Two Years of Inquiries Lead to Maryland Arrest

BY MADELAINE MCNEILL

An associate of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang has been arrested more than two years after officers discovered weapons and ammunition at a Maryland home.

A pistol, two sling shots, ammunition, and firearm parts including a trigger mechanism, suppressor, rifle bolt and shortened barrel were found at the home on Maryland Street during a search in May 2017.

All of the items were forensically examined by specialist police.

Following extensive inquiries, detectives arrested a man outside Maitland Local Court on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old has been charged with possessing an unauthorised firearm, possessing an unauthorised prohibited firearm and two counts of possessing or using a prohibited weapon without a permit.

He was refused bail to face court on Wednesday.

Image: NSW Police Force

Son Charged with the Murder of His Father in Maryland

BY JESSICA ROUSE

A 21-year-old man will face Newcastle Local Court today, charged with the stabbing murder of his father in Maryland last night.

Police were called to Delray Court, Maryland just after 9 o'clock last night following reports of an assault.

Officers arrived to find a 52-year-old man lying in a front yard with multiple stab wounds from a knife to his chest and stomach.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Mahon.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Mahon said it appears the incident was sparked by an argument between the father and son over a phone.

"The investigation has revealed a 52-year-old male and his 21-year-old son were involved in an argument. We don't know what the argument was about at this stage. At about 9:15pm last night, the father has left the premises followed by his son and a further argument took place,"

"During that argument police will allege the son stabbed his father several times. The ambulance was called with the assistance of neighbours, and unfortunately, the father was unable to be revived and he passed away at the scene."

The Police Dog Unit was called in to track down the 21-year-old who was found in neighbouring parkland 1.5 kilometres away from the scene.

He was taken to Waratah Police Station where he was refused bail and charged with murder to appear at court today.

Detective Chief Inspector Mahon said the man refused to be interviewed by police.

The phone which the argument was allegedly over was found in parkland by the Police Dog Unit while they were searching for the son.

Detective Chief Inspector Mahon is thankful to the neighbours who tried to help the man in what was a tragic situation.

"It's happened in a person's front yard and they've witnessed it. So it was just tragic for everyone. Especially at this time of the year being Christmas."

More Buses for Wallsend under Revamped Timetable

BY JESSICA ROUSE

From January next year, there will be double the number of bus services operating out of Wallsend.

Keolis Downer has announced a more frequent route will operate between Wallsend and the city with better connections to Broadmeadow Station and Merewether Beach.

"We've certainly sought to maintain the geographic coverage and we have a number of frequent services with an extension attached to them so, for example, the frequent service that goes to Wallsend every 15 minutes throughout the day, every second service will go on to Maryland," said Keolis Downer CEO Campbell Mason.

In addition, the frequent service that goes to Charlestown every 15 minutes, every second one will go down to Belmont.

The core route will operate until midnight on weeknights and night owl services will run every hour on Friday and Saturday nights until 3am.

The new timetables come into effect on January 14, 2018.

Bus route map: http://newcastletransport.info/uploads/files/NT-NetworkMap-20171130a.pdf

Alleged Maryland Drug Dealer To Face Court

BY IAN CROUCH

 A man accused of dealing drugs from his Maryland home is due to face court on 18 charges.

The 33-year-old was arrested at his home on Kyamba Crescent yesterday as part of a police crackdown on the supply of prohibited drugs by detectives from Strike Force Malsbury.

It's alleged the man had been supplying the drug ICE

He was taken to Newcastle Police Station and charged with 8 counts of supplying a prohibited drug, 8 counts of possessing a prohibited drug, 1 count of supplying a prohibited drug on an ongoing basis, and 1 count of supplying an indictable quantity of a prohibited drug.

The man's been refused bail to appear in Newcastle Local Court today.

Council reviews comunity childcare centres arangements

The future arrangements for five community childcare centres located on council-owned property will be debated next week

The proposed option of leasing the land to existing centres would allow council to scale recovery of it's cost over time, as well a providing a direct relationship between the rent and the number of places at each centre.

Newcastle Lord Mayor, Jeff McCloy, says the plan will secure the future of the centres.

"The recommendation is that we lease to the [community] groups so all the five community childcare centres on council owned land and council owned buildings. We need try and get some commerciality (sic) into this," Cr McCloy said.

Cr McCloy said that in the real world Childcare businesses had to buy their own land and pay for the building.

"I think this is a very fair proposal to these community groups they don't have to buy the land they don't have to build the building  they just have to pay some rent and maintain the building."

Cr McCloy hopes the plan will allow the Childcare centres to secure places.