A lioness and ex-Sky Blue named in King's Honours

A former Sky Blues player, a current England Women's footballer and the head of two hospital trusts are among those with links to Coventry and Warwickshire recognised in the Kings' Birthday Honours list.

Lee Carsley, who played more than 70 games for Coventry City and is now the manager of the England Under21s, is made a Member of the British Empire (MBE).

Warwick-born Lionesses footballer Jess Carter also becomes an MBE.

Professor Glen Burley, chief executive at Nuneaton's George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, receives a knighthood. He is also the head of the Foundation Trust which includes South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust and the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Warwickshire Police officer Scott Caswell is awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for his work as armed forces lead for Warwickshire Police.

Caswell, who spent 10 years in the Military Police before joining the civilian force, has trained custody sergeants in Warwickshire on how best to deal with veterans they encounter, and has also set up a national working group to introduce a digital training package across all forces to help officers recognise veterans' needs.

He said he thought "never in a million years" would he be honoured by The King for his work.

"I try and give best practice to fellow officers when they come into interaction with any veterans that are struggling or in crisis, [and} the best tools possible to take hold of that veteran and give them the care and support they need," he said.

Becki Coombe from Coventry is also awarded a BEM for her work with young people who are not in education or training.

She founded the Learn2 group in 1996 to help disaffected and disengaged young people, before moving to school age children with special educational needs, mental health issues and neuro-divergence to help them get maths and English qualifications.

The letter informing her of the honour took a circuitous route to Coombe.

"It was a bit of a funny one, because it went to an old address and they'd opened it!

"When I got it, it was quite confusing because I thought 'yeah, it's literally something I didn't need any more because I'd moved out."

Martin Reeves, the current chief executive of Oxfordshire County Council, but held the same role at Coventry City Council for 14 years, is made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

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