Crime dominated the headlines in the second part of 2003, as CHRIS TITLEY recalls in the concluding part of our review of the year.

JULY

Former council leader Rod Hills is found dead in a house in Chapeltown, Leeds, days after rejecting an offer to make him an Honorary Alderman of York.

Detectives investigate the death of Halifax builder Andrew Hickox, whose body was discovered in Low Friargate, York. He had been hit by a motor vehicle.

Three masked raiders shoot and wound Andrew Handley at his home, Drome Farm at Elvington. His 69-year-old dad Roy frightens the robbers off with his unloaded shotgun.

Three youths wrap a brother and sister aged six and four in wallpaper and tried to set them alight at Foxwood, York. Arsonists destroy a Costcutter store in Dunnington.

North Yorkshire motorcyclist and sidecar race team Andy Brown and John Dowling are killed in an accident on the Isle of Man.

Harrogate teenager Alex Foulkes, 17, dies after plunging into a river in the Italian Alps on a school trip.

The Archbishop of York speaks out against the "ignorance, bigotry and homophobia" exposed by a row over the proposed appointment of a gay bishop. Days later, gay human rights activist Peter Tatchell leads a protest at the General Synod in York.

York street artist Michael Todd, aka Michael Mime, is arrested in Iraq by US soldiers for "straying into a military operation".

In the year of his 25th York panto, "Dame" Berwick Kaler is made a Freeman of York. The Evening Press launches an appeal to save the Mystery Plays.

York security guard David Lambert is pulled over by police - for cycling too slowly.

Government weapons expert David Kelly is found dead just days after being named as the possible "mole" behind the story on "sexed up" Iraq intelligence. Two indecent assault charges against television presenter John Leslie are dropped.

AUGUST

It's hot, very hot: temperatures in York hit 90.1F. Fires on the North York Moors threaten to burn out of control.

Two young men are viciously beaten by thugs in an attack in New Earswick. Mugger Wayne Cooper knocks 72-year-old Acomb pensioner Eileen Smith to the ground as he snatches her handbag. She dies of her injuries and drug addict Cooper is later jailed for six-and-a-half years.

A two-year-old girl and her 36-year-old mum die in a house fire in Kingsway West, York. After a night out in York, a Pocklington man drowns in the River Ouse.

Staff at York Racecourse celebrate the news that it would host the Royal Ascot meeting in 2005. A report reveals flat-building had risen in York by 65 per cent.

BBC Radio FiveLive compares York's nightlife with that of Faliraki, the Rhodes resort favoured by British lager louts. A man is stabbed in a late night attack while waiting for a taxi on Blossom Street, York.

After an Evening Press investigation, a brothel in suburban Clifton Moor is closed.

A proposal to illuminate York's historic buildings at night is unveiled, as are plans for a £3 million footbridge over the Ouse.

The Red Arrows fly home at the start of their display after idiots invade their airspace at the Yorkshire Air Show, Elvington.

Staff at bus group First in York go on strike.

Alastair Campbell tells the Hutton Inquiry he had "no influence whatsoever" on the Iraq dossier's 45-minute claim.

A massive power failure blacks out American cities.

SEPTEMBER

A wretched record is set when a biker is killed, becoming the 24th motorcyclist to die on North Yorkshire roads this year. This is the worst annual toll ever, and gets worse before the year is out.

Conservationists celebrate as the Coppergate II scheme is thrown out. Property developer Nick Rampley-Sturgeon buys 130 York flats for £25 million.

A York businessman suffers a fractured skull after being attacked outside the Lowther pub. Gangs of drunken youths vandalise York market stalls. A Stillington villager is stabbed by an intruder in his home.

North Yorkshire Chief Constable Della Cannings declared there would be no hiding place for criminals. More tax rises and cuts are feared as City of York Council reveals a £1.9 million budget hole.

Julie Long says her late boyfriend Rod Hills saved her from a life of prostitution and drugs.

In Australia, Ian Douglas Previte appears in court for the first time, charged with York backpacker Caroline Stuttle's murder.

Scarborough county court judge David Messenger is convicted of criminal damage in a kebab shop.

Flirts wanted: a Harrogate firm advertises for staff to act as "honey traps", testing the fidelity of people's partners. A York sex shop situated opposite the Salvation Army wins the right to trade on Sundays. Nestl Rowntree launches KitKat Kubes.

Former boxing champion Frank Bruno is escorted to hospital by police after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

OCTOBER

Fireworks season opens, and it is bigger and louder than ever. Hooligans blow up wheelie bins and phone boxes across York.

A body of a man is found in Nunnery Lane car park. He had died of natural causes.

Robert Neilson of York is arrested on suspicion of drugs trafficking in Thailand. He is freed on bail when the charges are reduced.

A York motorist, ambushed by a gang of boys and girls, needs nine stitches after being struck on the head with an alcopop bottle.

Ninety-two-year-old Gertrude Wedgewood is assaulted and robbed by a masked man in her Acomb home, hours after having her bag snatched in the street.

Also in Acomb, Doug Unwin is scarred for life after being smashed on the head with a miniscooter by teenagers.

Ethan Wharton is cleared of the murder of York busker Anthony Grayson.

York firm Jarvis announces it is to withdraw from rail maintenance contracts. Veteran pilot Arthur Record from York tells of his great escape after the Cessna he was flying ditched in the Atlantic.

Whitby musician and York busker Alistair Griffin is pipped to the post in the final of BBC1's Fame Academy.

Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected Governor of California. Chancellor Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah have a baby son, John. Iain Duncan Smith is ousted as Tory leader.

David Blaine emerges from his Perspex box suspended next to the River Thames after 44 days without food.

Princes William and Harry accuse ex-butler Paul Burrell of betraying their late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, with his revelatory book about her life.

NOVEMBER

York psychotherapist Heather Stevenson-Snell is charged with the murder of a Lancashire man. Three young sisters die in a house fire in Goole; their funeral brings Pocklington to a standstill.

Disturbed girls as young as 13 are working as prostitutes in York, it is revealed.

Police launch a search for civil servant Peter Critchlow, who vanished after a night out. His body is recovered from the Ouse a month later.

Pub doorman Paul Garner is cleared of the murder of a retired racecourse worker outside Yates's Wine Lodge in April. A council proposal to ban traffic in St Leonard's Place in York draws a mixed reaction.

Owners of the Laurens Manor nursing home, Lawrence Street, York, announce it is to close within weeks, starting a search to find the elderly residents new homes by Christmas.

As the police and courts get tough on young offenders, persistent teenage troublemaker Stine Wilson is banned from York for two years.

University student Sam Ward sparks outrage by proposing to drop a mouse from the Central Hall on the York campus - to see if it would survive. He then calls off the stunt.

Fangfoss rocking horse maker Anthony Dew expresses disbelief that a Euro directive could outlaw the toy as too dangerous.

Michael Howard is confirmed as the new Tory leader. The Queen welcomes US President George Bush to Buckingham Palace on his state visit to Britain. Pop singer Michael Jackson is arrested on child abuse charges.

England win the Rugby World Cup with the last kick of the final.

DECEMBER

Shock greets the news of York's first double murder in living memory. Two partly decomposed bodies are discovered above a bakery in Gillygate. The men had been bludgeoned to death.

Former York psychiatrist Michael Haslam is jailed for a total of seven years for raping one woman and indecently assaulting two others.

A policeman is shot dead in Leeds. The prime suspect in the manhunt is revealed to have North Yorkshire links. York Railway Station is closed for nearly three hours after a flower seller spots someone matching the description. A man is later arrested in Northumbria.

Yobs hurl a gas bottle at a York bus, smashing the windscreen. Pupils performing their nativity play at a New Earswick school are showered with glass as a brick is thrown through a window. A man described as a "gentle giant" confronts a gang stealing a crate of beer from his garage, and is nearly kicked to death.

York police send out Christmas cards to suspected crooks, with the message: "Hoping that we can find time for you to join us". York shoplifter Jason Francis Smith is banned from 205 city shops.

The council doubles residents' parking fees, and extends night-time car park charges.

A wrangle over land ownership puts in doubt Holgate Rail Industries' plan to bring 250 rail maintenance jobs to the former Thrall site.

The notorious central reservation gap on the A64 at Bilbrough Top is finally closed after a long Evening Press campaign.

Days before Christmas, snow arrives. Twenty-four hours later it has gone.

Updated: 10:46 Wednesday, December 31, 2003