NO-HEADLINE

The former defence minister Alan Clark was fined pounds 650 after pleading guilty to obstructing a police officer during a bomb scare. The charge related to an incident in February just days after the IRA ended its ceasefire with the Docklands bomb when he drove through a police cordon in Piccadilly, central London.

Bow Street magistrates' court was told that Clark, 68, argued with police officers when they tried to prevent him proceeding in his Land-Rover Discovery. The millionaire author and historian then drove through the cordon, despite the scare caused by a suspect package - which turned out to a false alarm - and was arrested. He admitted driving within feet of where bomb squad officers were about to set a test charge for a controlled explosion.