There were reports of further gunshots being fired from the car

There were reports of further gunshots being fired from the car.Loveridge was on remand at Bullingdon prison in Oxfordshire, for conspiracy to burgle, and Hurley had been detained at Reading Young Offenders’ Institute, on charges of burglary. They are believed to have been accused of breaking into a commercial property.A police source said: “Considering their ages of 19 and 22, they have got good connections in the criminal underworld.”The injured police officer was treated for at the scene by an ambulance crew and did not need hospital treatment.Thames Valley Police described the gang as dangerous and reckless. Superintendent Brian Langston said the “shocking and disproportionate” raid had been more suited to the streets of New York then Slough.A review of court security was under way. Security in the court room has been privatised and is run by Premier Custodial Group, which promised an internal inquiry into the incident.A recent report by The Magistrates’ Courts Inspectorate also raised concerns over security and highlighted the lack of communication between agencies involved in the transport and treatment of prisoners.The extraction of the prisoners happened so swiftly that the accounts of eyewitness conflicted with each other.Richard Wareham, who was waiting outside the court when the raid took place, said he was terrified and “hid in a corner” as the armed gang burst out of the courtroom. “I had heard the gunfire go off, there was shouting and then two prisoners ran out followed by the others.”I really didn’t want to look at them because there were guns and I didn’t want to get involved They were in dark uniform People say they were dressed in security guards’ uniform. They were in and out in seconds.”Rosetta Duva, 22, who works in The Snack Bar cafe near the magistrates court, said the father of the defendant who remained in court, visited the cafe after the incident: “He said his son was actually in the dock, but laid down on the floor when the men came in,” she said “Another customer was also in the court at the time. She said the two men burst into the court shouting and that it all happened very quickly.”Ricky Loveridge’s uncle called for his nephew to return to police custody.

“It’s upsetting, obviously, and I wish he would come back and get himself sorted out and give himself up,” said his uncle, who declined to be named.David Cook, the finance director of Premier Custodial Group, said: “This is a terrible incident. We are responsible for custody in the dock and the protection of prisoners in the dock. We are not in charge of the court complex.”A police spokesman said: “The courts are currently shut while a full forensic examination by scenes of crime officers takes place. Police are searching Slough and the surrounding areas for all the people involved in the incident.”* Police arrested a man on suspicion of being “unlawfully at large” on Thursday evening The 22-year-old is being questioned by Thames Valley Police. The Millennium Dome has been given a further £43m of lottery money to save it from bankruptcy.

The Millennium Dome has been given a further £43m of lottery money to save it from bankruptcy.
The loan has been paid by the Millennium Commission on the strict condition that it be repaid in full by the Dome’s operators, the New Millennium Experience Company, when it receives £53m from the sale of the site in Greenwich, south-east London, later this year.It is the third emergency grant that NMEC has received in recent months and takes to £132m the amount of lottery funding needed since February to avoid closure.The Opposition reacted angrily to news of the loan and demanded the resignation of Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Cabinet Office minister responsible, whose handling of the Dome was criticised earlier this week by a cross-party committee of MPs. Peter Ainsworth, the Tories’ culture, media and sports spokesman, said: “I’m frankly sick to death of this project, with the demands it is making on money which could be spent on any number of good causes I would say Lord Falconer should resign. This is a disgrace.”Despite assurances from the Millennium Commission and NMEC that up to £30m of the emergency grants of £60m agreed in February and £29m agreed in May would be repaid, it is understood that the commission has written off the money.The Dome has needed £538m of lottery money, compared with the £399m originally planned in 1997.The commission justified the latest loan yesterday by stating that it was simply allowing NMEC to “draw forward” part of the £53m it will receive when Dome Europe hands over £105m for the site later this year.. Hardcore drink drivers could be forced to take road safety courses and meet the families of victims killed by motorists over the limit. Hardcore drink drivers could be forced to take road safety courses and meet the families of victims killed by motorists over the limit.
The measures are in Home Office plans to tackle alcohol-related violence. These include banning people from having opened bottles or cans of drink in public, closing pubs and clubs where violence is frequent and possibly giving fixed-penalty fines to drunken louts.Although there has been gradual fall in the number of motorists who drink and drive, ministers and police are concerned about a core of offenders who ignore all warnings.The Home Office is expected to propose forcing all motorists caught over the limit to take a rehabilitation safety course. Several police forcesoffer the programme, for which drivers can volunteer in return for having fewer points off their licence or being banned.The course teaches the dangers of being in charge of a vehicle while over the limit, and can include talks by relatives of people killed by drunk drivers about their bereavement.