Nurse's death: man is charged

A MAN was last night charged in connection with the death of nurse Vicky Fletcher, police said.

Miss Fletcher, 21, died on Thursday after being shot outside the Castlefields pub in Castleford, West Yorkshire.

Thomas Shanks, 47, an anaesthetist at Pontefract Royal Infirmary, West Yorkshire, was arrested near Glasgow on Friday night and returned to Yorkshire on Saturday for questioning.

West Yorkshire police refused to officially name the accused man, or to give details of the charge he faces. He is due to appear before magistrates in Pontefract today.

Nurse Fletcher, Dr Shanks' former girlfriend, was gunned down after going outside to speak to a man during a night out with friends. She was shot in the arms, leg and back and died shortly afterwards in Pontefract General Infirmary, where she worked on a geriatric ward.

The pub where she was shot has been closed since the tragedy and is not expected to re-open until after her funeral.