The week in pictures
A selection of snapshots taken from the Express & Star across the last week.
Gangsters in Wolverhampton were forced to find a new local last week when the Waggon & Horses pub on Cannock Road was shut down by city licensing chiefs, due to the threat it posed to local residents. The pub not only offered gangsters drinks, but it also served as a venue for consuming hardcore drugs, riots, gun crime and knife crime. Local residents were overjoyed by the decision.nextpage
After being caught on CCTV scribbling his nickname 'Stryda' onto Wolverhampton's cenotaph, the 17-year-old youth appeared before the Wolverhampton Magistrates Court and was told to pay £110 in costs and compensation, and was sentenced to 40 hours of unpaid work. 'Stryda' claimed that he was 'gutted' at what he had done when he learned of the cenotaph's symbolism. Stone restorer Paul Brookes faced a race against time as he attempted to clean the graffiti using non-abrasive chemicals ahead of VJ commemorations. nextpage
Nearly 90,000 music lovers were turning up to Weston Park early last week in anticipation of the popular V Festival, in spite of the looming prospect of disappearing beneath a layer of wet mud. Victoria Webb and Jessica Plant, both aged 18, were among the first to arrive on Friday morning, with Ms. Plant looking to celebrate receiving her A-level results the day before.nextpage
As the price of scrap metal continues to soar all around the world, four friends thought they'd got lucky when they claimed to 'find' half a ton of mint-condition copper along a canal towpath. Their luck ran out when they were caught trying to strip the £2,500 haul to sell it on as scrap, and police were unconvinced by their story. They believed the half-ton of copper, still in its plastic wrapping, had been dumped there by children. Matthew Smith, Jason Mills, Adam Hartill and Wayne Bennett were each sentenced to a 12-month community order, ordered to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work, and pay £150 costs.nextpage
Staff at the Wolverhampton Civil Hall made the most bizarre typing error in recent memory when they mistakenly offered a 'Pizza Hut dress' on one of their promotional flyers. Leaflets advertising a scratchcard giveaway where pizza vouchers could be won, wrongly said one of the prizes was the Pizza Hut dress. Not wishing to disappoint their fans, bosses at the Civil Hall were forced to commission a one-off Pizza Hut dress, which was then up for grabs at Friday's Cheeky Monkey disco.
"We have no idea how such a bizarre typing error could have been made," Jonn Penney, Wolverhampton Civil Hall spokesman, said.nextpage
Mascots from Albion, Wolves and Walsall were preparing to embark on a six-day journey to all 92 English Premier League and Football League grounds last week to raise money for the County Air Ambulance and Cancer Research. They were inspired by the efforts of an air ambulance crew in trying to save Sophie Hill-Jones, a close friend and an Albion fan, after she was injured in a motorway accident on the M42 in May.nextpage
A devastating fire broke out last Tuesday at Birmingham's landmark TGI Friday's restaurant, causing traffic chaos and forcing residents to be evacuated. Seventy-five firefighters tackled the blaze, which is believed to have started in the kitchen at 6am and spread to the roof.
