Lulu Lakatos stole from Mayfair jeweller by replacing gems with pebbles in UK’s most expensive theft of its kind
A woman who stole £4.2m worth of diamonds by swapping them for pebbles has been ordered to pay back less than £250.
Lulu Lakatos, 60, is serving a five-and-a-half year jail sentence after she was found guilty of conspiracy to steal in 2021.
Continue reading...Council chair says decision not guided by data or made in consultation with health profession
Ending all Covid restrictions is premature and “not based on current evidence”, the British Medical Association has said, as experts warned dropping testing and self-isolation could lead to a surge in cases.
Boris Johnson told MPs last week that he was preparing to lift the legal requirement in England to self-isolate on 24 February, a month earlier than originally planned, with a formal announcement expected on Monday.
Continue reading...Staff allowed ‘limited access’ before Sue Gray inquiry evidence passed to police
Downing Street staff being questioned by police about alleged lockdown breaches will be allowed to view notes on the evidence they gave to the Sue Gray inquiry.
Those spoken to as part of the Cabinet Office probe were told they could see the notes with a member of Gray’s team present but would not be allowed to bring a phone into the room, to be accompanied by a lawyer, or to request any changes.
Continue reading...Growing evidence shows Gulf state’s friends and enemies are being targeted by NSO Group software
Mohammed al-Tajer was caught off guard when his iPhone pinged last November with a warning that said his phone had been targeted by a nation state.
The 55-year-old lawyer from Bahrain had been known among dissidents for his “fearless” defence of opposition leaders and protesters after the 2011 pro-democracy uprising in the tiny Gulf state, when a series of demonstrations and protests were violently suppressed by authorities with the help of Saudi forces.
Continue reading...Anis Hemissi shot dead reality TV star’s brother in front of family as part of ‘tit-for-tat gang war’
A hitman who murdered a reality television star’s brother in a “tit-for-tat gang war” has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 35 years.
The Metropolitan police described the case as one of the most complex murder investigations in recent history.
Continue reading...Legal hearing challenges Home Office decision to prevent duke from paying for police protection when visiting
Prince Harry “does not feel safe” when he is visiting the UK, a place that “is, and always will be, his home”, his legal team have told the high court.
His desire to return to see family and friends was emphasised on the first day of a legal hearing related to his claim over the Home Office’s decision not to allow him to pay for police protection for himself and his family while in the UK.
Continue reading...Ambika Mod, who plays stressed junior doctor, reacts to criticism that BBC drama disrespects women
It is the TV drama that has divided its viewers. Hailed by some as a brutally accurate depiction of the realities of working in an NHS maternity unit, This Is Going to Hurt has been denounced by others as misogynistic and insulting to women giving birth.
Now the actor who plays an exhausted and stressed female junior doctor in the show has rejected criticism of the BBC series set on an NHS obstetrics and gynaecology ward.
Continue reading...With more stars than any other county, the land of gravy and chips is now held up as a rival to Paris and San Sebastián
When Simon Rogan and his family moved to Cumbria in 2002, the Lake District was famed for many reasons but food was not top of the menu. Visitors came in droves for the hills, rather than the haute cuisine.
Twenty years later their feted village restaurant, L’Enclume, is at the centre of a “mind-blowing” culinary renaissance that has led some diners to compare Cumbria to international foodie havens such as Paris, San Sebastián and Copenhagen.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Dens being installed on east coast and A9 after predator’s return was found to reduce numbers of greys
Pine martens are to be deployed as wildlife bouncers along the east coast of Scotland and the A9 corridor to halt the northward march of grey squirrels.
More than 35 artificial pine marten dens are being installed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) at strategic locations on the grey squirrels’ path of northward migration in an attempt to save the Highland red squirrel populations.
Continue reading...Major bridges closing and millions told to batten down and not go outside as authorities warn of ‘significant disruption’
The east of England including London has been added to the red weather warning for wind issued by the Met Office because of Storm Eunice, which has prompted rare danger-to-life warnings, with millions of people told to stay indoors at home to avoid 90mph winds.
The rare highest alert – meaning a major impact is very likely – was widened just before 4am, to run from 10am until 3pm on Friday, due to fears of the storm “causing significant disruption and dangerous conditions due to extremely strong winds”, the Met Office said.
Continue reading...Analysis: evidence contrasts with statements from Russia that troops are being sent back to barracks
Britain believes that nearly half of Russian forces that have massed near Ukraine are now within 30 miles of the border, in contrast to statements from Moscow that its forces were being sent back to barracks.
Reinforcements from 14 battalions were in the process of arriving, officials added, while highlighting a pontoon bridge that had been briefly set up in Belarus in the past few days as an example of unusual military activity.
Continue reading...Findings go against the assumption that mental processing speed declines from a peak at age 20
It is widely accepted as one of life’s bleak but unavoidable facts: as we get older, our brains get slower. But now a study, based on data from more than 1 million people, suggests that mental processing speed remains almost constant until the age of 60.
The analysis puts perceived reductions in speed down to people becoming more cautious as they get older. This could account for the large body of research that has concluded that mental processing speed peaks at about the age of 20 and undergoes a steady decline from that point onwards.
Continue reading...London mayor denies claim he gave Cressida Dick ultimatum over Charing Cross officers
Scotland Yard has been forced to admit it was “unacceptable” for one of its official Twitter accounts to apparently criticise the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, leading him to accuse the force of amplifying misleading information.
Khan tackled the suggestion – made in a now-deleted tweet by the verified “Metropolitan Police taskforce” – that he did not understand the rules for disciplining officers.
Continue reading...Russia’s claim to be withdrawing troops from the border with Ukraine does not appear to be the case on the ground, a UK defence minister has said.
Armed forces minister James Heappey said Moscow was continuing to deploy thousands more soldiers to the region and building bridges across rivers that could be used as part of a military incursion into Ukraine.
Despite brief hopes of a respite in tensions after Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Tuesday that there would be a 'partial' drawdown of forces, some Nato countries remained sceptical about how many of the roughly 130,000 troops had really been withdrawn. It is important Russia understands that Nato is completely united on the issue, added the UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace
System has previously been criticised as a ‘backdoor loophole’ to funnel dirty money into UK
Ministers are preparing to scrap the “golden visa” system that allows wealthy foreign investors a fast track to living in the UK, amid concerns over links with Russia.
Given concerns about how the system is being taken advantage of, and against a backdrop of souring relations with Moscow given its military buildup on the border with Ukraine, the home secretary, Priti Patel, is to axe the residence route.
Continue reading...Simon Nellist, 35, was reportedly training for charity swim when he was killed off Sydney
A swimmer killed in what is believed to have been the first fatal shark attack off Sydney, Australia, in almost 60 years has been named locally as a British man.
Friends said Simon Nellist, 35, who was engaged to be married, “loved the water” and was an experienced diving instructor. The British expatriate, who it is understood was living in the Wolli Creek area of Sydney, was reportedly training for a charity swim.
Continue reading...Sajid Javid expected to push to retain some free testing against Treasury demand to slash budget
Cabinet splits have emerged over the government’s “living with Covid” strategy, with Sajid Javid expected to push to retain some free testing and community surveillance of the virus in the face of a Treasury demand to slash the budget.
Ministers including the health secretary and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are expected to meet on Thursday to discuss the strategy before it is announced next week.
Continue reading...Confidence in force fell sharply during past five years, with 68% saying Met did a good job in 2017
Public confidence in the Metropolitan police has fallen sharply in the five years Cressida Dick has been leading Britain’s biggest force, figures published on Wednesday show.
Only 51% of those in London said they believed the Met did a good job in their local area, down 17 points compared with the last survey before Dick became Met commissioner in April 2017.
Continue reading...Officials often underestimate the dangers faced by failed asylum seekers who are forcibly sent home, writes Jackie Fearnley
The recent Human Rights Watch report on the harm done to Cameroonian asylum seekers, both while they were trying to make their claims in the US and when repatriated in a blaze of publicity, should be required reading for all asylum decision-makers (African migrants deported in Trump era suffered abuse on return, 10 February).
From my experience of helping Cameroonian torture survivors over the past 14 years, I have noted that Home Office decision-makers, and many judges, can fatally underestimate the degree of risk attached to the forcible return process, particularly as failed asylum seekers are viewed as having brought the country into disrepute and can be punished with imprisonment.
Continue reading...Pfizer/BioNTech jab to be offered to younger children as experts decide benefits outweigh risks
Children aged between five and 11 in England will be offered a Covid vaccine, the UK government has confirmed, after similar announcements from Wales and Scotland this week.
The move was recommended by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which decided that the vaccination programme should be extended to younger children after lengthy discussions on the benefits and risks.
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