A new £20,000 reward is being offered for any information that leads to the arrest of Thomas Dures.
Police have wanted to speak to the 20-year-old ever since the fatal stabbing of Matthew Daulby, who died last July.
The Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner’s office has now decided to match the £10,000 reward offered up by Crimestoppers, meaning anyone who provides information leading to the arrest of Thomas Dures could claim a huge £20,000 reward.
In a statement released this week, officers said that it is ‘high time he does the right thing and hands himself in’.
They also stressed that whoever is ‘assisting him in evading arrest’ will also face the courts.
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Matthew Daulby, 19, was found a short distance away from an ongoing disturbance at Railway Road in Ormskirk at around 12.05am on 29 July 2023.
He was found with stab injuries and despite the efforts of the emergency services, died in hospital as a result of his injuries.
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In March, Henry Houghton, 19, was jailed for life after being found guilty of Matthew’s murder.
But officers still want to speak to Thomas Dures as part of their enquiries into his death.
DCI Andy Fallows, of the Force Major Investigation Team, said: “It has now been over 12 months since Matthew’s murder and although one man has been found guilty, his family’s wait for justice goes on.
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“Thomas Dures has known that my officers have wanted to speak to him for some time and while Matthew’s family continue to search for answers about what happened that night, Dures is out there about to celebrate his 21st birthday. It is high time he does the right thing and hands himself in.
“We know that people are assisting him in evading arrest. I want to make it clear to those people that we will ensure they are arrested and put before the courts.”
Clive Grunshaw, Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire said: “My decision to match the Crimestoppers reward to £20,000 makes clear Lancashire Constabulary’s commitment to deliver justice for Matthew Daulby’s family.
“We know that sometimes it’s difficult for people to go to the police about what they know – and that can be for a range of reasons including fear of intimidation or loyalties. Matthew’s family, together with the wider community, deserve to know what happened.”
The new, combined £20,000 reward is only available to people who pass on information exclusively to the charity Crimestoppers, either via their website or by calling 0800 555 111.
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If you know the location of Thomas Dures call 101, quoting log 1007 of July 29, 2023. For immediate sightings call 999.
The hearing over Manchester City’s 115 FFP charges will officially start next week
Danny Jones
After more than a year of speculation as to when proceedings will finally start, it has been confirmed that the hearing regarding Manchester City and their 115 FFP charges is set to begin next week.
Man City were first slapped with the laundry list of alleged breaches of FFP (financial fair play) and failure to comply with Premier League rules on profit and sustainability (PSR) back in February 2023, but little movement on the case has been reported since then.
In that time, they also won the coveted Treble and their record-breaking fourth league title in a row; meanwhile, the club have continued to deny all claims of rule-breaking.
However, it has now been revealed that City‘s hearing will now kick off on Monday, 16 September.
BREAKING: The hearing over Manchester City's 115 charges will start on Monday 🚨 pic.twitter.com/9ujOCryVMF
As explained in various reports, given the extended nature of the claims made against the Manchester side, it is estimated that the case could run on for up to two months if not longer.
Furthermore, it is thought a decision isn’t expected to arrive until spring 2025 – again, this is simply due to the number of charges brought up over the best part of a decade.
In case you need a refresher, the allegations levelled at Man City date back to 2009 and concern a supposed nine years of financial irregularities, as well as subverting UEFA FFP rules.
Some of the accusations made against them also include failing to cooperate with the European football body and the Premier League, as well as offering ‘secret contracts’ so as to pay one particular manager a larger sum than what they recorded in their financial statements.
The final verdict, whenever it is reached, will be handed down by an independent commission and City will still be able to make an official appeal.
It goes without saying that were they to be found guilty, it would be the biggest financial scandal in English football history and could be seismic for the future of money in the sport and regulations surrounding ownership, which have already grown tighter following the charges being issued.
And in case you needed a more detailed refresher on what exactly they are being tried for and what the possibilities are regarding punishment if found guilty, here’s a quick rundown:
Featured Images — Arne Müseler (via Wikimedia Commons)
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The NHS found to be in a ‘critical condition’ following an independent investigation
Emily Sergeant
A landmark independent investigation has found the NHS to be in a ‘critical condition’, it has been revealed.
Lord Ara Darzi – who is an independent peer and practising surgeon, with 30 years’ experience in the NHS – was commissioned to write a report that will inform the Government’s 10-year plan to reform the nation’s health service.
He examined more than 600 pieces of analysis from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England, and external organisations during his investigation.
70 organisations were brought together in an ‘Expert Reference Group’ during the investigation, while Lord Darzi also sought input from NHS staff and patients through a number of focus groups and frontline visits.
Overall, his probe concluded that the service is in a “critical condition”.
NEW: @ImperialNHS Professor Lord Darzi has published his independent investigation into the state of the NHS.
This report will inform the government’s 10-year plan to fix our broken NHS.
The report particularly highlighted surging waiting lists, and a deterioration in the nation’s underlying health, as well as identifying “serious and widespread problems” for people accessing its services.
“Although I have worked in the NHS for more than 30 years, I have been shocked by what I have found during this investigation,” Lord Darzi admitted.
“My colleagues in the NHS are working harder than ever, but our productivity has fallen.
“We get caught up frantically trying to find beds that have been axed, or using IT that is outdated, or trying to work out how to get things done because operational processes are overwhelmed.
“It sucks the joy from our work – we became clinicians to help patients get better, not to go into battle with a broken system. We need to rebalance the system towards care in the community, rather than adding more and more staff to hospitals.”
Lord Darzi declared that the NHS is now “an open book”, and added that the Government needs to have a “more honest conversation” about performance.
"I've worked in the NHS for more than 30 years, but I've been shocked by what I've found during this investigation."
Despite the damning analysis, Lord Darzi did insist that the NHS’s vital signs “remain strong” and he praised staff for their “shared passion and determination to make the NHS better for our patients”.
In response to Lord Darzi’s investigation and the publishing of the report, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the scale of the damage done to the NHS revealed by the report is “unforgivable” and that “major surgery” is needed to reform the service “not sticking plaster solutions”.
“People have every right to be angry,” the Prime Minister said.
“It’s not just because the NHS is so personal to all of us, it’s because some of these failings are life and death. Take the waiting times in A&E. That’s not just a source of fear and anxiet, it’s leading to avoidable deaths.
Daisy Jackson -
20th August 2024 
