Pensioner spends seven years working on jigsaw only to find peice missing.

 

Pensioner’s seven year jigsaw battle ‘ends with one piece missing’

A pensioner, Jack Harris, who spent seven-and-a-half years working on a 5000-part jigsaw finally completed the puzzle only to find there was one piece missing.

 

Jack Harris with his 4,999 piece jigsaw, which had one piece missing. Photo: SWNS

The 86 year-old started the gruelling puzzle in 2002 when it was bought for him as a Christmas gift by his daughter-in-law Eve.

He began work on the jigsaw, which depicts James Tissot’s "The Return of the Prodigal Son", with the intention of completing it by the summer.

But the retired businessman, from Shepton Mallet, Somerset, struggled with the 5ft puzzle and the mass of pieces dominated his dining table for more than seven years as he strived to complete it.

When he finally began putting the final parts together he was dismayed to find that he had only 4999 pieces with one tiny hole in the middle.

The whereabouts of the missing piece is a mystery, but the family believe it may have been thrown away by mistake or eaten by one of his son’s two dogs.

His daughter-in-law, who is married to his son Trevor, said Mr Harris was "so disappointed" when he found there was one piece missing.

"We got him this one as a bit of a joke really, because he always boasted he could get them done so quickly, he’s a bit of a whiz with them," she said.

"There was so much to do. We’d all have a go at it each time we went over there, but it seemed to just take forever.

"It was marvellous to see it finally completed. But when we saw there was a piece missing from the middle, we just couldn’t believe it."

She added: "He was just so disappointed when he found one bit was missing. It’s sad really because now it will never be completed."

Mr Hughes has a new jigsaw given to him every year by his family but he has been particularly stumped by this one.

He was initially helped by Doris, his wife, before she died in February 2004 leaving him to complete the task on his own.

"I always said I could get the puzzles done by the end of March so I could get out into the garden, but this one took a bit longer," Mr Hughes said.

A spokesman for Falcon Games LTD, the puzzle’s manufacturer, said they had stopped making that particular jigsaw and it would therefore be impossible for them to provide the final piece.

By: Andrew Hough www.telegraph.co.uk

 

Teenager’s low trouser ban ‘breaches his human rights’, court told

 

Teenager’s low trouser ban ‘breaches his human rights’, court told

An attempt to ban a youth from wearing his trousers too low has been dropped by magistrates, after a court heard it contravened his human rights.

By Andrew Hough
Published: 8:00AM BST 05 May 2010

Bedford Magistrates’ Court heard the proposals were in breach of the teenager’s human rights. Photo: ALAMY

Prosecutors had wanted to issue Ellis Drummond, 18, with an anti-social behaviour order banning him from “wearing trousers so low beneath the waistline that members of the public are able to see his underwear".

Crown Prosecution Service had also wanted to ban Drummond, of Rushden, Northants, from wearing any hooded clothing "with the hood up" in public.

But Bedford Magistrates’ Court heard the proposals were in breach of his human rights and as a result were withdrawn after agreement between prosecution and defence lawyers.

District Judge Nicholas Leigh-Smith told the court that prosecutors would have "failed" to convince him the low trouser ban was necessary had they pursued the case.

“Some of the requirements proposed struck me as contrary to the Human Rights Act,” he said.

Jim Davis, prosecuting, told the court the proposals were necessary to protect the public.

"It’s concerning that Drummond is acting in the way that he is to people he knows, let alone people that he comes across,” he said.

Drummond eventually received a four-year ASBO prohibiting him from using threatening behaviour, begging, or entering the grounds of Bedford College.

The ASBO was imposed following a number of convictions for assault, possession of Class B drugs and a public order offence over the six months to January this year.

Outside court, a CPS spokesman said it was decided prior to the court hearing that a ban on Drummond wearing low trousers was no longer in the public interest.

"Before the court hearing, and following discussions with Mr Drummond’s defence solicitor, it was decided that several of the prohibitions were no longer necessary or proportionate to protect the public from further acts of anti-social behaviour,” he said.

"The remaining three prohibitions sought by the CPS with the agreement of the defence, and included in the Order granted by the court, were considered to be adequate."

John Midgley, founder of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said it was ridiculous that the ban was dropped.

"At face value this would seem to be an instance where the human rights of the criminal are put above the human rights of innocent people," he said.

After the hearing Drummond said he was considering making a formal complaint against the original terms of the “silly” ASBO.

"My sister said they wouldn’t be able to put in those conditions. It’s like they’re trying to change the way I dress,” he said.

In 2005 Dale Carroll, then aged 16, from Cheetham, Manchester, became the first person in the country to be banned from wearing a hooded top.

By the:- www.telegraph.co.uk