Behind the headlines

Foot and mouth

Every farmer in the land shuddered when they heard that foot-and-mouth disease had been confirmed in a pig at an Essex abattoir in February. They hoped for the best. They got the worst.

The distance the infected animal had travelled, combined with a slow response from the Government, meant that dozens of cases of foot-and-mouth were being reported across Britain. Soon great swathes of the countryside were closed off, and the emptiness echoed to the crack of gunfire as animals, many of them healthy, were slaughtered.

North Yorkshire's farmers prayed they might escape. But the virulent virus was not to be kept at bay: by March, 1,000 cattle were being burned on a pyre at Denby Wiske, near Northallerton.

It was heartbreaking for farmers. They, at least were financially compensated; the rural tourist trade, also devastated, received less help.

Tony Blair came to York to publicise the fact that Britain was still open for business. But the £24 million aid package for North Yorkshire announced in May was pitiful: tourism was losing £75 million a month.

Mr Blair eventually postponed the election until June because of the outbreak - heeding the advice of the Archbishop of York. By the end of the year, 5.7 million animals had been destroyed and the outbreak had cost £2.7 billion.

City life

York was rebranded in 2001, with a new logo and slogan: "Living the history". Some things didn't change: the row over the future development of Coppergate rumbled on. In April it was announced a public inquiry would be held into its future. A new scheme for the site, the Castle Quarter, was unveiled in July.

It was the end of an era as hardware store FR Stubbs moved out of Fossgate after more than 100 years.

Other developments in the pipeline included the "teardrop" housing and business centre behind the railway station; business and science parks at Monks Cross; and a £20 million new stand for the racecourse.

After months of delays, the Millennium Bridge was opened by the Duke of York in April, and very splendid it looks too.

Fears were expressed over the peacock population, which went AWOL from Museum Gardens.

The council put the Barbican Centre up for sale.

Car dealership DC Cook went under, but carriage makers Thrall Europa secured a massive order.

The Japanese bullet train completed a tortuously slow road journey to the National Railway Museum.

Crime

York and North Yorkshire are still very safe places to live. It's just that in 2001 it didn't feel that way.

Detectives had to investigate several murders. At first, they thought David Williamson's head injuries might have been caused by an accident. But the 58-year-old man had been bludgeoned to death on a road between Huby and Sutton-on-the-Forest.

The case remains unsolved, despite DNA testing of local men and a Crimewatch reconstruction.

Four people have appeared in court charged with the murder of Michael Brolly, fatally stabbed in a York street in September. Another stab victim was Andy Campbell, who died outside his Selby home after being attacked in August.

The strangest death must be that of an Oriental woman, found bound and gagged in a suitcase which was dumped in a lane near Askham Richard.

A shooting at a traveller's wedding at James Street, York, in May very nearly became another murder inquiry. And a teenager has been charged with the attempted murder of Edwin Hopper, 70, savagely beaten in his Acomb home.

Other violent incidents investigated by North Yorkshire police this year included a rape, serious sexual assaults, a York street siege, the abduction of a five-year-old girl, a number of armed raids and several muggings. Victims included a 72-year-old blind woman whose handbag and white cane were stolen, and a woman mugged by a ten-year-old boy.

Drugs loomed large, with drugs deaths in Walmgate, and a haul of cannabis worth £75,000 discovered at Nestl Rowntree.

Jewels were stolen from York Minster in February, and a man admitted daubing graffiti on the Minster in August.

It was a better year for North Yorkshire police's image however. Although Keith Hardy claimed he had been hounded out of York by racist police in January, Chief Constable David Kenworthy later won a diversity award for the force, partly after helping sex-swap cop Sgt Nicola Lamb and one other transsexual officer back to their duties.

York landlord Geoffrey Laverack was jailed for defrauding tens of thousands of pounds from the taxpayer.

Nationally, a couple were jailed for life for murdering eight-year-old Anna Climbie. The same sentence awaited unemployed loner Barry George, found guilty of murdering television presenter Jill Dando.

Self-styled pop mogul Jonathan King was jailed for seven years in November for sex attacks on teenage boys.

Millionaire novelist Lord Archer was jailed for four years after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice and perjury at the Old Bailey.

Former Tory MP Neil Hamilton and wife Christine were arrested following allegations of serious sexual assault. Christine dismissed it as "nonsense on stilts". The charges were later dropped.

Detectives launched an inquiry into an edition of ITV's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Scotland Yard's special inquiry team were called in after army major Charles Ingram, 38, from Upavon, Wilts, won £1 million.

James Bulger's killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, were granted their freedom by the Parole Board.

English tourist Peter Falconio was feared dead after he and his girlfriend Joanne Lees were ambushed by a gunman in the Australian outback. Lees managed to escape.

Riot police battled to control violent clashes between white and Asian youths in Oldham.

Weather

YorK experienced more flooding in February, but nothing on the scale of the previous autumn. The after-effects of that disaster saw many people still unable to return to their homes. In January, the city honoured the soldiers who laboured so magnificently to prevent worse flood damage by granting the 2 Signal Regiment Freedom of the City.

Planet York was launched, an energy-saving initiative which sees York taking a leading role in the battle against global warming.

After snow in spring, York enjoyed a July heatwave, attracting record crowds and even a streaker at the races. For ten-year-old York girl Charlotte Shipley a sunny day at the seaside ended in agony when a she was bitten by an adder.

And a "meteorite" that fell from the sky to leave a sizzling hole in a York pavement turned out to be a fault with an underground electricity cable.

People

VICAR of Copmanthorpe Eric Lomax quit after having an affair with a parishioner. Retired engineer Peter Craven credited a diet rich in tomatoes and faith in God for beating cancer.

Devoted waitress Jean Barton, who has waited on customers at the Black Swan, Helmsley, for 43 years, received an MBE.

John Shannon announced his retirement as chairman of the York Civic Trust.

Even after clocking up 75 years working in York tailors Andersons, 88-year-old Jim Boyes said he had no intention of resigning.

Football stars, family and friends paid tribute to York-born Sheffield Wednesday player Thomas Staniforth, who died, aged 20.

Friends and family raised thousands of pounds to bring home Norton man Bernard Earnshaw after he suffered terrible burns in a barbecue accident on holiday in Portugal.

British couple Alan and Judith Kilshaw were at the centre of a transatlantic feud over the adoption of baby twins that they bought over the internet.

Updated: 10:28 Thursday, December 27, 2001