The only British prime minister to be assassinated has been remembered as Parliament revived the spot near where he was shot.

Spencer Perceval is said to have uttered “Oh, I have been murdered” after he was gunned down by John Bellingham on May 11, 1812, in the lobby of the House of Commons while on his way to attend an inquiry into the recent Luddite riots.

Four patterned floor tiles thought to mark where Perceval fell were removed by workmen during recent renovations, leaving the historic event unmarked in the Palace of Westminster.

In another quirk of parliamentary history, North West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham is a descendant of the assassin. And House of Commons Speaker John Bercow insisted no grudges were held against Bellingham as he helped unveil a new plaque in St Stephen’s Hall, near the location thought to mark the spot of the assassination.

Emergency landing on same spot

A New York pilot has experienced ‘deja phew’.

The pilot, who made an emergency landing last week in the middle of a Long Island highway, did the exact same thing on Friday in almost exactly the same place.

Suffolk County police say a single-engine Challenger plane landed on the eastbound lanes of Sunrise Highway because of engine trouble. Pilot Frank Fierro had landed the same plane in almost the same place on July 10.

Bizarre reasons for pulling aside

Instances of illegal stopping on motorway hard shoulders include people picking flowers, renewing their insurance and even trying to sell their car.

One motorist pulled over after seeing ‘Fire’ on his dashboard display. It turned out to be the name of an Adele track he was listening to. On another occasion, traffic officers found two cars on the hard shoulder, with the owners halfway through the selling and buying process for one of the cars.

The list, from the Highways Agency, of bizarre reasons for stopping also included the case of a couple who, when asked if they had broken down, replied they were taking pictures of their newborn grandchild in their open-top sports car as it was “a lovely day”.

Wearing stolen items on Facebook

Police investigating the theft of clothing and jewellery from a southern Illinois boutique say they arrested a woman after she posted Facebook photos of herself wearing one of the stolen items.

Police arrested 27-year-old Danielle Saxton earlier this month on retail theft charges. Authorities say a distinctive leopard-print dress was among the items stolen on July 11 from Mortie’s Boutique in West Frankfort.

The store’s co-owner, Kert Williams, says he posted about the stolen items on Facebook and that people who saw Williams’s posting and those of Saxton made the connection and helped police.

Corpse mistaken for a mannequin

Two men hired to clean out a vacant Tampa Bay area house thought they found a mannequin hanging in the garage. They cut it down and hauled it to the local dump, where landfill workers realised it was actually a human body.

Hernando County Sheriff’s officials said the 33-year-old Spring Hill man apparently committed suicide several weeks ago and his body was in a “state of decomposition similar to mummification”.

Israel Lopez and Adam Hines told authorities they thought the former renters had left a ‘Halloween-like’ hoax. Lopez hauled the debris to the landfill while Hines continued cleaning. Landfill workers spotted the remains and called the police.

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