GUNNED DOWN: Gunner Anthony Abbot (20) of Windsor Avenue, Whitefield, died in Belfast after being gunned down by a Republican sniper. Anthony was two months into his second tour of Ulster with the 32 Light Regiment, Royal Artillery, when he and four others were hit by gunfire when their Land Rover was ambushed. Guyana-born Anthony, a former Whitefield Secondary Modern School pupil and one of 13 children, died from a chest wound.

LIVING OFF OTHERS: A man got away with a tray of diamond rings worth more than £5,000 in a daylight smash and grab raid on a Bury shop. The thief hurled a brick wrapped in cloth through the window of Vandor and Princz in Walmersley Road and snatched a purple and white tray containing 20 rings before making his escape in a Ford Cortina.

BRUSH WITH THE LAW: A burglar had a taste of petticoat power when he was caught red handed in a Bury house. While he was looking for easy pickings at the house in Parkhills Road he was suddenly confronted by an angry neighbour armed with a brush. Mrs Pauline Gorge was in no mood for sweeping the carpet so she whacked the intruder with the brush as he struggled to escape. When he finally broke free his troubles weren't over. For the owner of the house, Mrs Janet Heap, chased him a quarter of a mile before he disappeared.

CUT ABOVE THE REST: 16-year-old Debbie Irwin beat 86 other entrants to clinch the north west finals of a hairdressing competition. Debbie from Radcliffe Road, Bury, was to go on to represent the region in the national finals of the contest to be held at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in November.

NO GROUNDS FOR CLOSURE: The chairman of Bury FC hit back at a claim that Gigg Lane should be shut until crowd safety measures are carried out. Mr Bill Allen described as "unfair" a Police Federation allegation that Bury's ground was "a potential battlefield of missiles."