Heart Wrenching

A British woman has adopted FOUR Tanzanian children she met after volunteering in an orphanage during a holiday aged 19 - and is now trying to get them to the UK. Claire Upshall was due to spend just seven weeks at an orphanage in 2009 but after endless nappies, night feeds and cuddles she fell in love with orphan Alfie, then one. Back in the UK, Claire, then 19, couldn't get him out of her mind and within weeks had...

A military wife is helping her daughter cope when her dad is away - with a special cuddly toy with his face on. Mum Natasha Balfe says the personalised doll designed to look like her partner helps both of them deal with his absence. Natasha developed a rare psychological condition after giving birth to baby girl Naomi, and struggled with caring for her when husband and RAF airman Jack was away. But the 25-year-old said the 'Huggable Heroes' helps them...

Two people arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving after a van ploughed through the front of a house killing an elderly woman have been released under investigation. Joan Woodier, 90, was in the front room of her home on a quiet street in Clevedon, North Somerset, when a Ford Transit van crashed into the house on Wednesday night. A woman aged 34 and a 33-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. They have now been...

Kevin McCarthy got down on one knee when he learned the love of his life, Mandy Lucitt, was suffering from incurable pancreatic cancer.

This touching tribute has been left at the spot where a homeless man died during the recent cold weather. Henryk Smolarz, 62, collapsed and died after other rough sleepers had called the emergency services when they became concerned for his welfare. Now, his friends have spelled 'rip Henryk' with small rocks on the footpath where he was found dead in Plymouth, Devon. The small memorial has been in place since the weekend, although it is likely council staff will soon...

The murder of a teenager who was shot in the face has "shocked the local community and the rest of London". Amaan Shakoor died in hospital after he was shot in the face on Easter Monday. The 16-year-old was gunned down outside a leisure centre next door to his school at around 10pm near his home in Walthamstow, east London. He was shot less than 30 minutes after 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne was gunned down three miles away in Tottenham, north...

A "well-loved" grandmother who died in north London dedicated her life to her children, her devastated family said. Ourania Lambrou, 80, was an "independent and strong willed" woman, they said as they paid tribute. She died on Tuesday, following an incident in Camden Road, north London on Saturday, which saw her shoved to the floor and bang her head. Ourania moved from the village of Kalavasos, in Cyprus, to London when she was aged 17 with her husband, who she...

A Filipino family is desperately trying to raise funds to pay for an operation to separate conjoined twin girls attached at the forehead. Twin girls Chiara and Charina Nortega are attached at the forehead and were born with craniopagus. The twins, who live in Roxas, in Palawan in the Philippines, live a painful and difficult life as all the activities they do - from bathing, to eating, and studying - have to be done together as they share an artery....

Vance McElhinney, 43, thought his parents were dead until a DNA test revealed his long lost mum - after 43 years.