Father had criticised force for failing to reinvestigate killing of 8-year-old son who disappeared in 1981
Sussex police are to re-examine the case of a murdered schoolboy who disappeared on his way home more than 40 years ago.
Vishal Mehrotra, eight, vanished from west London in July 1981 and part of his remains were found in Rogate, West Sussex, seven months later. No one has been convicted for his murder.
Continue reading...Independent Office for Police Conduct has launched investigation into incident in Porthmadog
The police watchdog has launched an independent investigation after a police officer in Wales was filmed appearing to punch a man repeatedly in the head before arresting him.
Footage of the incident is circulating on social media and has caused considerable “public concern”, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said.
Continue reading...Britain donating arms capable of striking targets in occupied Crimea as Kyiv prepares counteroffensive against Russia
Britain has become the first western country to provide Ukraine with the long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles that Kyiv wants to boost its chances in a much-anticipated counteroffensive, prompting a threat from the Kremlin of a military response.
Hours after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he needed more western weapons to be confident of a victory this summer, Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, told MPs that the missiles – which cost more than £2m each – were “now going in, or are in the country itself”.
Continue reading...FDA union votes to use ‘all means available’, including ‘targeted legal action’ in wake of Dominic Raab scandal
Senior civil servants have voted to take a stand against inflammatory language from politicians and in favour of legal action to combat bullying, as former cabinet ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Dominic Raab renewed their attacks on officials.
Members of the FDA union passed a motion in favour of using “all means available” to challenge bullying and harassment of officials, including “use of targeted legal action”, in after the scandal that forced Raab to resign.
Continue reading...Robert Alton, 70, is believed to have died in 2017 with his death going unnoticed by his landlord and local council
The body of a retired bookkeeper lay undiscovered in his flat for six years with his “skeletal” remains found only after housing officials forced entry to carry out a gas safety check, an inquest heard.
Robert Alton is believed to have died in 2017 aged 70, but his death went unnoticed by both his landlord, which continued to receive his rent automatically through housing benefit, and his local council, which seemingly failed to act on Alton’s mounting council tax arrears.
Continue reading...Northern rail network to be run by state-owned operator of last resort when contract expires on 28 May
TransPennine Express (TPE) is to be run by the state after ministers announced that the failing rail company would not have its contract renewed.
The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said the northern rail network would be run by the state-owned operator of last resort after passengers experienced disruption, cancellations and a significant decline in the extent and reliability of the service.
Continue reading...Business and trade secretary answers urgent question in Commons on retained EU law
Sir William Cash, chair of the European scrutiny committee, used his follow-up to his urgent question to say that Kemi Badenoch has declined three times to appear before this committee to discuss this issue.
He said the new amendments to the bill announced yesterday have not been scrutinised by the Commons.
The amendments published today, apart from her very short written ministerial statement yesterday and her article in the press today, are not accompanied by any explanation to this house despite the utter reversal in vital respects to the bill as passed by this elected house, why not?
The amendments have not been subjected to any analysis or questioning by this house, which is now essential given the fundamental change in government policy. This house is being treated in a manner which is clearly inconsistent with clear promises already made.
Continue reading...Piers Morgan accused of knowing about illegal phone hacking when he was editor of Daily Mirror on day one of trial
Lawyers are going through documents they say will give background on evidence the court is due to hear later. We’ll bring you details of that evidence as the court hears it.
Good morning, welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of phone hacking claims against Mirror Group Newspapers at the high court in London.
Continue reading...DCI Banks lead actor was accused of punching drunk man making noise outside his house
The actor Stephen Tompkinson has been found not guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm by punching a drunk man who was making noise outside his house.
The DCI Banks lead actor had been accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Karl Poole on 30 May 2021.
Continue reading...Liz Saville Roberts denies party tried to put own interests before need to ‘detoxify’ internal culture
A senior Plaid Cymru figure has defended attempts by some in the party’s hierarchy to keep Adam Price in place as leader despite a damning review into the culture of the party, arguing that they did so because they believed stability was needed to bring about change.
Price announced his resignation as leader late on Wednesday – a week after a review said his party had failed to “detoxify” its culture and found evidence of misogyny, harassment and bullying.
Continue reading...Lord president of privy council says coronation was ‘humbling day’ and democracy ‘is about dissent’
Penny Mordaunt has revealed how she took painkillers before her role of carrying the ceremonial sword during King Charles’s coronation.
Mordaunt, wearing a custom-made teal outfit with a matching cape and headband with gold feather embroidery, was the first woman to perform the role as lord president of the council. She was responsible for bearing the sword of the state and presenting the jewelled sword of offering to the king. They were two of four swords used during the ceremony, and it is a practice that dates back to the coronation of Richard the Lionheart in 1189.
Continue reading...Alicia Kearns, foreign affairs select committee chair, launches blistering attack on former prime minister
The Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee has launched a blistering attack on Liz Truss over the former prime minister’s planned trip to Taiwan, calling it “the worst kind of Instagram diplomacy”.
Alicia Kearns said she thought Truss’s trip planned for next week was little more than a vanity project aimed at keeping her profile high after her brief spell as prime minister last year.
Continue reading...Sebastien Lai, son of Jimmy, also criticises Vatican over failure to hold China to account over human rights abuses
The British son of the jailed Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has criticised Britain and the Vatican for failing to speak out strongly against the crackdown on dissent in the Chinese territory.
At a Washington event about the human rights situation in Hong Kong, Sebastien Lai said self-censorship in the former British colony was the anticipated result of the national security crackdown there, but the “hypocrisy” of some governments trying to trade with China was unexpected.
Continue reading...Pathologist says struggle ‘has to be considered as being important’ in 2015 death in custody in Fife
Sheku Bayoh’s struggle while being restrained by at least six police officers should be considered a major part of what caused his death, according to the pathologist who examined his body.
The inquiry into Bayoh’s death in custody heard from Dr Kerryanne Shearer that the 31-year-old had taken ecstasy and another stimulant drug before being restrained by officers in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on 3 May 2015.
Continue reading...Joshua Hunt, 31, arrested after motorist reported someone in black latex suit jumped out in front of her
A man has appeared in court over a series of incidents in which he allegedly frightened people while wearing a black “gimp” suit.
Joshua Hunt, 31, has been accused of two counts of affray and one count each of possession of a bladed article and committing an act of outraging public decency, all of which are said to have taken place in Somerset.
Continue reading...A large majority of those returning to the roost – or who never left it – are men, census data reveals
It is enough to make parents wonder: whatever happened to the bachelor pad?
At least 620,000 more grown-up children are now living with their parents than a decade ago – and most of those doing so are young men, census figures reveal.
Continue reading...Justin Welby says bill is ‘morally unacceptable’ and rules on protection of refugees are not ‘inconvenient obstructions’. This live blog is closed
In the House of Lords peers are just starting to debate the second reading of the illegal migration bill.
Simon Murray, aka Lord Murray of Blidworth, is opening the debate. He is a lawyer who was made a Home Office minister, and a peer, when Liz Truss was PM.
We now face a perfect storm of factors driving more people into homelessness while giving us fewer good options to help them when they do. These factors include soaring private rents (above the benefit cap), private landlords leaving the sector, a national shortage of affordable housing, and a backlog of court cases after Covid-relating housing support was removed. At the same time, we have a cost-of-living crisis which is reducing real-term incomes and putting further strain on relationships.
Continue reading...Clock dials atop Elizabeth Tower in London briefly stopped at 12.55pm on Wednesday
Time stood still in London on Wednesday, it has emerged.
Big Ben, the famous bell at the top of the 96-metre Elizabeth Tower in Westminster, failed to chime when the dials of the clock briefly stopped.
Continue reading...Met left dozens of documents in locked cabinet instead of passing to inquiry into its own corruption
Dozens of documents that Scotland Yard should have handed over to an official inquiry into its corruption were instead left in a locked cabinet located on the same floor as its commissioner, the Guardian has learned.
The revelation relates to 95 pages of documents the force now accepts it should have given to the Daniel Morgan inquiry, investigating the unsolved murder of the private detective and the role corruption played in shielding his killers.
Continue reading...Cybersecurity experts drafted in to help thwart any sabotage attempt as UK stands in as host for Ukraine
The risk of a cyber-attack by pro-Russian hackers is the “main worry” for broadcasters staging the Eurovision song contest on behalf of war-torn Ukraine, a BBC executive has said.
Experts from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre have been drafted in to help thwart any attempts to sabotage the competition’s public vote on Saturday.
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