Burn the Witch! Burn Her!

I was reading The Times this morning, and as I was just flicking through idly, something caught my eye, relating to Gateshead. So I read it.

Then I stopped, and read it again. It still seemed to say the same thing. Odd.

What it said was:

Excerpts from Amnesty International Report for 2006
In Newcastle, England, a special court sentenced a Gateshead woman to be burnt to death for witchcraft. Betty Spencer, 53, was immolated in front of a crowd that had gathered in the Newcastle United football stadium. It was the sixth such execution since the year 2000.

Now this struck me as slightly unusual. I have to say of course, that my heart went out to her husband, Frank.. I was a little surprised that I'd not heard it mentioned in the local news as well...

Of course, it all becomes a little bit more clear when you read the article in full, particularly the second paragraph - which fortunately stands out a bit more in the online version than it did in the printed one.

I'm not going to spoil the surprise by telling you what the article's about — and I'm also going to leave you to make up own mind on what you think of it. It certainly entertained me this morning, however...