Category Archives: UK news

Man’s will written on back of food boxes is valid, UK high court rules

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Malcolm Chenery left estate to Diabetes UK charity when he died in 2021, writing will on fish and mince pie boxes

A will written on the back of cardboard food packaging has been found to be valid by the high court, meaning a charity stands to inherit £180,000.

Malcolm Chenery, who died in 2021, left his estate, including a three-bedroom house, jewellery, cash and an extensive collection of ornaments and pottery, to Diabetes UK.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Bafta to revoke future winners’ awards in cases of serious criminal convictions

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Academy unveils new ‘forfeiture process’ after review prompted by case of disgraced Bafta winner Huw Edwards

The British Academy of Film and Television will be able to strip future winners of their awards in cases of “proven dishonesty” or if they’re convicted of a serious criminal offence.

New provisions added to the Bafta rulebook give the body the power to retrospectively revoke competition honours, starting with winners in 2025.

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Candidate for C of E panel to choose Welby successor knew about John Smyth’s abuse

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Report says General Synod member Rev Andrew Cornes was told of Smyth’s abuse in 1982 but failed to act

A retired clergyman who could be part of the selection process for the next archbishop of Canterbury knew about the sadistic abuse of boys and young men in the early 1980s but failed to take action, according to the report that triggered Justin Welby’s resignation.

One of John Smyth’s victims discussed his abuse with the Rev Andrew Cornes in September 1982, but “there is no evidence to suggest that [Cornes] took action to respond to this”, the report said.

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Fayed accuser files US court claim to make his younger brother give evidence

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Claim will be first legal action taken related to alleged crimes of former Harrods owner, who died last year

A woman who claims to have been raped and trafficked while working for Mohamed Al Fayed has filed a legal claim in a US court to oblige his surviving younger brother to give evidence about his alleged knowledge of the crimes.

The application filed at the US district court for Connecticut claims Ali Fayed, 80, has “unique and critical evidence” to give about a “more than two-decade-long trafficking scheme that ensnared and irrevocably injured what is reported to be more than 100 women”.

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Sara Sharif’s father tells court 10-year-old’s death was ‘all my fault’

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Urfan Sharif says he takes ‘full responsibility’ for daughter’s death and admits beating her with a cricket bat

Sara Sharif’s father has told a court he takes “full responsibility” for the 10-year-old’s death and admitted striking her across the abdomen with a metal pole as she lay dying.

Urfan Sharif also admitted strangling Sara and beating her with a cricket bat while her ankles and wrists were bound with packing tape in the weeks before she was killed. Sharif told jurors he accepted everything that he had told police in a 999 call and a handwritten confession after his daughter’s death.

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Exiles ask King Charles to rescind honour awarded to king of Bahrain

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Buckingham Palace accused of ‘burying’ news of GCVO bestowed on King Hamad, whose regime is accused of torturing opponents

King Charles has been asked by exiles from Bahrain to rescind an honour he bestowed this week on the ruler of the Gulf kingdom.

Charles was told in a letter by the exiles: “It is personally difficult for us to view this honour as anything other than a betrayal of victims who have suffered at the hands of King Hamad and his brutal regime.”

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‘Minuscule’ amount of novichok could have been fatal, scientist tells inquiry

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Witness from Porton Down laboratory says ‘many lethal doses’ of nerve agent were applied to Sergei Skripal’s door

A “minuscule” amount of the nerve agent used in the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal – as small as a sixth of a grain of salt – could have been enough to prove fatal, a government scientist has told an inquiry.

The scientist, an expert in chemical and biological weapons, said “many lethal doses” of novichok were daubed on the handle of the former Russian spy’s front door in Salisbury and it was so pure that it must have been manufactured by a sophisticated laboratory.

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Mystery surrounds John Smyth after leaving UK and Zimbabwe for South Africa

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Smyth enjoyed ‘opulent lifestyle’ in Cape Town after he was barred from Zimbabwe, where he abused boys at summer camps

The evangelical Christian barrister John Smyth abused as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK, Zimbabwe and possibly other African countries but an independent review has said there remains little concrete information on his time in South Africa.

The review into the Anglican church’s handling of Smyth’s abuses said he might have been brought to justice had Justin Welby, who on Tuesday announced he would step down as archbishop of Canterbury, formally reported him to the police when he found out in 2013.

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Streeting’s hospital league table plan riles NHS medics and bosses

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Health secretary says controversial scheme for trusts in England is necessary to raise standards

Wes Streeting plans to publish a football-style league table of the best- and worst-performing hospitals in England, prompting fury from NHS bosses and staff at the prospect of struggling trusts being “named and shamed”.

The health secretary will announce the controversial move on Wednesday to an audience of health service leaders and defend it as a “tough” but necessary way of raising care standards.

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Tributes paid to mother who died in house fire where four children survived

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Emergency crews were unable to save Kate Mulcahy while her children escaped from a fire at her home in Manchester

Tributes have been paid to a 37-year-old woman who died in a house fire in Greater Manchester where her four children survived.

Kate Mulcahy was found dead inside her home in Middleton after a fire broke out early on Sunday morning. It is understood she had two sons – one-year-old twins – and two daughters, and that a number of the children were in the house and managed to escape the blaze.

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Steph Wilson wins Taylor Wessing photography prize with striking portrait

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National Portrait Gallery announces £15,000-winning portrait that conveys atypical image of motherhood

A portrait documenting an unconventional and “imperfect” example of motherhood has won one of the world’s most prestigious photography prizes.

The National Portrait Gallery has named the British photographer Steph Wilson as winner of the 2024 Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize for her portrait Sonam. The photographer, who works between London and Paris, wins £15,000.

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Justin Welby: why archbishop chosen for his managerial skills had to go

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Failure to tackle Church of England’s safeguarding issues and own knowledge of abuse reflect religions’ denial

In earlier times it used to be more straightforward: archbishops of Canterbury such as Thomas Becket and William Laud used to get it in the neck from the king; or, in the case of Simon Sudbury, who was killed in the 14th-century Peasants’ Revolt, at the hands of the mob.

Now, it is more likely to be a politician. Justin Welby has resigned after having lost the confidence of the Church of England over his failure to tackle the institution’s chaotic handling of safeguarding, and his own personal culpability in failing to spot his own vulnerability, arising from his links to and knowledge of the rapacious abuser John Smyth.

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PSNI ‘failed’ family of woman whose suspected murder it treated as suicide

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Ombudsman’s report on death of Katie Simpson, 21, adds to concerns at levels of gender-based violence in Northern Ireland

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) “failed” the family of a 21-year-old woman after her death two years ago in Derry, initially treating it as suicide rather than a suspected murder, the police watchdog has said.

The report by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland comes amid renewed concerns that gender-based violence is not being taken seriously enough in the region with the highest rate of femicide per capita of all nations in the UK and in the island of Ireland.

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Justin Welby to quit as archbishop of Canterbury over handling of abuse scandal

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Leader of Church of England had faced pressure since damning report on cover-up of John Smyth’s abuse

The archbishop of Canterbury is to step down amid intense pressure over his handling of one of the church’s worst abuse scandals.

Justin Welby’s decision, announced on Tuesday, comes after mounting demands from victims and members of the clergy for him to quit.

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We can hit UK’s big carbon cut without disruption to people’s lives, says Starmer – UK politics live

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PM confirms target of 81% emissions cut at Cop climate summit but says ‘I’m not going to tell people how to live their lives’

Leadbeater introduces the next speaker, Nat Dye, who has terminal cancer. She says she thinks his views are the most important for people to hear at this press conference.

He says he has known “positive” experiences of death. His fiance and his mother both had relatively peaceful deaths. He says palliative care can work for some people.

Imagine I am dying and palliative care hasn’t improved. Well, I have no choice whatsoever: I die in pain or I die in pain.

I see this as a chance just to act with kindness and a choice for people at their darkest hour.

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Starmer refuses to back Justin Welby after clamor for archbishop to resign

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Prime minister says victims of serial abuser John Smyth ‘failed very, very badly’

Keir Starmer has refused to back the archbishop of Canterbury, who has faced growing demands to resign over his handling of an abuse scandal.

Pressure on Justin Welby has been intensifying since the publication last week of a damning report on the church’s cover-up of John Smyth’s abuse in the UK in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and later in Zimbabwe and South Africa. About 130 boys are believed to have been victims.

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BBC confirms Gary Lineker’s departure from Match of the Day

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Corporation says presenter will quit highlights programme at end of 2024-25 season but will cover 2026 World Cup

Gary Lineker is to step down as the presenter of Match of the Day at the end of the season, the BBC has said.

The BBC confirmed earlier reports that Lineker would stay with the broadcaster to cover the FA Cup in 2025-26 and the 2026 Fifa World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico, but step back from its flagship highlights programme at the end of the 2024-25 season.

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Metro Bank fined nearly £17m for failure to monitor potential money laundering

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Problems were raised by junior staff three years before they were completely resolved, says FCA

Metro Bank has been fined nearly £17m by the UK’s financial watchdog for failings in its money-laundering controls over four years, in a fresh blow to the lender a year on from its near-collapse.

In a surprise announcement that also triggered the early release of Metro’s third-quarter results on Tuesday morning, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had found shortfalls in the bank’s financial crime checks between 2016 and 2020.

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Girl, 17, who died after being hit by car on M5 had fled police vehicle

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Avon and Somerset police referred themselves to watchdog, who said girl was being transported to custody

A teenage girl who was killed by a car while on foot on the M5 had fled a police vehicle before she was struck, it has emerged.

Avon and Somerset police said the motorway was closed between Bridgwater and Taunton in Somerset after the fatal collision involving a pedestrian and a car at 11pm on Monday.

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Subsea cables to help Britain meet green energy goal get green light

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Ofgem gives green light to five interconnectors capable of powering millions of homes

Projects to lay five subsea power cables capable of powering millions of homes have been given the green light as Great Britain prepares to use its giant offshore windfarms to become a net exporter of green electricity in the 2030s.

The energy regulator, Ofgem, has approved three subsea cable projects linking Great Britain to power grids in Germany, Ireland and Northern Ireland to help share renewable electricity across borders.

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