Adam Lord Audience Editor

Hello,

Here are today’s top headlines from the Lancashire Post newsroom. 

• Two men involved in one of the UK’s largest ever carousel tax frauds have been sentenced to a combined total of 31 years in jail.

Sock manufacturer Arif Patel, formerly of Preston, and his gang tried to steal £97m through VAT repayment claims on false exports of textiles and phones.

The 55-year-old, who now lives in Dubai, also sold counterfeit clothes that would have been worth £50m if genuine. The proceeds were used to buy property across Preston and London through offshore bank accounts.

Patel was today sentenced in his absence to 20 years behind bars. Co-accused Mohamed Jaffar Ali, 59, also of Dubai, was sentenced in his absence to 11 years in jail.

• A fundraiser has been organised for the funeral of Shannon Canning after the missing woman’s body was found in the River Lune. It’s already raised nearly £3,000 after the sad discovery in Lancaster on Wednesday. 

The 24-year-old disappeared in the early hours of Friday morning and on Wednesday, police confirmed they responded to a report a body had been found in the River Lune, near Halton, at around 4.20pm. Specialist search teams subsequently attended the area and sadly recovered the body of a woman.

Our thoughts continue to be with her family. 

• We’ve also got news of a cannabis farm that’s been discovered in Leyland and the latest on a tragic discovery in Blackpool. 
• In other news, we went back to Lidl 18 months on from spending £15 in the bargain supermarket for a price study and were stunned at the results. 
• And finally, we’ve celebrated British Sandwich Week by taking a look at some of the best places to grab a butty in Preston. 

Thanks for reading, 

Adam

adam.lord@nationalworld.com