We have a reporter on the way to the scene, so hope to have more information shortly.

The police presence appears to be in the Zion Terrace area, a small residential street between Blaydon and Winlaton, off Blaydon Bank.

Police and forensics officers are investigating after a man was found dead in a house in Winlaton.

The death is not believed to be suspicious, police have said.

A Northumbria Police spokeswoman added:

“We are on scene at an incident in Winlation, where one deceased male has been located in a property.

“It is not being treated as suspicious, but enquiries are ongoing.”

There has been a two-car crash on Scotswood road, opposite the Audi garage.

Two vehicles are involved in a ‘masty-looking crash’, according to a caller, who said there is heavy traffic as a result.

Archaeologists in Egypt say they have discovered a 4,400-year-old tomb near the pyramids outside Cairo.

Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry announced the discovery on Saturday and said the tomb is likely to have belonged to a high-ranking official known as Hetpet during the 5th Dynasty of ancient Egypt.

The tomb includes wall paintings depicting Hetpet observing different hunting and fishing scenes.

Mostafa Al-Waziri, leader of the archaeological mission, says the scenes depict a monkey - at the time commonly kept as domestic animals - reaping fruit and another dancing before an orchestra.

He believes Hetpet, a woman thought to be close to ancient Egyptian royals, had another tomb in Giza’s western necropolis, which is home to the tombs of top officials of Egypt’s Old Kingdom.

Mr Al-Waziri says excavation work is under way for the other tomb.

North East MP Sharon Hodgson moved the House of Commons to tears as she spoke about her stillborn daughter who would have celebrated her 20th birthday this year.

Mrs Hodgson said she rarely spoke about her daughter, Lucy but had done so now to highlight a quirk in the law that meant her daughter “officially did not exist”.

Because Lucy was born at 23.5 weeks, the pregnancy was officially classed as a miscarriage rather than a stillbirth. This meant there was no birth certificate and no death certificate.

Police, investigating a theft from a club in Newcastle, have released a CCTV image of a man they want to trace.

The incident happened on November 29, in the early hours of the morning, in Filthy’s, on the Bigg Market.

An offender entered the premises before stealing a pubwatch radio. He then fled the scene shortly after.

Officers are carrying out inquiries into the incident and are appealing for the man pictured to get in contact.

He was in the area at the time and may have information that could help.

Anyone with any information that could be useful, is asked to contact Northumbria Police on 101 quoting reference 149782M/17 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The first two women to have “three parent babies” have been selected after Newcastle fertility doctors were granted approval to give them the radical new treatment.

In March last year it was announced that the Newcastle Fertility Centre had been given the first licence to create a baby with three genetic parents.

And now their individual applications to carry out the mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) for two unnamed women have been approved.

The women will be the first in Britain to undergo the advanced IVF procedure, which was developed by Newcastle scientists to prevent children dying from genetic diseases.

Minutes from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA) approval committee say that the two women carry mutations in a gene that causes a rare condition known as myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibres, or Merrf syndrome.

Merrf syndrome is a neurodegenerative disorder that worsens over time and often results in an early death. It is usually diagnosed in childhood when people develop sudden spasms which progress to a loss of muscle control, weakness, deafness and dementia.

These images show just how Whitley Bay’s new sea defences are shaping up:

Work to refurbish Central Lower Promenade is three quarters complete and is on course to finish in the spring.

We were given a behind-the-scenes look of the construction site and saw at first hand what progress has been made.

The workers have completed the new sea wall - a job that was quite challenging. It involved the excavation of hundreds of tonnes of sand on a daily basis to allow construction of the base layers, digging holes over 5m deep in running sand, and working around tide times.

A Tyneside soldier has died at an army base in Iraq while on a mission to help fight Isis.

Captain Dean Sprouting’s death wasn’t the result of enemy action, but it is being investigated, the Ministry of Defence said.

The 46-year-old dad-of-two was serving with the Adjutant General’s Corps at the Al Asad air base when he was killed on January 31.

Cpt Sprouting, who was originally from Jarrow, South Tyneside, was serving with Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that the Royal Military Police were looking into his death, but that it wasn’t suspicious.

His death did not involve firearms, defence sources said.

Cpt Sprouting joined the army in 1989 and had served in Northern Yugoslavia, Cyprus and Kosovo, Sudan, Angola and Germany.

He was on a mission helping train Iraqi soldiers to fight Islamic State.

The former Hedworthfield Comprehensive School pupil was devoted to his wife and children. He had moved to Denny in Stirlingshire, Scotland, but leaves devastated family still living on Tyneside.

There are weather warnings in place tomorrow and monday, with forecasters predicting snow and ice in the region:

A department store worker was caught with his hand in the till as he diverted dodgy refunds to himself to bankroll his cocaine habit.

James McCaughey had dedicated his entire working life to House of Fraser and was a respected and trusted sales administration assistant at the Metrocentre.

But after developing an expensive drugs habit, he turned to stealing to pay off dealers.

Former Ukip leader Paul Nuttall will not face charges over claims he used an empty house as his official address on a by-election form.

Labour accused Mr Nuttall of pretending to live in the Potteries before last February’s by-election in Stoke-on-Trent Central, after he gave his address as a property in the Penkhull area of the city.

Staffordshire Police said in a statement:

“We have conducted a thorough and extensive investigation into allegations that false information had been supplied on the nomination form of Paul Nuttall.

“After full consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service a decision has been made that there is insufficient evidence that criminal offences had been committed.

“We take any allegations of electoral fraud very seriously and will continue to work closely with the Electoral Commission, and local authorities, to ensure we play our part to protect the integrity of the electoral process in Staffordshire.”

Although Parliamentary candidates are not required to be resident in the constituency where they are standing, it is an offence under the Representation of the People Act to knowingly provide false information on a nomination paper.

A pretty-gloomy day ahead, if the forecast is to be believed.

Here’s what the Met Office expect in the North East:

Cold with outbreaks of mostly light rain or sleet, and also hill snow, persisting for most of today, with a risk of icy stretches on untreated surfaces this morning.

Highest temperatures along the coast, as the light wind becomes onshore.

Maximum temperature 5 °C.

A trainee priest is behind bars after sending a picture of his genitals to what he thought was a 14-year-old boy, telling him he liked “sweaty teen lads” and turning up hoping to meet him for sex.

James Leigh was living with a Catholic priest in Newcastle as he trained to become a man of the cloth himself when he fell into illegal temptation online.

A court heard he made contact with a profile on Grindr which purported to be that of a 14-year-old boy but had in fact been set up by paedophile hunters.

Despite being told of the age of the fake boy, Leigh sent a message saying “Looking for young teen meet now”.

He then engaged in explicit chat, suggested sexual activity and arranged a meeting at GatesheadLeisure Centre.

The pervert then sent a picture of his penis, said he liked “sweaty teen lads” and turned up to meet the child for sex.

When he got there he was confronted by the group behind the profile, police turned up and he was arrested.

Now the 30-year-old has been jailed for 12 months at Newcastle Crown Court after admitting attempted grooming.

The North East has been revealed to be the prescription drug capital of the country by government health figures.

Published by NHS Digital, it showed an average of four prescriptions per head of population of potentially addictive drugs were issued by a doctor or dentist in parts of the region last year - nearly twice the national rate of 2.1.

In the Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group area, 1.15m prescription items were issued in an area with a 274,000 population. At an average of 4.2 per head of population, this was the highest figure in the country.

Meanwhile in the Sunderland CCG, a total of 1.13m items were prescribed to a population of 277,000 working out at four per head of population, the third highest number.

North Durham (3.6), North Tyneside (3.6), Newcastle/Gateshead (3.5), South Tyneside (3.5) and Northumberland (3.3) were all way above the average.

He has gained worldwide fame for making stunning models out of Babybel cheese wax - now Mitchell McLanaghan shows us just how he does it.

The 32-year-old, who has autism, has amassed hundreds of fans in America, Australia, Europe as well as the UK thanks to his skills.

He uses the red wrappers to create models of famous TV, film and cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Wallace and Gromit, Star Wars, Red Dwarf and Lord of the Rings.

He recently made a string of characters from Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats.

In this video, Mitchell, who lives near Newcastle city centre, shows us how he made a butterfly in less than six minutes.

He rolls the wax to make different models and the heat from his hands helps him to mould them into shape. He then uses small tools to carve the fine details.

Watch him in action here:

A train heading south from Edinburgh, through Newcastle, has been cancelled:

There have been house fires in South Shields and Walker this morning:

Hundreds of thousands of people are due a refund from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) after being overcharged when seeking a lasting power of attorney.

The MoJ has said the situation arose because the Office of the Public Guardian isn’t allowed to make a profit from carrying out this work - but failed to drop its prices after finding cheaper ways to grant powers of attorney.

Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at Old Mutual Wealth, said: “The Ministry of Justice is only supposed to charge enough to cover the cost of providing the service, but the large number of applications meant it made a £89 million surplus, which it now needs to repay.”

Old Mutual sent in a Freedom of Information request to find out how many people could be due a refund, and discovered 1.8million customers had been overcharged by up to £54.

Who is eligible?

Last-gasp talks to avert a strike on the Metro have been held between the RMT rail union and Nexus.

Union bosses have previously announced their intention to ballot members for industrial action over a pay dispute.

Metro workers have been classed as public sector employees since taxpayer-funded Nexus took over the running of the service from the German firm DB Regio in 2017.

That means staff are subject to the government’s 1% public sector pay cap but RMT members have voted to reject the pay deal.

Crunch talks between the two parties to resolve the matter before a decision on strike action is taken were held on February 1.

Micky Thompson, regional organiser for RMT, said:

“We held talks yesterday with the employer and they have put forward a revised offer.

“Talks were productive and our national executive will consider the new offer next week.”

A Nexus spokesperson said: “The talks have been constructive and we remain hopeful we can reach agreement without the need for any industrial action.”

In the wake of the criticism the club has released an official statement saying it felt a “small police presence would be necessary as a precaution”.

It said:

“The last thing Gateshead Football Club wants is for young supporters to be discouraged from supporting the team and enjoying their football at the International Stadium.

“However the situation created during Saturday’s victory against Maidstone put the club in a position where security was paramount.

“Northumbria Police assessed the risk and made what they felt were the necessary precautions in order to maintain a safe matchday environment.”

Read more

Gateshead Football Club have defended the “excessive” police presence at Tuesday night’s match after several fans were banned for “antagonising” stadium staff over the weekend.

The club were accused of “overkill” by supporters when around 30 officers were sent by Northumbria Police to cover a home crowd of just over 400 during Tuesday night’s draw against Wrexham.

The move followed an incident during last Saturday’s victory against Maidstone, where a small group of fans “threatened and antagonised” the stewards, according to a club spokesperson.

They said “around two” fans have now been banned from attending matches as a result of the trouble.

The spokesperson said: “In order to ensure the safety of the staff and the fans coming to the game, the club decided that a police presence was the best course of action.

“The police took control of that, they did a risk assessment and chose to have around 30 police at the stadium.”

The club spokesperson said they had “no control” over the numbers and were only expecting four or five officers to attend.

They added: “It got the fans’ backs up and they felt it was a bit of an overreaction because it was about a dozen or so fans on Saturday who were being a bit rowdy and antagonising the stadium staff.

“People were saying they were being told to ‘sit down and shut up’ by the police, although I personally didn’t see any evidence of it.”

They also confirmed that a smoke bomb was set off on the concourse after the match on Tuesday.

Bins near the home where a woman’s body was found are today being searched by police.

The newly-built detached home on Robson’s Way in Birtley, Gateshead remains cordoned off as murder investigations continue.

Firefighters were called to a blaze at the property at around 12.05am on Thursday.

After the fire, which is believed to have started in the loft of the three-storey house, was extinguished the woman’s body was found.

A 61-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody.

Robson’s Way, which is on an estate built in 2009, was today busy with police and firefighters as the investigation gathered pace.

Detectives carried out door-to-door inquiries as forensics officers worked inside the property, along with investigators from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service. Meanwhile police were searching through rubbish in nearby wheelie bins.

Read more here

Good morning and welcome to The Chronicle’s live breaking news blog.

We will be bringing you regular updates throughout the day of all the breaking news and sport throughout the day.

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