These are the latest ECHO headlines on Thursday, April 21.
'Legendary' Breck Road newsagent dies age 70
A legendary newsagent who served Anfield for three decades has died aged 70.
Kenneth Ireland, who ran Ireland News on Breck Road from the early 1980s until 2013, died suddenly on April 10. His family have paid tribute to Ken, who was originally from Walton, who gave so much to his community over the years.
It is not the first time Ireland News has made the ECHO. Back in February 1997, The National Lottery was promoting its new Wednesday night draw, and Ken's shop was chosen to do a 'western-style dancing bonanza'.
Ken's son, Mark Ireland, told the ECHO : "I think my dad would be made up about being in the ECHO, he has sold loads of them over the years. He used to be a toy rep and this newsagent on Breck Road was one of his clients, so when he found out the guy was retiring, he took the plunge and bought it himself.
"He knew from selling toys there that it was a good little shop. From then on it just grew and grew, and people started to see him like a bit of a legend."
Read the full story here.
Northern rail issues timetable update ahead of major changes
Northern rail has issued a timetable update ahead of next month.
The new train schedules will be introduced from Sunday, May 15 and will focus on "delivering reliability and punctuality for customers". The majority of routes will maintain service levels established in December last year and some routes will see increased seat capacity.
Chris Jackson, regional director at Northern said: “Customers are at the heart of everything we do, and the new timetables are designed to deliver high levels of reliability.
“We’ve made decisions about our timetables based on the levels of resource we have available and prioritising the routes with the highest customer demand, and which support the region’s economic growth.”
Read the full story here.
Paedophile walks free after sending images of kids being raped
A paedophile who shared pictures online of children as young as six being raped walked free from court on Thursday.
Joshua Stoll used chat platforms Kik and Wickr to send indecent images to other paedophiles but still denies he has a sexual interest in children. Officers analysing his phones found the 25-year-old, from Warrington, had also downloaded images of young babies in what Liverpool’s top judge said was “truly shocking” abuse.
Nick Cockrell, prosecuting, said police raided Stoll’s home in November last year after receiving intelligence he had indecent images of children. Officers found 1,115 such pictures and videos and later discovered Stoll had used private groups on chat forums to distribute images.
Read the full story here.
