Newcastle United have announced John Carver will remain as head coach until the end of the season.

Alan Pardew's former assistant, 50, will take charge of the team for the final 16 Premier League games.
The Newcastle board will seek a permanent successor in the summer.
"Having explored at some length the options available to us, the decision has been taken to defer the appointment of a permanent head coach until the end of the season," read a club statement.
Pardew left to take charge of Crystal Palace earlier this month, with Newcastle since drawing one and losing three games under Carver.
"The head coach will be a long-term appointment that will play a major role in shaping the future on-field progression of Newcastle United," the statement added.
"It is vitally important that we get the right individual."
Carver said: "This is a proud day for me. I have worked with, and learnt from, the best manager that this football club has had in Sir Bobby Robson. I know what this club means to this city and its people.
"I believe in my players and the staff I have around me. I am confident that we can deliver exciting, successful football and look forward with relish to my role as head coach of this great football club."
Newcastle's managing director, Lee Charnley, said the club's original intention had been to appoint someone who could start work immediately.
With that not proving possible, he backed Carver to guide Newcastle to a place in the Premier League's top 10 before making a decision on a permanent appointment in the summer.
Charnley added: "John has a long history with the club and has the full support of the board. Our goal for the season of a minimum top 10 finish remains unchanged and we are confident that John, supported by the backroom staff, will be able to deliver this."
Newcastle drew 3-3 at home to Burnley in Carver's first game on 1 January before losing 1-0 at Leicester in the FA Cup third round.
They lost 2-0 at Premier League leaders Chelsea on 10 January and were defeated 2-1 at home by Southampton on 17 January.
After the Southampton defeat, Carver urged Newcastle to act quickly to appoint a successor to Pardew.
Frenchmen Remi Garde and Christophe Galtier, German Thomas Tuchel and Derby County boss Steve McClaren have been linked with the post.
Newcastle sit 11th in the Premier League ahead of Saturday's match at Hull.


Swindon Town are planning for life without star duo Nicky Ajose and Yaser Kasim, says head coach Luke Williams.

Forward Ajose, 24, is Swindon's top scorer with 22 goals in 36 league games this season, having arrived following his release by Leeds in September.
Iraq midfielder Kasim, 24, has also been linked with a move to other clubs.
Asked if he was planning for life without Ajose and Kasim, Williams admitted: "Yes, I think that's a sensible way to think."
He added: "Nick has scored so many goals, I think any club would be interested in a man who can put the ball in the back of the net that many times.
"It's beyond me that Yaser is still playing League One football. I can't find the reason. I'm struggling to find (flaws) in his game.
"It's highly likely that Yaser will play either Premier League football or Championship football next season.
"All the boys are ambitious and they should want to play at the next step. To try too hard to try to persuade them to stay is probably the wrong way to do things.
"I don't like to try to stand in the way of a player's progression, once a player has got that in their mind that they're desperate to go and play elsewhere."
Swindon's survival in the third tier was secured on Saturday as they beat Chesterfield, and they now face Rochdale and Shrewsbury in their final two games of the season.
"We've got a chance to look at some players who we're maybe not 100% sure what level they're at, but we can allow them to show us," Williams told BBC Wiltshire.
"We will try to work on a few different things in training and see if there could be an interesting angle for us to experiment with next season.
"There are very few occasions in football when you have the luxury to try something."
Meanwhile, midfielder Jake Evans, 18, has signed a professional contract with the club.


Striker Saido Berahino is as important to West Brom as Harry Kane is to Tottenham or Jamie Vardy to Leicester, says Baggies boss Tony Pulis.

Berahino, who apologised on Friday for threatening to go on strike, scored the third in a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace.
It was the 22-year-old's first goal in the Premier League since October.
"If you take Kane out of Tottenham's team or Vardy out of Leicester's, they leave massive holes. Saido is as good for us as they are," Pulis said.
"When Saido and Salomon Rondon, play together they are handful and we haven't had that for half a season."
Following his threat not to play for the Baggies again under chairman Jeremy Peace after a potential move to Spurs fell through, Berahino spent three-and-a-half months out of the starting line-up, returning to the first-team last weekend in the win at Everton.
And, after early goals by Craig Gardner and Craig Dawson, his effort proved the difference as he superbly volleyed in Stephane Sessegnon's diagonal ball before Connor Wickham's double hauled Palace back into the match.
Berahino, who has scored three times in the FA Cup since the new year, also hit the bar while the score was 3-1.
After a seventh goal of the season, Berahino said his link-up play with fellow striker Rondon had played a key part in the victory.
"We've been working hard at trying to link up, today we clicked and it's a good sign," he said.
"I've been through a lot this season but I've put the past behind me. I was just out there enjoying myself. You just want to go out and show what you're about."
The game against Palace also saw the club rally around Chris Brunt, who was struck by a coin thrown from a Baggies fan in the loss to Reading last weekend.
Supporters collected money for a charity of the Northern Irish international's choosing and sang his name during the 11th minute of the match to correspond with his shirt number.
Unfortunately for Brunt, he had to be taken off just before half-time with what looked like a serious knee injury, but Pulis said the whole episode had brought the club together.
"If the supporters want to boo and moan, they have a right to, the players accept that," Pulis said. "But you can't accept throwing stuff at players.
"It's a wonderful football club, and [the incident] most probably brought fans all together to support the team and the club. They think the world of it."
On Brunt's injury, Pulis added: "It's a disappointment for us because he's a good player. He could be out for a while."


Ferret about in the long grass and the woods on the Hoo Peninsula shortly after dawn, and there is a good chance you might bump into Owen Sweeney.

Mr Sweeney is one of life's enthusiasts. He has been walking the lanes and paths of Lodge Hill since the 1970s, hat on head, binoculars in hand.
For all the talk of immigration in this by-election campaign, protecting the rights of one migrant is commanding rather a lot of attention.
Not a person. But a bird.
Around 80 pairs of nightingales breed here each summer, in just the spot where there are plans for 5000 new houses.
Mr Sweeney tells me: "It is a special bird. It has got a heritage, a cultural place in Britain's history. It has been lauded by poets, musicians and writers.
"If you hear it, you'll be enraptured by the nightingale."
You won't be surprised to hear the candidates in the by-election are flying around the constituency, expressing their ornithological fervour with gusto.
Mark Reckless, the former Conservative turned UKIP candidate, whose resignation from the Tories led to this contest, says only a vote for him will protect the birds.
You can trust us with the birds too, is the gist of his rivals' pitch, with Green candidate Clive Gregory rather bemused at what he sees as rapid conversion of his opponents to the environmental cause.
A few miles down the road is one of the biggest employers around here, VeeTee Foods. If you eat rice, it has probably been processed here.
Two thirds of all the rice bought in the UK comes through this plant.
Workers zip around in fluorescent yellow jackets and blue hairnets.
Immigration matters to the workers here.
"They are just coming in and claiming benefits. Me and a lot of people think it is just wrong," Kerry Comber tells me.
Colleague Dave Tattun has his own reflections on the state of the political parties.
"All of them tell lies. The only one that is telling us what people really want to know and hear is UKIP," he says.
But hang on, argues the boss, Moni Varma, with words that the Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst will be glad to hear.
"I think the Conservatives have done a good job turning the economy around, so far. Given the chance, they will negotiate with Europe and probably get what is right for the country."
In Rochester town centre, the bells of the cathedral strike midday.
Down below on the pedestrianised high street, an enterprising shop owner is having a crack at being an opinion pollster.
John Baldock has run Sweet Expectations for the last three and a half years.
No customer can nip in here for a bag of fudge without being asked to chew over their political views.
Once they are gone, John adds a sweet to a jar in the window to reflect how they are intending to vote.
UKIP will win, he's concluded; something the four rather more scientific opinion polls done in the constituency suggest too.
Labour's candidate, Naushabah Khan, is campaigning on how long local people have to wait for a doctors appointment and the state of Medway Maritime Hospital, a big concern to many locals.
Geoff Juby for the Liberal Democrats has reflected that stopping immigration is a "two way street" given the number of Britons living elsewhere in Europe.
And it is that very issue that provokes the strongest views here.
Susan Bockelmann is originally from Heidelberg in Germany, but now lives locally.
Does all this chat about immigrants leave her feeling uncomfortable?
"Yeah. I kind of think what is going on? But I don't put too much weight onto it, because I think the British in general are not like that."
The full list of candidates, in alphabetical order by surname, is:


A university lecturer whose body was found in a cave in Indonesia fell to his death looking for ancient paintings, an inquest has heard.

Stephen Miller, 55, of the University of the West of England in Bristol, died in the Mampu cave in Cabbeng village, South Sulawesi, in August last year.
Avon Coroner's Court that heard guides saw Mr Miller enter the cave and raised the alarm when he failed to emerge.
With no evidence of foul play, a narrative conclusion was recorded.
A pathologist concluded that he died from chest and pelvic injuries and had a background of hypertensive heart disease.
In a statement, Mr Miller's sister Karen Brown said her brother had recently become interested in ancient cave paintings.
"They believe Stephen had gone to climb a wall face inside the cave where there was an opening at the top," she said.
"The police believe Stephen lost his footing while climbing and tumbled down the wall."
Divorcee Mr Miller's credit cards and two million Indonesian Rupiah, were found with his body.
"Knowing this sum of money is a considerable amount to Indonesians, we did not suspect foul play," Mrs Brown said.
Dr Peter Harrowing, assistant coroner for Avon, said the occupational therapy senior lecturer had "died from injuries sustained following a fall".
"The effect of these injuries was compounded by hypertensive heart disease," he said.


Two police officers have been disciplined for not seeking medical attention for a woman who died after telling them her head had been hit against a wall during an assault.

Mairead McCallion was taken into police custody and her partner was arrested in 2014 after he allegedly attacked her.
She was rushed to hospital hours later after being sick in the back of a police car, and died the next day.
A Police Ombudsman's report says the officers failed in their duty of care.
It says they did not alert a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) doctor who examined her that Ms McCallion, from Omagh in County Tyrone, had claimed to have suffered a head injury.
This was in spite of the fact police officers are taught to immediately seek medical attention when dealing with a possible head injury.
The family of 36-year-old Ms McCallion said they believe she might still be alive if the doctor had been alerted and she had been taken to hospital immediately.
"She told the police officers her partner had pulled her hair, banged her head against the wall and threw her into the garden," her sister Patricia O'Brien said.
"She had clumps of hair visibly hanging off her shoulders - that should have been taken very seriously.
"Had that have been taken seriously, Mairead should have been given urgent medical attention.
"That did not happen."
Ms McCallion had previously suffered domestic abuse, and had been drinking on the day she told officers she had been assaulted in February 2014.
The Police Ombudsman's report says that made it even more important that a PSNI doctor who examined her at Omagh police station was told about her head injury claims.
As part of their training, police officers are told that alcohol consumption can mask symptoms of a head injury such as slurred speech.
The officers who spoke to Ms McCallion when she claimed to have been assaulted told the ombudsman's investigators that they assumed she would make the doctor aware of her head injury.
The ombudsman says that was wrong, and they had a duty to inform the doctor and other colleagues.
"It was inappropriate that the officers put the onus on Mairead to pass on the details of her injuries in an unfamiliar setting to an unfamiliar doctor, especially in light of the fact she was apparently intoxicated," the report says.
"Head injuries can cause symptoms similar to alcohol intoxication, and as the woman had been drinking, it was particularly important that the doctor was informed about the head injury."
After being examined by the police doctor and having her injuries photographed, Ms McCallion was driven to a friend's house by the police officer she had initially told about the head injury.
The ambulance service was called when she was sick in the back of the car.
She was then rushed to hospital, but died the next afternoon.
Ms McCallion's family said they were shocked that clear procedures for dealing with reports of head injuries were not followed.
"Mairead was showing all the signs [associated with a head injury] and they put it down to alcohol," Ms O'Brien said.
"They made an assumption on Mairead.
"She was a very vulnerable young woman and at her most vulnerable point in her life she was not taken seriously, she was failed.
"They failed in their duty of care. They did not follow their own procedures.
"They could have got Mairead medical attention, that might have made a difference.
"As a family we are left wondering, and will always wonder now, would that have made a difference, would that have saved Mairead's life?"
Ms McCallion's partner was arrested and charged with murder, but the charges were later dropped.
The PSNI has accepted a recommendation from the ombudsman and changed its policy on how officers should treat anyone who reports a head injury.
In future, they will be taken directly to a hospital for assessment, and not to a police doctor.


One of Fifa's leading advisers has criticised football's world governing body for "neutering" key recommendations for internal reform and says she is considering resigning in protest.

Alexandra Wrage, a Canadian member of Fifa's Independent Governance Committee (IGC) and an expert in corporate anti-corruption measures, is "frustrated and surprised" that Fifa has failed to back several measures she regards as "really bland, straightforward governance provisions" after a meeting of its leading executive committee last week.
Wrage is now urging the Football Association and other national FAs to adopt the rejected reforms and raise them at Fifa's annual congress in May.
These include measures to:
The deadline for adding items to the congress agenda is this Friday.
"I think we only have a few days as it's a tight schedule but they are permitted to add items to the agenda and this is the time to do it," she said.
"It's going to take some organisation, some speed and some courage but it's absolutely possible."
Fifa launched its reform process almost two years ago amid fierce criticism after Mohamed bin Hammam, an election rival to Blatter, was accused of bribery. Bin Hammam was later banned for life by Fifa, but he continues to deny any wrongdoing.
Several executive committee members also faced allegations of corruption in the bid process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Football's world governing body later admitted that candidate countries Spain and Qatar colluded over votes for the two tournaments.
In addition to questions over World Cup bidding, the long-running ISL case has added to a public perception of impropriety within Fifa - with claims that senior officials accepted payments from its former marketing partner. A file has now been passed to Fifa's ethics adjudicator Joachim Eckert for review, with a decision expected in mid-April.
Following Fifa's failure to take forward the bulk of the IGC's recommendations, Wrage says she is considering resigning from the committee.
Stakeholders have the right to know, especially in an organisation awash with money as this one is, what senior executives are making
"I can only speak for myself but that is one of the options - there's very little point continuing if our recommendations are not being accepted," she said.
"Key provisions that are accepted in the corporate world have not been accepted here - our recommendations just seem to fall off the agenda," she said.
Wrage considered resigning last summer, but ultimately decided against it, when confronted with "blatant" sexism by leading Fifa figures.
Recalling an incident first reported last July, Wrage described how two senior individuals approached her and warned that two candidates suggested for Fifa's reformatted ethics structure were unacceptable because they were women.
"They were the best names we could think of and we were very enthusiastic about them.
"The two executives came over and said: 'You're going to have to give us more male candidates because a female candidate is not acceptable.' I said: 'Did you really just say that to me?' It was startling. It stopped in most settings three or four decades ago.
"I've worked in all sorts of countries, countries with reputations of not valuing their female employees, and I've not had something so startling said so directly to my face."
Pushed to name the executives, Wrage said: "I've been careful not to name them. They were very, very senior and they were clearly speaking, or in a position to speak, on behalf of the president."
When contacted about the claims, a Fifa spokesman told BBC Sport: "The Fifa president has been key to incorporating more women into key positions in football. There will also be a proposal to the congress in Mauritius to include two more women as co-opted members of the executive committee.
"Regarding the candidates to chair the two ethics committee chambers, the Fifa president has explained on various occasions that the candidates needed to have the full support of the majority of the football leaders, which are currently men, and that this was taken into account when deciding who would be the best candidates."
Wrage is also disappointed that recommendations such as independent oversight of Fifa's governance and decision-making have been dropped by the executive committee.
For an organisation sitting on cash reserves of $1.4bn (£923m), Wrage believes such scrutiny should be a "matter of course".
She says she realises football fans will principally be concerned about the awarding process for future World Cups and Fifa will propose to congress that the executive committee produce a shortlist of up to three candidate countries, which will then be voted on by the 209 member associations.
Wrage, however, warns the system under consideration is not sufficiently "robust".
"There is so much money at stake there that [the bidding process] has to be crafted in such a way that there are the most robust controls in place possible," she said.
Full disclosure on salaries is another area where the IGC has encountered resistance, with Wrage suggesting Fifa may feel it is "above" such questions.
She said: "I recognise that it's sensitive information but in the corporate world we got past that a decade or more ago. The stakeholders have the right to know, especially in an organisation awash with money as this one is, what senior executives are making.
"My concern was that we might win on salaries but not on the total compensation package. It was startling to me that we didn't even see salaries going forward."
Integrity checks are a similar disappointment for Wrage, a topic she feels Fifa has effectively "neutered".
The IGC had proposed centralised, independent vetting for newly elected Fifa executives.
But following resistance, led by European governing body Uefa, a watered-down version of the plan will be sent to congress with the six regional confederations taking responsibility for the process.
Wrage said: "The integrity checks will go forward but they have, in my opinion, been gutted.
"This is absolutely critical: centralised, neutral, independent integrity checks. All three of those components are really important. And now they are decentralised and largely self-reporting.
"[This is] really important for restoring Fifa's integrity - the reputation, fair or not, of people with inappropriate backgrounds making it into positions of authority. The fastest way to address that is robust, independent integrity checks."
The IGC will now meet in mid-April to discuss and plan its next move with Fifa insisting that the reform process is incomplete and should not be judged until after congress has voted.
Wrage said many in the group were frustrated by Fifa's decisions over their recommendations and she finds it hard to understand why the governing body of the world's most popular game wouldn't actively seek to embrace the change they've proposed.
"I'm a great fan of transparency. If it could quell some of the fan unhappiness then why wouldn't you do it?"


The RSPCA could appeal after its prosecution of six people on animal fighting charges was dismissed.

Five men and a woman from Devon each faced charges under the Animal Welfare Act at Newton Abbot Magistrates Court.
After legal argument the charges were dismissed by a district judge as not being animal fighting as defined by the act, said the RSPCA.
The charity said it was "considering its position" after the decision on 12 November.
The RSPCA said in a statement that the judge ruled that "'taking a dog into the countryside seeking another animal to attack and perhaps kill, in that other animal's own environment and in which that animal is not constrained, artificially or otherwise' did not constitute animal fighting as defined in the act.
"The Animal Welfare Act has been one of the most successful ever pieces of legislation in protecting animals from harm and the RSPCA furthers its charitable purposes through enforcing the legislation."
Defence lawyer Simon Rees said on Facebook that the judge was "100% correct in his interpretation of the law".
He said: "The decision was that section 8 of the Animal Welfare Act was confined to animal fighting proper and was not, as the RSPCA suggested, any fight between say a lurcher and a fox in the context of a hunt.
"The decision upheld the old law under the Protection of Animals Act 1911, which the Animal Welfare Act replaced, to the effect that only captive animals could be the subject of fighting."


The jury in the trial of a man accused of keeping the murder of his sister-in-law secret for 12 years has been discharged.

Natalia Wilkanowska, 50, disappeared in 2003 after visiting her ex-husband Gerald Doherty in Luton.
Joseph Doherty, 73, of Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire, denied helping conceal her remains and lying to police.
The jury at Luton Crown Court could not agree on the charges against him. The prosecution intends to seek a retrial.
LIVE: Updates on this story and other Bedfordshire news
Ms Wilkanowska's body was left under builder's rubble in the garden in Icknield Way, Luton, and was not discovered until December 2015.
The jury had been considering its verdict since Friday.
Mr Doherty, of Old Greenock Road, Port Glasgow, denied one charge of perverting the course of justice, one of obstructing the coroner by giving a false account of Ms Wilkanowska's death and one charge of preventing her lawful burial.
The case will be mentioned again in court on 3 February.
Last week the judge directed the jury to clear his younger brother 67-year-old Daniel Doherty, who owned the house where the remains were found.
The judge said that having heard the prosecution evidence, he concluded he had no case to answer.
Ms Wilkanowska's ex-husband hanged himself in July 2003 in a flat in Robert Street, Port Glasgow.


Kate French and Joe Evans won Britain's third medal at the Modern Pentathlon World Championships in Poland by winning silver in the mixed team relay.

Their medal followed Samantha Murray's individual gold and the women's team silver earlier in the week.
After strong fencing, swimming and show jumping rounds, French and Evans took an 18-second advantage into the final shoot-run combined phase.
However, Lithuania's team overtook them and won gold by just three seconds.
There was no shame in defeat, though, with Laura Asadauskaite being the reigning Olympic champion and Justinas Kinderis having won the men's world title last year.
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"With Laura behind me I was running for my life, I was really scared," said 23-year-old French, who won silver with Murray in the women's relay.
"It's been a really good day though."
The British pair were particularly impressive in the morning's fencing round, winning 27 of their 38 battles to rank second.
They climbed to the top of the rankings with a strong 2x100m freestyle relay swim before both delivered clean show jumping routines.
Although French maintained Britain's advantage heading into the changeover in the combined event, 21-year-old Evans struggled in the second shooting phase which allowed Kinderis to move clear.
"Me and Justin were playing mind games the whole way around," Evans told BBC Sport.
"Unfortunately I didn't managed to pull it off today, but I'm still happy to have won a silver medal."
The mixed-team event is not currently part of the Olympic programme, but the sport's international governing body - UIPM - hope it could be included for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
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Libya have fired coach Javier Clemente following the 4-0 loss to DR Congo in 2018 World Cup qualifying on Saturday.

The country's football federation announced its decision a day after the Group A match in Kinshasa.
Clemente, 66, had been due to leave at the end of November when his contract would have expired.
Libyan football has suffered from instability in the country and security problems mean they are banned from playing internationals at home.
Their next World Cup qualifier is against Tunisia on 11 November and will be played in Cairo, Egypt.
A spokesman for the Libyan Football Federation said a foreign coach would be in charge for that fixture, which has now become a must-win game for Libya.
Only the winners from the group. which also includes Guinea, will book a place at the  World Cup in Russia.
The highlight of Clemente's time in charge of Libya was the country's first ever senior continental title as they won the 2014 African Nations Championship in South Africa.
Libya won the tournament for locally-based players with a win on penalties over Ghana in the final.


England and Sri Lanka were thwarted in the third one-day international at Bristol as rain allowed just four overs of the hosts' run chase.

Sri Lanka made 248-9 after half-centuries from Kusal Mendis (53), Dinesh Chandimal (62) and captain Angelo Mathews (56), as Liam Plunkett took 3-46.
Rain delayed the start of the run chase and England were 16-1 as the weather forced the abandonment at 17:30 BST.
England lead the five-match series 1-0.
Alex Hales, who scored 133 not out in the second ODI, was out for a golden duck to the third ball of the run chase, leaving fellow opener Jason Roy and Joe Root at the crease when play ended.
Plunkett took control at Bristol with the key wickets of Kusal Perera, Mendis and Seekkuge Prasanna after David Willey had removed Danushka Gunathilaka in the first over.
Chandimal top scored for the visitors and held partnerships of 56 and 80 with Mendis and Mathews respectively.
Chris Woakes (3-34) helped stifle Sri Lanka's innings towards the end, and finished with wickets in successive 49th-over deliveries.
The next ODI takes place at The Oval on Wednesday.
Plunkett appears to be getting into his groove against the Sri Lankans, having only returned to ODI cricket in June 2015 after more than four years out.
The Yorkshire bowler has seven wickets so far in the series, although the highlight to date came with the bat when he smashed a six off the final ball of the opener at Trent Bridge to earn England a tie.
At Bristol, Plunkett showed his ability across spells, dismissing Perera in his first over, before accounting for half-centurion Mendis just when Sri Lanka looked set for a productive recovery.
He followed it up by removing the dangerous Prasanna for two in his third spell, leaving Woakes the task of helping to mop up the tail.
Plunkett's wickets took his ODI tally to 52, and ensured Sri Lanka could not mount a serious challenge with the bat.
The visitors, already reeling from Friday's 10-wicket defeat, were dealt an injury blow on Sunday when Lahiru Thirimanne was being flown back home with a lower back strain and replaced by Niroshan Dikwella.
Captain Mathews and vice-captain Chandimal are also nursing hamstring niggles but played on.
And Farveez Maharoof batted with a fractured finger on his left hand, becoming one of Woakes' victims late on.
Overall, it paints a worrying picture for Sri Lanka, who are yet to win a game on their England tour, though Mathews and Chandimal making half-centuries would have been a positive.
England captain Eoin Morgan on Sky Sports: "We're building a lot of momentum towards where we want to be. We are being harsh on ourselves and want to be the best.
"I think the bowlers have coped well so far. I haven't felt light, and it is very useful to have Joe Root as well. He is more than a part-time bowler.
"I thought our disciplines were a lot better today and reducing them to 248 was a good achievement."
England bowler Liam Plunkett told BBC Sport: "We felt like we bowled well and kept them to a gettable target so we are disappointed we didn't finish the game off because we were in a strong position. But we go to The Oval with spirits high.
"I feel in a good place, I'm confident in all aspects and if I get the nod in Test cricket I'll back myself to do well.
"I just enjoy it now, to have a chance to win a game for England is what every kid wants and I think it took me a while to realise that you can actually do that. When I was younger, I was pleased to make up the numbers but now I want to be the match winner."


Dev Patel was 18 years old when I first interviewed him in 2008 for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire.

His acting ability and wavering accent in Boyle's soon-to-be-hit film would be debated in the months to come - especially in India -  but with the press Patel was extremely charming.  His favourite word at the time was "wicked".
But he has travelled a long way in the past eight years.
For one, he does not use "wicked" that often.  I interviewed him at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last year when he was promoting The Man Who Knew Infinity and his response to the use of his then favourite word was, "wicked! Did I say that a lot? That's what you get when you drop out of school really early. You have a very limited vocabulary. It starts and ends with 'wicked'."
Now 26, Patel was back last week at TIFF with his new film Lion, in which he plays the adult Saroo Brierley, an Indian child adopted by an Australian couple.
Even though Patel first appears only towards the middle of the film, he carries the burden of the narrative with charm, good looks and long hair (which has had several online articles dedicated to it), and a lot of emotional depth.  The Hollywood Reporter review praised his "tremendously moving performance" and called him "the resilient soul of Lion".
There is already buzz of an Oscar nomination for Patel. Scott Feinberg, an influential commentator with the Reporter in his post-TIFF report, suggests that Patel's nomination in the supporting actor category is a sure bet.
Dev Patel film Lion roars into Toronto
I have to agree. Patel is exceptionally good in the film and Lion is being distributed in the US by The Weinstein Company. The company chief Harvey Weinstein's Oscar campaigns - and their success rate - is legendary.
Commenting on the film's tremendous reception at its TIFF premiere where the audience, reduced to tears, gave it a standing ovation, Variety wrote that "with Lion, Harvey Weinstein will once again try to claw his way back into the Oscar hunt".
Patel's post-Slumdog journey has not been as smooth as that of his co-stars Freida Pinto and Irrfan Khan.
While Pinto was immediately cast in films directed by a range of well-known directors like Woody Allen, Michael Winterbottom and Julian Schnabel, Patel was only offered cliched roles of terrorists and cab drivers.
The one big film that came his way was M Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, but that project was rejected by the audience and ripped apart by critics.  He also largely went unnoticed in smaller films such as About Cherry and The Road Within.
Apart from not having enough engaging work, Patel often had to deal with being asked to speak in an Indian accent, an acting challenge he has never fully grasped.
Patel's professional struggle ended when he was cast in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel as Sonny Kapoor, a caricatured hotel owner, jumping up and down to please the elderly British guests staying at his dilapidated establishment.
In between there was an additional ray of hope. Patel was cast as Neal Sampat, a British member of the News Night show on HBO's popular serial, The Newsroom.
For once the casting agents and the show's producers saw Patel for what he is - a British actor of Indian descent.  Without having to worry about speaking in an Indian accent, Patel finally got a chance to showcase his acting skills, including one moving moment during an episode when he told his colleagues about being in the London underground on the day of the 7 July 2005 bombings.
By then there was a realisation that Patel was the only bankable Indian actor of his age group in the West.
Last year Matt Brown, the director of The Man Who Knew Infinity, acknowledged that he struggled for years trying to raise money for the film.  A few other Indian actors were considered for the role, but it was only when Patel's name was attached to the project that the film's producers were able to find financing.  Patel was suddenly even more bankable than Jeremy Irons, the Oscar winning actor who played GH Hardy, Ramanujan's mentor, in the film.
It was clear that the British Patel had worked very hard to transform himself to become the Tamil Brahmin Ramanujan. But his performance - although earnest and sincere, looked too studied.  You could often tell that Patel was trying to act in the film.
But Lion is a different animal. For one Patel had to lose his British accent and adopt a convincing Australian tone.  That perhaps is the first skill British and Australian actors have to learn. And for another, he plays a character his own age, living in Melbourne.
When I asked Patel about Lion, he said, "Lion is probably the best script I have read. So to be a part of it is just astounding. It is a triumphant movie and that's why I relate to it.
"The director not only physically changed the way I look like, but he really forced me to go down the journey that was a different embodiment. The way I sounded. I was in the gym all the time since I had to get a bit bigger."
So this time - rather, for just about the first time - Patel has got it right. The early Oscar talk is not surprising at all.


People living above a seaside theatre earmarked for demolition say they fear removing it will destabilise the cliff it is on - and their homes.

Scarborough Borough Council voted this month to demolish the Futurist Theatre and redevelop the land.
Geologists say the coastline has "stability problems".
The council said demolition would not start until it was satisfied it could be done without destabilising the cliff or surrounding area.
Read more about this and other stories from across North Yorkshire
Dr Bill Murphy, University of Leeds engineer geologist, said the coastline had "stability problems" with soft rocks at the surface deposited by glacial tills 1800 years ago.
"There is abundant evidence of slope instability all along the coast from Whitby to Holderness," he said.
"The council has stated explicitly they will have to carry out stability analysis.
"But Scarborough has experience of landslides, their engineers and contractors should know what they're dealing with so [residents] should be comforted that there's a lot experience there.
"Nevertheless, stability issues are present."
Roger Pickstock, who retired to new flats above the Futurist with his wife Elaine, said they had moved "to what we thought was our dream home but we're worried it'll turn into a nightmare".
Mrs Pickstock said: "We've not had any consultation at all with what they've done up to now or what they plan to do in the future."
The Futurist closed in 2014, after being deemed unsustainable as a theatrical venue.
Theme park Flamingo Land has expressed an interest in developing a year-round tourist attraction on the Futurist site, with an indoor rollercoaster and botanical gardens.
Mick Rivers, who has lived in Prospect Place for 30 years, said: "I would've felt better if someone [from the council] had come and talked to people but they haven't.
"When they did exploratory work, the hammering and banging made our windows vibrate and I had to ask them to stop.
"So when they start piling the whole area, if that destroys Bland's Cliff, Prospect Place... They're certainly not saying anything to us which will allay our fears."
Council leader Derek Bastiman was approached for comment but declined to speak to the BBC.


The Scottish government has opened talks with public sector leaders and charities to amend its named person scheme, after its existing legislation was ruled unlawful.

The Supreme Court found that parts of the legislation relating to information sharing breached human rights rules.
Education Secretary John Swinney said the policy will still be implemented once changes have been made.
Opponents of the scheme have called for a complete re-think of the plans.
A panel of five judges at the Supreme Court upheld a legal challenge to the legislation, part of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, from the No to Named Persons campaign group.
They argue that the system, which would provide a named person for every child in Scotland, usually a teacher or health visitor, intrudes on privacy and family life.
The court ruled that while the aim of the scheme was "unquestionably legitimate and benign", the data-sharing practices currently legislated for made it "perfectly possible" for confidential information about a young person to be shared with "a wide range of public authorities without either the child or her parents being aware".
Judges said this is "incompatible with the rights of children, young persons and parents" under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The scheme was meant to be rolled out across Scotland on 31 August, but the Scottish government is "urgently" drafting an order to cancel this, to provide time for changes to be made to the legislation after Holyrood returns from recess in September.
The Lib Dems had called for parliament to be recalled over the matter, but this was rejected by Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh, who said the most pressing matter - the government's order postponing the implementation of the policy - did not need parliament to be sitting.
Mr Swinney said he had already held talks with "senior figures from the public and third sectors", including the NHS, councils and Police Scotland.
The Deputy First Minister said: "Our aim has always been for the named person to provide timely support for children and families. We have always said that as part of that role, we expect that any sharing of personal information should be proportionate and relevant.
"The Supreme Court's ruling makes clear that while the principle of providing a named person for each child does not breach human rights, we need to do further work to ensure those performing the role have greater clarity about sharing information, as required by the court."
A number of Scottish councils are currently running pilot versions of the Named Person scheme.
Opponents have claimed this could leave these councils open to legal challenges from parents about the data-sharing practices used, but Mr Swinney insisted in a letter to Holyrood's education committee that existing procedures are not affected by the ruling.
The No to Named Persons group said the government would now have to come up with a "much more limited scheme" which "actually respects the rights of children and parents".
And spokesman Simon Calvert said he hoped the system was scrapped entirely.
He said: "The decision by the judges is a devastating critique of this fatally flawed flagship legislation. It is holed below the water line - let us hope it sinks without trace."
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the government needed to "go right back to the starting block" with the legislation, saying they had "lost the support of the majority of parents across Scotland".
She said the government would "face a heavy reckoning from Scottish parents who rightly want to be able to raise their children without state interference" if it went ahead with the plans as they stand.
And Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith said it was clear that the scheme was "unworkable and unnecessary".
She said: "The Supreme Court has blown the named persons scheme out of the water and it's time that the SNP realised that it's time to stop pursuing it.
"Instead of arrogantly trying to push ahead, they should listen to the many voices who are saying that this policy is unworkable and unnecessary. Nicola Sturgeon needs to accept that she got this one wrong, and that it's time to put the best interests of families in Scotland before her own narrow-minded political agenda."
Labour's education spokesman Iain Gray said the SNP had "made an absolute mess" of the named person scheme.
He said: "John Swinney can't pretend there's no real problem here. Fixing this will take more than just amending the legislation. He must completely re-examine the guidance and regulations."


Survivors' groups have criticised a "lack of progress" in the work of a public inquiry into historical allegations of child abuse in Scotland.

They said they felt let down by delays which looked 'shambolic' and suggested incompetence.
The inquiry, announced in December 2014, formally began its work on Thursday, although no panel members have been appointed.
It followed a series of disclosures of abuse in childcare institutions.
In May 2015, leading QC, Susan O'Brien was appointed to chair the inquiry, which will have statutory powers to compel witnesses to give evidence.
Although its work has officially started, no hearings are yet planned. Only a website has been launched.
Ms O'Brien QC said she would give full details of how the inquiry would operate once panel members had been appointed by the Scottish government.
She said: "Once the Scottish government has appointed the inquiry panel members, and I have had a chance to discuss the issues with them, we will set out in detail the ways in which we will run the Inquiry and take evidence from witnesses.
"Counsel to the inquiry will be in touch with survivors' representatives during October to make sure that their views are considered before that happens.
"It would be helpful if all other interested parties made themselves known to the inquiry now, so that their views can also be taken into account."
Jennifer Davidson, director of the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland, based at the University of Strathclyde, welcomed the formal start of the inquiry.
She said: "This is a historic day for the people of Scotland, particularly survivors and their supporters who have campaigned for a long time to be heard. I hope that survivors can find a way to use their painful experiences and memories to get answers and to ensure this doesn't happen again."
But Alan Draper, parliamentary liaison officer for Incare Abuse Survivors (INCAS) said members were very disappointed at the lack of real progress in the 10 months since the inquiry was announced.
"The failure to appoint a panel, to assist Susan O'Brien, prior to the start date, suggests incompetence and will only result in yet further delays to the work of the inquiry, as we assume that anybody appointed will not be able to start work immediately," he said.
"The whole process is beginning to look shambolic.
"Survivors were feeling euphoric following the announcement of the inquiry, but are now left feeling that they are being let down, yet again, by those in authority."
He said so far the inquiry has no dedicated premises or phone line.
INCAS also criticised the government for failing to include a draft bill in its recent legislative programme, to set aside the time bar which has prevented survivors seeking civil damages many years after their abuse.
Education Secretary Angela Constance said in December 2014 the government would lift the three-year time legal limit on civil actions.
She said this would include compensation claims for damages in cases of historical abuse that took place after 1964.
Welcoming the formal start of the inquiry, Ms Constance said it represented an important landmark.
"I want to reiterate my gratitude to all survivors and their supporters who have helped us reach this point.
"Their willingness to recount such painful experiences was vitally important in helping us set a remit that would deliver the justice they rightly deserve," she said.
"Many of those who have championed this inquiry have been campaigning a long time and I want to reassure them that they will see it conclude within a reasonable timeframe.
Getting here has been a challenge and there is still a long way to go, but I am confident we have taken the time to allow the chair to lay the foundations of an inquiry that will allow us as a society to right historical wrongs."
The inquiry will examine any instance where a child was abused 'in care', at institutions including residential care provided by faith-based organisations; children's homes and secure care.
It will also include those placed in foster care.
During the start-up period, those who believe that they may have information to share are asked to make initial contact with the inquiry either by emailing information@childabuseinquiry.scot or by post at Historical Child Abuse Inquiry, PO Box 24085, Edinburgh, EH7 9EA.
They should only send in their names and addresses, with one sentence about how they can help.


A man has been rescued from a river in Aberdeen after crashing his mobility scooter.

The incident happened on the River Dee near Gray's School of Art at about 18:20.
Police said a man in his 40s came off his mobility scooter and fell into the water.
He was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. A Police Scotland spokeswoman said his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.


Targets for ambulance response times in Wales are to be dropped for all but the most life-threatening calls.

In a one-year trial from October, performance for less urgent incidents will be assessed by clinical outcomes - the results of the treatment delivered.
The target of responding to 65% of very urgent calls within eight minutes will remain in place but be monitored.
Statistics released on Wednesday showed the service missed its target for responding to emergency calls in June.
An ambulance arrived on the scene within eight minutes for 61.4% of "red" emergency calls.
That is an improvement on the previous month and better than the same time last year.
The service has also announced that fewer calls will be classed as "red", which need an eight-minute response.
The Welsh Conservatives described the latest statistics as "another month of failed Labour-managed ambulance response times".
Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, Darren Millar, said: "Wales has amongst the worst response times in Britain and the most urgent target has now been missed for 20 consecutive months.
"It is Labour's mismanagement of our NHS that's led to this shameful failure in performance and only a change at the top will put that right."
Plaid Cymru described the trial as a "dangerous experiment" and said the service was "moving the goalposts instead of dealing with the issue".
Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams said targets should be about "patient outcome, not political convenience".
She added: "Of course, it is politically convenient for the Welsh Labour government to scrap targets that they've been incapable of meeting, especially with an election just around the corner."
The Welsh NHS Confederation described the changes as "innovative" and "patient-focused".
The new model will introduce three categories of calls - red, amber and green.
Deputy Health Minister Vaughan Gething said he was "confident" the changes will improve patient experience.
He said: "The demands placed on our emergency ambulance service are more complex than ever before and are growing year-on-year.
"It is clear if we are to meet these demands and ensure the best outcomes for patients, we need to transform the way in which we deliver emergency ambulance services."
Tracy Myhill, chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, added: "Having a fast ambulance arrive at a patient's door does not necessarily translate to a better outcome.
"However, having the right type of vehicle arrive at a patient's door and timely transport to a treatment centre does."
Officials have urged people only to call an ambulance if they really need one in order to reduce pressure on the service.
Those with less serious conditions have been encouraged to use alternative transport such as taxis to take them to hospital in a pilot scheme.
In England, ambulance services have a more ambitious target of responding to 75% of Category A calls within eight minutes.
The target was met for England as a whole in 2013-14 for the most serious of those calls - Red 1 - but was just missed for less serious Red 2 calls.
A row broke out in December when a leaked document suggested changing the target for some Red 2 calls in England from eight to 19 minutes.


Wales' most successful amateur boxer Andrew Selby has announced he is turning professional, ruling him out of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Barry flyweight, 26, won European Championship gold medals in 2011 and 2013 and claimed a silver medal at the 2011 World Championships.
Selby wrote on Twitter: "Proud to announce I am now a professional."
He is the younger brother of current IBF featherweight world champion Lee Selby.


A mosque that was targeted in a failed arson attempt was saved only because it was raining, its chairman believes.

CCTV footage showed a man trying to set fire to Finsbury Park Mosque at 20:25 GMT on Friday and fleeing on a moped.
A "gallon of fuel" was later found outside with some burnt paper, but "thankfully it did not catch light," chairman Mohammed Kozbar said.
Scotland Yard is treating the attack as an Islamophobic hate crime. No-one has been arrested.
The CCTV shows the suspect approaching the mosque with a bag containing a jerry can filled with petrol, police said.
He attempted to set this alight before hurling it into the mosque compound.
"Scorch marks were found on clothing wrapped around the jerry can. This was a clear and deliberate attempt to cause arson. Although the petrol did not fully ignite, the threat and intent was obvious and the resulting fire could quite easily have endangered anyone inside as well as those living nearby," Det Sgt Stuart Smillie said.
Mr Kozbar said the mosque committee had received a letter in the past week informing them the building was under threat of an attack, but he did not know if it was related to the attack.
He said he first learned of the arson attempt, when he went to open the mosque at about 10:15 GMT on Saturday.
"Our security found a gallon of fuel outside and some half-burned papers," continued Mr Kozbar.
"Thankfully, the floor was wet as it had been raining and the fuel did not catch light.
"It makes us feel angry at first and then vulnerable."
He said the mosque had been targeted before by arsonists but never on such a large scale.
A statement on the mosque's website reads: "Someone tried to burn the mosque by throwing a Molotov bottle... It did not explode and no one got hurt and no damage was done.
"We would like to assure our community in Islington that such crime has no place within our society and we are determined more than ever to promote community cohesion and harmony."
The Met Police has urged anyone with information about the arson attempt to come forward.


Saturday's Women's Super League 1 game between Doncaster Rovers Belles and Arsenal Ladies has been postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

No new date has yet been set for the game to be played.


A couple forced to postpone their Greek island wedding after half the invitees' British Airways flights were cancelled have finally said "I do".

Laura Sciortino and her husband Sam, from Woking, Surrey, had planned to marry in Santorini on Sunday and had flown there ahead of their family earlier in the week.
When a major IT failure grounded British Airways flights, Laura's brother, aunt, uncle and three bridesmaids were unable to join them.
So Laura and Sam found themselves rushing to rearrange the wedding they had planned for two years.
After a stressful 24 hours,the ceremony took place on Monday instead - a day later than planned.
Laura and Sam told the BBC it had been an emotional time.
"We had to contact suppliers, and change all the arrangements.
"Luckily our wedding planner and hotel were very understanding and we couldn't have done it without them," Laura explained.
Laura's brother and his family made it to the wedding just in time, after booking flights with a different airline, but Laura says the first time she saw them was when she was walking down the aisle.
"They arrived on the island late on Monday morning. I didn't have time to receive them," Laura said.
"They rushed to the hotel and made it to the ceremony but my sister-in-law and nieces were unable to wear their bridesmaids' dresses, as they were in the luggage they had to leave behind at Heathrow."
Aside from missing bridesmaids' dresses, groom Sam said the wedding went well:
"There were just a few minor things like the lighting and decor not being quite what we expected.
"We also had to move the ceremony an hour forward as the registrar had another marriage to officiate.
"As soon as he married us he hurried off so we didn't get a chance to thank him," Sam explained.
"We are happy that the wedding went well and pleased our family made it, but the BA chaos caused a lot of unnecessary stress and confusion."
Mr and Mrs Sciortino are now enjoying their honeymoon.
By Rozina Sini, BBC's UGC and Social News Team


Great Britain's Davis Cup team will return to Birmingham for next year's first round tie against Japan.

The 9,000-seater Barclaycard Arena, formerly known as the National Indoor Arena, will host the three-day tie from 4-6 March.
Depending on the outcome of next week's final against Belgium in Ghent, Britain could playing for the first time since 1937 as defending champions.
Birmingham will be hosting a Davis Cup tie for the seventh time.
Since Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski played in the memorable 3-2 defeat by the United States in 1999, matches have been held at the NIA five further times, most recently when The Netherlands were beaten 4-1 in 2007.
"We are delighted to be heading to Birmingham for the first round of our 2016 Davis Cup campaign," said captain Leon Smith. "It is a city with a great sporting history that has hosted some incredible Davis Cup ties in the past.
"Japan will be a tough contest but I'm sure the Birmingham fans will get right behind us and make as much noise as they can."
British number one Andy Murray has said he hopes to play whatever the outcome in Ghent, despite the date coming shortly after the scheduled birth of his first child in February.
Should Murray play, there is the exciting prospect of a clash with last year's US Open finalist Kei Nishikori, the world number eight.
It will be the first time Great Britain have faced Japan in Davis Cup since 1931, with the winners set to meet either Kazakhstan or Serbia in the quarter-finals.


A man sent a text message about hoping to stay awake on his drive home two hours before colliding with a motorbike and seriously injuring its two riders.

Christopher Thornton, 36, from Bridge of Allan, attached a picture to the message to his partner showing a pack of four caffeine drinks, a court heard.
His car struck a bike carrying Malcolm Traquair and Ruth Keighley, of Bearsden, on the A9 near Kingussie.
Ms Keighley spent 16 months in hospital after the crash on 23 August 2013.
The 63-year-old cardiac nurse suffered brain damage and had to learn to walk and talk again after several surgical procedures.
Mr Traquair, 62, a former senior fire officer, lost the use of his right arm.
Thornton had been returning home from a business trip to Elgin, the court heard.
In his text, the company director said: "Just leaving Elgin, hopeful of staying awake".
He admitted on indictment at Inverness Sheriff Court to driving dangerously knowing he was tired and causing the couple serious injury by colliding with their bike.
Witnesses described seeing his car drifting towards the wrong side of the carriageway.
Sentence was deferred for a background report until 5 May.


The European Court of Human Rights has criticised the UK government for failing to hold inquests into the deaths of two IRA men 23 years ago.

Martin McCaughey and Dessie Grew were shot dead by the SAS in County Armagh in a so-called shoot-to-kill incident.
They were both armed with AK47 rifles when they were shot more than 30 times.
The court ruled the government breached the European Convention on Human Rights, for what it called excessive delays in the investigative process.
The SAS unit opened fire on McCaughey and Grew at a farm shed near Loughgall, in October 1990.
At the time, the shed had been under surveillance as a suspected IRA arms dump.
Their families took their case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), complaining that the use of lethal force had not been absolutely necessary and that there had not been an independent police investigation into the shootings.
The families also complained that the government had breached Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, by failing to hold inquests into the circumstances of their deaths.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the ECHR agreed that the government's failure to hold inquests was a breach of Article 2.
However, the seven judges said they could not make a ruling on the families' other complaints as the killings still have to be dealt with by courts in Northern Ireland.
The judges ruled that the UK government had also violated the European Convention on Human Rights in the case of John Hemsworth, a US national, who died from serious head injuries in July 1988.
His family claim he died from his injuries, after he was kicked and hit on the head with a truncheon by RUC officers during a riot in west Belfast six months earlier.
It was 13 years before an inquest was held into his death and the ECHR upheld his family's complaint that there had been an excessive delay on the part of the government.


Relegation to League One would be a "disaster" for Bristol City, says midfielder Gary O'Neil.

The Robins are 22nd in the Championship, one point below 21st-placed Wolves, after winning just one of their past 16 league games.
Asked if finishing fourth-from-bottom would be a success, O'Neil, 33, told BBC Radio Bristol: "Yes, it would be.
"It would still be a bad season, from the start, but from where we are now, fourth-bottom would be good enough."
Bristol City finished 18th last term, 12 points above the drop zone, and were as high as fifth on 16 October after the first 12 games of this season.
Lee Johnson's side host O'Neil's former club Norwich on Tuesday, before Saturday's trip to fellow strugglers Wigan.
Former Portsmouth and West Ham United player O'Neil added: "We are just desperate to avoid relegation. That would be a disaster.
"There is still a long way to go - nothing is anywhere near decided yet.
"We have to make sure we stay in the league. Then that gives us a chance next season to make up for what's happened this season."


A new shelter aims to provide a safe haven for women who are targets of domestic abuse in some of Sydney's most affluent areas, writes Ashley Donnelly.

When Lisa McAdams began her decade-long relationship with the man who abused her, she had a successful career and enough savings for a home deposit. She walked away a single parent, carrying debts that took a decade to reconcile.
"I was lucky he hit me", Ms McAdams confesses bluntly.
There's a bitter irony behind this statement. The physical assaults provided clear evidence of the abuse she was suffering. The mental and economic attacks were savage, but covert and subtle.
"The poverty pushes you into leaving, and then it is singularly the hardest bit to climb out of," she says.
Surviving on welfare was a far cry from the seemingly charmed life she had led, waving to celebrity neighbours as she spun the wheel of a luxury car through the gates of a lavish compound.
But amid the trappings of security, she was anything but safe.
It was not until a close friend, who also suffered spousal abuse, died of cancer that she knew life was too short to stay ensnared by violence.
With two small children in tow and less than A$40 (Â£21; $30) in her bank account, Ms McAdams wound up at the Delvena shelter in Lane Cove, which currently services the North Sydney area.
With a lock on the door, it was the safest she had felt in years.
In February, a contact connected Ms McAdams to Mary's House in North Sydney and she soon became their spokesperson.
Now she is speaking about her painful past to raise awareness of the refuge, which will open in September.
The property was being used as a storage space by the Jesuits before it was donated to the Catholic Church and converted into the 19-bed non-denominational shelter.
It's being praised as a lifesaving local solution to a national problem.
Experts say abuse in prosperous communities is underreported due to the potent mix of money, power, and social stigma.
It's this secret side of abuse, referred to as "golden handcuffs", that Lisa McAdams knows too well.
When her partner surprised her with an extravagant holiday to Paris she was the envy of friends. Omitted from the pair's splendid postcards was the beating he gave her with a heavy object, first extended as a gift.
When Lisa was asked about her trip to "the city of love" she responded begrudgingly. Her partner's overt largesse masked the menace he showed behind closed doors. It contradicted possible whispers among their social circle that he could ever be unkind.
"This evidence [perpetrators] are giving everyone you know is that you are ungrateful," she says. "Who could complain about an all-expenses-paid trip to Paris?"
Despite her prowess in the corporate finance world - where she earned a similar income to her ex-partner before giving birth - Lisa was powerless over the family budget.
At the office she would sign off on million-dollar accounts but at home she'd tremble at the sight of a standard electricity bill.
"I would make suggestions like 'maybe we should pay off our debts' instead of making a big purchase," adding that he would hit her if she got too "gobby".
"There was also this perception that I was so lucky because he did the food shopping, but in actual fact it was another way in which he could control the money," she says.
Deputy CEO of support service Wire, Julie Kun, says financial abuse is always about power and control.
A common story she hears is of partners who cannot drive carrying car loans when their abuser is the sole user of the vehicle.
"[It's] using money to control the behaviour of a person and making them do something that they don't want to do," Ms Kun said.
"They leave with less money than they started with, and often nothing at all."
Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, tells the BBC that workplaces have been unaware of the pervasiveness of family violence until just recently.
But with more women filling senior positions, businesses are beginning to count the cost of violence at home.
When their team leaders are forced to take time off to rearrange their lives and productivity slips, it impacts the bottom line.
Lisa McAdams's latest company gives advice to large corporations - including one of the world's biggest audit firms, Ernst & Young (EY) - on how to best manage staff who are dealing with the debilitating side-effects of domestic violence.
"Women are no longer just the typing pool, they are becoming more valuable in the workplace and harder to replace," she says.


Peter Andre has been deemed an "extremely unsatisfactory witness" by a High Court judge in a case involving the production of his reality TV show.

Mr Andre told ITV2 and the court he had received death threats on Twitter from Neville Hendricks, who produced his TV shows, after the pair fell out.
ITV cut ties with Mr Hendricks, claiming breach of contract.
But the High Court rejected the death threat claims and said ITV2 must pay "substantial damages".
Mr Hendricks' company, Mr H TV, produced Mr Andre's The Next Chapter series and Here To Help, along with Kerry Katona's reality projects, working closely with the singers' manager Claire Powell, head of CAN Associates.
Ms Powell and Mr Hendricks' had what was described as an on-off relationship, sharing a son together, before an acrimonious split in 2011.
Ms Powell's relationship with Kerry Katona also broke down, amid false rumours she was having an affair with Mr Hendricks. He believed the rumours were being spread by Ms Powell.
Around he same time, Mr Hendricks set up a Twitter account from which tweeted or engaged in conversations giving intimate details of Mr Andre and Ms Powell's private lives "in the most scurrilous and vitriolic terms," said the judge.
Mr Andre's solicitors wrote to Mr H TV, saying he "wanted no further dealings" with the company.
The judge said the letter was "almost certainly" responsible for ITV2 terminating its agreement with the production company.
ITV2 also wanted to terminate its contract over a proposal that Kerry Katona would appear on Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5, claiming it breached an exclusivity clause.
Mr Justice Flaux called Mr Hendricks "an honest witness" and a respected producer of a "particular genre of television, which in a very real sense, he had devised".
He also dismissed Mr Andre's accusations that the tweets constituted a real threat, although they were "offensive and expressed in foul language".
The suggestion that "a grown man in the position of Mr Andre was genuinely scared by what was said in the tweets has to be viewed with considerable scepticism," said Justice Flaux.
"I consider that Mr Andre and Ms Powell used the tweets as a pretext, first to justify refusing to start filming Peter Andre: The Next Chapter series five and second to put illegitimate commercial pressure on ITV2 to terminate its contract with the claimant and use another production company," he said.
He said it was ITV2 that was in breach and not Mr Hendricks, who was seeking damages for lost profits of up to Â£7m.


A 92-year-old woman has died after she was hit by a car in Bognor Regis.

Sussex Police said the pedestrian, from Felpham, was hit by a Nissan Micra driven by an 87-year-old woman from Bognor Regis who was leaving a parking space near local shops.
Emergency teams tried to revive the woman but she died at the scene.
The woman who died has not yet been named. Anyone who saw the incident in Felpham Road at about 12:30 GMT is urged to contact the force.


West Bromwich Albion boss Tony Pulis thinks he has a tougher task at his new club than when he took over at struggling Crystal Palace last season.

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Pulis became manager of the Eagles in November 2013 with them in the bottom three of the Premier League, before he took them to a final position of 11th.
He left before the start of this season and took over at West Brom on 1 January after Alan Irvine was sacked.
"The expectations are much more intense here," Pulis told BBC Sport.
"They have been in the Premier League for a number of years, but if you take your foot off the pedal you can get stung."
Saido Berahino scored the only goal as West Brom beat Hull 1-0 on Saturday in Pulis's first Premier League match in charge of the Baggies.
The win was only Albion's second in 11 league games and took them up to 14th, although Pulis said he still wanted to strengthen the squad in the January transfer window.
"There's a lot of work to be done," he added. "It's the shortest period of the season left that I've ever stepped into a club. We only have three weeks of the window left so in some respects it's really tougher than Crystal Palace.
"I had six to eight weeks there to look at the side and see the players I needed to improve. We're looking at a few new players and a few positions.
"The squad needs it and the chairman knows that. But the most important thing is to bring in people that are better than what we have got. I don't want to sign players that are of a similar quality."


MtGox's founder has refused a US court's demand that he testify this week about the collapse of what was the world's biggest Bitcoin exchange.

Mark Karpeles had been asked to attend a hearing in Washington on Friday.
MtGox reported in February that it may have lost nearly $500m (Â£300m) worth of the virtual currency and subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan and the US.
It later said it had "found" about a quarter of the missing sum.
A US judge ordered Mr Karpeles to travel from Japan to appear in front of the US Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to answer questions about the affair.
But a court filing by MtGox's lawyers said the France-born chief executive - who has not been charged with any crime -  would not comply.
"Mr Karpeles is now in the process of obtaining counsel to represent him with respect to the FinCen subpoena," it said.
"Until such time as counsel is retained and has an opportunity to 'get up to speed' and advise Mr Karpeles, he is not willing to travel to the US."
The lawyers also asked the court to delay Mr Karpeles' deposition until 5 May, but added that they could not guarantee he would attend on that date either.
In the meantime MtGox's site continues to tell out-of-pocket investors that a "method for filing claims will be published on this site as soon as we will be in [a] situation to announce it".
One bitcoin is currently trading for about $500, down from its high of more than $1,100 last year.


A court in Milan has banned Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's former prime minister, from holding public office for two years, following his conviction for tax fraud.

However, the ban must be approved by parliament before taking effect.
Earlier this month, a cross-party panel of the Italian Senate recommended his expulsion from the chamber.
Berlusconi had threatened to topple the coalition government over the issue but backed down during a confidence vote.
If he is expelled from the senate, he will lose his parliamentary immunity from prosecution in a string of criminal cases.
He will also spend a year under house arrest, or doing community service - his preferred option, according to a request he formally submitted last week.
The votes on his expulsion and ban on holding office are expected to take place within the next few weeks.
Berlusconi, 77, was convicted over deals his firm Mediaset made to purchase TV rights to US films.
He was sentenced to four years in prison, automatically reduced to one under a 2006 pardon act. He was also banned from holding public office for five years.
The sentence was upheld in August.


Israel will not return the bodies of Palestinian militants to their families, but will bury them instead, officials said.

Israel said it was taking measures to ensure the return of Israeli remains from Palestinian territory.
But the country's security cabinet announced the move after the release of mocking videos from the armed wing of Hamas.
The decision will now become a permanent change in policy, it said.
The two video clips published by the Hamas military wing show a mock birthday for Oron Shaul, who Israel said was killed during the Gaza War in 2014.
In one, his face has been digitally inserted over someone else's body, bound and in army fatigues.
He is visited by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a clown's costume, who blows out the candles on a birthday cake.
Sgt Shaul, 21, was one of seven soldiers reported killed in an incident in Shejaiya, near Gaza City.
But Hamas has never confirmed that Sgt Shaul is dead.
After the meeting of the security cabinet, the prime minister's office released a brief statement on the decision.
"The security cabinet discussed ways to effect the return of fallen soldiers and of civilians held in the Gaza Strip ... and decided that (the bodies of militants) should be buried, rather than returned," the statement said.
Bodies buried under the new policy could be exhumed and returned later as part of exchanges.
In September 2016, Israeli officials said that Hamas had rejected the offer of an exchange for both prisoners and the remains of fallen citizens.


A South African anti-apartheid veteran has called on President Jacob Zuma to resign following a scandal over improper spending at his private home.

Ahmed Kathrada, who was jailed alongside Nelson Mandela, said that Mr Zuma's resignation would end a "crisis of confidence" in the government.
Mr Zuma said on Friday he would repay the money but would remain in his post.
He has faced widespread calls for his resignation from South Africa's opposition.
South Africa's highest court ruled that Mr Zuma had failed to uphold the constitution by ignoring instructions to repay some of the $16m in state funds spent on renovations at his private residence.
In a televised address on Friday, Mr Zuma made no reference to the calls for his resignation.
Can Zuma survive after apology?
The leadership of Mr Zuma's party, the African National Congress, said it was united behind its leader, but the intervention of  86-year-old Mr Kathrada, a party veteran, may carry weight.
Along with Mr Mandela, Mr Kathrada was among eight ANC activists sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of trying to overthrow the apartheid government during the 1963-1964 Rivonia Trial.
In an open letter published in South African media, Mr Kathrada said: "In the face of such persistently widespread criticism, condemnation and demand, is it asking too much to express the hope that you will choose the correct way that is gaining momentum, to consider stepping down?
"I know that if I were in the president's shoes, I would step down with immediate effect."
The scandal is arguably the biggest yet to hit Mr Zuma, who has fended off accusations of corruption and cronyism since before he took office in 2009.
The public protector, an anti-corruption body, ruled in 2014 that $23m of public money had been improperly spent on Mr Zuma's rural home in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province, and ordered him to reimburse part of the expense.
South African papers are abuzz with reactions to President Jacob Zuma's apology for improper spending on his rural home, and speculation about what he will do next.
The Johannesburg Star's Janet Smith says Mr Zuma must be observing events in Brazil , where there are growing calls for the resignation of President Dilma Rousseff over corruption charges.
The Sowetan's report about Mr Zuma's apology is overshadowed by the ongoing saga involving the president and the Indian-born Gupta family, which has allegedly been allowed undue influence. The paper's front-page comment yesterday was headlined "It's official: he's a failed president"
In the Mail and Guardian, Carien du Plessis foresees difficulties for the ruling ANC if Mr Zuma were to resign, saying: "In a party split down the middle in more or less equal factions... things are more likely to fall apart."
Business Day's reports about the apology includes opposition Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane's description of it as an insult, and ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe's efforts to discourage calls for the president to step down.
The president claimed he had acted "in good faith" and "never knowingly and deliberately set out to violate the constitution".
"Any action that has been found not to be in keeping with the constitution happened because of a different approach and different legal advice," he said, before issuing an apology for the "frustration" caused.
The case had been brought by two opposition parties, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
They have launched impeachment proceedings against Mr Zuma, but these are unlikely to be successful because of the ANC's large majority in parliament.


The BBC has defended its coverage of Whitney Houston's funeral on its News Channel following complaints from viewers about its duration.

The broadcaster received 118 complaints about the Channel's coverage of the four-hour service on Saturday.
The corporation said it was "part of the News Channel function to be there when major stories take place".
Another 34 complaints were received from people upset that the service had been interrupted.
Live coverage of the service began at 17:00 GMT and continued until just before 20:30 GMT, with the BBC continuing to report on the story afterwards.
"The News Channel's coverage of Whitney Houston's funeral reflected the significant interest in her sudden death as well as acknowledging the impact she had as a global recording artist," said the corporation in a statement.
It acknowledged that "some people felt there was too much coverage" but said BBC One's teatime bulletin, radio bulletins and other services had still given viewers "the best access to the day's other news stories".
Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and R Kelly performed at the service, which took place in Newark, New Jersey. Actor Kevin Costner, who starred with Houston in The Bodyguard, gave a eulogy.
The 48-year-old singer was found in a bath in her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on 11 February.
The cause of her death will remain unclear until the results of the toxicology tests are announced.


Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Kudus Oyenuga has joined Cowdenbeath on loan from Dundee United.

The 21-year-old has been at Tannadice since summer 2013 but has only made one first-team appearance as a substitute.
Englishman Oyenuga began his career with Spurs and had loan spells with MyPa in Finland, Bury and St Johnstone before being released.
He spent a season with Conference club Hayes and Yeading United before heading for Tannadice.
Oyenuga spent the second half of last season on loan to Conference South outfit Boreham Wood.
Now he has joined Jimmy Nicholl's Blue Brazil in the Scottish Championship until January and could make his debut in Tuesday's League Cup tie away to Falkirk.


Craft brewer BrewDog is to launch a further round of crowdfunding, to help fund a major expansion in the US.

The Aberdeenshire-based company plans to replicate the success of its ongoing Equity for Punks scheme in the UK by turning to US residents for backing.
Cash raised from the US scheme, to be launched in May, will in part be used to open a new US base in Ohio.
BrewDog said recently it had raised a record £13.5m in the fourth round of its UK Equity for Punks scheme.
It has set a target of £25m by the time the round closes in April.
Crowdfunding involves companies raising small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the internet.
Ellon-based BrewDog estimates initial costs of establishing its North American base and a network of BrewDog "brewpubs" across the country at about $25m (£17.5m).
The construction of a new 100,000 sq ft brewery in Columbus is already under way. The company claims it will be "one of the most technologically advanced craft breweries in the world" when it opens in August. BrewDog estimates that more than 120 staff will be employed there.
BrewDog has been expanding rapidly, after raising more than £20m through crowdfunding since 2010.
In its "draft" results for 2015, it announced turnover increased year-on-year by 52% to £45m, with UK sales up by 130%.
The company, whose flagship beer is Punk IPA, opened 17 new bars around the world last year, including craft beer venues in Brussels, Rome and Hong Kong as well as the UK.
This year it plans to set up shop at a number of new locations, including Amsterdam, Warsaw, York and Berlin.
BrewDog co-founder James Watt said: "2015 was a great year for BrewDog in and of itself, but it was also about laying the foundations for the next five years of growth."
The firm's full results will be announced at the end of February.
The company was founded nine years ago in Fraserburgh by Mr Watt and Martin Dickie, and now employs 580 people.


Householders in Cambridgeshire who have had to boil their water since Sunday have now been told it is safe to drink once again.

People in 120 homes in Wisbech had been told to boil their water "until further notice" after supplies were contaminated.
Anglian Water said tests were carried out following repairs to a burst main near Blackbear Lane, Wisbech on Sunday.
The results showed "naturally occurring organisms that should not be there".
The firm had advised people to boil and cool all drinking water as "a precautionary measure".
A spokesman for Anglian Water said: "We haven't found anything harmful to human health but the harmless organisms are indicator species that something might have been there that should not be."
Homes in Blackbear Lane, numbers 2 to 74, all properties in Pendula Road, Lucombe Drive, Oaklands Drive and Lebanon Drive were affected.
A notice sent to affected customers said: "As an additional precaution, we are also making a small increase to the amount of chlorine in the water and carrying out some localised flushing.
"We apologise for any inconvenience, but stress that the health and safety of our customers must come first."


Conservative Ben Houchen has become the inaugural Tees Valley mayor after winning a tightly-fought contest.

Mr Houchen beat Labour's Sue Jeffrey by a little over 2,000 votes after second preference votes were counted. Liberal Democrat Chris Foote Wood was third and UKIP's John Tennant finished last.
Mr Houchen will have a budget of Â£15m a year.
In another result, Labour retained control of Durham County Council despite losing 20 seats.
The party won 94 seats in the 2013 election and that has now fallen to 74. Independent candidates have the second highest number of seats (28) followed by Liberal Democrats (14) and Conservatives (10).
Council leader Simon Henig said he was "very pleased" to have retained a majority in a "challenging" election.
As Tees Valley mayor, Mr Houchen will head the Tees Valley Combined Authority, made up of Darlington, Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland, Middlesbrough and Stockton councils.
After the declaration at Thornaby Pavilion, Mr Houchen said: "What we have seen in recent years is fantastic trends towards the Conservatives across the Tees Valley and today is, I believe, a tipping point.
"We have seen a political earthquake that's happening right here for the Conservatives across the North East.
"It's the first time anybody would expect a Conservative mayor for the Tees Valley and it is the start of five genuine target seats for the Conservatives in the upcoming general election, and I genuinely believe this is a starting point for turning the Tees Valley blue."
This is a sensational vote for the Conservatives.
Beating Labour in the first round, we perhaps thought Labour might claw it back with second preference votes. They were counted then but actually Conservatives pulled further ahead and Ben Houchen beat Sue Jeffrey the Labour candidate in a runoff to become the Tees Valley mayor.
He has now got to deliver on certain promises, one of which is to take control of Durham Tees Valley Airport and try to revive its fortunes.
He talked about turning the Tees Valley blue in the general election in just over a month's time and that will be the Conservative focus now.


A French Socialist senator has been found dead on the day he was due to stand trial for corruption over Chinese wedding tours in the Loire valley.

Jean Germain, the ex-mayor of Tours, was accused of illegally profiting from a business that arranged for Chinese tourists to renew their wedding vows against historic backdrops in the city.
The 67-year-old left a "goodbye letter" denying the charges.
His death has sent shock through France's political circles.
President Francois Hollande expressed sadness, while Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he had "lost a friend", saying Mr Germain had "hugely changed" the city of Tours.
The trial was suspended on Tuesday after Mr Germain failed to attend.
The former mayor was found dead near to his home, according to reports. Police sources were quoted as saying the death was believed to be suicide.
In a letter given to media outlets (in French) by his lawyer, Mr Germain said the charges were "unbearable" and politically motivated.
"I have never defrauded the city for a single cent, nor made myself rich, and I have always worked for what I believed was in the best interests of the people of Tours," he wrote.
Hundreds of Chinese couples flocked to Tours on the wedding packages between 2007 and 2011.
The owner of the private company that organised the trips was arrested in 2013 and stands accused of embezzlement.
Lise Han allegedly ran the company at the same time as working at the City Hall in Tours on tourism issues.
The trips did not include a real wedding ceremony but couples travelled long distances for these "romantic wedding" packages and were photographed in wedding attire in beautiful locations, including the Tours City Hall.
The mayor even posed with the couples in his full official dress.
He was accused of complicity in illegal kickbacks and embezzlement of public funds.
Mr Germain said he was in the dark about Ms Han's "lies and manipulations" but admitted he had made mistakes by failing to detect the scheme.


The Metropolitan Police Service has been ordered to pay more than £14,000 in damages to two men of Arab origin for racially abusing them as teenagers.

Basil Khan and Omar Mohidin were 16 when they were hit and racially abused by officers in Edgware Road, north west London in 2007, the High Court heard.
The sergeant and a constable involved were acquitted along with four colleagues in a criminal trial in 2009.
The High Court ruled the two men were racially abused and awarded damages.
The Met's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Fiona Taylor said the officers' actions had let down the public and all of the force.
Officers from the Territorial Support Group stopped the teenagers in June 2007 because they claimed that some of the group had been mouthing obscenities and making gestures at them.
Omar Mohidin was held in a police van for about five minutes while officers arrested Basil Khan who was handcuffed, strip searched and held in police custody for almost 20 hours.
Mr Justice Gilbart said Mr Khan had been wrongfully arrested and he accepted PC Mark Jones, who has since left the force, had hit Mr Khan, grabbing him around the neck and making it difficult for him to breathe.
The judge awarded Mr Khan £11,900 in damages and said Sgt William Wilson had also struck Mr Khan.
The court ruled Mr Mohidin was also falsely imprisoned for a few minutes during which time he was subjected to "racist humiliation", but that his injury amounted at most to feeling upset for a few days.
He dismissed Mr Mohidin's claim that he had suffered acute stress disorder as a result of the police action and awarded him £2,500.
The judge threw out a third civil damages claim for false imprisonment, assault and race discrimination brought by another man, Ahmed Hegazy.


The Police Ombudsman is to resume investigations into more than 150 historical events where former RUC officers stand accused of criminal activity and misconduct.

Many of the cases involve allegations of collusion.
The investigations were suspended in September 2011 after a report by Criminal Justice Inspection (CJI) said the office's operational independence had been lowered.
Another CJI report published on Wednesday said substantial progress has been made and recommends the resumption of historical investigations.
The 2011 report was commissioned by the ombudsman at the time, Al Hutchinson.
He did so after the BBC revealed in April that year that his chief executive, Sam Pollock, had resigned and made strong criticisms of the office.
This included an allegation that the relationship between the office and the police had been compromised.
Al Hutchinson denied the claim and asked inspectors to conduct an urgent review. The verdict was not what he had hoped for.
The inspection report said there had been a lowering of operational independence in the way the office of the Police Ombudsman conducted investigations into historical cases.
Inspectors said a number of reports by the office of the ombudsman into historical events had been altered before publication to reduce criticism of the police and called for such investigations to be suspended until its criticisms were addressed.
The findings were hugely  damaging because the requirement for independence is a statutory one.
The report also said the ombudsman had lost the confidence of his senior staff and described the way the office functioned as fractured, inconsistent and dysfunctional.
As inspection reports go, it was as bad as they come.
It was the third highly critical report in a matter of months and further serious failings about the investigation of historical cases were exposed in a BBC Spotlight programme in October 2011.
Political and public criticism led to Al Hutchinson retiring early last year.
The person now doing the job is Dr Michael Maguire, who was in charge of Criminal Justice Inspection when it produced its withering assessment of the way the office of the ombudsman functioned in 2011.
Inspectors went back to the office to assess progress in November last year, accompanied by members of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.
Having highlighted the problems, and recommending how they should be fixed, it would have been hugely embarrassing for Mr Maguire if this report had been negative.
But his successor as the head of Criminal Justice Inspection, Brendan McGuigan, said the office of the ombudsman is ready to re-start historical investigations.
"My recommendation that the Police Ombudsman recommences this important work as soon as is practical to do so, is based on the findings of a rigorous independent, impartial follow-up review," he said.
A follow-up CJI report published on Wednesday said new structures and processes have been put in place, and substantial progress has been made.
Since Al Hutchinson left, the number of investigators working for the office's historical directorate has more than doubled from 19 to 40. The office has also been allocated an additional Â£12m of funding for a six-year period to complete its work on historical cases.
The inspection report does not say operational independence has been fully restored. Brendan McGuigan said it will only be able to assess this after a number of historical reports are published.
Dr Maguire has welcomed the CJI findings and said he is confident his office can investigate matters from the past in a way that would be "both independent and to the highest standard".
The ombudsman said his office will now resume investigations of historical matters.
There are more than 150 such cases involving allegations of police involvement in criminality during the period 1968-1998.
In a statement, Michael Maguire said members of the public across the community "have made a series of complaints to us of a grave and exceptional nature about incidents during this period".
Michael Maguire said his office expects to complete two "complex" cases, some of which involve more than 20 linked cases, and six "stand alone" cases each year.
The question is, will there be enough time and money to complete all of the cases? Previous experience suggests there may not.
A report entitled Operation Ballast published by the first Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan in January 2007, which exposed collusion between members of Special Branch and the UVF in north Belfast, took more than four years to complete, and cost several million pounds.
Having stated that he is confident his office can now investigate historical events, Michael Maguire may yet find it will not have the necessary finances to complete the task.


The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama's new £22.5m Cardiff base opened with a tribute to Richard Burton.

His daughter Kate was unveiling a bust of her father while actor Robert Hardy was reading a eulogy to the late Welsh-born Hollywood star.
The development in the grounds of Cardiff Castle includes a 450-seat concert hall and a 160-seat theatre named in honour of Burton.
There are a series of events at the complex over the next few days.
They include a performance by 2005 Cardiff Singer of the World winner Andrew Kennedy and a special series of concerts by Welsh National Opera.
Walk of Fame
Kennedy's concert will officially open the 450-seat hall named after Dora Stoutzker who used to teach music in south Wales.
Other facilities include studio, teaching, rehearsal and foyer spaces, an exhibition gallery to display the college's award-winning theatre and costume designs, and a new cafe bar and outdoor terrace overlooking Bute Park.
Work on the development began in 2009.
It was confirmed on Wednesday that Burton, a miner's son from Pontrhydyfen, near Port Talbot who died in 1984 aged 58, is to is to be recognised with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
His tempestuous love affair with Elizabeth Taylor, who died earlier this year, is also reported to be being made into a film directed by Martin Scorsese.


A Scottish commercial vehicle hire firm has expanded by acquiring a rival based in the north east of England.

Airdrie-based TOM Vehicle Rental paid an undisclosed amount for Stockton-on-Tees company Transflex.
The deal sees Transflex's 3,500 cars and light commercial vehicles, four depots and 80 employees join the larger TOM business.
The Scottish company now has a rental fleet of more than 16,000 vans, trucks, trailers and cars.
Its UK depot network has increased to 15 sites - six in Scotland, five in the north of England and four in the south.
TOM chief executive Robert Stewart said: "The purchase of Transflex Vehicle Rental comes at the right time and is a strong fit with our strategy to increase our UK market share by adding to our existing network, increasing our fleet size and customer base.
"Transflex has built a strong reputation for providing high-quality vehicles and excellent customer service over many years and this will continue going forward.
"The acquisition enables TOM to continue improving customer service through greater UK coverage and a larger available fleet offering."
The acquisition follows a management-led buyout of TOM in December, supported by private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe.