Connor Creaghan

A Gainsborough MP with a skin condition has opened up for the first time about the regular online abuse he endures.

Sir Edward Leigh has rosacea which he explained reddens and can deform the face, a condition he takes antibiotics for every day.

On being elected as the chair for a parliamentary group on skin, he said: “I’m regularly mocked on Twitter for my appearance.

“I can take it but it’s harder for the young.

“Don’t mock people for how they look.

“For 20 years we have fought to raise funding for dermatology. It is the Cinderella service of the NHS despite skin cancer being such a huge killer.”

He added that he was moved by recent testimonies from sufferers of vitiligo, eczema, and psoriasis.

There is not a single psycho dermatologist in Lincolnshire, even with 85% of skin disease sufferers quoting psychological damage.

A Boston man who raided a pub and garage with a knife and meat cleaver, but avoided jail, has now been out behind bars.

Matthew Holland, 31, was given a two-year sentence suspended for two years at Lincoln Crown Court but has since been sent to prison.

His case was sent to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General Michael Ellis QC MP for an “unduly lenient” punishment.

The court ruled that the sentence should be increased to three years and nine months.

The two Boston incidents took place at the New Inn pub on Penn Street and the John Adams Way Service Station. Photo: Google Street View

Holland spent the afternoon of November 30, 2019, drinking and gambling in an amusement arcade in Boston.

After running out of money, he entered the New Inn pub in Boston, produced a large kitchen knife and told a bartender to empty the till, leaving with £500.

Holland subsequently went back to the same amusement arcade and gambled away the proceeds of the robbery.

In the early hours of the next morning, Holland committed his second robbery.

He entered the Esso petrol station with a meat clever and asked the cashier to hand over cash and other goods. Holland left with nearly £3,500 worth of goods.

After the hearing, the Solicitor General said: “Holland’s reckless and dangerous behaviour demonstrated a complete disregard for the law.

“His sentence has rightly been increased today at the Court of Appeal.”