An internet paedophile spared jail after a request by the Home Secretary to use prison sparingly was today imprisoned for eight months.

An anti-social behaviour hotline has been jammed with more than three times the usual number of callers. Around 3,000 people dialled Cardiff’s 101 non-emergency line over the weekend, instead of the typical 800.

On Thursday, 15 March, a Care Council for Wales Conduct Committee decided on the case of a social worker employed by Reed Health in the Bridgend area who was alleged to have breached the Codes of Practice for Social Care Workers.

The suspect charged last night over the murder of a Welsh vicar was described as a loner permanently dressed in black. Geraint Evans will appear in court this morning charged with murdering the Rev Paul Bennett in the grounds of his own church.

Three men who spent years in jail after being wrongly convicted of murder will have to pay for their prison board and lodgings, Law Lords have ruled. Brothers Vincent and Michael Hickey of Birmingham, spent 18 years in jail for paperboy Carl Bridgewater’s murder.

A paedophile who avoided jail after the Home Secretary requested judges use prison sparingly, has been jailed for failing to register as a sex offender.

Nurses in Wales will be paid less than their Scottish colleagues as ministers ruled out breaking ranks with England. The Welsh Assembly Government last night said it would follow England’s lead and stagger a derisory and below inflation 2.5% pay rise for nurses throughout the year.

Expensive PFI deals have been branded a waste of money as patients are being denied treatments. Plaid Cymru yesterday said it will cost Wales more than £100m to pay for a new hospital which cost just £14m to build.

Finance Minister Sue Essex suggested the Assembly Government was flexible on the role of private finance initiatives today. She faced questions in the chamber about why there had been fewer PFI projects in Wales than in England under Labour.

A teenage girl told a court yesterday how she was raped by a pub regular, after they swapped mobile phone numbers. Craig Davies, 26, and the school girl exchanged text messages when he invited her to a party.