Conservative candidate Tony Hogg was elected to the post in November in a major change in police governance which Ministers said would usher in a new era of accountability.

But Mr Hogg, a former Royal Navy commander from Helston, West Cornwall, has come under fire from a member of his own scrutiny panel for the costs of employing external workers.

Cornwall Councillor Alex Folkes, a member of the police and crime panel charged with holding Mr Hogg to account, said the bill was "quite incredible".

"Whilst other commissioners have appointed deputies on £60,000 salaries, our local commissioner has instead spent even more on consultants," Coun Folkes said.

"These have included 'advisors on organisational change' and 'strategic human resources services' despite the very limited amount of change in staff compared to the old police authority.

"In total, the amount spent in the six months since November is £235,925.62.

"Of course, Cornwall Council is not a paragon of virtue when it comes to spending on consultants and agency staff.

"But the new administration has already set in motion a programme to cut these amounts and, where possible, transfer agency staff who are working for the authority on roles that will always be needed on to cheaper full-time contracts. Our spending in this area is going down.

"Like the council, I can understand that the police commissioner might well need agency staff or expert outside advice from consultants from time to time. But these amounts – in just six months – are quite incredible."

Mr Hogg replaced the former police authority which was made up of councillors from local authorities as well as independent members.

All eyes are on whether Mr Hogg's office costs more to run. The annual bill for the authority was about £2 million. Details of all the spending on consultants have been published on his website. They include a monthly payment of £1,660 to his advisor Jan Stanhope, a former member of the police authority.

Sue Howl, chief executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), said: "We are completely transparent about our spending and the cost of consultants and agency staff has been published for public viewing on our website.

"Our budgets have also been subject to examination by our scrutiny body, the police and crime panel, since November 2012. The transition between police authority and OPCC has involved a great deal of new policy and governance work and it was only right and proper that we brought in, for a limited time, people with specific expertise in some areas.

"While we do not have the resources, or need, to create full time roles at this level, the processes needing to be put in place so that the police and crime commissioner could fulfil his statutory duties, required extra capacity in the period before the election and into 2013."

She added: "We are conscious of making considered and efficient use of resources, and not increase costs significantly from the police authority spending. However the OPCC has a much wider remit and we must be realistic about some of the costs involved for the commissioner to perform his duties effectively."

TEENAGERS on a computer games development course are to launch their own game for Android phones – that will see the hero as a janitor battling his way out of a possessed Penwith College.

Pandora's Mop features the adventures of an unlucky janitor at the St Clare site after he has accidentally opened the fabled Pandora's Box.

The project was the idea of lecturer David Atkinson-Beaumont who wanted his BTEC diploma students to create a real game to give them the best chance of getting a job after college.

He said: "The game is completely original. It's the kind of development you'd expect of first year university students.

"The only thing the students have not done is the programming because that's not part of the course, so I've done that, but they have created all the characters, the animation and storyline, and the posters and marketing and the invites for the launch."

The 3-D game will be launched on June 26 and will then be sold on the Google Play online store for Android smartphones.

The game follows the adventures of an unlucky janitor who accidentally opens the legendary Pandora's Box in Penwith College and must battle through the college to save the day.

Each of the students was placed in a development team and given the responsibility of designing the enemies and environments for one of the college's signature buildings.

David said: "For the hair and beauty building they created a lake of leg wax, for the music building there are lots of punks and graffiti and there's also a gym full of dumb-bells that need vaulting and a science faculty with giant Bunsen burners.

"I'm really chuffed to bits with what they've achieved. They've worked really hard and created a fantastic project.

"This will go on their CVs, it's got their names all over it, so they knew it had to be good, it will go with them into their professional careers.

"To our knowledge this is the first time a level 3 games group has collaboratively designed and produced a full game in the UK."

Pandora's Mop will be launched next Wednesday, June 26 at 2.30pm in the Zennor lecture theatre.

FAMILIES who suffered "appalling" noise from diggers and motorbikes day and night during the construction of a motocross track nearby said they were relieved their ordeal had ended.

Neighbours of Tretheague Farm on the outskirts of Stithians, which include elderly people and young children, had to put up with the noise from 6am to midnight over the course of a month.

"The noise was difficult to describe – it just went right through you," said Dominic Penrose, who lives on the adjacent land with his wife, Nicola.

He and other residents filed a formal complaint to Cornwall Council, claiming it went against planning rules related to the use of the land.

"It was driving everybody absolutely mad. It really was appalling."

Vanessa van Dinther said that she, her husband and three young sons also suffered from the "pure headache material" and "incessant noise".

She said: "You would have thought the boys would be excited by the bikes, but they complained whenever it started up. They were not happy."

She said residents in the village more than quarter of a mile away could hear the noise.

Mr Penrose alleged the activity was in breach of planning laws as the use of the land had changed from agriculture to engineering without proper permission.

He approached the council's planning department and gathered support from the community, police, environmental health officers and a councillor.

Following a letter from the environmental health department at Cornwall Council – the land owners had all but stopped work on the land. By the time the council installed noise detection equipment, the diggers and motorbikes had vanished.

"It was a concerted effort by the public and council to stop this," said Mr Penrose.

"For a while we were really quite depressed that little could be done quickly to stop this activity.

"I think everybody was breathing a sigh of relief but keeping their fingers crossed that it does not start again."

Mrs van Dinther said the land was dug up, holes were knocked through Cornish hedges and orange plastic fencing was put up.

"It is still an eyesore, it is still in our view," she said. "We hope the land is soon sold and it returns to lovely farmland."

Cornwall councillor for Lanner and Stithians, John Thomas, MBE, who helped Mr Penrose, said: "This is something which people should not have to put up with. We were prepared to go further – fortunately there was no need. This is a good outcome for the residents up there and the result of good teamwork."

BUSINESSES in St Ives have voted overwhelmingly in support of plans to create a Business Improvement District for the town.

A launch event of the St Ives BID Steering Group at the Western Hotel attracted representatives of the retail, food and drink, accommodation and professional services sectors in the town.

The steering group said the event ended with many previously undecided business- owners now backing the BID.

The steering group, with assistance from Cornwall Council, will now start a nine-month research and consultation process ending with a postal ballot in April.

A BID would levy a contribution from each business in the centre of the town which would then be spent improving the town and creating initiatives and promotions to attract more business.

Guest Richard Wilcox, the Falmouth BID manager, told the event how the BID had enabled Falmouth to promote its own identity and increase its footfall through a detailed list of projects.

Paul Ford said: "I think now that businesses realise how the BID funds can be used in the town to help develop their own success there are many more now expressing a real enthusiasm for the programme.

"What was really pleasing was the number of previously undecided delegates who, after the meeting was completed, have now expressed full support for St Ives BID and that they fully understand and appreciate the many practical ways and benefits that BID funds can be used in the town."

The BID team has pledged to working alongside other groups and town trade organisations, as well as with St Ives Town Council.

Rachael Gaunt, director of PBWC architects, said: "A BID for St Ives offers a great opportunity for local businesses to pool resources towards the improvement and promotion of our beautiful town."

Danny Strickland, from Little Leaf, said: "It was particularly interesting to hear about what Falmouth had done with their BID money and how it was now directly affecting business in the town.

"It's hard to ignore figures like a 7.5 per cent increase in footfall and revenue, and inspiring to see townspeople take charge of their own environment and make such positive changes.

"We already have such an amazing town, it's exciting to think what we could do in St Ives to make it even better."

The consultation process has started with businesses being asked to complete a survey, and members of the steering group will visit businesses over the next few weeks.

Cornwall Council officers will then help analyse the survey feedback and assist in the production of a BID newsletter, which will be distributed in September 2013.

Further feedback and comment from businesses will inform the production of a draft proposal in November, ready for the final version which will list all the ideas, events, initiatives and actions that St Ives BID would take forward.

THE FORMER chairman of Camborne Royal British Legion has accused a troubled community centre of underhand tactics.

It follows a row over a noticeboard that was removed from outside the Donald Thomas Centre (DTC) for repairs but never replaced.

Ted Williams, 80, who has recently stepped down from the RBL chairmanship due to ill health, said the board and the posts were donated to the branch by Camborne Town Council about five years ago.

But last month the board was taken down and members told there was not enough space for it and the new Donald Thomas Centre sign.

"It's not about what has been done but the way it was done," Mr Williams said.

"It's underhand and noone had the courtesy to say anything. I feel they have been arrogant towards another organisation."

Mr Williams said the noticeboard was the group's only method of communicating information to its members.

He described it as a "lifeline" for the RBL branch, which was re-established only two years ago after folding due to a lack of members.

He added: "Perhaps they thought it was their post but they have no excuse for the way they have handled this matter. There seems to be a cover-up as noone has admitted taking it down and not putting it back.

"We want to work with other organisations in the town and I am sure the current committee would be happy to share the plot but this matter has been handled badly."

The new chairman of the Donald Thomas Centre, the Reverend Mike Firbank, said the Legion sign was taken down to renovate it and paint the holding posts.

Mr Firbank said some members of the Donald Thomas Centre wondered if the sign would be better placed somewhere else while the centre was offered a new display board to help advertise its own services. "All of this happened quite quickly and communication about it got confused between different parties," Mr Firbank added.

"The situation now is that the newly elected chair of the British Legion in Camborne is happily looking for a new location for their noticeboard and has kindly given DTC the posts to keep their new sign on."

ST COLUMB has been stuck in time for six months – after the town clock broke and has not been repaired.

The time has shown 12 o'clock for half a year and some residents, including former guesthouse owner Roger Ford, are now saying "enough is enough".

He claims that since the church clock was electrified – changed from manual to electronic turning in a move agreed by the previous town council in 2011– there have been endless problems.

He said the changing of the clock had cost local taxpayers between £6,000 and £8,000 and was a "waste" of their money.

The clock did not even chime at midnight on New Year's Eve, which newly-elected mayor Paul Wills said was "embarrassing".

"I think it is disgusting," said Mr Ford, of Lower East Street.

"The previous council threw away a lot of money on the town clock to have it switched from a manual turning to an electric turning.

"It is not working. Someone came to do it, then they came again [to repair it] and now it has been stuck on 12 for six months."

The 71-year-old questioned why the manual job of winding the clock, which had been done by the same person for around 50 years, was not advertised to a local person in order to save money.

"I have had three or four people call me and say they would have been happy to turn the clock on a rota basis.

"I was happy to do it myself," he said.

"I think they should have sought public advice and told us that it was going to cost £6,000."

Paul Wills, newly elected town mayor, confirmed that the clock had been stuck on 12 for six months.

He said the clock was electrified at "considerable cost" to the taxpayer, a decision made by the previous administration and one he did not agree with.

He said the process caused problems with the mechanism of the clock but that the company which was commissioned to carry out the work was returning to attempt to repair it this week.

"I have asked at every opportunity about the clock and every time I was told, 'We are trying to sort it'," he said.

"When I started as mayor I put my foot down and said I want it sorted."

The Fifty Shades novels chart the progression of the relationship between two main characters: Anastasia Steele, an innocent and naïve student, and Christian Grey, an older, substantially more experienced millionaire.

What sets these novels apart from standard romantic literature is the graphic sexual nature of the books and the BDSM (bondage domination sadomasochistic) nature of the characters' relationship.

A central theme of the novels is the requirement for Anastasia, the submissive, to enter into a contract with Christian, the dominant, within which she will effectively pass power and control over her to him. This includes complete control over her wardrobe, health, fitness and grooming, speaking only when allowed to do so, not looking at him openly unless directed to do so, and permitting him to control her sexually and to provide physical punishment.

Rather than being a description of an unusual lifestyle, it has been suggested that in fact the Fifty Shades novels glamorise an abusive relationship.

In the eyes of the law, the novels evidence all six examples of kinds of domestic abuse. These include financial control, as the abuser seeks to control the family finances and so increasing their partner's dependence upon them; geographical control, where the abuser will seek to limit where their partner can go; relationship control, where the abuser will frequently seek to limit whom their partner can interact with; and emotional control, with the abuser seeking to undermine the self confidence and esteem of their partner.

While physical abuse is not necessarily evident in all domestically abusive relationships, the use or threat of violence is a significant factor in many of these kinds of relationships.

Another significant weapon used by the domestic abuser is the threat to their partner of the impact should they seek to leave the relationship. This frequently includes financial threats in terms of loss of home, accommodation and ability to meet bills, threats of physical violence and, in cases where children are present, threats that the abuser will ensure that the children are removed from their partner.

The power of the abuser is frequently revealed by their monitoring the activity and actions of their partner, often turning up unexpectedly. This stalking is undertaken by a bodyguard in the novels, so can occasionally be undertaken by a third party.

It is true to say that not all of the above appear in the Fifty Shades novels, and a point of difference between the relationship described in the novels and a domestically abusive relationship would be the argument that Anastasia's willingness is entirely consensual, and that it is the submissive, Anastasia, who in effect holds the power with the use of a 'safe word', with which she can bring to an end any activity.

Whatever the truth of that debate, it is certainly the case that in domestically abusive relationships there is no intended or implied consent from the victim.

Irrespective of whether the Fifty Shades novels indeed reflect a domestically abusive relationship, the blurring of the differences between a BDSM relationship and abuse is already making its way into reality.

Newspapers recently reported the case involving Stephen Lock, who was arrested and prosecuted by the police for tying his partner to a ring bolt and whipping her with a length of rope. It was contended that Mr Lock and his partner (who cannot be named for legal reasons) had planned a 'master and slave' roleplay fantasy after reading the novels. The woman contended however that it had gone too far and he was charged with actual bodily harm.

During the course of the trial it was revealed that the complainant had signed a contract similar to that described within the Fifty Shades novels and claimed that the activity engaged in between them was of a purely consensual nature. After four days of deliberation the jury found Mr Lock not guilty.

It is perhaps relevant to note that it is reported that Mr Lock had three previous convictions for violence against women.

As Mr Lock's barrister said during the course of proceedings: "Fifty Shades of Grey is not a manual, it is a work of fiction and this is a case which demonstrates that things can go wrong."

Certainly if the Fifty Shades novels didn't include the contract of consent, the behaviours and activities of the main characters provide a clear and unpleasantly graphic indication of what we would deem to be domestic abuse behaviour.

Peter Marshall is a partner in the Cornwall Family Law team of Stephens Scown LLP, based in St Austell. He is a specialist in handling domestic abuse cases and sits on Resolution's national domestic violence committee. He can be contacted on 01726 74433, by email solicitors@stephens-scown.co.uk or via www.stephens-scown.co.uk

If anyone thought that by putting a Conservative with a large 'C' in charge of planning we would get conservative, with a small 'c', policies on issues like rural development then they must be sorely disappointed. Tory Nick Boles, the planning minister, seems to go out of his way to undermine the notion that the Conservative Party in government sees protecting the rural acres from development as a priority.

His latest provocative statement promoting building on green spaces came at the weekend when it emerged he had written a letter to a concerned fellow Conservative MP saying that developers should be allowed to build on fields if they are 'boring'. One obvious question arises from that statement, made in a letter to Conservative Health Minister Anna Soubry, MP: Who gets to decide if a piece of countryside is 'boring' or not?

Because if it is Mr Boles then, given that he has already made his views on the importance of new homes v open spaces abundantly clear, not everyone would trust his judgment. It is worrying too, that the planning minister, who is charged with implementing policy based on a set of rules, should propose such a subjective means of determining which parts of the countryside can be built on and which cannot.

Mrs Soubry, MP for Broxtowe in the East Midlands, is understandably concerned about greenbelt land that protects parts of her constituency from the city of Nottingham, to the east – something that David Cameron has insisted would be protected. Her question, however, about building on open land could have come from any MP, including many in the Westcountry, whose constituents are deeply worried about creeping urbanisation.

Few issues raise rural hackles with more regularity than building on green fields. Nimby – not in my back yard – may routinely be used as a term of mild abuse aimed at people who are accused of wanting to keep their own piece of the countryside unsullied by new building. Yet one man's Nimby is another man's conservationist.

And conservation of the countryside, for environmental, agricultural and aesthetic reasons, would have been something many voters would have looked to a Conservative minister to support. When they look at Mr Boles for that, however, it seems they look in vain.

He is right to highlight the need for more homes in rural and urban areas and right to also suggest that a range of buildings, from farmers' barns to empty shops, could be pressed into service for residential use He – and the Government as a whole – also deserve credit for suggestion that capital investment can help lift us out of recession. But devising dubious measures to determine if planning permission should be granted, based on the entirely subjective question of whether a piece of land is 'boring' or not, won't do. Mr Boles needs to show those who care about the countryside a great deal more respect.

Burlesque dancers, feather boas and vintage fashion livened up a wet weekend at a National Trust property.

The risque dancers and 1940s-style singers entertained crowds as Killerton House near Exeter held its inaugural vintage weekend.

Some 60 stalls of retro fashion, homeware, antiques and paraphernalia were available to see inside marquees, giving people of all ages the chance to step back in time.

One of the highlights of the weekend, run jointly by Crikey Its Vintage, a vintage events organisation, and the National Trust, was a performance by vintage singer Lola Lamour and her Blue Light Boys.

The burlesque dancers defied the weather to perform dances wearing little more than satin gloves, pearls and feather fans in front of crowds.

Felicity Boucher, Killerton's visitor services officer, said: "We are so pleased with the turnout and the festival atmosphere of the event. Killerton is the perfect setting for a vintage celebration with the famous costume collection and stunning open spaces to help set the scene and get people into the vintage spirit."

A Cornwall lifeboat spent 19 hours at sea in just a 34-hour period, covering 170 nautical miles and assisting 12 mariners.

The Lizard lifeboat was first tasked by Falmouth Coastguard at 1.30pm on Thursday to a position seven miles south-east of Lizard Point to assist the Madeleine May – a 35ft charter fishing boat with three people onboard that had suffered engine failure.

A line was passed to the vessel and it was towed to the safety of Falmouth harbour, with the lifeboat returning to station at 5.30pm.

At 3.30am the following morning, it was tasked to assist the Newlyn-based fishing vessel Silver Dawn, with four people onboard, that had also suffered engine failure, 22 miles south-south-east of Lizard Point. After eight-and-a-half hours at sea, the lifeboat had towed the vessel back to its home port by midday.

The alarm was raised again at 5.30pm on Friday when the yacht Serefe, with five people onboard, was dismasted two miles west of Lizard Point. It was towed back to Falmouth Harbour.

Peter Graves, one of those aboard the yacht, left a comment on The Lizard lifeboat's Facebook page over the weekend.

"A big thank you to The Lizard lifeboat guys for towing us home," he wrote. "There appears to have been a rigging failure in the forestay.

"The mast went overboard very quickly but no-one was near it. The crew worked to stop it sinking too deeply, then to pull the rig alongside using the winches and available lines.

"Once we had the rig and all the lines onboard we started motoring offshore with the plan to go back to Falmouth. Two other yachts came to see we were OK, which was very kind.

"Then The Lizard lifeboat crew arrived and gave us a much appreciated tow home, with great competence and good humour – what a great bunch of lads and thanks to everyone who helped out."

A police officer was bitten by a dog as he attended an incident in which a man was attacked and badly hurt.

The victim of the assault was left with serious but non-life-threatening injuries in the early hours of yesterday.

A police officer was also taken to hospital after attending the disorder in Thirlmere Gardens, Derriford, Plymouth, at about 1.15am.

He is not thought to be seriously hurt.

Six people were arrested and taken into custody for questioning as police try to piece together what happened.

Force spokesman Inspector Alistair Fry said: "They are helping us with our inquiries regarding quite a nasty assault."

He said it was not immediately clear what had happened.

Police described it as a major incident attended by all three emergency services.

A killer who mutilated his aunt in a frenzied knife attack in the Westcountry has been arrested in Australia after 15 years on the run.

Simon Hennessey was jailed for life for stabbing the woman to death when he was just 14. But he walked out of an open prison in 1998. He has now been caught in Queensland by police investigating a huge credit card fraud, 15 years after his escape. Hennessey, now in his late-40s, faces extradition back to Britain.

He stabbed 72-year-old Mary Webber 70 times at her home in Alma Road, Plymouth, in 1978. Hennessey admitted killing his aunt, pleading mental illness.

He escaped twice before being sent to an open prison, HMP Leyhill in Gloucestershire. He was finally re-arrested on the Sunshine Coast of Australia, by detectives investigating a series of credit card frauds.

He gave a false name and said he was 44, and appeared in court locally several times during April and May this year, facing 50 charges of fraud.

It is alleged Hennessey had set up false companies to extract credit card details, and then used a "skimming machine" to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars from bank accounts.

Australian police soon realised that the name and details the British man in their cells had given them belonged to an innocent New Zealander with the same date of birth. They were then stunned to discover the man they had in custody was wanted 10,000 miles away in the UK. More investigations revealed that Hennessey had been living from the proceeds of frauds under false identities for years. The Australian media dubbed him a "Frank Abagnale character" – after the fraudster who was portrayed by Leonardo di Caprio, in the film Catch Me If You Can.

Sunshine Coast prosecuting chief Daren Edwards told The Courier-Mail in Queensland: "It appears he has used several identities. We believe he has moved between Thailand, New Zealand and Australia."

Avon and Somerset Police are now in touch with the authorities in Queensland about extradition.

Killer was trapped by fingerprints on a toilet chain

Simon Hennessey, who has been found in Australia after escaping from prison in the UK while serving a sentence for the murder of his aunt was originally arrested after the killing in 1978 following an operation involving 100 officers, a major manhunt and 3,000 police interviews. Hennessey, from Plymstock, was originally trapped by fingerprints left on a toilet chain. in his aunt's house moments before he stabbed her in the head, face and torso as she sat writing a letter in an apparently motiveless attack. Hennessey then washed his sheath knife in her sink, put it in his bicycle saddlebag and hid it in a cupboard when he got home. A court heard he suffered from epilepsy which caused a brain disease resulting in an 'abnormality of the mind'. Hennessey pleaded guilty to manslaughter but could not give any reasons for his actions. He was sentenced to life in prison but absconded from a youth treatment centre in Birmingham three years later, in 1981. Hennessey was recaptured six months later while staging a robbery in Brighton with an imitation pistol. He later escaped from his escort while visiting Plymouth Library and fled to Exeter. Hennessey spent time at Dartmoor and Channings Wood prisons in Devon. He walked out of Leyhill prison in 1998 with a Spanish guitar, having just completed Spanish language lessons, and much of the fruitless search for him concentrated in Europe. A couple who lived around the corner from the scene of the horrific killing today spoke of their shock 35 years later. Malcolm Carroll, then head of news for radio station Plymouth Sound, interviewed Simon Hennessey's parents after their son admitted his guilt. Both Malcolm and wife Su were interviewed by police at their home in Earl's Acre, where they still live. Malcolm said: "It was one of the most shocking killings Plymouth has seen since the war. A 14-year-old boy killing his aunt with such ferocity. I find it breath-taking. "I spoke to the parents and they were a normal, middle-class family. He came from a nice home, they were ordinary parents. "His mother was crying. The one thing they desperately wanted to get across was that their son had this mental illness. "They did not want anyone to see him as a little monster." Su, features editor at The Herald and Western Morning News, said: "It is just awful. As soon as we heard the name we instantly remembered because it was such an unusual and terrible crime. "It was a really ferocious attack and an extensive police operation. This wasn't some quiet cul-de-sac, you would hope someone would have noticed something."

Supermarkets are failing to support the countryside and the rural economy, campaigners have warned.

After a turbulent year for farmers – with poor weather estimated to have cost the industry more than £1 billion – the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) quizzed the major supermarkets over what they were doing to help.

Members bombarded the biggest food retailers – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Marks and Spencer, The Co-operative and Waitrose – with 7,000 emails asking how they were supporting farmers, local food producers, and the management of the countryside.

The CPRE said while they found "some welcome initiatives", the retailers "could easily do much more to help farmers and the countryside".

Ian Woodhurst, senior food and farming campaigner at CPRE, said: "Supermarkets dominate the grocery sector and our food chain. Given this, they need to use their immense market power to support the nation's farmers, the countryside they manage, and boost sales of local food.

"The 'Big Seven' need to take a more joined-up approach to farming, local food, and our countryside so that consumers can buy high-quality food, knowing that the farmer has been paid a fair price while maintaining the beauty of the English countryside.

"CPRE will continue to lobby supermarkets to increase their support for English farming and the management of countryside, and stand up for the producers, processors, suppliers and retailers of local food."

The group called on the supermarkets to pay farmers a fair price for their produce by taking fluctuations in the cost of fertiliser, diesel and animal feed into account in supermarket pricing formulas. It also wants them to stock and promote more "countryside- friendly" food such as produce from Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF) farmers, woodland eggs or conservation-grade cereals, to help to manage landscape features and wildlife habitats.

The campaign group also suggested at least 10% of sales in a supermarket should come from the local area – defined as from within 30 miles.

Mr Woodhurst added: "The horse-meat scandal has shown what can happen to the food chain if there is a race to the bottom on price. The same lessons need to be learnt to secure a better future for farming and the countryside, as well as to boost local food economies."

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium which represents the supermarkets, said they were "great supporters of local food producers" and members had "pioneered schemes" including the Safe and Local Supplier Approval scheme "to help more small local producers get their goods into store".

He added: "Ultimately, retailers meet consumer demand and while many are interested in local produce it is not all consumers and varies across the country. Farm prices are influenced by more than just retailers, as we have seen in wheat prices."

Westcountry war veterans were honoured with long-awaited awards in a ceremony during Armed Forces Day at the weekend.

All generations of the services gathered in Falmouth on Saturday and escaped the worst of the weather as they paraded through the town led by the band from RNAS Culdrose, near Helston.

The march came to a halt in Events Square, where the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Edward Bolitho, presented Arctic Stars, Bomber Command Clasps and Veterans' Badges to men now in their late-80s and early 90s.

Mr Bolitho, said: "I should think some of these men served in hazardous and unpleasant conditions in the Second World War – on ships with open bridges on incredibly rough seas, in ice, in snow and with the constant danger of German U-boats.

"And the chances of surviving for those serving with the Bomber Command were incredibly slim. It must have been incredibly strange taking off from a nice place like Cornwall and being shot at – and absolutely terrifying.

"They were incredibly brave and for some reason haven't been recognised before. I don't know why it has taken so long but at least some of them have been able to be awarded for their work."

The creation of the Arctic Star medal, along with the new Bomber Command clasp, were announced by David Cameron last year, following a long-running campaign.

One recipient, Harold Thompson, from Mabe, near Falmouth, joined the Royal Navy aged 16 and served aboard HMS King George V – the first ship to go out to the Pacific Fleet. "I was honoured to receive the award," said the 90-year-old. "I think it's important veterans are recognised. We went through some hard times and some nice times too, but they all did an awfully great job."

Many people regard motor vehicles as mere lumps of metal used for getting from A to B, but a visit to retired garage owner Tim Pearce's house will soon disprove that. He's got the entire biography of his beloved Anzani, built in 1924 – and quite a story it is too.

Now Mr Pearce is about to sell his beloved machine at auction, he's hauled out all the old files which show how the car was built in Thames Ditton and was driven on the hot plains of India just under 90 years ago. But what the photographs and files do not show is the tale behind his own involvement with the remarkable car.

He bought it from a Miss Rigg – a truly reclusive eccentric over 50 years ago – a woman so determined never to have anything to do with the human race that she even arranged for a secret coded door knock so that her cleaner could get in to the house without her ever having to come face to face with a stranger. One day, a young Tim unwittingly copied the secret rat-a-tap-tap, only to be confronted by the surprised eccentric. But it was an accident that helped him to buy the car.

Mr Pearce told me the story as he prepared for the Anzani to be taken away for auction next month...

"Miss Rigg was a customer of my father's. She lived at Holford not far from my father's garage which was in St Audries – and he used to service another car of hers. But he'd seen the AC Anzani in her garage and had tried to buy it. She wouldn't sell.

"I didn't know anything about it until my father died in 1956 and I got lumbered with taking on the garage when I was 16. Miss Rigg would write you a letter to say her other car needed servicing and the keys would be in the usual place. You never saw her – she'd leave the car keys under the door mat. You'd take them, service the car, and put the keys back. Which is when I spotted the Anzani.

"So I wrote to her asking if she'd sell this car – and she wrote me back a stinking letter saying: 'How dare you, young man, even consider trying to buy my brother's car!' It transpired it belonged to her brother who took it to India in 1925, but he died after about a year out there. So she had it brought back, put it in the garage, and it was never driven again.

"After a month she wrote to me again apologising for the tone of the first letter and said I could have the car – providing she could have the first ride in it. In brackets she wrote: 'But you'll never get it going'.

"During that time I went round to get her other car and I knocked on her door – you had to knock in a special code, rat-tat-tat, tat-tat. She was horrified to see it was me. Anyway, it helped me get the car.

"It was the first car I ever owned – I had a bit of a wild reputation as a rally driver so my mother didn't like me driving the firm's cars. She told me I had to buy a car of my own and gave me £15. She was horrified when I came back with the AC Anzani. But I thought it was something unique – I'd never seen anything like it. However, by the time the 1960s came along I was doing serious rally driving with Mini Coopers – and this one sat in the garage for years," said Mr Pearce, who now lives just a couple of miles from his old garage at St Audries.

But while he was still a busy businessman, the Anzani was spotted by a man who'd come to retire in West Somerset and he offered to do a complete service on the vehicle for the pure joy of it. It turned out he had been head engineer for Volvo in Sweden, and Mr Pearce still has the hand-drawn diagrams he prepared during the rebuild.

"He sent me this bill," says Mr Pearce, waving an old bit of lined paper. "He only wanted a few pounds for out-of-pocket expenses like petrol. I told him I couldn't have him doing all that work for nothing – but he insisted. So I said we'd go away at my expense for a nice weekend in the AC once the summer came. It never did come for the poor chap – he died a few months later. Just another part of this car's long story."

So, why the sale now after all these long years of owning one of the most unique cars in the world?

"I've hardly driven it since I retired," shrugs Mr Pearce. "It's not good in modern traffic – for example, it's got no brakes on the front. You have to think a mile ahead all the time. It's not good for the nerves. I suppose someone might buy it to put in a collection, which would be better than it being hidden away here.

"What's it worth? £18,000 to £20,000 maybe. Not a big sum. But it is rare – there are probably only about 20 ACs left in the world now running. But this is polished aluminium and, as far as I know, the only one left with a body like that – because it corrodes. The others have been painted.

"I shall be sorry to see it go," said Mr Pearce, before adding: "However, I won't be shedding any tears."

The AC Anzani will be put up for sale by Charterhouse Auctions on Sunday, July 21, at Charterhouse Auctions in Sherborne, Dorset.

A 12-year-old boy suffered serious head injuries in a collision between his bicycle and a car. The young boy was taken to hospital from the scene on the A377 Alphington Road in Exeter at about 5pm on Saturday after trying to jump his BMX bike on to a pavement. He was initially taken to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital before being transferred by air ambulance to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol. The boy, who is local, was in collision with a Nissan car, driven by a 29-year-old man who was not injured.

A woman escaped with minor injuries after she was attacked in a town centre at night. The woman was assaulted as she walked down a street in Newton Abbot in South Devon at about 1am on Saturday. She is understood to have left a bar before walking down Bank Street and then Bearne's Lane, where the incident happened. The offender is described as a man, about 5ft8in in height, wearing a dark hoody, dark tracksuit bottoms and white trainers. Police are appealing for witnesses.

A man has been rescued from a sinking yacht in bad weather hundreds of miles off the Cornish coast. He was rescued by a cargo ship 300 miles west of the Duchy early on Saturday morning, after his craft began to take on water in high winds while travelling back from the Azores in the North Atlantic Ocean. Falmouth Coastguard received a distress signal from a yacht at about 5.20am before co-ordinating the rescue. The ship used cargo nets to pull the man, who was not injured, from the craft.

A driver escaped unharmed after colliding with a gas pipe and causing a leak. The car hit the pipe on Friday afternoon as its driver reversed into a garage, prompting the small leak. Three fire engines from Barnstaple and Bideford were sent to the property in Polywell, Appledore, where they confirmed there was a small external gas leak. Crews used leak sealant to make the scene safe. No-one was injured or harmed in the incident.

A 31-year-old woman has been charged with owning a dangerous dog after a teenage girl was bitten on the face and arm in a play area in Devon.

Devon and Cornwall Police said the 14-year-old was bitten on her lip and arm in the attack on Friday evening. It happened in a play area at Staddon Gardens, in Torquay. The dog, which police believe to be a pit bull terrier, has been seized by officers while an investigation takes place.

Detective Constable Andy Devey said: "She was bitten on the lip and bitten on the arm. She's had to have stitches to an injury on her upper lip.

"The injuries are not life- changing."

In a statement, Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed: "Jennie Linden, aged 31 of Staddon Gardens in Watcombe, Torquay has been charged with being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control in a public place that caused injury to another person, resisting arrest and being the owner of a dog that is subject to a dog control order, and allowing it to be in a public place without being muzzled and kept on a lead.

"This person has been remanded in police custody and is due to appear at Torquay Magistrates' Court on June 24."