Cumbria: Year in review 2006

The outbreak was traced to the Forum 28 building in Barrow

The outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Barrow reached a conclusion in the courts in July.

Hundreds of people contracted the disease in 2002 and the cause was traced to the air-conditioning unit at the town's Forum 28 centre.

Council architect Gillian Beckingham was found not guilty of seven charges of manslaughter.

However, she was found guilty of one charge of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and fined £15,000.

In December, two public hearings into the outbreak were held in the town to identify lessons learned and prevent further tragedies.

Bug death council worker cleared

Student stabbed on board train

A man was jailed for life for stabbing a19-year-old student to death in an unprovoked assault on board a train in Cumbria in May.

Thomas Lee Wood, 22, from Lancashire, smashed a train window in an attempt to escape after killing Thomas Grant.

The student, from Gloucestershire, was said to have been killed for glancing at his attacker while on the platform at Carlisle waiting for a connection.

The judge called it "a truly shocking case" and ordered Wood to serve a minimum of 21 years.

Killer jailed for life

Three drowned in Ullswater

In September a trip to the Lake District turned to tragedy for a Sikh martial arts group.

The trio were part of a Sikh martial arts group

Three of the youths were enjoying a paddle in Ullswater when they plunged more than 18ft to their deaths down a hidden drop in the water.

Harvinder Singh, 15, Tajinder Singh, 21, and Satvir Singh, 17, all from Wolverhampton, drowned in the icy waters.

Cousin speaks of lakes deaths

Road improvement gets go-ahead

The government gave the green light in March to long-awaited plans to fill in the missing motorway link between England and Scotland.

The £174m scheme will upgrade to motorway standard a stretch of the A74 in the area known as the Cumberland Gap.

It follows a public inquiry after hundreds of motorists were stranded, with many forced to sleep in their vehicles, after an accident closed the road for 24 hours two years ago.

Approval to fill 'Cumberland Gap'

Firm fined over nuclear leak

The operator of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant was fined £2m in August.

It followed the discovery of a radioactive leak more than a year earlier, when nearly 85,000 litres of acid containing 20 tonnes of uranium and 160kg of plutonium escaped from a broken pipe into a sealed holding site.

Plant operator British Nuclear Group Sellafield (BNGSL) admitted responsibility and said it "deeply regretted" the incident.

Fine follows Sellafield leak

'Tourist attraction' dolphin dies

A friendly dolphin, which had become something of a tourist attraction in Maryport, was found dismembered on a beach.

Marra was rescued from the harbour during a special operation

In January Marra, as she became known, had to be freed from the town's marina, where she was attracting crowds of visitors, after fears over hear health and safety.

She was spotted in the area on a number of occasions, but in December her remains were discovered in sacks on a beach near Silloth.

It was feared she had been killed, but experts found she died of blood poisoning from an infected wound.

Allerdene Council is investigating claims that the animal was cut up by contractors for disposal.

Dolphin died of blood poisoning