West Lothian 'beast' removed from home by police as protesters swarm houseRaging protesters turned up outside his propertyHooded James Neill is led into the back of a police van (Image: Awareness Protection Group)A West Lothian grandfather dubbed the 'Beast of Boghall' was removed from his home by police after protesters turned up outside his house following his conviction for abusing young girls. ‌James Neill, 82, was found guilty of abusing five school girls at Livingston Sheriff Court on Tuesday, March 17. ‌Raging protesters turned up outside his property on Tuesday night after finding out Neill had been released back into the community. Footage shows a member of the group confronting him at the door of his house, with the beast seen brandishing a weapon. After Neill pleaded not guilty the victims bravely gave evidence in court and described the catalogue of abuse he subjected them too.

Photograph: Alan BetsonPeople Before Profit TD Richard Boyd-Barrett said his personal experience of having been born in a mother and baby home informed his decision to oppose a proposed housing development at Bessborough, Co Cork. The protest was organised by Social Democrats’ Dublin city councillor Noelle Brown, a survivor of Bessborough, and a long-time campaigner on the issue of mother and baby homes. Campaigners stated that records show 923 children died in Bessborough between 1924 and 1994, but the graves of only 64 children are accounted for. Brown said the grounds of Bessborough amounted to a burial site and would be a “violation of those children’s rights to a respectful burial”. He said the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Bay Homes carried out a cartographic and landscape assessment of possible unrecorded burial arrangements in Bessborough and a site survey.

Michail Antonio has revealed he was left 'terrified' on his debut day for new club Al Sailiya due to bombings, as tensions continue to rise across the Middle East. His switch to Al Sailiya is a short-term deal, arranged after fellow Jamaica international Mason Holgate persuaded him to sign until the end of the season. The match between Al Sailiya and Al Shahaniya resumed shortly afterwards, with Antonio's side going on to clinch a 3-2 victory. Potter was later sacked a month after Antonio left West Ham, in September last year. He described how he had to 'swallow his ego' in an interview with BBC last year as he attempted to find a club after West Ham opted to let him leave.

A big overhaul of the State’s private rental rules came into force at the beginning of this month. Photograph: iStockEviction notices increased by a fifth last year, with 20,033 tenants told to leave their homes, new data from the national rental oversight body shows. Steen said eviction notices, though rising, represent a “small figure” in the overall context of the rental market, which grew last year by 2.5 per cent. “A small cohort of the small landlord group have decided they wish to exit [the market]. “The sector is changing,” he said, adding that a rise in private landlord tenancies can be attributed in part to new large landlord stock coming on stream in Dublin.

‌The news comes as a major boost to the Blue and Blacks, with the 19-year-old having been linked with a move to French giants La Rochelle. He also dotted down twice for Wales U20s in their recent Six Nations campaign. ‌Speaking about his new senior contract, Bowen said: “I’m really grateful to be able to re-sign with my home club. I have enjoyed every moment so far and I’m looking forward to what the future brings at Cardiff. He is a young, exciting player who is a big part of our future," said Cardiff coach Corniel van Zyl.

In one form or another, the Alexandrian Easter reckoning, endorsed by Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria in AD 418, was to play a dominant role. By the tenth century, after many twists and turns, the Alexandrian Easter table had been adopted throughout the western world. Around AD 457, the Roman church changed from their 84-year table, the Romana Supputatio, to the 532-year Easter table devised by Victorius of Aquitaine. Thus, far from being behind Rome, Patrick’s disciples in Ireland were far ahead, using a table that determined the Easter date in agreement with the Alexandrian table later adopted by the universal church. This conclusion is consistent with the assertion of the Venerable Bede, that the monks of southern Ireland had “long before learned to observe Easter according to canonical custom”.

Sir, - Alan Burns’s letter on retrofitting and overheating was timely and to the point (“Those who can afford to retrofit can also afford to overheat their homes,” Letters, March 17th). In fact, it points to a two-tier society among those of us who are lucky enough to own our houses. The first group have vans outside their homes, scaffolding around the walls and busy workers fitting insulating material. Then there are those of us, pensioners, who retired over 20 years ago. We haven’t a hope in hell of getting a loan for home retrofitting, regardless of the available grants.

“As a night nurse, I care predominantly for people at the end of their life,” says Rebecca Canty. “It is an extremely sad time of life and I provide nursing care for both the person who is dying and their family. “Nursing care is multidimensional ... so the goal of care is to support the personalised care and wishes of patients and families. “That time came on Friday, April 11th when the Daffodil angel, as I called her, walked into a house full of very sad people as we knew time was near and we would have to say our final goodbyes,” she says. “But we were reassured straight away – it was really special and meaningful when she came into the house in her navy jacket with a daffodil on it.

Photograph: Conor McCabeThere is a lot of hand-wringing about the Irish economy these days, be it infrastructure, housing or a perceived over-reliance on giant firms from overseas who could pull the plug whenever it suits them. John and Patrick Collison, whose payments firm Stripe is now valued at about $159 billion (€135 billion), have become more vocal about what they think the Irish economy needs. The research paper they commissioned from University of Galway’s Alan Ahearne, published on Thursday, is credible and urgent. That means tax incentives to attract more overseas workers here and boosting “entrepreneurial activity”. That would get more start-ups here and hopefully build big Irish companies as well as attracting the US giants of the day.

Sir, – Your correspondent David Traynor said that the money from Apple should be used to build a high-speed rail connection from Belfast via Dublin to Cork – an admirable idea but I fear he will be well out in the cost (March 17th). He thinks the €14 billion will complete the work, but that’s where I feel the scheme proposed falls down. Here in the UK the original HS2 was priced at £37.5 billion from London to both Manchester and Leeds. It is now reckoned that to Birmingham alone it will cost between £49 billion and £67 billion for a distance of 225km – half the length of his proposed scheme. He should return to the drawing board – particularly about the cost – and also take in the environmental assessments and their added costs.

Chris and Rose Murray built the 588sq m (6,220sq ft) house at Faughan Hill, Bohermeen, Navan, in 2006 despite being refused planning permission by Meath County Council. On Monday, Meath County Council took possession of the home. Crowds gathered on Wednesday night outside the house in anticipation that Meath County Council, through a private contractor, will begin demolition works. [ Gardaí unable to locate couple whose Meath home was built without permission, judge toldOpens in new window ]“We have had enough. I have a family of three and they are in bits.”Meath County Council first took legal action against the couple in 2007.

We have arse implants and double-basket air fryers but no cure for lice? I can’t prove it but I suspect, much like many other things, that it’s the patriarchy’s fault. “Super lice” have apparently evolved to be resistant to the conventional potions used to try to eradicate an infestation. Nothing says “nit nit hooray” like an extended photo shoot in close quarters. These places are hoovering lice out of heads, they’re locking in treatments with special caps, they’re examining the culprits under microscopes, they’re distracting children with multiple iPads.

Atletico Madrid won the tie inside the opening 15 minutes of the first leg in Spain when Igor Tudor’s team failed to handle the enormity of the occasion. They cracked under the pressure just as they had during a frenetic 20 minutes against Crystal Palace in the previous fixture. Perhaps there are those including Xavi Simons and Randal Kolo Muani who remain potent against opponents from overseas. Can they stand up and deliver in the Premier League? There is a vague balance, and Xavi Simons was influential for the first time playing off the left and drifting inside to find pockets of space rather than locked into a dedicated number 10 position.

European gas prices jumped by over 30 per cent as Donald Trump this morning threatened to 'massively blow up' a huge gas field in the Middle East amid fears of $200-a-barrel oil and and years-long economic impact. It followed an Israeli air strike on the world's largest natural gas field, South Pars in Iran, which accounts for about 70 per cent of the country's total gas production. A person familiar with the matter said earlier Wednesday that the US was informed about Israel's plans to strike the gas field but did not take part, however. Yesterday's attack on the Pars gas field is the first reported strike on Iranian energy infrastructure since the war began at the end of last month. <p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p>Join the debate How should Britain respond if soaring oil prices push the cost of living even higher?

Assessment of needs officers, which will now have the power to decide if a child does or does not have a disability, will not necessarily have any clinical training. Photograph: Getty ImagesDesk-based HSE administrators, who potentially have no clinical experience, will now have greater powers to decide if children seeking health and educational services are disabled. Concerns were raised at an Oireachtas committee on disability matters about the lack of clinical qualifications for assessment of needs officers. Late last year, the Government announced it was introducing sweeping reforms to try to cut long waits for assessments of need. A survey by the National Clinical Programme for People with Disability (NCPPD) of 22 assessment officers found that 59 per cent had a clinical background, with 36 per cent saying their background was in nursing.