RATS which have reduced a hard-up mother to despair are her problem, says her landlord.

June Brown lives in Glamis Place, Hemel Hempstead, with her daughter and two sons – but rats have been plaguing her home, and the homes of two of June’s neighbours, for weeks now.

June said: “My neighbours and I have been infested.

“You can hear them scurrying about. They get on the side, eating my bread and other food. I can’t afford to feed them too!

“You can always hear scratching when you’re sat in the living room.”

Glamis Place sits next to the Nickey Line and woodland, which is likely to have contributed to the problem.

June spoke with her landlord housing association Hightown, who initially told her that she would need to speak to Dacorum Borough Council.

She said: “The council then told me that it was Hightown that needed to sort the problem out.

“When I went back to them I was told I’d need to pay £45 to have it sorted. I can’t afford to pay that.

“We keep the property clean and don’t invite them in.”

A spokesman for Hightown said: “Hightown’s tenants are responsible for pest control in and around their homes, as is clearly stated in our tenants’ handbook.

“Where a resident has a problem with rats, we advise them to remove any sources of food that might be attracting them.

“Where a number of properties are affected we encourage the community to work together to keep their neighbourhood clean and to employ the services of a professional pest controller.

“The homes in Glamis Place are close to the Nickey Line, so this advice is particularly relevant to them.

“In the meantime Hightown has arranged for contractors to visit some of the properties to block up any gaps where vermin might be able to enter the homes.”

THIEVES are targeting car parks in a popular dog walking area.

Berkhamsted Sgt Peter Huffer warns drivers to be on the lookout while parking in Ashridge, as many of its car parks are “shrouded from public view” by trees.

Police are dealing with one or two thefts a month in the area, with more occuring in the summer.

In the latest incident, off New Road, the side window of a Berkhamsted woman’s car was smashed by a crook, who stole her handbag. The victim, in her 60s, is “very shocked and upset”.

She had left her handbag, with her purse and petty cash in it, under a front seat, while walking her dog between 11.45am and 1pm on Sunday.

Police believe thieves may be watching the area to target drivers who leave valuables in their cars.

Sgt Huffer said: “This is a very unpleasant crime. These people are preying on vulnerable members of the public enjoying the National Trust land, and it is very sad that people behave this way.”

If you can help solve the latest theft, phone police on 101 quoting D2/12/552.

Sgt Huffer added: “This time of crime in this location has been occurring once or twice a month over a very large area.

“Police carry out regular patrols in the area to disrupt any would be thieves, including patrols by the safer neighbourhood teams and designated rural special constables.”

The sergeant urged visitors and dog walkers to leave all valuables at home, and where possible empty the car boot, and remove the parcel shelf, empty the glove box and leave it open to display to any would be thief that there is nothing in the vehicle to steal.

He said: “Invariably crimes of this nature only occur when there are valuable’s left in the car.

“The crime prevention message is clear.

“Do not leave valuables in the car, placing hand bags beneath seats does not secure them, as the thief may even be watching from a distance and will know that items have been left there.”

PLANS for a new Marks & Spencer Simply Food store in Berkhamsted have been called ‘woefully inadequate’ for their failure to provide enough parking.

The Berkhamsted High Street scheme – to replace its former Royal Mail sorting office – will only have 22 spaces.

David Steadman said: “Twenty-two spaces seems to me woefully inadequate and instead of helping the parking situation, I think it will exasbate it in that area.

“It was a grand opportunity for someone to address the parking problem by doing a deal with the developer and creating some sort of multistorey car park.

“And if M&S do not want to do that, they can go away and we will find another retailer.

“Sites like this in the centre of Berkhamsted come up so rarely, and when they do, someone should have a bit of imagination and not just accept the developer’s first proposal.”

They were submitted to Dacorum Borough Council by Metric Property after a public exhibition of the proposals earlier in the year.

Metric’s plans say that the firm has provided “as much parking as possible” and that the site has good links to public transport and much-used pedestrian areas.

The plans state: “It is envisaged that the majority of our customers will combine their visit with a trip to other parts of the town, and we therefore expect a minimal  effect on overall volumes of traffic.”

As well as the Marks & Spencer Simply Food store, the Berkhamsted High Street plans include room for two other units.

These could be either shops, bars, restaurants, cafes or ‘professional establishments’ – banks, employment agencies, estate agencies and other similar businesses.

Clem Constantine, director of property for M&S, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for M&S and we look forward to bringing a new modern Simply Food format to Berkhamsted.

“In partnership with Metric, we aim to deliver a high quality food offer to our customers as well as enhance the look and feel of this end of the High Street.”

The proposed opening hours are from 8am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 4pm on Sunday, and plans suggest the conversion would create 75 new jobs.

The plans are under public consultation – to have your say, visit www.dacorum.gov.uk/planning and search for reference 4/01211/12/MFA.

A decision is expected by the council’s development control committee in September.

Imagine what might have happened if Bruce Willis and his team of mismit heroes had failed to blow up the earth bound killer asteroid in that noted blockbuster Armageddon. The theme song playing in the background would be less ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ and more ‘Help! (I Need Somebody)’

I think most men, if asked which female they’d like to spend their last couple of weeks with, would probably include lissom lovely Keira Knightley in their top 10 list – when I got to interview her she was fun and savvy as well as sexy.

So when faced with the prospect of asteroid-related complete destruction, loser-in-love Dodge (Steve Carell) doesn’t complain too much when he finds himself on a road trip with kooky potential last chance love interest Penny (Knightley).

Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World is a odd mixture of romantic comedy and end-of-the-world-weep-em-up from Lorene ‘Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist’ Scafaria.

The film raises lots of ‘What would you do with your last few weeks?’ questions and has some fun showing various reactions to the oncoming extinction level event.

Most of the big laughs come from things like the deteriorating news coverage, which sees presenters swearing straight-faced to camera.

Dodge and Penny make for a nice enough odd couple with just enough chemistry to let viewers overlook their obvious disparity in age, attractiveness and lifestyle and knuckle down for an acceptably amusing end of days romp. The duo’s travels see them run into weird and wacky characters which including Penny’s needy ex-boyfriend, a depressed loner who mistakes Dodge for a hit-man he has ordered to kill him and a restaurant where the staff are keen to see out their last days in an orgy of hedonism.

There are moments of peril as rioting, looting and raping gangs rampage through the fast unraveling urban areas but overall the film isn’t trying to delve too deep into the dark heart of human nature.

The script and plotting are fine if not groundbreaking and the cast are all good – even if Carell gives me the inadvertent creeps when he’s not playing funny roles. Keira is gorgeous as ever – and less annoying than you might think as a free spirited goodtime girl.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is by no means a classic but it does offer a different take on the both the apocalypse and your average by-the-numbers rom-com.

The commercial tail wags the artistic dog with the casting of Twilight heart-throb Robert Pattinson in BEL AMI (15: Optimum).

In this decorous dramatisation of the oft-filmed French novel, Pattinson plays a former soldier on the make in Paris.

It’s believable that the young actor’s chiselled looks could lure a succession of influential aristos into bed as he climbs the social ladder to wealth and influence.And Twihards will no doubt be satisfied with a glimpse of his bare bottom.

But Pattinson lacks the range to convey the required mix of ambition, guile and duplicity.

As his lovers, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci do their best with an English-sounding script, but Budapest fails to convince as the French capital for exterior shots.

The film’s directors, Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, are founders of the Cheek By Jowl theatre company, yet they struggle to convert their stage experience into a convincing cinematic whole.

> Actor Dexter Fletcher makes a bleakly entertaining directorial debut with WILD BILL (15: Universal), in which family drama meets crime thriller on the streets of East London.

Bill (Charlie Creed-Miles) is released from an eight-year prison stretch and discovers his two sons fending for themselves in the family’s Newham council flat.

The feckless father’s first instinct is to scarper, but older boy Dean (Will Poulter) blackmails him into staying long enough to stop social services from taking the brothers into care.

The younger, Jimmy (Sammy Williams), is particularly vulnerable and badly needs a dad around.

Parental responsibility presents under-skilled Bill with quite a challenge as his former criminal associates are pressuring him to return to his old ways.

The film is held together by engaging performances from stalwart Creed-Miles and his junior co-stars, although it falters when it brings on unconvincing neighbourhood drug dealers in an attempt to increase tension.

In a cast somewhat over-stuffed with familiar faces, Andy Serkis is the worst offender as a hammy crime-lord.

Yet there’s plenty of heart elsewhere in the movie to keep us rooting for Bill and the boys.

> John Cusack stars in a noir-like tale of espionage and double-dealing set in 1940s SHANGHAI (15: Entertainment In Video).

Paul Soames (Cusack) is a US Naval Intellligence agent who travels to China to investigate the death of his friend Connor (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Posing as a journalist with pro-Nazi sentiments, he uses his charm and know-how to infiltrate the upper echelons of German society in the city and also get close to Germany’s new ally, Japan.

But Soames finds himself in over his head when he becomes involved with a local triad leader (Chow Yun-Fat) and his beautiful wife.

> STREETDANCE 2 (PG: Vertigo), the follow-up to the hit 2010 dance extravaganza, has exactly the same recipe as before, only played out on a slicker canvas.

Falk Hentschel stars as Ash, a freestyle dancer who combs Europe with Eddie (George Sampson) to find the best performers to win the Final Clash in Paris following an earlier humiliation by a rival crew.

Will his fusion of Latin and streetdance thrill the hip-hop brigade and can he learn to “share the moment” with hot salsa partner Eva (Sofia Boutella)?

Tom Conti, complete with dodgy accent, is cast as Eva’s protective uncle whose club doubles as the group’s rehearsal space.

But in this worthy successor, it’s once again the dancing that counts and this sure-fire crowd-pleaser delivers high-energy routines and great pop hits.

> Samuel L. Jackson and Luke Wilson team up in MEETING EVIL (15: Sony), a psychological thriller about a family man who is taken on a twisted and terrifying ride by a dangerous stranger.

John (Wilson) is on a downward trajectory in life. Mounting debts, marital secrets and a faltering career have left him disillusioned.

When the mysterious Richie (Jackson) turns up at his door asking for help getting his car started, John’s life suddenly gets a whole lot worse as he finds himself in the grip of a merciless psychopath. The timid family man will be forced to put his fear and self-doubt to one side if he’s to protect himself and those he loves.

> Talking of downward trajectories, Eddie Murphy’s career continues to head in the same direction in A THOUSAND WORDS (12: Paramount).

It will take me a lot fewer than that to describe this so-called comedy in which Murphy plays a consummate liar who gets his comeuppance. When a literary agent tries to pull a fast one on a spiritual guru, he’s placed under an elaborate curse and in his garden finds a special tree with exactly 1,000 leaves.

GERALD Ratner, the jewellery entrepreneur who bounced back after famously being less than complimentary about his own products, was the main speaker at a conference in Hemel Hempstead.

More than 100 people attended the UK’s first automatic door conference organised by Global Automatics, at Shendish Manor Hotel, in Apsley.

Global Automatics, based in Brickfield Industrial Estate, Finway Road, Hemel Hempstead, is a leader in the field.

Del Thomas, managing director of Global Automatics, said: “It was great to see such a high attendance of installers, some of whom were new to Global Automatics products. There was a real buzz at the conference and I feel sure that everyone gained and shared knowledge and business experience.

“We hope to meet everyone again at next year’s conference.”

MORE films and TV shows could be shot across the county if proposals to tighten up and simplify the closure of roads are passed.

Herts County Council wants to promote an Act of Parliament to make filming in Hertfordshire easier for film and TV companies.

It would enable temporary road closures for filming and to place filming equipment on the highway.

Cabinet member David Lloyd said: “Our county is already a popular choice for film and television production.

“Securing this bill would make us one of only two counties outside of London who are able to give permission so swiftly and would give us a competitive advantage in this multi-billion pound industry.

“Making the filming process easier in Hertfordshire will help us get even more economic and social benefits for all of our communities.”

A consultation on the bill is open until August 31 and can be found at www.hertsdirect.org/consultations

LOTTO winner Mark Myatt from Hemel Hempstead will be giving advice to new millionaires created at a special draw on the eve of the Olympics.

Mark, 42, from Leverstock Green, will be passing on the wisdom he has gained handling large sums of cash after hitting the jackpot in 2009.

Among the nuggets he will bestow are not to rush into major purchases, being flashy is not a requirement and to ‘live your dreams’.

Mark and his family still live in the same house they had before their £1 million win and they both go out to work, though they have splurged on two new Mercedes and a Porsche.

“We could’ve gone out and bought ourselves a nice place in the middle of nowhere with big gates at the front but as soon as you start doing that the money is gone,” the father-of-two said.

“A million pounds is a big sum of money but you have to be careful with it. That has to last you the rest of your life.”

Mark and his wife Trina have set up a property company, which often involves building work and repairs.

“I sometimes feel like the secret millionaire,” he said. “I dress like I have just come off a building site, covered in brick dust – never judge a book by its cover.”

Through Camelot social events Mark has met many other winners and regularly sees half a dozen people from the local area.

“Nobody fully gets it other than other winners,” he said.

The family still shops at Tesco but Mark has splashed out on a saxophone he has barely picked up and a marble bust of Napoleon. “I wanted to buy a full-sized Dalek but Trina wouldn’t let me,” he said. “I do like shoes. Every time I go out I come back with a new pair of trainers.

“Sometimes when I’m driving in the Porsche with Spandau Ballet on I just go ‘Yes!’ You think: ‘It doesn’t get much better than this’.”

DRIVERS attending a charity run feel it was not in the ‘spirit of the event’ when many were hit with parking tickets.

Trish Woodgate, of Walnut Grove, Hemel Hempstead, was fined along with 23 other drivers when parking for the Race for Life event in Verulamiam Park in St Albans.

She took part in the event on Sunday along with her six-year-old daughter Keira and mother Pat Harris.

Organisers had said a field would be used for extra event parking, but this was ruled out due to the wet weather.

With a lack of space many drivers parked on the verge in Bluehouse Hill, near the park. Many were then hit with £35 penalty fines.

Trish’s husband Gerald said: “We’re not questioning the legality of ticketing the cars there, but I feel it was the wrong approach at such a busy charity event. I don’t think it was in the spirit of things.”

Head of legal services at St Albans City & District Council Mile Lovelady said : “There is never a good time to start enforcement action, and we are sorry that some of the people who parked there were taking part in the Race for Life.

“However, if we are serious about deterring parking in Bluehouse Hill, and we are for good reasons, then we have to treat everyone fairly.

“A total of 24 penalty charges were issued on Bluehouse Hill on Sunday.Drivers who have received a penalty notice and believe they should not have to pay it, should contact the council.”

MORE pet snakes are escaping from their owners as the weather hots up, the RSPCA has warned.

Animal welfare officer Kate Wright has been called out to deal with about seven escaped snakes in Herts in the last month alone.

She said: “The warn weather tends to make them more active if they are out and about. But they are friendly, they are not vicious – and they are usually escaped pets.”

One of her latest call-outs was to deal with a domestic corn snake that was found near a block of flats in Northchurch on Thursday, June 28. The person who found it had steered it into a box and trapped it.

Mrs Wright said: “It could have been abandoned by its owner, but they are quite good at escaping.”

She added that corn snakes are good at removing container lids if they are not closed properly. Adult corn snakes grow to about five feet.

If you find what may be an escaped snake, do not touch it, but ring the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

A SPECIALIST Japanese car club is holding a new show this weekend on Bovingdon Airfield.

Being held on Sunday from 10am to 4pm, the show is being hosted by the Jap School Car Club and is open to all makes and models.

Activities and entertainment on the day will include car club displays, traders from car companies, a barbecue, and bouncy castle.

Entry is £8 per car on the gate.

To find out more information visit www.japschool.co.uk

A VILLAGE pub’s business networking group attracted 30 people to its monthly meeting in June.

The Queens Head, in Tring Road, Long Marston, will be holding the next QH Networking meeting from 10am to 12noon on Tuesday, July 31.

The group, run by the pub’s Jon and Beckie Reeves, is open to all trades or professions and people are welcome to arrive and leave when they want.

There is a £3 charge for coffee, tea and biscuits.

The pub is making a virtue of its location on the county borders of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire and is marketing the informal gathering as an event to meet both new and existing contacts.

The pub, which has a website as well as the QH Networking group on Facebook and also a Twitter feed, asks people to confirm their attendance by calling Jon or Beckie on 01296 668368.

WAITING at a bus stop and wondering whether the bus will even turn up will soon be a thing of the past.

Herts County Council is set to roll out ‘real time’ bus information in Hemel Hempstead at the beginning of next year so that bus passengers can track where their buses are on a mobile phone app.

It follows an investment from the local sustainable transport fund.

This is good news for the passengers who were left waiting 45 minutes at a Grovehill bus stop last Monday for a bus that was supposed to travel about every 10 minutes into the town centre.

It was the third time passengers had been stranded for more than 30 minutes and it also caused a backlog of passengers, which meant the driver had to ask some people to wait for the next bus to arrive because his bus was full.

Arriva spokesman Linsey Frostick said: “The main cause is at school peak times, especially in the morning, when inconsiderately parked cars block routes and roads and make it difficult for our buses to get through.

“We are currently monitoring the situation and will be writing to schools to encourage them to ask parents to ensure roads are not blocked during the morning school run too.

“Herts County Council is investing in real time information. It will give us much more information to be able to plan peak journeys better.”

It will use a vehicle location system in conjunction with the bus timetable to calculate where the buses are and display the information on an electronic board at the bus stop and on the Intalink mobile phone app.

The council has already been working with Centrebus, Metroline and Uno on real time devices to be in shelters by the end of summer.

HERTS Raptors kept alive their hopes of reaching the post-season playoffs with a last-gasp win over an experienced Old Timers team from Enfield.

With Old Timers leading for most of the game, it took a spirited response from Herts to drag themselves back into the contest, and the Grovehill Ballpark outfit eventually snatched the win late on.

The Raptors now go into the final two games of the season knowing that two wins will give tham a chance of being involved in the post-season play.

Herts started the game well against the Old Timers, with Berkhamsted’s Zack Longboy putting in a good stint on the mound.

Ken Pike then stepped up to the plate and picked up his first of an excellent six hits, before Gilberto Medina cracked his first home run of the season.

However, the Old Timers began to work their way into the game in the second innings, and put up five runs to take the lead.

The Enfield side maintained their advantage as the game went on, but Herts dug deep to launch their late fightback.

Pike and Medina again led the way as Herts fired in seven runs to take a two-run lead into the top of the ninth inning.

The pressure was then on Jake Caress to close out the game and he did not disappoint as Herts secured the unlikely victory.

AN ALCOHOLIC who attacked a pub landlord, smashing up glasses and pool cues and using racist abuse, has been jailed for seven months.

Bald headed John Dell, 51, claimed he was ‘trained to kill’ as he attacked landlord Lyndon Bedford at the Cow Roast Inn, St Albans Crown Court was told on Tuesday.

He had flown into a rage when Mr Bedford spoke to him because he was frightening a young teenage boy he was playing pool against.

Simon Wilshire, prosecuting, said: “He was in the pool room talking about his time in prison. A young teenager was playing and the defendant made comments trying to put off the people playing.

“The teenager played Mr Dell who was saying things like: ‘I was in the army. I have killed lots of people. I have shot Taliban right in the head.”

The boy became frightened and told Mr Bedford, but when the landlord went to speak to Dell he smashed a pool cue on the table.

Mr Wilshire said: “Mr Bedford was kicked, kneed and punched. Mr Dell broke half a dozen pool cues, brandished a chair and smashed glasses.”

He also swore and used racist insults, the court heard.

The police were called and Dell struggled, damaging the head rest of the police car seat.

He was put in a police cell and smeared excrement on the wall, said Mr Wilshire.

When questioned by officers he made no comment.

Dell of Springfield, Gossoms End, Berkhamsted pleaded guilty to common assault, racially aggravated harassment, two charges of criminal damage and obstructing a constable.

He had 15 convictions for 55 offences, and he was in breach of a two month suspended jail sentence imposed in March last year for damaging property and possessing an offensive weapon.

Dell had smashed up a table with an axe at the Lamb pub in Berkhamsted in July 2010 and had been given the suspended sentence.

He was ordered to carry out 40 hours’ unpaid work after breaching that sentence on December 6 last year after a disturbance in the Nationwide Building Society when he swore at a cashier and a woman customer who had told him to calm down when he could not get money out.

Nermine Abdel Sayed, defending, said Dell had served 14 months of the suspended sentence and had co-operated on an anger replacement therapy programme and a Thinking Skills course.

The judge, Recorder Leslie Cuthbert, said: “He may have co-operated but it hasn’t done much good.”

Ms Sayed said Dell expressed “regret and remorse” and apologised in open court for letting people down who had tried to help him.

She said he was an alcoholic who had been sober for 16 months before going to the pub in Tring.

On that night he had been upset that he had been unable to see his daughter.

She said his offending had only started at the age of 42 when he had lost his job and his marriage had broken down.

When he is released from custody she said he had a job working for a firm that trains HGV drivers.

Jailing him, Recorder Cuthbert said he had behaved “like a lout and a yob.” He ordered him to pay £150 compensation.

FIREFIGHTERS are warning people not to leave their dishwashers on when they go out or go to bed after a family escaped a kitchen fire last night (Tuesday).

A woman and her two children were able to get out of their Warners End home safely because they were woken up by their smoke alarm when the fire took hold at 11.30pm.

There was an electrical fault inside the dishwasher that had been left on and it caused a fire to spread through the kitchen, damaging the work tops.

The family were already out of the property by the time fire crews from Hemel Hempstead arrived at the house in Robe End.

The householders had followed instructions from a home fire safety check that had been done earlier this year.

Firefighters used breathing apparatus while tackling the blaze.

For more information on home fire safely checks call 0800 587 3347 or book online at www.hertsdirect.org/fire

IT’S your last chance to have a say on sweeping changes to children’s education.

Herts County Council agreed on Monday to proceed to the next stage of plans to switch Berkhamsted’s schooling from a three to a two-tier system.

If passed, the plans – which carry an estimated cost of £9.6m for the education authority – could be in place by September next year for some schools.

Ashlyns head James Shapland said: “This is a good thing for the education system in Berkhamsted and its long-term future. I am very pleased.”

The idea was originally mooted as a way to solve a severe shortage of reception school places in the town.

Earlier this year, everyone in the area was asked to vote for or against the change, and whether it should be chosen over a plan to build a new first school.

During the 12-week consultation, 81 per cent of respondents – including all 10 schools in the area – backed the tier change.

Rachel Swaffield, headteacher at Bridgewater Middle School in Bridle Way, Berkhamsted, said: “I think now the results have come in, we need to get on with it.”

The change will create 78 new reception places if it is given the go-ahead at a meeting in September.

People who live in Berkhamsted have until then to make their final submissions on whether or not the plans should go ahead.

Mr Shapland said: “I do not think there’s ever a done deal in life on these kind of things. Until the fat lady sings, we should not expect anything.”

The change would free up government funding for his school, as well as allowing his larger building to help plug the gap in spaces for students.

Frances Button, council cabinet member for education and skills, said: “This is a really important time for schools in Berkhamsted and we are pleased to be supporting this schools-led initiative.

“I appreciate that this will bring a period of change for some families in the area, and the transition arrangements will be very carefully managed.

“Looking ahead, I am confident the right decision has been made for the future of education in Berkhamsted.”

Extra classrooms will be built at St Mary’s C of E First School in Northchurch and Potten End C of E First School for two extra year groups under the plans.

Bridgewater Middle School headteacher Rachel Swaffield said the two-tier system would make it easier for Ofsted inspectors to rate schools.

She said it would also make it easier to recruit staff, who prefer to work in the three-tier schools that operate throughout most of the country.

She said if there were no other factors involved, she would prefer the three-tier schooling system.

But she added: “We are now hoping to have a school within a school to keep that ethos of caring, knowing every child very well and having a very strong community spirit.”

A STUDENT texted his friend to say he was sorry a minute before running into the path of an oncoming car, an inquest heard.

Herts Coroner’s Court was told Craig Burns, 18, of Keats Close in Hemel Hempstead, was seen in a dark hoodie waiting at a bus stop on the A4147 and then sprinting into the road.

Driver Gary Joslyn, who had been to the cinema at Jarman Park with a young boy, said in a statement read to the court: “As we drew closer the male stepped forward into the layby. All of a sudden the male started to run towards my car. He had his arms outstretched. I clearly remember seeing him. He seemed to relax and there was a big bang.”

In the text sent to his friend Max, who he had stayed with the night before, Craig said: “I’m so sorry. There is a note under my mattress.”

Coroner Edward Thomas said: “They looked under the mattress and found a note. He was very complementary about his family and complementary about his friends and happy times he had had with all of them and so sorry for what he was going to do.”

Reading from the note he said: “None of you have done anything wrong. You have only done what’s right.”

The court was told a witness saw Craig at the bus stop at the junction with Beechtree Lane just before 5pm on February 15, dressed in dark clothes.

The West Herts College student, who worked part-time at Marks and Spencer in St Albans, was then seen ‘leaning slightly back and then running at a sprint’ towards Mr Joslyn’s Citreon C3.

“There was nothing the driver could do, it was instantaneous,” Mr Thomas said.

In the two weeks prior to his death Craig had ‘talked a lot about memories and past events’ and days before he was ‘a bit down’.

At 4.54pm he sent the text to Max and at 4.55pm the collision took place.

Mr Thomas, recording a verdict of suicide, said: “His note is detailed about his love for his family, his love for his friends, his feeling that he wishes to take his own life, but really nothing explaining to us deeply, why, which I think is sad because he gave a lot to people.”

HIP-shaking volunteers are needed to strut their stuff in next year’s Strictly Learn Dancing fundraiser.

A total of 20 couples will learn the rumba and quickstep before taking to the stage in front of a live audience.

It raises money for the Hospice of St Francis with lessons starting on January 16 and the grand finale on February 23.

Email fran.martin@stfrancis.org.uk to find out more.

EIGHT teams took to the court as men and women battled it out at Falcons Netball Club’s charity fundraiser.

The mixed tournament was held to raise money for Iain Rennie Grove House Hospice, with some funds also going to the club. More than £400 was accumulated over the course of the event.

The final saw the mixed Storm netball team – made up mostly of Hemel Storm basketballers – take on reigning champions D’n’L, the all-male boys’ team. It was a very close game, with the fifth and decisive goal scored from a penalty by Storm in the last 10 seconds of the match.

Goal attack Laura Dent didn’t let the pressure get to her as she kept her cool to hand Storm the title.

Players and spectators then headed to tournament sponsor, the George & Dragon pub in Northchurch, for a raffle and barbecue.

Falcons’ Felicity Beardshaw said: “Falcons would like to thank everyone who played and supported us.

“Big thanks go to BerkoFest, Zen Hair, Lucy’s Beauty, Zumba with Laura, LD Therapy and the Rex cinema, who all donated raffle prizes.”