Daniel Ionescu

The Department for Transport is expected to announce positive news “imminently” on its involvement in the CastleLine project for more and faster trains between Lincoln and Nottingham.

Lincoln MP Karl McCartney said “there is a very strong possibility that positive news might be announced imminently.”

As previously reported, county and district councils have pledged money towards the £700,000 yearly cost to improve the frequency and speed of trains between the two cities.

Lincolnshire County Council, the City of Lincoln Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and other authorities are putting money towards the better train connections, with the Department for Transport (Dft) supporting around half of the costs.

The councils and Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) have committed a combined £205,000 per year for three years to trial the scheme, which would require more than £2.1m in total.

The proposed service would deliver an average reduction in journey times of around 7 minutes eastbound and 3 minutes westbound for Lincoln.

It would also double the frequency for Hykeham, as well reduce journey times.

Newark, Carlton, Burton Joyce and Fiskerton, Bleasby, Thurgarton and Rolleston would also benefit from increases in the number of trains running under the project proposals.

East Midlands Trains would use its only spare train and carriages for the extra services.

Lincoln MP Karl McCartney said: “Whilst at this point in time I have not had definitive confirmation of any definite improvements to the Castle Cross-Country service between Lincoln and Nottingham via Newark.

“I am aware through my working in partnership over a long period with the County Council and colleagues in both Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire that there is a very strong possibility that positive news might be announced imminently.

“I spoke supportively in a HoC debate back in February on this particular issue, and hope that any improvements will increase service frequency, alleviate over crowding, offer quicker journeys and potentially improve weekend services too.

“All credit to my colleague Rob Jenrick [Conservative Newark MP] who added his weight to the campaign from the outset as the Newark By-Election candidate, and has seen just dividends.”

County Councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways at Lincolnshire County Council, said:

“This scheme would increase the number of services that come into Hykeham Station, and it’d also reduce the journey time for trains travelling between Lincoln and Nottingham. I think it’d bring a number of benefits both for passengers and local businesses.

“We’ve committed to investing £70,000 and a number of organisations have also declared their willingness to contribute money towards this, but we need to secure the support of the Department for Transport for the scheme to go ahead.

“I understand that a decision could be announced in the coming days, and if we’re successful the new services could be in place for May 2015.”

Karl McCartney and Lincoln business representatives also made their plea recently to the bidders of the East Coast rail franchise for better city links to and from London.

The three firms in the running for the franchise are East Coast Trains Limited, a joint bid from Eurostar East Coast Limited and Keolis, and Inter City Railways Limited who are owned by Stagecoach and Virgin.

The Department of Transport is expected to reveal the preferred bidder for the East Coast Franchise in November 2014.

A local man has been jailed for 18 months for making and possessing indecent images of children in Lincoln.

Ntinos Mikellides, 40, of Carlton Heights in Nottingham, was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on September 1, after pleading guilty to all nine offences of making indecent photographs and films of children, and three counts of possessing indecent photographs of children.

The offences took place in Lincoln on numerous dates between March 2010 and October 2013.

Mikellides, who was training to be a primary school teacher, was arrested on October 25 last year at his home in Mill Lane in Lincoln, after Lincolnshire Police received information that a computer at the address may have been accessing child pornography sharing sites and downloading images from them.

When officers entered the premises they found Mikellides in his bedroom with a computer that was turned on and downloading indecent images of children at the time.

Investigators seized and examined the hard drive of Mikellides’s computer and found that a total of 94,438 indecent images of children had been accessible.

A report from a forensic investigator revealed that they had been categorised by the names of children, their nationalities, and their activities.

DS Vicky Midgeley of Lincolnshire Police’s Internet Child Abuse Team (ICAT) said after the conclusion of the court case: “I am incredibly pleased with the sentence handed to Mikellides, which reflects the seriousness of his crimes.

“The amount and range of images he had on his computer and available to him was both horrifying and astounding.

“He claimed in interview that he essentially stumbled across these sites while looking for sexually explicit content but it was clear from his continued use of them that he got sexual gratification from them.

“We want others who may use and share indecent images of children on these sites to know that just because they are behind closed doors does not mean we will not find them.

“We will do everything in our power to identify them and see them answerable before the courts. We will also continue to work with partner agencies to identify any children who feature in these photographs and films to try to get them to a position of safety.

“Children are being systematically exploited by adults in this type of indecent content and we will continue trying to find those who access it and put a stop to it because the less demand there is, the less supply we hope there will be.”