James Desborough, 39, charged with murder of Steven Kempster, 65, who was found dead in his cell early Monday morning
A 39-year-old man has been charged with murder after the death of a fellow inmate at a prison in Devon, police have said.
James Desborough has been charged with the murder of 65-year-old Steven Kempster who died after an incident at HMP Exeter on Monday.
Continue reading...Home Office says it will review modern slavery laws to save PM’s ‘one in, one out’ returns deal with France
Shabana Mahmood has accused asylum seekers of making “vexatious, last-minute claims” to avoid removal to France as the Home Office said it would review modern slavery laws to save Keir Starmer’s returns deal.
After an 11th-hour injunction that scuppered Labour’s “one in, one out” scheme, the home secretary said she would stop claimants “suddenly deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal”, adding that it made a “mockery of our laws and this country’s generosity”.
Continue reading...Met chief Mark Rowley says many questions remain and detectives are liaising with German and Portuguese police
Mark Rowley has said the British police investigation into Madeleine McCann will explore extraditing the German national Christian Brückner to the UK to stand trial over the three-year-old’s disappearance.
Brückner was released from a German prison on Wednesday after serving a seven-year jail term for the rape of an elderly woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2005, two years before Madeleine disappeared while on holiday with her family in the same town.
Continue reading...Video from ‘unite the kingdom’ rally captured man saying ‘someone needs to shoot Keir Starmer’
A man allegedly captured on video at the far-right rally in London on Saturday threatening to kill Keir Starmer has been arrested by police.
An investigation was launched on Sunday in connection with the video, which was filmed at the event organised by the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson.
Continue reading...Third option for juries – blamed for country’s lower conviction rates for rape and sexual assault – abolished
The Scottish verdict of “not proven” – a global legal anomaly thought to be a key factor in the country’s significantly lower convictions rate for rape and sexual assault – has been abolished.
MSPs agreed to scrap the unique Scottish verdict as they voted through a series of major changes that Angela Constance, the justice secretary, said “put victims and witnesses at the heart of a modern and fair justice system”.
Continue reading...Authorities say they no longer have legal justification to hold Christian Brückner in jail after serving rape sentence
The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is expected to be freed on Wednesday as German authorities admit they no longer have legal justification to hold him in jail.
Christian Brückner, 49, is due to be released from prison in Sehnde, northern Germany, after serving a sentence for the rape of an American woman, then 72 years old, in Portugal in 2005.
Continue reading...Negotiations soon to begin on UK’s entry to Safe scheme, which it hopes will secure bigger role for its defence firms
France has proposed limiting the use of British-produced military components in the EU’s €150bn defence fund, in a move that could complicate negotiations over the UK’s entry into the scheme.
Four diplomatic sources told the Guardian that French officials had proposed a 50% ceiling on the value of UK components in projects financed through the EU’s €150bn Security Action for Europe (Safe) fund.
Continue reading...Parentkind charity also says 33% of parents of children with special educational needs reported financial strain
One in three parents have sought a special needs assessment for their child, according to a survey that reveals a surge in demand for special needs support in schools across the UK.
The figures were released amid mounting apprehension in England over national plans to reform special needs provision amid rising costs and a severe shortage of dedicated special school places.
Continue reading...Commons committee finds women’s concerns not taken seriously due to bias, stereotyping and racist assumptions
Black women in England are still facing poorer outcomes in their maternity care due to systemic racism, alongside failures in leadership and data collection, according to a group of MPs.
Across the UK, black women are more than twice as likely to die in childbirth compared with their white counterparts, while babies born to black mothers are at an increased risk of stillbirth.
Continue reading...Exclusive: London mayor says US president has ‘perhaps done the most’ to encourage far right
Donald Trump has arrived in the UK on Tuesday night to a barrage of criticism from Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, who has accused the US president of doing more than anyone else to encourage the intolerant far right across the globe.
In what will be considered to be a direct challenge to Keir Starmer’s government to take a more robust stance towards Trump, Khan said the president’s use of the military in cities and targeting of minorities was “straight out of the autocrat’s playbook”.
Continue reading...The 25-year-old claims to be trafficking victim and won high court challenge in what may prove major blow to Labour policy
An Eritrean man has had his deportation to France under Labour’s “one-in, one-out” scheme halted at the 11th hour after he won a high court challenge.
The 25-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is the first to win a challenge in the high court against the removal scheme, which is itself new. The first removal flights were due to take place on Monday and Tuesday of this week but were cancelled. The man had been due to be on a flight to France at 9am on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey attack PM’s record over US ambassador during commons debate that was skipped by Starmer
Vikram Dodd is the Guardian’s crime correspondent.
Police expect to arrest 50 more people following Saturday’s large far-right-led march through London, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police said this morning.
If you are Conservative right-minded, then the future is Reform. The country is going to change a lot. The same people who thought that Brexit would not happen think that Reform will not happen. They are in for a shock.
Continue reading...‘Sobering and concerning’ that Axel Rudakubana had searched X for Australia knife attack, inquiry told
A lawyer said it was “sobering and concerning” that the Southport attacker probably viewed footage on social media of a stabbing in Australia by a teenage boy just 40 minutes before carrying out his own crimes.
An inquiry is being held into the circumstances and events leading up to the attack by Axel Rudakubana, then 17, on 29 July 2024 in which he murdered three young girls and attempted to murder eight children and two adults.
Continue reading...Relatives remember a dependable, kind and funny woman and remain traumatised by her death
Perhaps the Kenyan market town of Nanyuki’s greatest claim to fame was that it straddles the equator. But now it has become synonymous with something darker. It was here where Agnes Wanjiru was born and lived and where she was brutally killed.
Her family searched for her for months before her body was found stuffed into a septic tank at the same hotel where she had last been seen alive.
Continue reading...Creative director Stuart Vevers appeals to gen z audience with ‘down-to-earth pieces’ for New York fashion week
New York fashion week is proving a particularly perplexing time for brands as they continue to grapple with a global slowdown, leading many to question what luxury even means today.
For some consumers, it is always going to be about a gleaming five-figure handbag. For others, it is a limited-edition Labubu. While a certain cohort considers a plain cashmere jumper to be the peak of high status, logomania endures for others. Vintage shopping is now used to denote quality but equally buying nothing has become a powerful signifier.
Continue reading...Deep Azure, written by the Black Panther star in response to the death of a fellow college student, will open at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse next year
A play by the Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer aged 43 in 2020, is to receive its UK premiere next year.
Deep Azure was written by Boseman in response to the death of Prince Jones, his fellow college student at Washington DC’s Howard University, who was killed in 2000 by a police officer. The play was first performed in 2005 in the US and will be staged at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London in February, directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu.
Continue reading...Tommy Robinson’s ‘free speech’ protest attracted more than 100,000 people – and it was easy to find links to key political figures and events in the US
Who were the key figures at the ‘unite the kingdom’ rally in London?
Far-right London rally sees record crowds and violent clashes with police
A young man in a suit made of union jacks held up a framed photograph of their hero above his head. The crowd loudly chanted the name.
The focus of this acclamation was not Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, the organiser of the so-called “free speech” march in central London last Saturday.
Continue reading...High court judge issues arrest warrant, saying a suspect has been charged in relation to 2012 death of 21-year-old
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a British national on suspicion of the murder of the Kenyan woman Agnes Wanjiru, who was found dead in the grounds of a hotel near an army base in 2012.
The high court judge Alexander Muteti issued the arrest warrant earlier on Tuesday in Kenya, with the prosecution telling the court a suspect had been charged with murder, and his extradition to Kenya was being sought.
Continue reading...Plans to forcibly remove people who arrived in small boats abandoned for second day
Downing Street has denied that the government’s returns deal with France is in chaos after plans to forcibly remove from the UK people arriving in small boats were abandoned for a second day.
Asked by reporters if the latest delay meant the so-called “one in one out” agreement was “a shambles”, the prime minister’s spokesperson said “No”.
Continue reading...Group of people who crossed Channel by boat understood not to have been on Air France plane after legal challenge
The first flight to France carrying people who crossed the Channel under Keir Starmer’s “one in, one out” deal has not taken place as planned, according to reports.
A small group of individuals were removed from an Air France flight on Monday due to travel from Heathrow to Paris after a legal challenge, according to multiple newspaper reports.
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