Events from 1997 in England Incumbent Events January 1 January – Police in Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, launch a murder hunt after 17-year-old student Nicola Dixon is found bludgeoned to death in an alleyway in the town. 4 January – Tony Bullimore, a lone yachtsman, is feared drowned after his boat capsizes in the Indian Ocean. 8 January – Kevin Keegan stuns the football world by announcing his resignation as manager of FA Premier League title chasers Newcastle United. He had been in charge of the club since February 1992 when they were on the brink of relegation from the old Football League Second Division, but swiftly turned their fortunes around as they won promotion to the FA Premier League in 1993 and have finished in the top six every season since then, including the last football season where they were narrowly beaten to the title by Manchester United. 9 January – Tony Bullimore is found safe and well after being spotted by the crew of an Australian navy ship. 14 January – Kenny Dalglish, who managed Liverpool to three league titles between 1986 and 1990 and won the 1995 FA Premier League title with Blackburn Rovers, is appointed manager of Newcastle United. 16 January – The Conservative Party government loses its majority in the House of Commons after the death of Iain Mills, MP for Meriden. 17 January A jury at the Old Bailey rules that 86-year-old Szymon Serafinowicz is unfit to stand trial on charges of murdering Jews during the Holocaust. East 17 singer Brian Harvey is dismissed from the band after publicly commenting that the drug Ecstasy is safe. 20 January – Death of Labour Party MP Martin Redmond ends the government's minority. February 3 February – Miles Evans, a 23-year-old soldier from Warminster in Wiltshire, is charged with the murder of his nine-year-old stepdaughter Zoe, who was reported missing on 9 January. Her body has not been found, but police are convinced that she is dead because they have found bloodstained clothing in the search for her. 6 February – The Court of Appeal rules that Mrs Diane Blood of Leeds can be inseminated with her dead husband's sperm. Mrs Blood had been challenging for the right to use the sperm of her husband Stephen since just after his death two years ago. 10 February – Louise Woodward, an 18-year-old au pair from Elton in Cheshire,