Birmingham headlines 30 January: Rock fan escapes jail after attacking O2 Academy concert goer

A rock fan who beat a fellow concert-goer unconscious has been spared jail. Andrew Ridley pleaded guilty to attacking Mark Stevens following a row over the glare from his bald head spoiling his view of the band at a gig at the O2 academy.

Birmingham City Council is planning to cut its anti-knife crime budget despite another teenager being stabbed to death recently by Victoria Square. A petition has now been launched to stop the cuts by the Save Birmingham Youth Service campaign.

Controversial plans to knock down the Ringway Centre are set to be looked at again by the City Council following a bid to save it from demolition. The authority's planning committee voted to bulldoze the brutalist building and replace it with three huge apartment blocks