Category Archives: Police

Security for high-profile public figures to be reviewed after Ann Widdecombe’s murder

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Home secretary vows to defend against ‘threats from without and within that target our democracy’

Security arrangements for high-profile public figures including politicians and members of the royal family are to be urgently reviewed in the wake of the killing of Ann Widdecombe, Shabana Mahmood said on Monday.

The home secretary said former MPs, party leaders who are not MPs, peers, former members of devolved parliaments and party spokespeople will also be offered police support.

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Met chief says ‘toxicity’ around DEI will not stop him recruiting more black and Asian officers

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Mark Rowley says inclusivity is crucial for the force and he refuses to be ‘blown off course’ by critics

Mark Rowley has said the Metropolitan police must recruit more black and Asian officers in order to gain the trust of minority ethnic communities in London, and vowed not to be “blown off course by the culture wars”.

The right has criticised drives for diversity, claiming they lead to lower standards. Rowley, who is commissioner of the Met and Britain’s top police officer, said that as a leader of a major organisation he was prepared to take a stand against the “toxicity” surrounding the diversity debate and criticised other leaders for “running away from the subject”.

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor takes legal action against police and Old Bailey over Epstein raids

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Former prince to challenge whether Thames Valley force and central criminal court of England and Wales acted lawfully over searches relating to his arrest

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is taking action against Thames Valley police and the central criminal court to challenge the legality of search warrants that led to his arrest this year, a judicial spokesperson has said.

A private high court hearing is scheduled to take place before Mr Justice Hilliard on Thursday to determine whether documents related to the former Duke of York’s call for a judicial review can be made public, with Thames Valley police and the central criminal court of England and Wales in opposition.

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Questions remain over Iran’s link to alleged RAF Fairford bomb plot

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Tehran has been trying to step up attacks on targets in the west but its track record has been mixed

Investigators may be some way from determining exactly what led five men with three vans to a village just outside RAF Fairford in the small hours of Sunday – but the fact they have all been released on bail without immediate charge suggests they are not deemed to pose a serious and violent threat.

In a moment where wider geopolitical tensions mean external threats are perceived to be close, the question of whether Iran had a hand in the alleged plot remains open. Nonetheless, the bailing of the men is a mercifully lower-key development in an investigation that appeared of the utmost gravity.

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Jill Dando murder: technological advances allow police to review CCTV 27 years later

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BBC broadcaster was shot in 1999 in case detectives have previously said may never be solved

Technological advances are allowing police to review old CCTV footage in the unsolved murder of the BBC broadcaster Jill Dando, Scotland Yard has revealed.

Advances in CCTV enhancement technology have allowed detectives to return to 27-year-old footage of Putney Bridge Underground station, Scotland Yard said. But detectives stressed that the review was part of existing inquiries – not a new investigation.

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DNA database of UK dogs could help police collar criminals

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Experts working on database that could identify particular breeds involved in crimes, or rule out canine suspects

From tracking criminals to sniffing out drugs, dogs have long helped police crack cases. Now experts are hoping a database of canine DNA could offer vital leads.

While hair, saliva and other canine material may be found at crime scenes, or on individuals connected to incidents, scientists say they are often not fully investigated.

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Court quashes 1976 convictions over link to corrupt London police officer

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Christopher Poulter and Kevin Biggs, who died in 2004, exonerated of mailbag theft after new evidence emerged

Two men have had theft convictions quashed at the court of appeal half a century after they were wrongfully arrested because of a corrupt police officer, although one did not live to see his exoneration.

Christopher Poulter and Kevin Biggs were 21 and 18 respectively when they were convicted in 1976 of taking 13 mailbags from a wagon in Clapham goods yard in London.

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Victims say Home Office attempt to curtail spycops inquiry will result in a ‘cover-up’

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Shabana Mahmood is concerned about length and £144m cost of inquiry into intrusive police surveillance

Victims of intrusive police surveillance have accused the government of seeking to cut short the spycops public inquiry that has been examining widespread misconduct committed by undercover officers.

The independent judge-led inquiry is scrutinising how officers, who spied on tens of thousands of political activists over more than four decades, carried out abuses such as deceiving women into sexual relationships and fathering children.

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Enact Trew’s law to automatically review ‘bent copper’ convictions, says report

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Experts say failure to immediately review cases involving corrupt police officers risks ‘ruining’ more lives

Convictions that imprisoned police officers were involved in obtaining should be automatically reviewed to correct miscarriages of justice such as those perpetrated by the corrupt and racist officer DS Derek Ridgewell, a report says.

The proposed Trew’s law, named after Winston Trew – who was framed by Ridgewell and spent decades fighting to clear his name – would trigger an immediate, independent review of past cases linked to any jailed officer in England and Wales.

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Manchester synagogue attack: ministers seek to block MI5 files from inquest

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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.

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Prosecutors consider charges against officers involved in spycops scandal

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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.

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Guns, axes, explosives: violent museum heists are on the rise, says Europol

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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.

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Families release pictures of police officers killed in A66 crash in which five others died

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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.

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‘Absolutely manic’: hot weather puts unprecedented pressure on Greater Manchester police

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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.

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Police and prosecution errors left proven sex offender free to murder two women in London

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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.

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Undercover police unit closed down over unjustified surveillance, spycops inquiry told

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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.

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Five officers injured as police boat strikes Westminster Bridge

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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.

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Former Met police chief admits force failed to properly control spycops unit

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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.

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Police launch murder investigation into death of Ann Widdecombe

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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.

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‘Nepotism and bias’ rife in England and Wales police leadership, report finds

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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.

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