A paranoid and jealous boyfriend carried out a frenzied knife attack on his girlfriend and her mother in their own home after a drink and drug binge.

Leslie Cunningham, 40, was jailed indefinitely yesterday after admitting two offences of attempted murder.

Angela Gardner, 57, has been left wheelchair bound and almost bled to death in the attack at the house on Bar Lane, Garforth.

Daughter Stephanie, 25, survived after pretending to be dead as Cunningham stabbed her repeatedly.

Angela was saved after she dragged herself outside and was spotted by an off-duty doctor and two nurses on their way to work.

Cunningham was “besotted” with Stephanie and carried out the attack when after she ended the relationship after suffering month of violent abuse. He fled after the attack on August 2 last year before giving himself up after a 16-day manhunt.

The Recorder of Leeds, judge Peter Collier QC jailed Cunningham indefinitely, saying he posed a significant future risk to the public . He must serve a minimum of 12-and-a-half years before he can apply for parole.

After the sentencing, Angela and Stephanie said: “Leslie Cunningham has destroyed our family’s lives.

“He has given us a life sentence of psychological trauma as a result of his possessive and violent nature.

“We both have trouble sleeping, we find it difficult to go out and socialise and we had jobs and responsibilities that we can no longer fulfil.

“Our lives will never be the same again. The injuries he inflicted upon us, both physically and mentally, will never fully heal and we will always have a constant reminder of that horrific morning.”

Richard Clews, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court Cunningham met Stephanie in summer 2010 at a event the local cricket club in Garforth.

They started a relationship which soon began to turn sour as Cunningham became jealous and controlling. He objected to her spending time with others, accused her of cheating on him and turned violent after abusing cocaine.

On one occasion he beat up one of her ex-boyfriends and on another, in April last year, he repeatedly punched her and banged her head against her car windscreen before spitting in her face.

The physical and mental abuse resulted in Stephanie taking an overdose of valium. Cunningham also sent threatening text massages to mother on daughter.

He text Angela saying that if he found Stephanie with another man he would slit both their throats,

Stephanie found the courage to end the relationship after Cunningham was arrested for another attack on her. After he was taken into custody she found a message on a mobile phone and discovered he was also in a relationship with another woman.

Cunningham carried out the horrific stabbing three days after sending her text which read: “Can’t believe you have done this. you don’t know what you have caused.”

A MAN was taken to hospital after a car smashed into a shop in Leeds.

The incident happened at the junction of Roundhay Road and Bayswater Terrace, Harehills, shortly before 9.30pm on Wednesday. (February 22)

Emergency services said a 28-year-old man was taken to Leeds General Infirmary with injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening.

The building hit by the car was Saber Barber Shop, near St Aidan’s Parish Church.

An external security shutter is believed to have been the only part of the shop damaged in the incident.

A man named by sources as serving Labour MP Eric Joyce has been arrested on suspicion of assault following a disturbance at the Palace of Westminster.

Scotland Yard confirmed officers detained a man in his 50s after being called to reports of an incident at a bar within the House of Commons at around 10.50pm last night.

He is currently being held in custody at a central London police station, the Met said.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We were called at approximately 10.50pm last night to reports of a disturbance at a bar within the House of Commons.

“A man aged in his 50s was arrested by officers on suspicion of assault. He remains in custody in a central London police station. Inquiries are continuing.”

Mr Joyce, the MP for Falkirk since December 2000, served in the Army Education Corps before pursuing a career in politics.

In 2010 he resigned as shadow Northern Ireland minister after pleading guilty to failing to provide a breath test.

From 2003 Mr Joyce served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to a number of government ministers.

Mr Joyce quit as the PPS to Bob Ainsworth in 2009 due to his concerns over the war in Afghanistan.

Prior to that he had been a parliamentary aide to John Hutton, including the period when he was defence secretary, Mike O’Brien and Margaret Hodge.

According to his constituency webpage, Mr Joyce has a constituency office in Denny and an office in Portcullis House, Westminster.

During his time in Westminster he has held an interest in defence and military issues due to his army background, the website adds.

According to reports Conservative MP Stuart Andrew was head-butted and punched in the incident which happened in the Strangers Bar, a Commons bar reserved for MPs and their guests.

Labour MP Paul Farrelly was involved in a brawl in a different Commons bar in 2010.

The MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme claimed he “wrestled” a man to the floor in “self defence” following the altercation, which took place during a karaoke party at Parliament’s Sports and Social Club.

A NEW initiative from a Leeds-based online professionals’ profiles service allows business contacts to get information on a member quickly.

Profiled.com has been extended into a full portal service that brings together information from across the internet into one place.

The service was founded in 2008 by chief executive Steve Wainwright, pictured.

The portal service offers free tools such as a professional profile, testimonials, media monitoring, business blogging, a personal briefing sheet and a 60 second interview which shows a user’s personality.

Laura Eardley, partner - external relations at Profiled.com, told the YEP: “It helps bring together business contacts into one place.

“There is nothing out there like it at the moment.

“It’s like a huge electronic business card.

“It brings everything people want to know about you into one place.”

Ms Eardley said that users of Profiled.com can choose what people viewing the site can see and does not risk potential employers finding embarrassing information or photographs as can be the case if they check on an individual on social networking sites such as facebook.

She said: “You can portray yourself exactly how you want to be portrayed.”

She said that the Profiled.com website, which is run by a team of five, has built up “thousands” of users across the world and said that there are hopes it will continue to grow and attract more interest.

Ms Eardley said: “We are trying to do a Silicon Valley start-up from Yorkshire.”

Founder and chief executive Steve Wainwright said: “Your online footprint is now key to business success. The first thing people will do before meeting you or after a networking event will be to Google you, so it’s vital that your information can be found easily.

“Profiled mends a business person’s fractured internet presence and is a much better solution than having your contact wading through pages of internet search results trying to find your information, which is frustrating at best.”

Personal branding is becoming more important amongst the UK’s business community.

A LEEDS care home company’s director of nursing has been congratulated by her colleagues at a special event to mark her 20 years of service.

Bronwyn Gregory, who works for Westward Care Ltd, attended the special celebration at Headingley Hall Care Home on Shire Oaks Road in Headingley.

At the event, managing director Peter Hodkinson praised her “pioneering approach and ultimate professionalism.”

She joined Westward Care in 1992 as matron of its first care home in Roundhay.

Our picture shows Bronwyn Gregory, centre, sharing a celebratory glass of champagne with Carol Hill, finance director, and Peter Hodkinson.

quantitaTive easing funding from the Bank of England should be given to medium-level lenders like building societies rather than the big banks, says a Yorkshire finance leader.

Leeds Building Society chief executive Peter Hill said big banks are holding onto the cash whereas mid-level lenders would more easily release the funds through lending.

He told the YEP: “If we had access to that funding we would lend it.”

He said the big banks were “restrained by capital” and so limited their lending.

Mr Hill said medium-level lenders had had “discussions” with the Bank of England on the matter.

High street banks have been criticised for allegedly not lending enough to fund investment, which banks deny.

When two police officers became suspicious about an erratically driven car they carried out a spot check ... and recovered almost £150,000 worth of cannabis resin.

The driver of the Volkswagen Golf, Paul Griffiths, is starting a three year prison sentence after pleading guilty at Leeds Crown Court to possession of illegal drugs with intent to supply.

PCs Paul Ellis and Stuart Bannister, of the road crime team spotted the Golf driven by Griffiths and containing two women on York Road, Seacroft, Leeds, at 10.30pm on October 28.

The car stopped on the forecourt of the BP Petrol Station on York Road and the occupants claimed they were lost and seeking an address in Whinmoor, Leeds.

The court heard that Griffiths, 48, from Aldershot, told the officers he had made arrangements to buy a stock car from the address.

The women claimed they had only known Griffiths for a short period and were planning to meet friends locally.

Their accounts raised suspicions and the officers also smelled cannabis inside the Golf.

Griffiths said that two boxes in the boot contained leaflets left by the car’s previous owner.The officers searched the car and PC Ellis opened the two cardboard boxes, which were taped up. He found 139 bars of cannabis resin with a street value of £148,000.

Griffiths and the two women were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply a class B drug.

At that point Griffiths’ phone rang and he said: “That’s where I could have been going to deliver the packages.”

The owner of a chicken takeaway has been ordered to pay £10,000 for not having the correct licence.

Mujeeb Bhutto, 33, of Krispy Funky Chicken in Morley, Leeds, pleaded guilty to five charges. He was fined a total of £5,000 and ordered to pay £4,883 costs and a £15 victims surcharge.

At the same hearing at Leeds magistrates court, his brother Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto, 31, accepted a formal caution for his part in the offences.

Leeds City Council heard the takeaweay on Fountain Street, Morley, was selling hot food past 11pm without a licence. A warning letter said sales must cease until a licence was obtained.

Council enforcement officers conducted undercover test purchases on five occasions after the letter had been sent. On each occasion hot food was purchased.

John Mulcahy, the council’s head of licensing said: “It is not acceptable that any food outlet conducts business without the correct licence.

“Businesses need to take notice of council advice to avoid large fines. By making premises apply for a licence, it gives people the chance to put forward objections or raise concerns.”

The mum of a Leeds soldier who lost a leg in Afghanistan aged just 18 has spoken of her pride at her son’s bravery.

Jake Bartlett from Pudsey shrugs off the injury he sustained days before he was due to leave the war zone as “only a scratch”.

A pioneering operation managed to save his other leg, shattered in the blast in Afghanistan – which mum Wendy says was her “best birthday present ever”.

Now Jake has regained his independence while his mum is determined to help the families of other injured soldiers in the city.

She said: “I am so proud of him. He doesn’t complain, he just gets on with it. ‘It’s a scratch’ is his attitude.”

Jake, a Rifleman with 2nd Battalion, The Rifles, was only a few days away from the end of his first six-month tour when he was hurt on October 12, 2009. The team medic was caught in an explosion near Sangin, in Helmand Province.

The blast damaged his left leg so badly that it needed to be amputated above the knee, while the injuries to his right leg included breaks to the tibia and fibula bones.

Back home in Leeds, his mum was being given the news that her son was seriously hurt.

“I thought they had come to tell me he was dead and I was screaming,” Wendy said. “It was his last week and practically the last patrol he was doing. They were only 200 yards from their base.”

He was airlifted to Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham where doctors used a pioneering technique to rebuild his right leg, using muscle and cartilage from his left leg.

“They saved his leg on my birthday and it was the best birthday present I’ve ever had,” Wendy, also mum to elder son Alex and grandma to his two daughters said.

“It was the first time they had done it – they practice different techniques rather than them lose their leg.”

Jake had to stay off his leg for three months but luckily the operation worked and after that he could start learning to walk again using a prosthetic left leg.

After being discharged from hospital, Jake started the long process of rehabilitation at Headley Court in Surrey, the specialist centre for injured service personnel.

Jake, now 21, is just finishing his rehab.

He has already fundraised for the Pilgrim Bandits charity and done two skydives.

His mum is also now hoping her experiences can help support the families of other injured soldiers. While Jake was in hospital, she and other parents turned to each other for support but back in Leeds she found there wasn’t a similar network.

“Nobody understands what you are going through. It affects the whole family and I thought I’d like to start a group,” the 51-year-old said.

She came across Carers Leeds, which provides information and advice for carers across the city, and the idea for starting a group for the families was born.

Carers Leeds has secured funding from Jimbo’s Fund, which was set up by late Leeds philanthropist Jimi Heselden to benefit worthy causes and is administered by Leeds Community Foundation.

Wendy said she knew how valuable it could be from speaking to Pauline Rogers, whose son James was also injured in Afghanistan.

Val Hewison, from Carers Leeds, said: “We wanted to make something positive happen, with the help of the original families we met we plan to set up a group solely for family members of injured service personnel.”

A coffee afternoon for the new group takes place March 23, at 2pm at Carers Leeds on The Headrow in Leeds city centre. Contact Carers Leeds on 0113 246 8338.

The council intends to spend just over £563m during 2012-13 to provide its services - a 4.4 per cent fall on the current figure.

But faced with grant cuts and falling income in some areas, the Labour-run administration has decided to take £6.9m from the council’s general fund reserves - which currently stand at £24m.

It is a move strongly opposed by Tory councillors who have attacked Labour’s spending proposals as a “live now, pay later” budget. Coun Andrew Carter, Conservative group leader, said: “This figure (£6.9m) is far too high, and coupled with an over-dependence on one-off sources of funding puts the council’s financial security on shaky ground.”

His alternative spending plan - to take only £3m from reserves and make up the difference through efficiency savings and use of a contingency fund - was defeated by Labour at the council’s annual budget meeting. Budget amendments put forward by the Liberal Democrat group - including a cut to the 65p mileage rate paid to some staff to raise money for park and ride schemes - were also defeated.

Coun Keith Wakefield, council leader, pointed out Tory government ministers had said it was wrong to sit on reserves while services were being cut.

During 2012-13 the council is looking to save £55m to help it cope with government grant cuts and other spending pressures, particularly in adult social care and children’s services. This comes on top of £90m in savings the authority is on course to make during the current financial year.

During the next 12 months the council will shed up to 400 more jobs and increase the price of some services, while also spending more on vulnerable adults and children.

Council house rents will rise by 6.8 per cent.

MOTORISTS are facing disruption this morning amid reports an overturned lorry has shed a load of several tonnes of paper on a key commuter route in West Yorkshire.

Long queues have built up on the westbound carriageway of the M62 around junction 29, near Lofthouse in the Wakefield area.

Traffic is said to be stretching back as far as junction 31 of the motorway, at Normanton.

Rumours continue to spread that we’re just months away from getting an Apple store inside Leeds’s Trinity retail and leisure development.

Not quite an event of earth-shattering significance for everyone, but for your average urbanite it represents a place of pilgrimage to worship beneath that glorious icon.

When I made enquiries this week a spokesperson for the city centre development, which opens in about a year’s time, said: “I’m afraid that we can’t confirm whether or not Apple is coming” which, if I’m not mistaken, isn’t a direct denial.

I interpret that in one of two ways: either they are coming, or they’re at least in advanced negotiations. It’s worth noting that just about every other major city in Britain has one of these stores, among them Birmingham and Bristol who, tellingly, both boast Apple outlets inside shopping centres which Trinity’s developers, Land Securities, also built. Of course, Trinity could just be subtly teasing us with the possibility that they’re on their way when, in fact, they’re not at all, but I’m not sure they’d pursue such spin which could backfire spectacularly.

Apple are also notorious for trying to build intrigue in the run up to their openings, preferring to keep the exact look, location and existence of its outlets under wraps until the last minute.

But as gossip grows around the city, I reckon they’ll struggle to keep anything secret for a whole 12 months.

SIX people have been injured, one seriously, in an explosion at a West Yorkshire factory today.

Contractors were decommissioning a fuel tank at Fox’s biscuit factory in Batley when the blast happened at around 10.45am.

One man had to be brought out by firefighters.

He was taken to Pinderfield Hospital in Wakefield suffering burns.

Five other contractors were described by West Yorkshire Fire Service as “walking wounded.” They were treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to Dewsbury District Hospital.

Officials from the Government’s Health and Safety Executive are investigating, as are fire service officials.

The factory faced closure last year but instead parent company Northern Foods invested £27m at the site to retain the factory.

FIRE broke out in a flat on the eighth floor of a Leeds tower block early today.

The alarm was raised at 3.56am when fire crews from Gipton and Leeds central fire station in Kirkstall Road were called at Shakespeare Towers, a high rise block opposite St James’s Hospital at Burmantofts.

Leeds central station’s aerial appliance was turned out.

Six fire-fighters wearing breathing apparatus went into the block and dealt with the blaze. Fire crews were at the scene until about 8 am.

It is not known if the flat was occupied, but there were no reports of any injuries.

A number of flats suffered a power cut when Yorkshire Electricity cut off supplies.

Leeds City Council is going into the mortgage business to help first-time buyers on to the property ladder.

In the ground-breaking plan £2m is being set aside – which should help around 100 families.

Under the scheme, money will be deposited with a lender to be announced and used to underwrite up to 20 per cent of a deposit to help buyers secure their first homes.

The bank or building society chosen will pay interest on the amount deposited by the council.

The scheme is for an initial five years and is for first-time buyers

It would be open to anyone from Leeds looking to buy their first property in the city valued at a maximum of £160,000. The cash is aimed at those able to afford mortgage repayments, but unable to put down a full initial deposit – around 25 per cent by most lenders.

{http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/register?referrer=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk|Click here to register and have your say on the stories and issues that matter to you|Click here to register and have your say on the stories and issues that matter to you}

The council would underwrite with the buyer supplying the other five per cent and then being able to benefit from similar repayment terms to a 75 per cent mortgage.

The idea behind the scheme, which was piloted by 11 other local authorities last year, is to provide a boost to the housing market.

It is estimated that each purchase in the existing property market unlocks up to five more transactions in housing chains, providing extra work for associated businesses such as estate agents, removals firms and in construction or refurbishment. The Leeds scheme could help trigger an estimated 365 house purchases in the upward chain.

Coun Keith Wakefield, council leader, who was unveiling the scheme at today’s annual budget meeting of the authority, said: “One of the major obstacles for first-time buyers is the need to find a deposit of up to 25 per cent which is proving increasingly prohibitive, so this is where we can help by offering them the chance to reduce the lump-sum they need put down to a much more manageable level which will make the whole process more attractive.”

People wanting to use the scheme must meet strict criteria set by the lender and Coun Wakefield said: “In no way should this be seen as the council gambling money away like in the sub-prime culture lending to people who were unsuitable in terms of the mortgage repayments they could realistically afford to make.”

The scheme is to be discussed at the council’s executive board March 7 with the first deals expected to be offered to potential buyers later this year.

Five men including a serving soldier and seven juveniles will appear in court tomorrow charged in connection with a disturbance at an anti-racism concert.

The 12 will appear at Leeds Magistrates Court charged with affray in relation to fighting which interrupted the “Rage Against Racism” event at The Well bar in Chorley Lane, Leeds, on June 18.

During the concert attended by around 150, a group of people allegedly chanting support for the English Defence League attempted to enter.

It was reported rocks and bottles were thrown and one person suffered a serious facial injury and others minor injuries. Damage included broken windows.

The event, staged to raise funds for the Unite Against Fascism group and local projects, was able to continue.

Police launched a major investigation – Operation Damask – to identify those involved. Appeals involving the release of CCTV images were made through the media.

It was discovered plans to disturb the concert had been posted on line.

Those at court are an 18-year-old soldier from Huddersfield, a 19-year-old, 18-year-old and 17-year-old from Leeds, a 30-year-old man and 20-year-old man from Huddersfield, two 17-year-olds and three 16-year-olds Huddersfield.

A violent teenager laughed as he to strangle his ex-girlfriend and repeatedly stabbed her with a pizza knife in a cornfield.

Nathan Holding, 18, was jailed for seven-and- a-half years yesterday over the frenzied attack which left his 16 year-old victim needing emergency surgery after she suffered a punctured lung.

Leeds Crown Court heard Holding has a “worrying history of violence” including a knife attack on his father.

Tony Kelbrick, prosecuting, said Holding and the victim were living together at the time of the incident on July 12 last year. They had been in a troubled relationship which had ended four days previously. On the day of the offence the pair had argued and Holding took the battery from her mobile phone and refused to return it.

They argued before the girl left the house but Holding armed himself with a knife and followed her.

He grabbed her and threw her to the ground in the field in Altofts, near Wakefield, Mr Kelbrick said: “He put his hands around her neck and strangled her so hard she could only make gurgling noises.”

Holding made threats to kill the girl before producing the knife and stabbing her several times. The knife handle broke during the attack but Holding continued to use the blade to inflict further injuries.

Mr Kelbrick said Holding laughed as he tried to stab her in the head and neck before stabbing her in the back. He added: “he was telling her he was going to kill her and she believed he would have had it not been for a couple who disturbed him.”

Holding then fled and the air ambulance was called to take the girl to hospital. She suffered wounds to her throat and 17cm gash running from her collar bone across her breasts. Holding pleaded guilty to wounding with intent.

Tim Stead, prosecuting, handed the court 14 letters of reference on Holding’s behalf in which people had described him as “caring” and “considerate.” He urged The Recorder of Leeds, judge Peter collier, not to impose an indeterminate sentence.

He said Holding suffered from a personality disorder but added that a psychiatrist’s report stated that it could be controlled in the future.

The judge ordered Holding to be placed on an extended licence period of four-and-a-half years upon his release from prison.

A woman on trial for murder told a jury she fatally stabbed her friend’s boyfriend after he attacked her with a hockey stick.

Janine Birch, 43, demonstrated to a court the moment she reached for a knife after she claims Martin Wheelhouse pinned her up against a cooker in the kitchen of his girlfriend’s home and struck her on the shoulder with a stick.

Giving evidence, Birch described reaching behind her to grab the knife before swinging at Mr Wheelhouse. Her barrister Alistair McDonald asked: “Why were you swinging at him?”

She replied: “Because he had just hit me with the bat. If he had not started and just left it wouldn’t have happened.” Mr McDonald asked: “When you took the knife in your hand and did what you showed us, why did you do that?” Birch answered: “Because I just wanted Martin to get away from me and leave me alone. I just remember feeling that I couldn’t get away, that he was just there in front of me.”

She added: “My heart was pumping really, really fast. I was like panicking. I just thought that he was going to really, really hurt me.”

Birch also told the jury Mr Wheelhouse had burst into the bedroom in an earlier confrontation and hit her across the knee with the hockey stick. She denies murdering Mr Wheelhouse on August 16 last year at the house on Portland Road, Wortley, Leeds. She claims she acted in self defence.

The prosecution claims Birch inflicted the knife wound and kicked and stamped on Mr Wheelhouse as he lay wounded on the kitchen floor as partner, Alexine Cowell, tried to give him first aid. The court has been played a recording of a 999 call in which Birch appears to be shouting abuse at Mr Wheelhouse. Mr McDonald said: “Do you accept you stood on him?” Birch replied: “Yes, that’s true.” She added: “I was trying to get over him and I stood on him.” The barrister asked Birch why she was shouting abuse at Mr Wheelhouse as he lay injured. She said: “I think when I stabbed Martin I just lost it. I was angry with him.” She added: “They are terrible things what I said.”

When asked by Me McDonald how she know felt about what she had said, Birch replied: I was horrified.”

PROCEEDING

She was enjoying her first taste of independence when she was struck down by an illness which almost killed her. Katie Baldwin met determined meningitis survivor Kathleen Hawkins.

HER consultant likened it to being hit by a double-decker bus.

That was the kind of harm that meningitis and septicaemia had caused to Kathleen Hawkins’ body.

From feeling a little under the weather one evening, by the next morning she was desperately ill and within hours was fighting for her life.

By then blood poisoning had already caused irreparable damage to her legs and eventually they had to be amputated - a loss made all the more difficult as Kathleen had trained as a dancer.

Now, sitting in her shared house in Leeds, the 23-year-old looks like any of the thousands of other young people studying in the city - it’s only a closer look that reveals the prosthetic legs on show beneath her stylish dress.

“It doesn’t get me down,” she said. It did for the first couple of years but I am okay about it now and often I don’t think about it.”

Kathleen was in her first semester at Leeds University studying English and theology when she became ill in December 2007.

After returning from an evening dance rehearsal, she felt unwell but wasn’t too worried.

“In the night I was sick and I felt really ill but I still didn’t think anything about it,” she said.

“In the morning I managed to get up and luckily I unlocked my door, because that could’ve been critical if I had stayed in bed.

“I managed to get into the corridor and the lights were blinding. I made it into the kitchen and I was passing in and out of consciousness.”

Her flatmates rang an ambulance and Kathleen was taken to accident and emergency at Leeds General Infirmary, where an eagle-eyed junior doctor spotted a telltale rash on her arm.

“They pumped me full of antibiotics and rushed me to intensive care,” she said.

Events after that are a blur, but her parents were contacted and told to come immediately from their home in Retford, Nottinghamshire.

“On the way up they got a phone call from the hospital saying ‘drive carefully but get here as soon as you can’, and they knew it was very serious,” Kathleen said.

“When they arrived they were told ‘she is critically ill, she has got meningitis’.”

Kathleen was by then on a life-support machine with her organs failing.

“My parents were told that first night that the doctors had done all they could and to get any family around that they wanted.

“It was a case of I was going to die.

“That happened twice – that night and again the next day.”

But Kathleen defied the medics and came through the worst, although she spent over three weeks in intensive care, much of it in a coma. When she came out of that critical stage, her kidneys started failing and she had to go onto dialysis before luckily they started working again.

It was much later that she was told of the terrible damage to her legs.

“Septicaemia just ravages your body,” she said.

“The damage was done pretty much straight away. When my parents first came to see me, I was covered in a rash.

“Originally they told me I would lose my toes and my heels. It wasn’t until I’d been in hospital for about two months that they knew the extent of the damage.”

Initially doctors thought she would only lose one leg – which prompted her to scream ‘please no’ at the doctors.

“I did not know anything about prosthetic legs, I didn’t know I’d be able to walk again or the life I would be able to live,” she said.

Devastated

“I was absolutely devastated.”

She underwent surgery to remove one leg but doctors then realised how bad her other leg was, and she was given a choice about that – but warned of the potential issues and so agreed to have that amputated too.

After leaving hospital, Kathleen returned home to her family to recover though came back to Leeds regularly for physiotherapy at Seacroft Hospital, where the city’s prosthetics department is based.

Recovering physically and mentally was a challenge.

“It’s not just the physical effects but your body has been completely shaken by a life-threatening illness,” she explained.

“One of the consultants said it was like being hit by a double-decker bus.”

The fact she was physically fit from dancing helped her body to recover – though it was a mental struggle to accept she could never dance again.

“I’d been a dancer since I was a really small girl. It was a real passion of mine. That was one of the hardest things.”

Within two months she was walking again on her first pair of prosthetics and in September the same year she returned to Leeds to start her degree course again. She said it was difficult being in the same places as a year earlier, but now in a completely different situation.

“Getting around and keeping up with my friends was hard at times.

“I also had an issue about telling people which I hadn’t had before, but people responded really well.”

Kathleen completed her undergraduate course and is now studying for a masters degree in religion and public life, with ambitions to become a journalist.

She can do most activities and even has waterproof legs for swimming.

“I’ve tried to do as much as possible,” she said.

“I just give everything a go, it’s a confidence thing as much as anything. It’s just trying to go for that hurdle and blow what everybody else thinks.”

She is also determined to use her experience to raise awareness of the symptoms of meningitis – which she didn’t think for a minute she could become a victim of.

The Meningitis Research Foundation has named her their ambassador in Leeds, representing the charity locally and regionally.

Previously Kathleen was a befriender, supporting other people affected.

She said: “I was honoured to be asked to represent them as an Ambassador as they do an amazing job funding research into meningitis and septicaemia and supporting people affected by the diseases. I look forward to meeting as many people as I can in my home town to spread the word about the great work we do.”

Chris Head, chief executive of the charity, said: “We are so grateful to Kathleen for agreeing to represent the work we do in Leeds.

“Our ambassadors have been set up to meet the specific needs of their local communities - either speaking to the local media about our latest campaigns or providing talks in nurseries and schools across the region. “In addition, the ambassadors aim to become an accessible and reliable source of information, tips and resources for local people who want to get involved in charity fundraising as well as organising, participating in and assisting with events themselves. We have a huge network of members around the UK who help raise awareness and vital funds and the work they do on our behalf makes a huge difference.”

It started out as a bit of Sunday night nostalgia and ended up as a phenomenon.

The final episode of the series Call The Midwife had an audience of almost 10 million, making it the most watched drama BBC in the last decade.

Who knew contractions were this compulsive, apart from women in labour, obviously?

On this subject, as with so many things, I am with my friend Linda, who says she loved the series so much it left her practically speechless.

She did, though, manage to say that it was a testament to the founding of the NHS, a fascinating social history, a celebration of the strength of women and, best of all, it had Miranda Hart in it, so not too speechless. You wouldn’t want to get into a debate with her.

Especially since, on this topic, I consider my friend Linda a proper expert. This is not only because she has given birth to three children but because, during the contraction stage with one of them and before further help arrived, she managed to hold a conversation with her farmer father about tractors while simultaneously crawling round the living room carpet, to ease both her pain and his embarrassment. I call that stylish.

Call the Midwife, adapted from the memoirs of a real-life midwife, has been a Thoroughly Good Thing for everyone – viewers, actors, BBC – really, just everyone.

I imagine colleges of midwifery are feeling the impact massively and are dealing with a huge increase in applications, since a drama that makes a profession look as warm and cosy as tea and toast, as well as life-enhancing and life-saving, is going to have that effect.

Many new mothers, in a moment of hormonal upheaval and gratefulness to be alive and delivered of a healthy child, will toy with the idea of retraining as a midwife, even if just for a moment. Usually the urge passes as the world and their internal organs settle back into a more normal pattern – but this time I think training colleges will need security guards to hold back the women trying to fight their way in to find a real-life Chummy.

Because Chummy was the star of the show, wasn’t she? Every moment Miranda Hart wasn’t on screen was a moment when we wanted her to be there. Her warm, goofy, brave character was so fabulous to watch I’m betting there were millions of people on Sunday night all wishing the show would never end.

But it was a drama that was good for other actresses too. Jenny Agutter proved herself a surprisingly convincing nun for someone we all remember often gloriously naked as the day is long in her earlier films – no, of course I don’t mean The Railway Children...

As for the rest of the cast, there was good work for anyone who could convincingly, push, strain and scream and, since the ability to fake labour must be part of the basic kitbag of an actress, along with the ability to fake tears, I imagine a good time was had by all.

Except maybe the men watching – I imagine most of them were there because a determined woman was controlling the remote watching, and that they spent a lot of time declaring themselves to be put off their tea by what was happening on screen.

But best of all this was a prime time drama that gave women a voice – even if it was a bit screechy at times – and showed us why we love our health service.

A cast of fine women, Miranda Hart and the NHS – you can’t get more British and you can’t get better.

Campaigners are hoping to turn over a new page to secure the future of a Leeds library.

The Friends of Rawdon Library led a determined campaign to stop Leeds City Council from closing the venue and replacing it with a mobile service last year.

Now the team of volunteers have to demonstrate to the authority that the community hub is worth saving for future generations.

The Friends are giving the local community the opportunity to shape the services and activities on offer at Rawdon Library to show it is sustainable.

June Longley from the Friends of Rawdon Library said: “Libraries are changing and we believe Rawdon Library can flourish if it reflects these changes.

“We also see a future for the building as a lively community centre for learning, arts and social activities.”

Dozens of volunteers have already come forward to help run the facility and at least 24 of those have been trained to use the counter.

They have been working alongside local councillors to come up with a range of activities the facility could offer.

They include starting a film club, art classes, a local history group and developing a children’s literature festival.

Clive Woods from the Friends added: “It is a one-off opportunity because if people don’t get behind this now then it will be too late.

“There are a lot of people that live nearby and without community activities and services then everyone will have to travel more to other places. It just makes sense.”

Rawdon Library was on a list of 15 libraries which Leeds City Council was proposing to close and replace with mobile services under a plan expected to save £625,000 a year.

But council bosses have agreed to look at the possibility of Rawdon staying open and being put in the hands of the community under a system known as Community Asset Transfer.

A meeting will be held on Saturday (February 25) to discuss the future of the library and fill in surveys about the proposed activities.

The amount Leeds City Council pays to independent fostering agencies to look after children for which it is responsible is expected to more than double to £12.4m over the next 12 months.

Now the council is facing calls to increase the sums it gives to in-house foster carers in a bid to boost recruitment and retention and cut the soaring bills for external placements.

Liberal Democrat councillors argue the flow of carers away from the council and into private fostering agencies is increasing and want action to stem the tide.

They say it costs the council £300 more per week to use an agency rather than an in-house carer. The number of Leeds children fostered privately now stands at 281 – up from 143 in March 2010. About 700 youngsters are fostered by the in-house service.

Foster carers in Leeds are currently paid weekly allowances of between £111 and £195, depending on the age of the child, with no rises proposed for 2012-13.

Liberal Democrats are proposing the council spends an extra £1.1m to increase the amounts to between £134 and £232, the rates recommended by the Fostering Network.

Coun Stewart Golton, Liberal Democrat group leader who will raise the issue at tomorrow’s council budget meeting, said: “The council’s approach to foster caring is bonkers.

“It’s proposing to pay private fostering agencies an additional £7 million next year while doing nothing to encourage foster carers to register with the council. This is madness when profit-making private agencies cost the taxpayer £300 a week more than our own foster carers.

“At the moment the council is not coming close to covering the actual cost of looking after a child. It’s not even proposing to raise the rates by inflation, which is shameful and wrong at a time when household costs are rising so rapidly.

“It’s a false economy as placing a child in a private agency costs council tax payers massively more. If we’re able to get even a quarter of the children currently fostered in the private sector back into council fostering, it’ll save the council £1m per year.”

A dad has criticised the 15-month wait he has faced for a knee operation.

Paul Simpson is still waiting for knee reconstruction surgery after badly hurting his knee in November 2010.

Patients should wait no more than 18 weeks for treatment to start after being referred to hospital by their GP, according to Government targets.

Hospital bosses in Leeds have now apologised and blamed an “administrative error”.

Mr Simpson, who could no longer work following his injury, said: “I’m very annoyed. It has had a big impact.”

The 30-year-old from Halton Moor, Leeds, hurt his knee playing football and the following morning was in so much pain, he could not put his foot on the floor.

He went to the St George’s Centre in Middleton, Leeds, where he was given crutches and referred to a knee specialist.

Following an appointment at Leeds General Infirmary, he was sent for an MRI scan before Christmas 2010 which showed he had snapped two ligaments, ruptured his kneecap and torn cartilage.

“After the scan, the specialist said I definitely needed reconstructive surgery and it would be two to three months,” said Mr Simpson, dad to two-year-old Layton Simpson.However he has not heard anything since then.

Mr Simpson, who lives with his girlfriend Julie Crossley and her two-year-old daughter Macey Spurr, has rung his consultant’s office regularly as well as chasing it up through his own GP.

He has finally been given an outpatient appointment for next month, but still has no idea when his surgery will take place.

In the meantime he was unable to carry on his job as a door-to-door salesman and after seven months on disability benefits, was told he should find a job.

So far he has only been able to find odd days of work.

“I’ve had no explanation whatsoever for the delay. I have got a girlfriend and two kids to look after,” he said.

A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals said: “A member of staff has now spoken to Mr Simpson and sincerely apologised that we did not follow up his outpatient appointment in February last year.

“Initial investigations suggest this was due to a regrettable administrative error. We are still looking in detail at this to be clear we fully understand.

“Since some time has now elapsed we need to see Mr Simpson again to reassess his condition and will then do everything possible to progress the necessary treatment as soon as possible.”

We are at a christening, where I am making the most of a rare opportunity to chat with the other dads from our NCT group.

A couple of months before the twins were born the Missus insisted we sign up for parenting sessions run by the National Childbirth Trust, telling me it was a good way to meet people in the same boat.

At that stage of what I have come to describe as her ‘emotional journey’ through pregnancy, I decided it was best to just nod and agree.

And for once it was money well-spent because everyone we met through it has turned out to be thoroughly delightful.

But although the Missus and the rest of the mums meet up most weeks for tea and cakes, us blokes haven’t all been in the same room together since last August.

On this score I’m ever so slightly jealous of a mate of mine who followed every one of his childbirth classes with a group trip to the pub and still regularly goes drinking with his NCT buddies. They’re even talking about going on a skiing trip together.

But because our sessions were squeezed into one weekend rather than spread out across a couple of months our lot hasn’t had the chance to do much in the way of male bonding.

This saddens me, so I decide to float the idea of getting together for drinks.

The idea goes down well. Particularly with the guy who says he hasn’t been on a night out since November. And yes, that was me again.

I can gauge from the murmurs of agreement that we all recognise how important it is for us to get together and let off some steam.

There’s just one problem.

“How do we broach this with them?” asks one of the lads, furtively nodding his head in the direction of our other halves who we have made sure are safely out of earshot.

“What we have to do is stick together,” I suggest. “Solidarity is the key. If we put on a united front then they have to let us out of the house. Even if it’s just for a couple of hours.”

“I know,” pipes up another of the NCT boys, “we get them to organise it for us. That way, they’ll feel involved.”

We all grunt our agreement. We’ve heard a lot about the need to be ‘involved’. This sounds like the magic word that might just unlock the door to our night out.

Eventually we pluck up the courage to go over and mention it to the wives, just to see how the idea goes down.

“So let me get this straight,” says one, balancing a baby in her arm. “You want us to be your social secretaries now as well as looking after your children?”

“It was his idea,” says her panicking husband, pointing a finger at me as the Missus shoots me a look of disappointment.

Our dream of a lads’ night out isn’t over just yet, but I think we may have some work to do on the solidarity front.

* Follow The Bloke on Twitter @theblokeyep

A metal worker who is believed to have been killed after being impaled by railings at a Leeds firm was found injured by a customer, a Leeds inquest heard.

Hiyat Khan Akahil, 39, was found with a metal rod through his head at Ashton Metal Fabrications.

Mr Akahil, of Bayswater Crescent, Harehills, had been a casual worker at the firm for eight months, the inquest opening heard.

On February 11, Mr Akahil – a married man from Afghanistan – reported to work and was left alone by his employer at around 12 noon.

At the time, he was joining two pieces of metal fencing together and there was nobody else on the premises, the court heard.

A customer entered the firm on Ashton Road, Harehills, and found Mr Akahil lying injured. He was pronounced dead at Leeds General Infirmary.

Coroner David Hinchliff adjourned the inquest.