid to retrieve £200,000 in unpaid taxes.

The move led to Stride's bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, freezing its accounts, leaving the group's directors with no alternative but to close it down.

Deputy city mayor Councillor Rory Palmer said: "This is nothing short of devastating for the city and for those people who are affected by it. Stride did a lot of important work in the city."

Coun Palmer, who visited the organisation's workshops in and around Belgrave Gate two weeks' ago, said: "I'm sure this is a decision and course of events which has caused heartache. We will, as a council, look at how we can support the apprentices in what is a very difficult situation."

The apprentices were due to be paid two weeks' wages yesterday, but didn't get their money. The £16,000 in outstanding payments will be covered by the Government over the next seven weeks. Stride apprentices were aged up to 24, with some of these owed wages of about £300.

Fraser Goodley, 18, of Beaumont Leys, who had been in the middle of a year-long NVQ brickwork apprenticeship, is owed £160.

"I am shocked," he said. "I was close to getting my qualification, now it looks like I'll have to start it again somewhere else.

"There were rumours that Stride wasn't going to be around for much longer. But our supervisor told us the construction side would not close because it made the most money.

"I had just booked to go on my first lads' holiday. I'm annoyed because they would have known before, that things were bad. But I'm lucky because I live with my parents. There are apprentices who are older who have their own places who were relying on their wages to pay for rent, bills and loans. They are in a mess."

Stride was set up in 2000 by city homelessness charity Sharp, which is unaffected by the closure. A sister business, property owner Leicester Social Economy Consortium, is also unaffected.

Stride, which also had 20 apprentices and seven staff in Nottingham, is due to go into liquidation on March 5.

Neil Money, of liquidators CBA, of Leicester, said the £200,000 of unpaid taxes was mainly related to employees' income tax and VAT.

He said Revenue and Customs had launched a winding-up petition.

David Brazier, who is a Stride director and chief executive of Sharp, said: "I suppose I'm annoyed, given the strong desire of governments to promote the training of young people, particularly disadvantaged young people. At a time of such high youth employment, the training we provide is needed more than ever. Public funding cuts, changes to Government financed training schemes and difficult economic conditions have all created problems for us.

"Stride grew rapidly to 2008 and invested in further expansion, unfortunately just before the credit crunch hit."

Building tycoon David Wilson, founder of David Wilson Homes and chairman of Ibstock construction company Davidsons Group, provided funding to Stride in 2009 after being impressed by its training schemes.

"It's a great shame," he said. "They did a fantastic job."

Are you an apprentice affected by the closure? If so call our newsdesk on 0116 222 4241.

Blue Badge guided walks around the city have sold out until March with hundreds of people eager to learn more about Richard III.

The Guildhall laid on another weekend of events as Plantagenet fever continues to grow since the University of Leicester announced remains found in a city car park were those of the king.

Queues stretched around the block on Saturday with families waiting to visit the exhibition on the king and the discovery of his body, and take part in activities laid on by staff.

Andy Simpson, project leader for the learning department at Leicester Museums, said: "It's been so busy. I've been in the job for about seven years and I've never seen it like this.

"I've been speaking to people who have lived in Leicester 60 or 70 years and they said it was the first time they'd been to the Guildhall.

"The Richard III discovery has really had a massive effect on our visitor numbers." About 60 youngsters got crafty and created medieval pennants and crowns, while guided tours of the city had to turn people away because they were full.

There are no more spaces available on these walks until next month.

The walks take people to a number of the sites associated with Richard III including the Bow Bridge, the Newarke, the site of the Blue Boar Inn, the Greyfriars site and the grave in New Street.

Full details of the Richard III story and related events are available at:

www.visitleicester.info/ richardIII

Sadly, the Premiership fixture computer once again managed to throw up what should have been one of the matches of the season during the Six Nations, although I suppose the money men will point to the fact that the Twickenham Stoop was sold out inspite of leading players being missing.

As it was, Tigers received back Manu Tuilagi, Toby Flood and Thomas Waldrom, while Harlequins, as it turned out most significantly of all, got Danny Care.

Many Tigers' fans would have secretly celebrated the absence of Nick Evans from the Harlequins line-up, but his replacement Ben Botica kicked his points, which was, in the end, all that was required.

While the Harlequins off-loading style is certainly easy on the eye, the Tigers' defence was impressive throughout.

Generally speaking, the pressure applied was equal to the attacking threat from Harlequins.

Equally, two tries in the plus column was a decent return, particularly the excellent effort by Adam Thompstone with a pleasing assist from Flood, whose clever chip through the defence revealed a little used string to the fly-half's bow.

Meanwhile, however, the Tigers complete inability to play Wayne Barnes, the referee, eventually lost the game to the kicking of Botica.

The damage wrought by the penalty count can't be overstated as attacking opportunities were lost at one end and points conceded at the other.

Difficult as it is, given Barnes' apparent position of pre-eminence in English refereeing, this has to be dealt with.

Next week will be key. I fear, given Saracens' excellent win against a decent Exeter team this week, that it may be confirmed that the Tigers are currently the third best team in the Premiership.

Three teenagers believed to be suffering from hypothermia had to be rescued from an island on a lake after they became trapped in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Emergency services were called at about 4am after the youngsters, who were camping on a small island in the middle of Charnwood water in Loughborough, were reported as being in distress.

The fire service said the group had gone camping at the secluded beauty spot but changed their minds and tried to make it back to shore in a kayak.

However, their boat capsized in the darkness and three of them swam back to the island.

A fourth youngster managed to get back to the car park and call for help.

The trapped campers made a fire to keep warm while they waited to be rescued.

Two crews from Loughborough and two technical rescue teams arrived at the scene, as well as paramedics.

They used an 8ft inflatable raft to cross over and bring the freezing teens back to safety.

The cold, wet youngsters were treated for suspected hypothermia by paramedics, but it is not clear whether they were taken to hospital.

Crew manager Mick Wallace, from Southern fire station, said: "It was a group of teenagers who had gone camping for the night and I think a couple of them, or all of them, decided it wasn't the weather and they wanted to come back.

"So they got in the boat but it capsized and they swam back to the island. They managed to get a campfire going to keep warm and then waited for the emergency services to arrive."

A number of residents saw the blue lights flashing yesterday morning as the crews prepared to mount their early morning rescue.

Others said they were not surprised to hear the news as crossing over to the island was a tradition which had been going on for years.

A lady who lives nearby said: "We used to swim out there when we were kids, so it doesn't surprise me that kids are still doing it. But I went out to feed the swans this morning and the water had a thin layer of ice over the top and stopped the swans from paddling towards me – so it must have been very cold last night."

Resident Beverly Smith, 55, said: "I was fast asleep unfortunately, so I missed it.

"But my kids – they're grown up now – used to do the same sort of thing all the time.

"It's just kids being kids isn't it – I hope they're okay."

Do you know who the rescued teenagers are? Call the Mercury's newsdesk on 0116 222 4241.

Angry Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill believed referee Wayne Barnes took "centre stage" in his side's narrow defeat at Harlequins.

Tigers got on the wrong side of Barnes' whistle early on and, a close game in terms of points scored, was far from close on the penalty count, which saw Leicester get hammered 15-6.

Cockerill was frustrated that his side's consistent infringing stopped them getting a foothold in the game and criticised Barnes' interpretation of the laws.

"I thought we were getting penalised for certain things and then I thought the opposition did the same thing but they weren't," he said. "Yet again, the officials take centre stage when we needed the referee to be a bit better.

"We'll now go through the appropriate channels to make sure that nobody gets told off. But it's too late after the game.

"Yet again it's the interpretation of the breakdown and us getting penalised and Harlequins not. I don't mind getting penalised, but only if both teams are getting penalised for the same things.

"There were a lot of offences for both sides, only we got penalised for them and they didn't.

"It was an horrendously one-sided penalty count considering the closeness of the game."

Cockerill's frustrations were exacerbated by the fact that his side had looked comfortable at half-time. Not only was a six-point buffer in place after tries from Toby Flood and Adam Thompstone had given Leicester an 18-12 lead, but they were stopping Quins make any healthy inroads into their own 22.

The high penalty count eventually caught up with Tigers, however, and Danny Care's brilliant individual score in the second half put Quins ahead for the first time as Tigers got more and more frustrated.

"Graham Kitchener ran our line-out well, Toby Flood was good at fly-half and he orchestrated the game well," said Cockerill.

"Across the board, we were pretty good and played some good stuff.

"The effort from the guys was great. It was a tight game and we lost. These things happen.

"We didn't quite take our opportunities to put pressure on them but it was a great try from Danny Care .

"We will take the point, re-group, and battle through this period. We will be up for the battle against Saracens next week and look forward to them coming to our nice, muddy pitch!"

Cockerill confirmed that centre Anthony Allen suffered no more than a "bump of his hip" in the second half as he was replaced by Matt Smith.

Yet again, these two sides lived up to billing of the best show in town.

This top-of-the-table clash between first and second in the Aviva Premiership was another game that was full of incident and talking points.

It ebbed and flowed one way and then the other. Yet, amidst all of the plaudits for the quality of action on show, Leicester lost their third straight game against the reigning champions.

Crucially, for Tigers, they now have to start finding a way of winning these games – and in a hurry.

There is every chance the two will meet again in post-season action.

Tigers cannot afford to be saying: "Could have, would have, should have" again.

As with most tight games between sides at the top of the pile, the odd moment of brilliance decides the contest.

That moment of brilliance came from Quins' scrum-half Danny Care.

Nine minutes into the second half and, with Leicester 18-12 up, the home side had started looking like they were running out of ideas on how to break down the visitors' defence, with just four Ben Botica kicks to their name.

Tigers were penalised 10 metres inside the Quins half. Care tapped and went in a flash as Leicester re-grouped and, by the time they realised what had happened, Care was wrong-footing Mat Tait to dive over the line.

It was a moment of wonderful opportunism at just the right time. Botica added the conversion and Quins led for the first time in the match at 19-18.

The try woke up a previously dormant sell-out crowd and they cheered and roared every decision that went Quins' way in the final half-an-hour.

Another Botica penalty on the hour made it 22-18 and, by now, Tigers had got completely on the wrong side of referee Wayne Barnes.

Barnes did himself no favours in trying to get on to the Tigers' fans Christmas card list.

In a tight game with little in it, Tigers lost the penalty count 15-6. One of the club's technical wizards also told me that the home side had only given away one penalty in defence all game. In 80 minutes of high-intensity rugby, that is a seriously good effort.

Barnes also asked the TMO not one, but three questions, to check he could award Adam Thompstone's superb try at the end of the first half.

As well as the usual: "Did he ground the ball okay?" He also asked if there has been an offside in the build up and if there been a knock-on several phases before the score. If he had asked whether Thompstone's shoe laces were properly tied up as he crossed the line, you wouldn't have been surprised.

Despite the penalty count being against them, Tigers hung in there late in the game.

The wonderful Graham Kitchener began stealing Quins' line-out ball with regularity and the visitors won a rare penalty on 70 minutes which Flood nailed to make the gap just a point at 22-21.

With seven minutes left, Care came offside at a scrum in front of his own posts and Barnes put his whistle to his mouth.

But the ball popped out and he waved 'play-on' instead of blowing for the penalty.

With two minutes left, Tigers were pinged in the scrum and Botica kicked his 20th point of the day to end proceedings and send Leicester home with just a losing bonus point.

Earlier on, in the first half, Tigers' defensive systems had worked wonders to chop down Quins' off-loading ambitions at source. Though they still gave away 12 points in penalties, Quins didn't look like scoring a try – while Tigers scored two of them.

Firstly, Flood's intercept try on five minutes gave them a stunning start, then Thompstone dotted down for his eighth of the season after a delicate grubber from Flood. At 18-12 going into half-time, Leicester looked well-placed – but things were to change.

As a politician he is often making the headlines and dividing opinions.

However, this weekend it was a video of a leather-clad Keith Vaz singing a Grease duet in a Leicester pub that has attracted the attention of people across the country.

The Leicester East MP warbled the words to You're The One That I Want in a karaoke sing-a-long with Councillor Barbara Potter at the Stirrup Cup pub, in Thurnby Lodge, on Friday night.

The Mercury filmed the performance, which was carried out in honour of campaigner Allan Gratrix, who was celebrating his 75th birthday.

It has since featured on the BBC Sunday Politics show, the Guido Fawkes' website and Radio Five Live.

Sunday Politics show presenter Andrew Neill described it as "a corker".

Thousands of people have viewed it on the Mercury's website.

Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth also said the footage was the talk of Whitehall.

The man who inspired it all, former Thurnby Lodge councillor Allan Gratrix, said he was humbled that Mr Vaz would go to the trouble of serenading him on his birthday.

He said: "It's not every day you have an MP singing to you on your birthday.

"I thought it was very nice – it was obviously tongue-in-cheek, but a lovely sentiment all the same."

Mr Vaz also sang the praises of the campaigner.

He said: "I've known Allan for about 28 years and he is exactly the kind of person you want, and need, in any community.

"The song was dedicated to him, because I know it's his favourite song. I hope I didn't ruin it for him too much."

Coun Potter said: "We're doing Abba next year. I know exactly who I'm going to ask to be the other two."

She then made Mr Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, shake on it.

The evening also included accolades from Allan's friends and relatives and he was presented with a number of cards and gifts before Mr Vaz hit the stage for a second time.

He joined members of the Forgotten Estates group, who recently protested about the use of a Scout hut, and belted out a version of the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton classic Islands in the Stream.

Jenny Cook, 70, from Humberstone, said: "I thought he'd be miming. He clearly wasn't miming though. It shows how much Allan means to him. Allan is a real pillar of the community."

One party-goer, who watched the performance from the bar, said: "I don't think Mr Vaz should give up his day job."

Allan's friend Joy Collier, 70, from Humberstone, said: "I've known Allan for a few years and he's a very hardworking person. It's nice of Keith Vaz to come and wish him a happy birthday – and in such a unique way."

Visitors to the Mercury's website had divided opinions on his performance.

Anobserver wrote: "He got up and showed he does have a fun side. Credit where credit is due."

While Carty2020 was less complimentary and said: "Vaz should act his age not his shoe size."

Leicester Tigers have agreed a deal to bring Northampton Saints' fly-half Ryan Lamb to the club next season.

Tigers went into the market after George Ford rejected the offer of a new deal last month.

I understand the club then spoke to Lamb's Saints' team-mate Stephen Myler about a possible move up the A6, but Northampton are understood to have upped their financial offer considerably to keep Myler at Franklin's Gardens.

Tigers then turned their attention to Lamb and I understand they have also spoken to former Tigers player Andy Goode as well, who is leaving Worcester at the end of the season, but is expected to go elsewhere.

With Lamb joining Dan Bowden next season to put pressure on Toby Flood, Tigers will not be short of fly-halves with flair and the ability to make something happen out of nothing.

While Lamb's arrival will not be to everyone's taste, there were eyebrows raised when Anthony Allen trod a similar path from Kingsholm to Welford Road four years ago.

The Tigers environment and coaching staff turned Allen into one of the first names on the team-sheet and they will be hoping that Aussie head coach Matt O'Connor will be able to get the very best out of Lamb, who is also a trustee of the Rugby For Heroes charity.

The 26-year-old spent his formative years playing, alongside Allen, for his home-town club, Gloucester.

Lamb made his debut at Kingsholm aged just 19 and, with him as the club's first-choice fly-half, Gloucester topped the Premiership table in 2006/07 and 2007/08.

He was part of the Cherry & Whites side that lost to Leicester in the 2007 final at Twickenham.

During the time he starred at Gloucester, Lamb's form earned him England recognition with both the England Under-21s and the Saxons.

He moved to London Irish and then Northampton in the summer of 2011 and, with a good fitness record, has been an almost ever-present in the Saints squad over the last two seasons.

He made 30 appearances last year, with 19 starts and he has already made 19 appearances this season, with seven of those coming off the bench.

Lamb's arrival does not necessarily mean the end of Tigers' spending to provide options in the No.10 shirt.

With Flood, Lamb, Bowden and incoming French half-back David Mele all around the same age, Tigers could yet turn their attentions to finding a young, promising fly-half to nurture over coming seasons.