Government lawyers tell coroner disclosing intelligence would pose serious risk to national security
Ministers are seeking to block intelligence material from being heard at an inquest into the death of two men killed in the 2025 Manchester synagogue attack.
Lawyers for Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, told a coroner on Thursday that disclosing the MI5 files would pose a serious risk to national security.
Continue reading...More than 100 undercover officers spied on tens of thousands of mainly leftwing activists over decades
Prosecutors are examining whether to bring criminal charges against 12 former police officers who were involved in spying on political groups.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is examining a file of evidence that the officers may have committed wrongdoing while working in controversial undercover operations.
Continue reading...EU police agency says shift could point to involvement of new criminal networks focused on specific artefacts
Robberies at European museums are becoming increasingly violent, with thieves sometimes brandishing guns, assaulting staff and using sledgehammers, axes and even explosives to smash their way into buildings and display cases, according to a report by Europol.
The EU police agency said that while museum thefts were generally seen as a non-violent form of organised property crime, member states had detected a recent shift “towards violent and forceful methods” that could point to the involvement of new criminal networks focused on specific cultural artefacts.
Continue reading...Emotional tributes paid to PCs Matthew Blades and Tom Clough whose vehicle was in a head-on collision with car travelling wrong way
Cleveland police have published photographs of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough who died when a car travelling the wrong way on the A66 crashed head-on into their police vehicle.
Two 17-year-old boys were among the seven people who were killed in the incident on Teesside.
Continue reading...Force has seen busiest month in its history, with heatwaves putting added strain on criminal justice system
On England’s hottest day of the year so far, Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester was thronging with pedestrians, many clutching ice-creams or cold drinks as they passed through the town centre.
Officers from Greater Manchester police were also out in force, some in plainclothes, some stationed by a facial-recognition van, apprehending wanted suspects and stopping persons of interest. In total, officers made 54 arrests across the borough of Tameside as part of Operation Avro, GMP’s blitz on local crime which runs in a different district each month.
Continue reading...Delays to sexual assault charges and failures to report past convictions in court hearings gave Simon Levy chance to attack more women
• Violence against women: has anything changed in policing since Sarah Everard’s killing?
Catastrophic errors left a persistent and proven sex offender free before he murdered two women in London, it can be revealed.
On Friday, an Old Bailey jury found Simon Levy, 40, guilty of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins five months later.
Continue reading...Senior officer behind closure says SDS caused ‘incalculable harm’ by infiltrating groups that posed no threat
An undercover police unit that spied on tens of thousands of political activists had to be shut down amid severe criticisms and recriminations, the spycops public inquiry has heard.
Jon Boutcher, a senior police officer who took over responsibility for the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) unit, concluded within months that it had to be wound up because it was conducting unjustified surveillance and was badly run.
Continue reading...Metropolitan police say officers on marine policing boat are receiving treatment after incident in central London
Five officers have been injured after a police boat struck Westminster Bridge in central London on Friday afternoon.
The Metropolitan police said the incident occurred at about 3.40pm and involved a boat from the marine policing unit.
Continue reading...Paul Condon tells inquiry there was ‘appalling behaviour by individual officers’ but that greater fault was systemic
A former Metropolitan police commissioner has admitted that the force failed over decades to properly control a controversial undercover unit that committed “horrendous” abuses, the spycops inquiry has heard.
Paul Condon said he was appalled by the wrongdoing of the unit, which spent 40 years spying on tens of thousands of political activists.
Continue reading...Body of former MP, 78, found with serious injuries at her Dartmoor home on Thursday morning
A murder investigation has been launched after the suspicious death of the former MP Ann Widdecombe at her home on Dartmoor, in Devon, police have said.
Widdecombe’s body was found with “serious injuries” by the ambulance service at an address in Haytor, Devon, at 11.40am on Thursday. The police said officers were searching for a “white male” in connection with her death.
Continue reading...Inquiry co-chaired by David Blunkett uncovers loss of focus on fighting crime, plus low standards and need for reform
Police leadership in England and Wales is plagued by “nepotism and bias” and too many chiefs have lost focus on fighting crime, a government-backed report has found.
The inquiry, co-chaired by former home secretary David Blunkett, found a reset was needed at all levels, with scores of top officers facing misconduct inquiries.
Continue reading...Popular national pastimes of drinking and football will make post-Mexico Monday a day of sore heads and sleepy children
England are through to the round of 16 in the World Cup and, as is customary in the run-up to a major international footballing fixture, the country may be losing its mind.
Because piled on top of the 60 years of hurt for the men’s team, England fans have another obstacle to overcome with the forthcoming fixture: a gruelling kick-off time of 1am BST.
Continue reading...IOPC confirms complaints from three survivors of alleged sexual misconduct by late Harrods owner in addition to ongoing investigation
Survivors of abuse at the hands of the late Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed have complained to a watchdog about how the Metropolitan police handled allegations.
More than 400 claims of sexual misconduct have been made against Al Fayed, including rape and human trafficking, dating between 1977 and 2014.
Continue reading...YouGov survey of six countries shows respondents think crime is increasing – though most trust their national police
Western Europeans believe crime is rising in their country, according to a survey, despite long-term overall crime rates falling across the region since the mid-1990s.
The YouGov poll of Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain found most countries trusted their national police, led by Denmark where 74% of respondents said they had a lot or a fair amount of confidence in police nationally.
Continue reading...Claims of two-tier policing and uncontrolled immigration may not be borne out by the facts, but that has not stopped them being played up for political ends
As the people of Glengormley, on the northern edge of Belfast, tidied up and prepared for more violence in the midst of what has been described as a modern-day pogrom, a court 500 miles away in Southampton, on the south coast of England, started to deal with its own outbreak of thuggery.
The trigger for this week’s riots in the Northern Irish capital had been the image of a black assailant who appeared to be stabbing and slashing his supine white victim in the face and neck while shouting in Arabic. The suspect was later revealed to be a refugee from Sudan.
Continue reading...Leon O’Leary threw a smoke grenade and Connor Bishop a traffic cone at officers during disturbance in Southampton
Two men who threw a smoke grenade and traffic cone at police during the violence in Southampton that followed the sentencing of Henry Nowak’s killer have been jailed.
Leon O’Leary, 41, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, was sentenced to three years and one month after throwing a smoke grenade at officers.
Continue reading...David Stroud grabbed a woman’s hair and asked if he could kiss her two days after legislation took effect
A train passenger has become the first person to be sentenced under a new harassment law after a prosecution brought by the British Transport Police (BTP).
David Stroud, 44, grabbed a woman’s hair and asked her “can I kiss you?” on a rail journey to London on 3 April, two days after the new legislation came into force banning harassment motivated by a person’s sex.
Continue reading...Vice-president and state department look to push far-right idea that mass migration is causing civilisational decline
In the state department of past administrations, how to respond to an incendiary event such as the murder of the British student Henry Nowak would have required deliberations, memos and meetings. Given how it has roiled the UK and inflamed tensions over migration and race, the cautious diplomats at Foggy Bottom probably would have said nothing at all.
Now they tweet from the hip. “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline,” the department’s official account posted on Thursday. “They must be rejected across the West.”
Continue reading...State department warns of ‘ideological conditioning’ in message of condolence to family of murdered student
The US state department has criticised “two-tiered policing” in Britain in a message of condolence to the family of the murder victim Henry Nowak in a thinly veiled rebuke of the UK government.
The 18-year-old student’s murder has been claimed by some as evidence of two-tier policing in the UK – the argument that some groups of people are dealt with more harshly than others for ideological reasons.
Continue reading...PM says Britons are ‘reasonable, tolerant people’ and backs MP’s legal action against Grok firm over fake sexualised images
Elon Musk is “interfering in our politics” and attempting to create division, Keir Starmer has said in a significant toughening of government language about the X owner.
The prime minister’s comments come after weeks of posts by Musk on his social media platform about the murder of Henry Nowak, many of which have used far-right themes and talking points.
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