The city news in 250 words: May 19, 2011

THE governor of Strangeways has defended the ITV1 documentary about the prison after one of its inmates became an internet hero. A Facebook page regarding inmate David Charlton notched up 120,000 friends. Charlton, who appeared this week, claimed to suffer from mental and physical illnesses and held several ‘dirty protests’ in his cell. "I think this banishes a lot of the myths and gives a real insight into HMP Manchester as it is now,” said governor Richard Vince.

AN off-duty police sergeant was chased by a man with a Samurai sword near the Rochdale canal, after watching Man City play at Eastlands. He was chased by three men, one with the four-foot sword. He turned and hit the offender in self-defence before running to safety. The man with the sword was white, in his late teens, about 5ft 9in tall and of small build.

MANCHESTER United striker Wayne Rooney told a Twitter follower he’d put them ‘asleep within 10 seconds’. Rooney, who has a following of more than 570,000, was replying to an abusive tweet on Tuesday. He then tried to defend the comment as ‘a bit of banter.’

MANCHESTER Airport is expecting a boost in passengers next season, thanks to the success of both local Premiership sides. Andrew Harrison, managing director of the airport, said: “We can expect to welcome anything from 3,000-6,000 visiting fans for home games and a similar number of Manchester fans travelling to away matches, all of which results in increased capacity and additional flights.”