A family fled to a hotel after finding potentially dangerous spider eggs in a bunch of bananas.
Keith Hobbs and wife Laura left home with their four children after they were told it was probably the Brazilian wandering spider, which can have legs up to 15 centimetres long and kill with its venomous bite, in a cocoon in bananas at their home in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
The bananas were bought from an Aldi store in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and an Aldi spokesman said: “Following independent expert analysis, we can confirm that the eggs in question were totally harmless and not from the Brazilian wandering spider.”
Paralympic hopeful’s blade stolen
Thieves stole a running blade from an amputee whose dream is to compete for his country in the Paralympics next year.
Shane McLaughlin, 42, from Clones, Co Monaghan, says he has been walking the roads around the town since the early hours of yesterday morning in case the culprits may have thrown the carbon fibre prosthetic over a hedge.
The custom-made blade, one of only three in Ireland, was stolen from his car outside his home at Clonkeencole.
Repeat robbery from shoe store
A man who served time for robbing a shoe store is now headed back to prison for another robbery at the same New Jersey store – as the same clerk was behind the counter.
Christopher Miller was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The 41-year-old Bridgeton man had pleaded guilty earlier this year to robbery charges. Authorities say the March 2014 robbery in Toms River occurred the day after Miller had been released from prison after finishing his 15-year sentence for the first robbery.
Miller made off with $389 and fled on foot with the employees’ mobile phones. The clerk had been notified about his release and identified the robbery suspect as the same person who had robbed the store in 1999.
Highway covered in yellow paint
Yellow means slow on Interstate 68 in western Maryland, where crews had to clean up 6,500 gallons of spilled paint.
State police said the driver of a heavy goods vehicle was texting on a mobile phone when he lost control of the vehicle which overturned, causing plastic barrels of white and yellow paint to break apart.
Both westbound lanes were closed for nearly 12 hours, backing up traffic for up to two miles. Maryland State Highway Administration said one westbound lane was closed for three days during daylight hours for workers to scrape the road and replace the central barrier.
‘Stormtrooper’ outside a school
A Massachusetts man is facing charges after he was spotted outside a primary school dressed as a Star Wars stormtrooper, complete with fake gun.
George Cross said he had just bought the costume and was walking through the neighbourhood in the town of Lynn showing friends, but the principal of Brickett Elementary School in Lynn called 911 to report a man with a gun, and the school was briefly locked down.
A police spokesman said the way things are in today’s society, “you can’t have that”, and said the 40-year-old “used bad judgement”. Cross was released on bail after pleading not guilty to disturbing a school and loitering.