Plans to demolish a former town centre Marks and Spencer store and replace it with a hotel have been approved.

The M&S store in Dorchester's South Street closed in February 2020 and its building fell into disrepair.

Whitbread, which purchased the site in 2023, has been granted permission to build a 102-bedroom Premier Inn, which would be within the town's conservation area.

The company, which already has a Premier Inn in nearby Brewery Square, said the new hotel would bring £3m to the local economy.

The site is currently made up of two buildings – one was built in the 1930s to replace the previous Marks and Spencer store.

The shop was later extended into the adjoining Victorian building in the 1960s.

During construction in 1936, workmen found what became known as the Dorchester Hoard – a cache of 22,000 Roman coins buried in the foundations of a Roman house.

The new hotel would have entrances both on South Street and Trinity Street.

Dorset Council's planning officer's report acknowledged that "demand for a continued retail unit utilising the same floor area is very limited in the current market and in this location".

From a dispute with her parents over her choice of boyfriend, a woman found herself in a mental health hospital and undergoing a "ruthless" psychiatric sleep treatment without her consent. Decades later, and having spent 50 years with that same partner, she revealed how the fear of a lobotomy gave her the strength to bring her ordeal to an end.

Mary Thornton was 21 when she was admitted to The Royal Waterloo Hospital in London in 1970, under the care of Dr William Sargant.

It was there that Mrs Thornton was kept asleep for months at a time and was given electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) – also known as shock therapy.

"ECT is horrible – it destroys your memory temporarily and can do so permanently," she said.

Mrs Thornton, who now lives in Brampton near Carlisle, was working as a nurse when she met her boyfriend John, but her parents "completely disapproved" of the relationship and tried to stop them.

She had a nervous breakdown at that time and her parents took her to the psychiatric ward at the NHS hospital.

Barbaric procedures

The facility treated almost exclusively female patients who were kept in an induced slumber for months at a time.

Dr Sargant did not believe in talking therapy and mocked people who believed in it, Mrs Thornton said.

He used a mixture of drugs and ECT, moving on to lobotomy "if nothing else worked".

She described the way in which the procedure was performed, with the aim to destroy the part of the brain that affects emotions and memory.

"You're lying in bed all the time, you don't get exercise. I leave it to your imagination to what happens to your insides."

Although Dr Sargent's methods were not illegal at the time, they have now been discredited and victims, including Mrs Thornton, have since received an apology from the hospital.

She said while ECT is still used today in some circumstances, the way it was performed and the amount people were given was "ruthless", and was known for it.

"We used to talk about the possibility of lobotomies and I now know that's because William Sargant was famous for them," she said.

"I got quite scared and worried and thought 'this might happen to me, I need to get out of here'."

'Utterly obsessed'

Prof Linda Gask, a consultant psychiatrist from Manchester University, said ECT was still used today for patients with very severe depression, particularly in older people and in post-natal psychosis.

But she said: "It's not used in the way Sargant was using it, it's not used with the frequency he used it."

The professor was a medical student in the 1970s, at the time when Dr Sargant was operating, but she did not see the types of treatment he used.

"I think he was at the extreme end of a particular approach to care," she said.

"He was utterly obsessed with physical treatments.

"He took absolutely no interest in women's psycho-social wellbeing and what was going on in their lives."

For Mrs Thornton, the treatment made her temporarily forget John.

"[My boyfriend] was really upset, thought that that was it, that he would never see me again," she said.

But when her memories returned, she contacted him and the couple continued where they had left off.

She left her nursing job to work at Harrods, later becoming a teacher working with children with special needs.

Meanwhile, she and John got married and moved to Cumbria where they had four children.

The couple were together for 50 years until John died a couple of years ago.

'Emotional mountain'

Life was good and she put the ordeal of the Waterloo clinic out of her mind, until she saw Dr Sargant on TV in the late 80s or early 90s.

She said she "cracked up", as though she had had a flashback.

She then read a book with the testimony of a woman working as a doctor in the Caribbean who had had the same treatment and set out to find her.

"That was another big move towards getting over it," said Mrs Thornton of her meeting and friendship with a fellow soul.

The effects of that treatment affected her friend throughout her life, including needing many operations to her back.

"I've had an unusual amount of bad health, I think it affected my health generally," Mrs Thornton said.

Continuing her rehabilitation, she revisited the hospital as part of a documentary a number of years ago.

"That was a really emotional mountain that I climbed," she said.

"Even my husband cried."

Now, Mrs Thornton features in a new book called Sleep Room: A Very British Scandal, by author and journalist Jon Stock.

She is one of six women offering her testimony of what it was like to be a patient at the facility.

"This whole thing has been the real drawing the line under it – it's been wonderful.

"It's completed the circle, is how I see it."

'Reset troubled minds'

Mr Stock spent two and a half years researching what happened at the Royal Waterloo Hospital.

He said Dr Sargant was the first "to flick a switch" on an ECT machine and "championed lobotomies".

The psychiatrist had discovered that by keeping people asleep for months, patients could be given treatments they would not be otherwise able to tolerate, Mr Stock said.

He would carry out ECT three times a week, to "reset troubled minds" and "reprogram" them with more positive thoughts.

Mr Stock said: "He believed in a very physical approach to problems of the mind.

"He said if you've broken your leg it should be splinted, if there's a problem with the brain it should be splinted too."

Since Dr Sargant's practices came to light, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, which was responsible for the clinic, has issued an apology to his patients.

A spokesman said: "Due to the historic nature of this service we unfortunately do not hold any records from this time, but we fully acknowledge the impact these treatments may have had on patients and families."

Four schools in a city are set to expand to meet rising demand from local families for pupil places.

Peterborough City Council has agreed to fund the works, with some construction already under way.

The four schools are: Stanground Academy, Marshfields School and NeneGate School in the city, and the Duke of Bedford Primary School in Thorney.

Katy Cole, the council's cabinet member for children's services, said the authority based its decision to extend the schools on "current and forecast pupil demand in these areas".

'Work and investment'

She said: "The council has a statutory duty to provide a school place for every child living in its area of responsibility who is of school age and whose parents want their child educated in the state sector.

"We want every Peterborough child to attend a school within the city and these projects demonstrate the hard work and investment the council are making in achieving this aim."

Peterborough is one of the fastest-growing cities in the UK.

Its population was 215,700 according to the last census in 2021, a 17.5% increase from 2011 compared with 6.6% for England.

The council also said the number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) was continuing to rise, particularly for children with severe learning difficulties and mental health needs.

NeneGate School, a specialist school for pupils aged eight to 16, is expected to have a new teaching block with five classrooms by September 2026.

If approved by planners, this will accommodate an extra 40 pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs at the school, phased over two years.

Marshfields School in Dogsthorpe, which specialises in pupils who have learning difficulties and additional needs, will get two additional classrooms to create 16 places for primary-aged children with severe learning difficulties.

Those works are expected to start in July and be ready to use from September.

Works are already under way at Stanground Academy, a secondary school and sixth form, to get additional dining room space that should be finished by September.

The Duke of Bedford Primary School in Thorney will have two mobile classroom units with toilets, which will increase its capacity by 15 pupils for each school year, which should be completed by September.

Part of this project is being funded using contributions from Allison Homes, which has a housing development in the village.

The BBC asked the council how much funding it would provide for the expansion, and how much pupil demand was expected to increase by.

Syria's Islamist-led interim government has decreed that women must wear burkinis – a swimsuit that covers the body except for the face, hands and feet – or other "decent" clothes at public beaches and swimming pools.

The regulations, issued by the tourism ministry, were "aimed at enhancing public safety standards and preserving public decency", Syrian state news channel Al-Ikhbariyah al-Suriyah reported.

Private beaches, clubs and pools, as well as hotels with more than four stars, are exempt, the directive said.

Women often dress modestly on public beaches in Syria, but some women do opt for more Western styles of swimwear. The new government previously pledged to govern inclusively.

Under the new directive, beachgoers and visitors to public pools must wear "more modest swimwear", specifying "the burkini or swimming clothes that cover more of the body".

The decree added that women should wear a cover-up or loose clothing over their swimwear when they move between swimming areas.

"Travelling in swimwear outside the beach without appropriate cover is prohibited," it said.

Men should also wear a shirt when they are not swimming, and are not allowed to be bare-chested outside swimming areas.

The statement said "normal Western swimwear" was generally allowed in exempted places "within the limits of public taste".

More generally, people should wear loose clothing that covers the shoulders and knees and "avoid transparent and tight clothing", the decree added.

The directive did not say whether those who fail to follow the rules would be penalised or how the rules would be enforced. But it did say lifeguards and supervisors would be appointed to monitor compliance on beaches.

It also included other safety regulations around pools and beaches.

Reacting to the new rule, one woman from Idlib in the north-west of the country told the BBC's World Service OS programme that, while she could see both sides of the argument, "I do think there is a positive to this, from a moral and respectful point of view."

Celine said: "Some people and families don't feel comfortable seeing or wearing too much exposed skin and I believe that is a valid perspective."

But another woman, Rita, who lives in the capital, Damascus, said she was "not comfortable" with the new rule, "especially as we are not used to such laws".

"In the coastal area, different ladies from different religions all have been going there and until now, we wore what we wanted," she said. "Religious people could avoid those in bikinis. But this law makes us scared of where to go."

She added: "We have no problem with the burkini itself, but it's a problem with the concept that the government are controlling this."

In December last year, Islamist rebel forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime, bringing years of civil war to an end.

Since then, al-Sharaa, now the country's interim president, has promised to run the country in an inclusive way.

In an interview with the BBC shortly after he took power, he said he believed in education for women and denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan – which has severely curtailed women's rights.

In March, Sharaa signed a constitutional declaration covering a five-year transitional period.

The document said Islam was the religion of the president, as the previous constitution did, and Islamic jurisprudence was "the main source of legislation", rather than "a main source".

The declaration also guaranteed women's rights, freedom of expression, and media freedom.

When Colin McGinty was stabbed to death in 2001, his death left his family and the wider community reeling.

He was just 21 when he was murdered in Bootle, Merseyside, on a night out with his friends.

On what would have been his 40th birthday, his sister Laura Hughes founded an anti-knife crime campaign in his memory.

As well as going into schools to try to warn young people of the dangers of knives, it installs "bleed control kits" in public places, which are potentially life-saving if someone should suffer a knife injury.

It is through his sister's work with #kNOwKnifeCrime that Mr McGinty's legacy lives on.

Who was Colin McGinty?

Colin McGinty was from Crosby, Merseyside, and the second of Geraldine and Peter McGinty's five children.

His mother described him as "a good brother and a fabulous son".

She said the qualified joiner, who worked at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, was "really hard working", while his sister described him as a "very sporty and sociable" man who loved going out with his mates and on holidays.

It was while on a night out with his friends, in March 2001, that was he was chased and stabbed 15 times in what police believed to be a case of mistaken identity.

Two men – Michael Brown and Gary Hampton – were convicted of murdering him.

The pair were jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years for Mr McGinty's murder.

What is his legacy?

Mr McGinty's family campaigned for tougher sentences for knife crime after his murder and they prompted a review of Parole Board hearings after they overheard a judge in 2014 saying victim impact statements made "no difference" to parole decisions.

In 2019, when Colin would have been about to turn 40, Ms Hughes said she wanted to do something "positive to honour his memory" and tackle the growing issue of knife crime.

She co-funded the #kNOwKnifeCrime campaign and through sponsored runs and marathons has raised thousands of pounds for anti-knife crime projects.

It has also raised money on behalf of its partner charity Cash For Kids with which more than 500 bleeding control kits have been put in schools, colleges and public places, including all Merseyrail stations.

Ms Hughes has spoken to thousands of youngsters about the traumatic effects of knife crime, and the dangers of carrying a knife or associating with those who do.

As well as providing the potentially life-saving kits, #kNOwKnifeCrime movement also teaches people what to do to help stop a person from bleeding to death.

The 42-year-old said: "We are driven by the heart-breaking reality of how quickly blood loss can be fatal versus the time it takes for an ambulance to arrive."

How can the bleed control kits save lives?

The bleed control kits produced by KnifeSavers, a not-for-profit UK-wide programme that aims to help people to deal with bleeding caused by knife injuries.

Nikhil Misra, a surgeon at the trauma unit at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool, founded KnifeSavers after seeing "too many people injured because of knives".

He said he wanted to use his "knowledge and skills" to show people "how to control bleeding outside of a hospital".

He added the kits included a special gauze which made blood clot faster, elasticated pressure dressings, and a tourniquet.

What would Colin McGinty think of his legacy?

Ms Hughes said he would "probably laugh" she had done sponsored marathons to raise money, as she had never been a runner.

"I like to think he would be proud though," she said, adding the #kNOwKnifeCrime has big plans to get even more bleed control kits across the region and keep spreading the message about the dangers of knife crime.