Hundreds of people who use council-run day centres in Northumberland face a three-month wait to find out whether they can be saved.

A series of public meetings on the future of the threatened centres in Amble, Bedlington, Blyth, Hexham, Haltwhistle, Ponteland and Prudhoe - which are used by 370 people a week - has now been completed, and final decisions will be taken in September.

Further private meetings will be held with individual centre users and their families, and feedback from the public consultation analysed, before reports setting out the various options are presented to county councillors.

This is first picture of murder victim Lee Matthewson from Amble. The 21-year-old was stabbed to death during a disturbance on Bolam Road, in Ashington, on Monday.

Emergency services were called to the street during the early hours of the morning, following reports of an altercation.

Mr Matthewson was taken to Wansbeck District Hospital, but he was pronounced dead at around 5.45am.

Fears were voiced last night over the potential impact on the health of elderly and vulnerable people if care chiefs press ahead with controversial plans to close seven day centres in Northumberland.

Relatives of elderly dementia suffers who use the council-run Lyndon Walk day centre in Blyth said they are worried that their conditions will get even worse if they have to uproot themselves and move elsewhere.

Two women told a public meeting in the town that their mothers don't cope well with change, and questioned whether adequate alternative provision will be available if the centre closes.

A savage home invader who launched a terrifying hammer attack on a disabled ex-chaplain and his wife was last night beginning an indefinite sentence behind bars.

Drug addict Christopher Stevenson (pictured)- a serial offender free on a suspended sentence - targeted David and Elizabeth Swales as they returned from a Bible reading class at their church.

He forced his way into the couple's retirement home in Amble, warning he had come for their money.

Fans of Northumberland's coastline can hear a talk by a conservation expert.

Mel Nicholls, the county's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Officer, is an experienced botanist and zoologist, and will speak about the flora, fauna, bird and marine life along the coast from Scremerston to Amble.

The area, covering 39 miles of coastline from Berwick to the Coquet estuary, boasts some of the most dramatic coastal scenery in the country.

The beautiful architecture of Coquet Lighthouse is the subject of this photo sent in by Richard Hannam of Prudhoe.

More meetings are to be held in Northumberland to allow people to have their say on £200m proposals for new and improved hospitals in the county.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust has drawn up plans for a new specialist emergency care centre near Cramlington, plus improvements to Wansbeck General and the rebuilding of community hospitals in Berwick and Haltwhistle.

But the changes would see the closure of emergency departments at Wansbeck and Hexham General, moves which have caused some concern with patients.

Finance chiefs at Northumberland's cash-strapped super council are trying to recover almost £9m in unpaid council tax inherited from the county's former district authorities.

The huge debt has been revealed following the abolition of Berwick, Alnwick, Castle Morpeth, Tynedale, Wansbeck and Blyth Valley councils on April 1 - and their replacement by the all-purpose unitary council.

Major tourist sites in Northumberland could close this summer if workers strike.

Hundreds of English Heritage employees began voting yesterday on the action, which could affect sites including Holy Island as well as castles such as Warkworth and Dunstanburgh.

If staff strike, it could mean attractions close at the height of the tourist season.

A murder victim was killed by a single knife wound to the chest. Police today named Lee Matthewson, 21, as the man found dead after a disturbance on Bolam Drive, Ashington.

Officers were called to the street in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Mr Matthewson was taken to Wansbeck District Hospital. He was pronounced dead at around 5.45am.