Category Archives: Police

Cardiff car crash: police confirm four separate missing persons reports made

Posted on by

Gwent and South Wales police also confirm more than 46 hours passed between last sighting and wreckage being found

Two police forces heavily criticised for their response to a crash that killed three young people and left two seriously injured have confirmed more than 46 hours passed between the group’s last sighting and their wrecked car being found and that four separate missing persons reports were made to them.

Gwent and South Wales police also confirmed that the last sighting of the car was only about 2.5 miles from where it was found, which will raise more questions over why it took so long for the five to be discovered.

The last confirmed sighting of the five people was at 2am on Saturday in Pentwyn, about 2.5 miles from where they were found.

The crash happened during the early hours of Saturday, with the exact time to be confirmed by the investigation, including by studying CCTV and automatic number plate recognition footage.

The first missing report was made to Gwent police at 7.34pm on Saturday; further missing person reports were made to Gwent police at 7.43pm and 9.32pm. Another missing person report was made to South Wales police at 5.37pm on Sunday.

At 11.50pm on Sunday the police helicopter was asked to search an area of Cardiff, which resulted in the vehicle being located in a wooded area off the A48.

Gwent police officers, who were in the area conducting inquiries, discovered the Volkswagen Tiguan vehicle at 12.15am on Monday.

Continue reading...

Missing black and Asian people less likely to be found by police, report finds

Posted on by

Lower proportion of cases are solved in comparison with incidents involving white people, charity research suggests

Missing persons cases involving black and Asian people are less likely to be resolved by police than those involving white people, research suggests.

Black and Asian children are also likely to be missing for longer, the report, published by the charity Missing People, found.

Continue reading...

MI5 told to share key facts with MPs after Manchester Arena security failures

Posted on by

Bombing inquiry brings call from terror watchdog for franker approach at spy agency

Britain’s terror watchdog has called on the security services to ensure they promptly share any intelligence requested by MPs investigating the fallout of the Manchester Arena attack.

Last week’s public inquiry concluded that MI5 had missed a significant chance to take action that may have prevented the 2017 bombing that killed 22 people.

Continue reading...

Police and travel industry react angrily to Matt Hancock lockdown texts

Posted on by

Messages show Hancock urging ministers to ‘get heavy’ with police and making light of hotel quarantine situation

Ministers have come under fire from police officers and the travel industry after private messages from Matt Hancock highlighted the rapid and occasionally haphazard way in which they wrote Covid lockdown policies.

Senior representatives of the police service attacked the government’s handling of the pandemic after the Telegraph published messages showing the former health secretary urging ministers to “get heavy with the police” over lockdown enforcement.

Continue reading...

Manchester Arena inquiry: victims’ families respond to final report

Posted on by

People who lost loved ones and their representatives speak out as MI5 is accused of a ‘devastating’ failure

Families of the victims of the Manchester Arena attack accused MI5 of a “devastating” failure after an official inquiry found the spy agency had missed a “significant opportunity” to stop the blast carried out by Salman Abedi. Here, they respond to the inquiry’s verdict:

Continue reading...

Manchester Arena inquiry: MI5 braced for criticism in final report

Posted on by

Victim’s mother expects ‘catalogue of mistakes’ to be exposed in Sir John Saunders’ report on 2017 atrocity

The mother of a victim of the Manchester Arena attack has said she expects “a whole catalogue of mistakes” to be laid bare when a landmark report on the atrocity is published on Thursday.

MI5 is braced for criticism from the report, which will examine whether the deadliest terror attack in Britain since 7/7 could have been prevented.

Continue reading...

Revealed: one in 100 police officers in England and Wales faced a criminal charge last year

Posted on by

Figure has surged over the past 10 years with pressure growing for officers to be sacked on the spot

Shocking figures obtained by the Observer show roughly one in 100 police officers in England and Wales faced criminal charges, including for sexual offences, last year alone.

An Observerinvestigation has found that the Police Federation, the staff association for police officers, received 1,387 claims for legal support from members facing criminal charges in 2022.

Continue reading...

Police behind Nicola Bulley search face two investigations

Posted on by

Lancashire constabulary, already subject to an IOPC inquiry, now to undergo College of Policing review

The police force behind the search for Nicola Bulley is facing two investigations into its handling of the case amid further criticism of its release of highly personal details about the missing mortgage adviser.

The College of Policing, the national policing standards body, is to launch a wide-ranging independent review of Lancashire constabulary’s investigation. The Lancashire police and crime commissioner, Andrew Snowden, said he ordered the review because “there remain questions” about how the force had handled the high-profile search.

Continue reading...

Calls for radical reform of UK gun laws after Plymouth shooting

Posted on by

‘Catastrophic’ failings that allowed gunman to kill five people increase pressure to overhaul 1968 legislation

Senior police officers, families of shooting victims and anti-gun campaigners have called for a “radical reform” of the firearms licensing system after an inquest jury found “catastrophic” failings allowed the Plymouth gunman, Jake Davison, to legally possess a shotgun that he used to kill five people.

Pressure is mounting on the UK government to overhaul the 50-year-old licensing legislation and ensure police forces are adequately funded to allow them to fully examine the suitability of gun owners.

Continue reading...

Police release of Nicola Bulley’s personal details ‘as sexist as it comes’

Posted on by

Former victims’ commissioner Vera Baird says revelations likely to hamper future missing person cases

The release of sensitive details about the missing woman Nicola Bulley was “as sexist as it comes”, the former victims’ commissioner has said, as Lancashire police come under further pressure over their handling of the case.

Dame Vera Baird condemned the force’s “dreadful” decision to divulge medical information about Bulley, saying it was “the biggest error that I have seen for quite a long time”.

Continue reading...

Nicola Bulley: MPs criticise police over release of personal details

Posted on by

Labour’s Stella Creasy among those questioning why Lancashire police told public of ‘issues with alcohol’

MPs and campaigners have criticised the police for releasing personal details about the missing woman Nicola Bulley’s issues with alcohol and the menopause, with one describing it as “deeply troubling”.

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, was one of a number of people who questioned why Lancashire police took the unusual step of releasing private details about Bulley.

Continue reading...

Chinese cameras leave British police vulnerable to spying, says watchdog

Posted on by

Warning in surveillance commissioner’s report comes after Chinese CCTV cameras banned from government property

British police are leaving themselves open to spying by Beijing because of their reliance on Chinese-made cameras, according to a report from the government’s independent watchdog on surveillance.

Most forces across England and Wales use camera equipment that is either made in China or contains important Chinese components, the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner has warned.

Continue reading...

UK counter-terrorism report author accused of basing conclusions on ‘handful of cases’

Posted on by

William Shawcross analysed just six Channel cases before calling for more focus on Islamist extremism, say critics

The author of a controversial review into Britain’s counter-terrorism strategy has been accused of failing to do his job properly because he attended only a handful of the thousands of meetings of its key deradicalisation programme.

William Shawcross was appointed to review Prevent, the government’s counter-extremism programme, in January 2021. Last week his controversial conclusion that the programme had concentrated too much on the far right and not enough on Islamist extremism was met with widespread condemnation.

Continue reading...

David Carrick’s mother says ex-Met officer may have exaggerated childhood trauma

Posted on by

Exclusive: Estranged parent, 67, suggests account of neglect, drinking and abuse by stepfather probably aimed at reducing rape sentence

The mother of the rapist Metropolitan police officer David Carrick has said it is possible he overplayed his childhood trauma to reduce his sentence.

Carrick, 48, pleaded guilty to 85 serious offences including 48 rapes against 12 women. He was given 36 life sentences at Southwark crown court on Tuesday and will spend at least the next 30 years in prison for his 17-year crime spree.

Continue reading...

Sheku Bayoh: senior officer ‘shrugged shoulders’ when confronted over death, inquiry told

Posted on by

Collette Bell says she thought ‘you don’t care’ when told of partner’s death by Ch Supt Garry McEwan

A chief superintendent shrugged his shoulders when confronted over whether Sheku Bayoh had been killed by police officers, the inquiry into his death in custody has been told.

Bayoh’s partner, Collette Bell, alleged that Ch Supt Garry McEwan, who has now retired, told her that the father of her baby had died during a “forceful arrest” using sprays and batons, and that she responded furiously: “So you battered him to death?”

Continue reading...

David Carrick jailed for life over series of rapes while Met police officer

Posted on by

Carrick, 48, admitted 85 serious offences during 17-year campaign of terror and attacks against women

David Carrick, who believed his position as a Metropolitan police officer made him “untouchable” as he waged a 17-year campaign of terror and attacks against women, has been jailed for life.

The 48-year-old must serve a minimum term of 32 years minus the time he has spent in custody before he can even be considered for release.

Continue reading...

Al Sharpton warns UK could suffer US-style police brutality without deep reform

Posted on by

Civil rights veteran who gave eulogy at Tyre Nichols’ funeral says racism in UK policing could produce similar tragedies

The Rev Al Sharpton has warned that racially charged incidents such as the brutal death of Tyre Nichols in the US will also occur in the UK without far-reaching police reforms.

On the eve of a two-day visit to the UK, the US civil rights veteran said that “systemic racism” and a “culture of policing that produces brutality” must be addressed.

Continue reading...

Met under pressure not to rehire retired officers with misconduct record

Posted on by

Mayor says officers with misconduct proven against them during career should not return to force

The Metropolitan police are under pressure to stop inviting back retired officers whoduring their career had action taken against them for misconduct.

Under a scheme to rehire recently retired officers to help plug gaps in the ranks of Britain’s largest force, 253 people who had action taken against them after misconduct proceedings have been asked to rejoin, along with 99 who retired while under investigation.

Continue reading...

Sheku Bayoh’s sister says police watchdog error meant family could not say goodbye

Posted on by

Kadi Johnson tells inquiry into Bayoh’s death in 2015 that postmortem was carried out before family viewed body

The family of Sheku Bayoh were prevented from saying their final goodbyes because a miscommunication by the police watchdog meant a postmortem examination was carried out before his relatives were ready to identify his body, according to his sister.

In a morning of moving testimony at the inquiry into Bayoh’s death in custody, his sister Kadi Johnson set out a catalogue of alleged errors, miscommunications, conflicting information and apparent absence of compassion as she described her family’s treatment by the police and authorities from the moment they were informed the 31-year-old had died.

Continue reading...

France under fire over fast-track plan for AI video surveillance at Paris Olympics

Posted on by

Ministers say exceptional security needed but rights groups warn new law could extend police powers permanently

The French government is fast-tracking special legislation for the 2024 Paris Olympics that would allow the use of video surveillance assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

Ministers have argued that certain exceptional security measures are needed to ensure the smooth running of the events that will attract 13 million spectators, but rights groups have warned France is seeking to use the Games as a pretext to extend police surveillance powers, which could then become permanent.

Continue reading...