A Tory MP has apologised “unreservedly” for playing games on his iPad during a select committee hearing – as the Commons authorities launched a mole hunt for whoever caught him on camera.

Photographs published by The Sun showed Nigel Mills enjoying online hit Candy Crush Saga during a Work and Pensions Committee evidence session.

The Amber Valley MP, who has been issued with a tablet at the taxpayers’ expense, initially told the newspaper he would merely “try” not to be diverted by the game again.

Cake clause for Christian bakers

A bid to introduce a “conscience clause” into equality laws in Northern Ireland has been launched in the wake of a controversial legal action against a Christian baker.

Family run Ashers Bakers is facing a court battle over its decision to refuse to make a cake that carried a pro-gay marriage slogan.

Northern Ireland’s Equality Commission, which has taken the case against the Belfast-based business on behalf of the gay rights activist customer whose order was declined, has alleged the bakery’s stance was in breach of legislation.

‘Scum’ thieves steal from display

Thieves who were caught on CCTV brazenly stealing ornaments from a Christmas display which has raised thousands of pounds for charity and delighted scores of children have been branded “scum”.

Geoff and Tina Patchett, a retired couple from Redcar, Teesside, loved to deck out the front garden of their bungalow with moving lights, Santas and snowmen.

Children come from all around to take part in the display, which this year is raising money through donations for the RNLI.

New Jersey home deer-stalked

A householder in New Jersey acted quickly to deal with an intruder, but was surprised to then discover that her uninvited guest was a deer. Police say the animal burst through the front doors of the home in Galloway, darted through the residence and ransacked the master bathroom.

Officers received a 911 call from a woman reporting that a deer ran through her house while she was cooking. She followed the animal into the back of the house and locked it in a bathroom. Responding police found the glass on the storm door shattered, the main door damaged and the bathroom in disarray – but after a brief stand-off they escorted the deer from the home and released it into the wild.

Two-faced feline lives to 15

A cat with two faces defied the odds and lived to the age of 15.

The feline, named Frank and Louie, was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses and three blue eyes, and had already made it into the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records as the longest-surviving Janus cat, which are named after a Roman god with two faces but rarely survive for long.

His owner Marty Stevens, from North Grafton, Massachusetts, said Frank and Louie died last week, and vets believe the cause of death was cancer.

Flag thief pricked by conscience

A bicentennial American flag that was stolen nearly 40 years ago from a New Hampshire park has been returned by its remorseful thief.

The flag was stolen in 1976 while the Weston Observatory in Manchester was being repaired. It is believed that someone climbed the scaffolding and snatched the flag, causing an uproar in the community. But the flag was recently posted to the Manchester Historic Association from Arizona with a note of apology signed by “a flawed son of Manchester”. The thief wrote that he had regretted taking the flag for many years.