A serial killer who murdered a Hexham woman says he has no regrets after slicing off his finger in jail.

Ivan Milat hacked off his little finger with a plastic dining knife before giving it to a guard in an envelope - labelled "Caution! Hazardous material" - addressed to the High Court in Sydney.

Milat, now 64, was caged for life in 1996 after being convicted of murdering six backpackers, including nanny Caroline Clarke, 22, of Hexham, in some of the worst atrocities committed in Australia.

A charity is thanking all its volunteers for their hard work.

The National Autistic Society is sending a message to the people who help to run its branches across the North East as part of Volunteers Week.

Its branches include Newcastle and Gateshead and Hexham.

A presentation on plans to revamp the region's hospitals takes place in Northumberland next week.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is proposing a new specialist emergency care hospital near Cramlington for people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside, improvements to Wansbeck and North Tyneside general hospitals and rebuilding community hospitals in Berwick and Haltwhistle. The proposals would also affect emergency care services at Hexham General.

A presentation on the plans takes place at a meeting of Warkworth Parish Council on Thursday, June 4 at 6.30pm in the Memorial Hall on Castle Street.

Two Northumberland teachers have been selected as finalists in the North East heats of the 2009 Teaching Awards.

Fiona Conley, a teacher at St Joseph's RC Middle School in Hexham, is one of four nominees for the Special Needs Teacher of the Year Award.

And Dianne Greenwood, headteacher at Abbeyfields First School in Morpeth, has been nominated in the Lifetime Achievement category.

The health trust which runs hospitals across Northumberland has won three prizes at the regional heats of the prestigious Health and Social Care Awards.

Northumbria Healthcare Trust - which runs Wansbeck and Hexham General Hospitals, plus a number of smaller facilities around the county - won the innovative acute care award for its stroke team on Ward Nine at Wansbeck.

The Stroke Northumbria Network won the leadership for improvement award and the fast-track joint replacement project, which was piloted at Hexham and Wansbeck, won the transforming services award.

The funeral of a murder suspect found hanging in his prison cell will take place this week.

Daniel Johnson, who was accused of killing Stephen Thomas Philipson, at a block of flats in Hexham, Northumberland, died last week.

The 23-year-old, who was due to appear at Newcastle Crown Court on June 22 to make a plea to the charge of murder, was found hanging in his cell at Durham Prison during the early hours of Monday morning.

A North East charity, which delivers relief projects to poverty- stricken countries around the world, is desperately seeking volunteers.

Hexham-based Mercy Trucks is looking for helpers at the 30th Annual Steam and Vintage Rally, in Corbridge.

Volunteers would help staff a stand, which aims at spreading awareness of the charity, and act as Stewards in the Car Park. The rally takes place on June 6 and June 7. Anyone interested should email mcafferkey@btinternet.com

North Shields 0, Hexham Girls Under 14's 2

Hexham Girls saved their best performance of the season to win the final of the Northumberland Cup against a strong North Shields side.

The team played fantastic football from start to finish and North Shields never really got a look in. After losing their last two league matches to North Shields you would expect the opposition to have the upper hand, brimming with confidence, however this Hexham side knew it was their last chance to win some silverware this season.

Starting the day as joint leaders in the Wellstream Northumberland & Tyneside Senior League, Percy Main came unstuck at Tynedale where they went down to an 83-run defeat.

Swalwell dominated their match at Ashington to record an 84-run win and the champions are now clear at the top.

A sensational last-ball win kept Shotley Bridge's title hopes alive.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of Class A drugs were seized in a year-long crackdown by police vying to rid rural Northumberland communities of drug barons.

The Journal can today reveal the scale of the drug problem that plagues the county's isolated countryside, with a massive haul of drugs confiscated by police specialists.

Earlier this year a top judge said drug dealing gangs were targeting rural villages in sophisticated cannabis production operations.