Chester-le-Street toddler's rescue from storm drain

AN RAF sergeant was hailed a hero after rescuing his daughter, who had been sucked down a storm drain and "spat out" into a swollen river 150 feet away, in September 2008.

Mark Baxter dived into the fast-flowing River Wear, at Chester-le-Street, to grab three-year-old Leona.

Up to his shoulders in the river, he pulled his daughter above the waterline and passed her to his wife, Beverley who, along with police, administered first aid.

Read more: ECHO MEMORIES: A rollercoaster ride amid the bracing air of Seaton Carew

Leona suffered only a scraped forehead and bumps and bruises in an escape that police described as miraculous. She spent the night in the University Hospital of North Durham, where her condition was described as "comfortable".

Already asking her parents for chocolate and ice cream, she told them how she had tried to do the star float her swimming instructor taught her, but was unable to do so because she was "all squashed up" underground.

Sgt Baxter said the family dog, Brophy, who is still missing after being sucked into the same hole, might have saved Leona's life by forcing her through the storm drain.

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The Newcastle United backlash gathered pace 15 years ago this week with thousands of fans vowing to boycott the club's next match – and Geordie legend Alan Shearer criticising the treatment of Kevin Keegan.

After a week of turmoil at St James' Park, supporters said as many as 10,000 fans could turn their backs on the club at the next home game against Hull City.

Incensed by the manner of Keegan's departure, fans vowed to do everything they could to punish club owner Mike Ashley.

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Former Newcastle and England captain Shearer joined the chorus of disapproval and ruled himself out of the running to replace Keegan.

Shearer said: "If you are the manager and on Monday morning you have players waiting for you and you don't even know who they are, you have every right to ask what's happening.

"A manager lives or dies by his decisions – and if he can't make those decisions then there is no point in him being there.