THUG WHO BEAT UP SOLDIER JAILED FOR 9 YEARS
N evil mugger who battered a Birmingham old soldier and fled with just £40 has been jailed for nine years. Frail Bill Hopkins, 79, suffered a broken jaw in the cowardly attack outside his home last November. Mugger Richard Christie , 48, pounced on the pensioner from behind, repeatedly punching and kicking him in the head. He ran off with the OAP's wallet - which contained the cash, bank cards and a card from his late wife's memorial service.
Other great stories
BACK TO BASICS HOTEL
CAMPED out in the middle of a forest, these unusual hut hotels take you back to basics .
STORM CHASER PHOTOGRAPHS STUNNING EXTREME WEATHER
These photographs of extreme weather capture storms furiously rolling across the sky above America .
WOMAN NEARLY DIED AFTER PNEUMONIA TURNED INTO SEPSIS – HER LUNGS COLLAPSED AND HER LIPS TURNED BLUE
A woman has revealed how she almost died after she developed sepsis from a cold .
SLEEPY GROUNDHOG
WITH a paw in the air and his tongue hanging from his mouth, it is clear to see that this little groundhog is struggling to wake up and leave behind the comfort of his burrow .
TEEN WITH 100s OF BIRTHMARKS BEATS BULLIES TO EMBRACE BEAUTY
A teenage girl nicknamed 'spotty dog' by school bullies has embraced the hundreds of birthmarks that cover her entire face and body .
CALIFORNIAN GHOST TOWN OF BODIE HILLS FROZEN IN TIME
An intrepid photographer travelled to the abandoned ghost town of Bodie in northern California to capture the historic buildings that are trapped in time .
FAST FOOD FISHING
THIS is the awesome moment an Osprey catches its prey travelling at 50mph, giving new meaning to FAST FOOD .
WOMAN OVERCOMES THIGH GAP OBSESSION AND BEATS ANOREXIA
A university graduate who was obsessed with achieving a thigh gap has told how she shrunk to just 6st after developing anorexia athletica .
MINI BONZAI MODELS - TREE-MENDOUS
These are the fascinating pictures of miniature table sculptures molded around bonsai trees that take up to a painstaking 18 months to create .
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE BUG KIND
THIS alien-like bug would look more at home in outer-space but it can actually be found wriggling around here on Earth .
