THE month began with a tragic story about a 14-year-old who was jailed for bludgeoning his mother to death with a claw-hammer.
Daniel Bartlam, of Georgia Drive, in Redhill, was named after the Post asked for reporting restrictions to be lifted.
His baby-faced picture was shown in national newspapers across the country after he was sentenced for life, serving a minimum of 16 years, for murdering his mother Jacqui and setting fire to her body to cover his tracks.
Another high profile crime saw police launch a murder investigation following the death of Malakai McKenzie, 19, who died at the QMC following an incident outside the Hubb pub in Hucknall Road, Sherwood, on Saturday, April 21.
It is believed he was shot in the car park. Four men have since been charged with murder, with a fifth being detained in the States.
Meanwhile, life-long Nottingham Forest supporter Andrew Lowe was banned from matches for ten years after making two hoax bomb threats during a game.
But it was certainly not all doom and gloom. On April 9 we reported how a dad broke through a door before helping his partner give birth to their son on the bathroom floor.
Brent Farrell, 35, forced open the locked bathroom at their home in Horace Avenue, in Stapleford, to help girlfriend Amy Cray, 34, after her waters broke.
They had been planning to head into the QMC but baby Sebastian was born just 30 minutes after his mum's waters broke.
Meanwhile, the University of Nottingham received a welcome gift from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, which donated £12m towards a new laboratory complex.
It was the largest corporate gift received by the university in its 130-year history.
Construction on the Jubilee Campus will start in Spring 2013, with the new facility due to open the following year.
It was also good news for children in April as the Post revealed that Notts County Council is setting aside nearly £5 million over the next four years to pay for free travel to school for pupils.
The money will be for families who choose not to send their children to their nearest catchment-area secondary school.
And the month also showed a drop in the number of children being excluded from schools in Nottingham.
Another of April's big stories gave details of the shocking amount of time-wasting calls made to the emergency services.
On April 17 we revealed that paramedics had been called out to deal with a budgie with breathing difficulties and someone who needed help defrosting a turkey.
They also went to the home of a man who claimed to have been bitten by a snake – only to find he was high on drugs and the snake was on a wildlife programme on TV.
