Weird News

A 60-year-old man has been jailed for harassing his sister after shooting her pet DONKEY with a hunting rifle. Darrel Duffill was previously caged for blasting the animal in the head at a smallholding in Cornwall. The 10-year-old donkey, named Claude, was found by his sister, Carolyn Jones, lying in a pool of blood in a stable. At the time, Duffill lived in a cabin on land close to the town of Looe and committed the offence, which is classed...

A woman says her local bus stop has become one of the most dangerous in Britain after being infested with venomous false widow spiders. Disabled Helen Day, 39, says she has seen at least five of them and fears more will arrive as they breed. (c) Martin Cooper The 50p-sized spiders - a cousin to the black widow - are identifiable by the distinct skull-like markings on their abdomen. They are Britain's most venomous species and deliver a painful bite...

A goose has taken to stepping out with a local running club as they jog around a park lake. A video - posted on Facebook by exercise group JP Fitness - shows the wild bird, nicknamed Graham, following a group of women. They jog around Helston boating lake in Cornwall and Graham enthusiastically waddles behind trying to keep pace. Jane Pett from JP Fitness said: "We were taking our runners for a workout around the lake and it swam over...

A man who was just one day from death after a month trapped in an underground chamber has spoken of his remarkable recovery. James Thompson, 51, defied the odds by surviving with no food or water for four weeks. He crawled into the man-made bricked hole deep in the woods for shelter when he was homeless and suffering from mental health problems. Izaak Eglington-Watts in the Plymbridge Woods in Devon, where he found James Thompson, who had been missing from...

The skulls of a man and woman from nearly a hundred years ago have been found in carrier bags in a quiet market town. Builders made the first discovery behind an empty Budgens store in Totnes, Devon. As they investigated it police found a second in a separate bag near the River Dart less than a mile away. Police say the skulls have been examined by specialist officers and are believed to be up to 100 years old. The woman's...

A humble garden snail has proved slow and steady wins the race - at this year's World Snail Racing Championships. Larry the snail beat his sluggish competitors to the finish line by covering the 13inch course in just two minutes and forty seven seconds. He pipped 134 other molluscs to the post but was just short of the two-minute world record held by snail Archie since 1996. T But Larry's achievement was beginner's luck after he entered the race for...

Taxi drivers have blasted a council after being told they cannot have more than two buttons undone on their shirts as part of a controversial new dress code. Transport chiefs in Stafford are set to implement the strict new rules which will mean cabbies will also be banned from wearing clothing printed with words or pictures. The new dress code has been branded "way over the top" by frustrated drivers left baffled that they cannot have buttons undone on their...

A cyclist who had her bike nicked played thieves at their own game when she set up a sting to steal it back. Jenni Morton-Humphreys, 30, planned a sting operation with a stranger and had her expensive German racing bike back within the space of 24 hours. She met a man on a street corner to 'test drive' the bike, but then sped off. She told police what she planned to do but they didn't help her with the sting...

The owner of a ferret sanctuary is furious that her land has been taken over - by DOGGERS. Fed-up Vicky Sherman, 31, says frisky strangers are regularly using her fields to meet for a public bonk - and she has had enough. She is now encountering trespassers on a daily basis - many of whom are sneaking in for what she describes as "fun time." But Vicky says she doesn't see the funny side of their saucy antics as she...