Car fuel tanks across York were drilled into by thieves out to steal petrol: police condemned the practice as ‘extremely dangerous’.

John Church and his tenyear- old son Jak had a miraculous escape when they were trapped in the cabin of their burning river cruiser while spending the night moored at Acaster Malbis. Mr Church later told how he punched a hole in a Perspex hatch so the pair could get out.

Hundreds of marchers paraded through York in a show of support for the campaign to kick homophobia out of sport. And North Yorkshire businessman Guy Brudenell, who swindled friends out of more than £1 million when he ran into financial difficulties, was jailed for more than five years.

The Press launched a campaign to ‘Save The NRM’ after it emerged it was one of three museums in the north run by the Science Museum Group that would ‘almost certainly’ close if threatened funding cuts went ahead. Thousands of people backed the campaign. In the event, none of the museums (the NRM, the National Media Museum in Bradford or Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry) were shut because the funding cuts were less severe than feared.

Look North presenter Harry Gration celebrated after receiving the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. And the discovery of Great Crested Newts at the site of a Monks Cross shopping development had the ‘knock on’ effect of causing delays to York’s community stadium project, which would now not be ready until 2016, council bosses said.

Primark announced it hoped to come to York’s Coppergate. And cyclists rode through the centre of the city wearing nothing but their birthday suits in the annual naked bike ride.

Police urged civic-minded citizens to shop drink-drivers by text message; and The Press carried a photo of a tiny baby hedgehog that Annette Pyrah, of Selby Wildlife Rescue, said had been saved thanks to the generosity of Press readers and others who donated hundreds of pounds for a heated box to rear young animals.

Stonemasons announced they were carving a new figure of St Peter for York Minster; and the Red Arrows staged a spectacular aerial display above Scarborough as part of Armed Forces Day.


In national and international news...

...The Queen marked the 60th anniversary of her coronation with a service at Westminster Abbey – where she had been crowned in 1953, at the age of 27. She was accompanuied at the service by Prince Philip, her children and grandchildren Killer Dale Cregan began a life sentence for the brutal murders of policewomen Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone; veteran broadcaster Stuart Hall was jailed for 15 months after admitting 14 counts of indecent assault against girls as young as nine; and whistleblower Edward Snowden vanished after failing to catch the Cuban-bound flight he was due to leave Moscow on.

Snowdon leaked classified US National Security Agency (NSA) documents to the Guardian and other media outlets which revealed details of a global telephone and internet surveillance network operated by the NSA and other organizations including GCHQ.

Moors murderer Ian Brady was told he would remain a patient at a maximum security hospital, after failing in his bid to be transferred to a jail instead. Sopranos star James Gandolfini and trainer Henry Cecil died.


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