Knife robbery case dropped

THE case against a man who had been accused of robbing a city convenience store at knifepoint has been dropped.

Lee Fenn was charged with robbery at Melrose Stores, in Pennycross, on April 10 last year.

The 33-year-old had allegedly taken £646 in cash and some cigarettes from the Premier shop in Melrose Avenue.

Fenn, of Macaulay Crescent, in Manadon, had been due to go on trial in May this year.

But Alistair Verheijen, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told Plymouth Crown Court the case against him was not being pursued.

Recorder Alastair Trevaskis formally recorded the case as discontinued.

A CAR was feared to have been on the verge of going up in flames in a residential street in the middle of the afternoon.

A fire crew from Crownhill was called to Ashridge Gardens, in Honicknowle, at 2.20pm on Saturday.

They confirmed there had been a small fire involving the electrics of the vehicle, which was out on arrival.

In a separate incident yesterday, firefighters were called to Ermington, near Ivybridge, to reports of a car fire.

On arrival at the scene at around 2.15pm they discovered a car well alight on a driveway close to a property.

The blaze was caused by hot ashes setting fire to a dustbin which then spread to the vehicle, a spokesperson for Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said.

Crews extinguished the flames using a hose reel jet.

A MAN was rescued from a flat in Efford after a fire broke out in his kitchen.

Firefighters from Greenbank and Crownhill attended at the Torridge Way property at 11.30pm on Saturday.

The fire, which broke out in the first floor flat of a four-storey block, was confined to the kitchen and quickly extinguished by the fire service.

The man was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and the cause was believed to be accidental.

FIRE crews were called to a property in Tavistock after a fire involving a laundry basket being left on a cooker.

The call came in at 9.06am yesterday from an address in Warren Road.

One fire engine from the town was sent and reported the fire, in the kitchen area, as being out on arrival.

The fire had involved a laundry basket being left on top of the cooker, crews said.

The kitchen was severely damaged by heat and smoke but nobody was injured.

A WOMAN had to be helped from her car after a crash on a busy stretch of road.

Fire crews were sent to Wolseley Road, Milehouse, at 4.44pm yesterday after being alerted by police.

Two fire appliances from Camels Head attended and found an elderly lady trapped in a Vauxhall Corsa.

They helped her from the vehicle and left her in the care of paramedics, while police investigated the incident.