James Watson found guilty at Old Bailey, ending suspicion that six-year-old victim’s abusive mother was killer
In October 1996, Ruth Neave collapsed in tears in the dock of Northampton crown court when a jury acquitted her of the murder of her six-year-old son, Rikki Neave.
Afterwards, many found the verdict hard to accept when it emerged she had pleaded guilty to series of child cruelty offences against the schoolboy and two of his siblings.
Continue reading...Watson convicted after DNA showed he had been in physical contact with six-year-old on day he disappeared
A 41-year-old man has been found guilty of the murder of schoolboy Rikki Neave, who was found strangled in woods near Peterborough nearly 28 years ago.
James Watson, of no fixed abode, was convicted by a jury’s majority verdict at the Old Bailey of the 1994 murder after a DNA breakthrough in 2016 revealed that as a 13-year-old he had been in physical contact with the six-year-old boy on the day of his disappearance.
Continue reading...Online shopping group says it has dismissed ‘multiple’ attempts to buy company
Online shopping group THG has dismissed “numerous” takeover approaches as “unacceptable”, saying they undervalued the company.
Manchester-based THG (formerly known as The Hut Group), which runs beauty and nutrition websites including Lookfantastic, Cult Beauty and Myprotein, confirmed there had been interest from third parties, but said the company was not currently involved in any talks.
Continue reading...Spokesman says investigations to continue but further information will not be released until after 5 May
No further updates on Partygate fines will be issued by the Metropolitan police until after May’s local elections, the force has said.
A Met spokesman said: “Whilst the investigation will continue during the pre-election period, due to the restrictions around communicating before the May local elections, we will not provide further updates until after 5 May.”
Continue reading...Dramatic Downing Street U-turn comes as two more Tory MPs call for PM to quit from floor of Commons
Boris Johnson is expected to face a Commons inquiry over whether he lied to parliament, after Downing Street dramatically pulled an amendment aimed at forcing Conservative MPs to delay the new Partygate investigation.
Two more Tory MPs called for Johnson to quit from the floor of the Commons, including the influential Brexiter Steve Baker. “The prime minister now should be long gone,” the former minister said. “Really, the prime minister should just know the gig’s up.”
Continue reading...Analysis: Deal is seen by some as single most important UK negotiation, but agreement will take time
Of all the deals that Boris Johnson could sign with countries outside the EU to lift UK trade, one with India is the among the biggest prizes.
After landing in the country on Thursday morning, the prime minister must be hoping his two-day trip – taking in his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujurat and then New Delhi – will add impetus to talks already under way to reach a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Continue reading...Billionaire oligarch steps down from Russia’s second-largest oil firm after being hit with EU and UK sanctions
The multibillionaire Russian oligarch Vagit Alekperov has stepped down as the president of the London-listed firm Lukoil after sanctions were imposed on him by the UK and EU.
In a statement to the stock market, Russia’s second-largest oil company said Alekperov, who is on good terms with Vladimir Putin, had formally notified the company of his decision to resign on Thursday.
Continue reading...Row over breaching of lockdown rules rumbles on as PM begins two-day visit to discuss trade and security
Boris Johnson has insisted MPs should wait for the “full facts” before deciding whether to trigger a fresh investigation into Partygate, as he kicked off a two-day trip to India.
Johnson will discuss trade and security with India’s premier, Narendra Modi, on his first visit to the country since becoming prime minister in 2019. He landed in Ahmedabad and was greeted warmly with multiple bunches of roses. The road into the city centre was lined with billboards featuring large photographs of Johnson.
Continue reading...Government changes tack and attempts to delay investigation until after the full publication of Sue Gray report
Boris Johnson has been forced to abandon efforts to block an inquiry into whether he misled MPs over Partygate lockdown breaches, instead urging rebellious MPs to delay any investigation.
Government whips scrambled on Wednesday night to derail a Labour motion designed to trigger a Commons inquiry into whether Johnson lied about rule-breaking in Downing Street – including the potential release of hundreds of damaging messages and photographs.
Continue reading...Only handful of rebels vote against government to support Lords amendments
The actor Juliet Stevenson has made an 11th-hour plea to Conservative MPs voting on the government’s controversial immigration bill on Wednesday to “be brave and vote with your heart, not with your party membership card”.
Stevenson has urged MPs who are backing the nationality and borders bill to instead back Lords amendments in support of refugees.
Continue reading...Brexit opportunities minister raises possibility of dramatic intervention after Stormont assembly elections
The UK will “reform” the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol if the EU will not, Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned, raising the possibility of a dramatic intervention after the assembly elections in a fortnight’s time.
The Brexit opportunities minister said he could not reveal any more due to the sensitivities of the Stormont election in Northern Ireland, where tensions have flared over the protocol.
Continue reading...Former Labour leader does not blame Nato for Russian invasion but questions role of military alliances
The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he hoped military alliances like Nato could be ultimately disbanded, saying they could create “greater danger” in the world.
In comments that are likely to inflame further tensions with Labour HQ, Corbyn said he did not blame Nato for the Russian invasion of Ukraine but that it had to be looked at in historical context.
Continue reading...Murder investigation launched after bodies of men and woman found
Three people have been found dead at a home in Buckinghamshire in what police believe to be a “targeted attack”.
A murder investigation has been launched after the bodies of a man and woman in their 60s and another man in his 50s were discovered in Spring Gardens, Bourne End on Tuesday evening. All three victims were understood to be known to each other.
Continue reading...Prime minister refuses to apologise for reported comments about archbishop and denies criticising BBC’s Ukraine coverage
Asked if the House of Lords Appointments Commission ever approves people for a peerage, only for a peerage not to be awarded, Bew says this has happened, but that it is very rare.
He also says that, under his chairmanship, the commission for the first time rejected a nominee who was subsequently appointed by Downing Street.
Continue reading...Downing Street refuses to deny PM told MPs archbishops were being unfairly critical as church figures defend Justin Welby
Downing Street has gone into open battle with the Church of England over its condemnation of the Rwanda deportation scheme, with No 10 officials doubling down on Boris Johnson’s claim that archbishops were being unfairly critical.
The prime minister reportedly told Conservative MPs on Tuesday evening that senior clergy had criticised plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda more than they had condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This was not denied by No 10.
Continue reading...RMT to ballot more than 40,000 workers at Network Rail and train firms in dispute over jobs and pay
More than 40,000 railway workers are to be balloted in a dispute over jobs and pay that a union says could result in Britain’s biggest rail strike in modern history.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) said staff would be asked to vote on strike action over Network Rail’s plans to cut at least 2,500 maintenance jobs as part of a £2bn reduction in spending on the network.
Continue reading...The story of the real-life escape from Stalag Luft III in 1944 is to be told at the London venue used as an internment camp for ‘enemy aliens’ during the first world war
The story behind the audacious 1944 escape from the Luftwaffe’s Stalag Luft III prison camp is to be retold in a new play at London’s Alexandra Palace, which was itself used as an internment camp for German, Austrian and Hungarian “enemy aliens” during the first world war.
Tom, Dick and Harry will recount the breakout of 76 allied airmen from the camp at Sagan in Germany (now Żagań in Poland) which inspired the 1963 film The Great Escape, featuring an all-star cast and a thrilling though fictitious motorbike exploit for Steve McQueen. The play is written by Theresa Heskins, Andrew Pollard and Michael Hugo with Heskins also directing.
Continue reading...Scientists don’t yet know if the microbes are causative, but if proven it could save thousands of lives
Scientists have discovered bacteria linked to aggressive prostate cancer in work hailed as a potential revolution for the prevention and treatment of the most deadly form of the disease.
Researchers led by the University of East Anglia performed sophisticated genetic analyses on the urine and prostate tissue of more than 600 men with and without prostate cancer and found five species of bacteria linked to rapid progression of the disease.
Continue reading...Latest updates: the prime minister apologises for breaking Covid lockdown rules but Labour says the public ‘don’t believe a word he says’
Boris Johnson must have known parties were taking place in Downing Street in breach of lockdown rules, Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, told the Today programme this morning. Asked to justify Labour claims that Johnson was lying when he told MPs that the rules had always been followed and parties had not taken place, she replied:
The sheer number of parties going on at Number 10 on a regular basis make it perfectly clear to any reasonable person, let alone the person who made the rules, that those rules were being broken and they were being broken consciously.
The fact that Dominic Raab said that when he was in charge there weren’t any parties shows that people knew there were parties going on and he made sure that, when he was in charge of Number 10, when the prime minister was in hospital, that those sorts of things stopped, I think, again makes it clear.
Whatever means we take, the difficulty we will always have is that, since the 2019 election, the Conservatives have an 80-seat majority when there is a vote.
Unless Conservative MPs can look at their consciences and vote the right way, we are not going to get the sort of result that we should get.
The Stormer vehicle launches Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles which can be used to target planes and helicopters.
Boris Johnson is expected to speak to allies including the US president, Joe Biden, today to discuss western support for Ukraine as Russian forces focused on capturing the Donbas region.
Continue reading...Steve Cohen says the US must establish ‘deterrents’ against lawyers accused of carrying out ‘unscrupulous work’
A US congressman has urged the Biden administration to ban six British lawyers from entering the US amid accusations that the lawyers have “enabled” “Putin’s” oligarchs by engaging in “abusive” lawsuits against journalists as part of an alleged effort to silence them.
Steve Cohen, a Democratic congressman from Tennessee, said in a letter to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, that the US needed to begin establishing “deterrents” against lawyers whom he accused of performing “unscrupulous work” that ultimately undermined democratic values.
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