Home secretary’s condenmation of ‘misinformation and inflammatory commentary’ comes after death threats to police
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has warned of a “dangerous undercurrent” in the wake of the murder of Henry Nowak, who was falsely accused of racism by a Sikh man who had fatally stabbed him with a ceremonial dagger.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was sentenced on Monday to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years for the December 2025 murder of 18-year-old Nowak.
Continue reading...Police officer in charge says budget could reach £19.3m and nearly 100 more investigators are needed
The police criminal inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal faces a five-year delay unless it is handed millions in extra funding and nearly 100 more staff, according to the chief officer in charge.
The Metropolitan police commander Stephen Clayman said he needed to nearly double the number of investigators to 210 to meet a deadline of late next year or early 2028 for submitting files to prosecutors.
Continue reading...Government announces a near tenfold increase but forces fear it will not cover anticipated cost of dedicated teams
Keir Starmer’s government has announced a near tenfold increase in funding for detectives hunting grooming gangs but has been warned by police that the amount will “likely fall short” of what is needed.
Operation Beaconport, which was set up last year to review closed group-based sexual exploitation inquiries in England and Wales, will receive nearly £38m, a Home Office statement said – up from £4m given last year.
Continue reading...Retired NHS worker Nicholas Stone died after becoming unwell at protest against far-right Bristol Patriots
The police watchdog is investigating the use of force against a retired NHS worker who attended a counter-demonstration against the far right and died shortly after contact with officers there.
Nicholas Stone, 65, who lived in Bristol, died on 10 January after becoming unwell at a protest opposing the rightwing group Bristol Patriots, who were demonstrating in the city centre.
Continue reading...Victim in his 20s was beaten up in north London street having stepped outside to use his phone
A Jewish man is being treated in hospital for injuries to his face and body after being attacked by a number of men in north London.
Police were called in the early hours of Monday morning following reports that a Jewish man had been assaulted by a number of men outside a property on the Grove in Golders Green.
Continue reading...Unspecified number of officers from royalty and specialist protection team being investigated, force confirms
Police officers accused of being asleep when they were supposed to be protecting the royal family at Windsor Castle have been placed under investigation.
An unspecified number of officers from the Metropolitan police’s royalty and specialist protection team are being investigated after concerns were raised, the force confirmed. The Sun, which first reported the story, said up to 30 officers were involved.
Continue reading...Nigel Farage’s party proposed to place detention centres in places that vote for Green council leaders or MPs
Keir Starmer has said that Europe has to face up to the fact that its alliance with the US is under strain.
He made the remark in public comments during the plenary session at the European Political Community summit in Yerevan in Armenia.
And both of those are impacting all of us in a very material way.
In the United Kingdom, if you look at the economic forecast now and compare it to the economic forecast just three or four months ago, they are in materially different places, and this is going to play out with our electorates in all of our countries.
Reform are now openly threatening voters and not only that they’re threatening them with a power they don’t actually have. This is absolutely pathetic. People across Scotland are proud of the fact that this is a welcoming country that shows solidarity to people who need it.
Reform are essentially saying ‘If you don’t vote the way we want you to, we will punish you’. I think the people of Scotland and voters across the UK are not going to take kindly to that kind of Donald Trumpesque threat.
Reform know that absolutely bombed last week. The only thing they’ve got to move on to are open threats, not against the Greens but against voters across the country. It’s really quite sinister. This is exactly the kind of politics you see in Donald Trump’s America. People across Scotland are going to reject that on Thursday.
Continue reading...PM worried about ‘cumulative’ effect of marches, as Met chief says Jewish communities facing biggest threat
Some pro-Palestinian demonstrations could be stopped, the prime minister has warned, as the UK’s most senior police officer said the threat to the Jewish community was greater than it had ever been.
Keir Starmer indicated he wanted the language expressed on some protest marches to be subjected to “tougher action” as he sought to allay the fears of British Jews after a series of attacks on their communities in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Green leader apologises for sharing post that said officers were ‘repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head’ and says he had did so ‘in haste’
Keir Starmer has condemned Zack Polanski as “disgraceful” and unfit to head a political party after the Greens’ leader shared a social media post critical of the way police tackled the suspect in the Golders Green stabbings.
The prime minister said any criticism of the police involved in the arrest was unfair on officers having to make split-second decisions in a moment of potentially grave danger.
Continue reading...Police investigating allegations Mandelson and former prince Andrew passed sensitive info to Epstein will struggle to make charges stick without files
British police investigating the former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson are preparing to start interviewing witnesses in royal and government circles.
It comes as police fear that prosecutors will be “reluctant” to bring charges unless the Trump administration agrees to hand over the original documents from the Epstein files.
Continue reading...Demographic also overrepresented when police officers use force such as handcuffs, firearms or Tasers, says children’s commissioner
Black children across England and Wales are almost eight times more likely to be strip-searched by police than their white counterparts, a report has disclosed.
Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, said Black children are also overrepresented when officers use force and were more likely to have their “size, gender or build” cited as justification.
Continue reading...Officers responded after group claimed to have targeted nearby Israeli embassy with ‘dangerous substances’
Kensington Gardens in London has reopened after the discovery of several suspicious items including two jars containing a powdered substance that was deemed to be non-hazardous, police said.
Officers in protective clothing responded to an incident near the Israeli embassy on Friday after counter-terrorism police investigated a video shared online in which a group claimed to have targeted the embassy with drones carrying “dangerous substances”.
Continue reading...Lack of funding leaving police forces failing to keep pace with two-thirds annual increase in referrals, says report
Child victims of online sexual abuse are being inadequately protected from further harm because police forces are struggling to cope with an increase in this crime, his majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary has warned.
Michelle Skeer said: “Without investment and coordination, the situation will worsen and children could be put at further risk.”
Continue reading...Conviction revealed during questioning of Rob Hastings about a second woman whom he deceived into intimate relationship
An undercover officer who deceived a woman into an intimate relationship was later convicted and dismissed from the police for assaulting his long-term partner, the public inquiry into undercover policing has heard.
Rob Hastings, who infiltrated pro-Palestinian and left wing protest groups for three years during his covert deployment, was convicted of assaulting his now ex-partner and mother of his three children in 2014. He was sacked by the Metropolitan police for gross misconduct as a result.
Continue reading...Cabinet Office thought to have a number of exchanges between the friends, which are expected to be released within weeks
The Cabinet Office is understood to hold a number of text and email exchanges between Peter Mandelson and Morgan McSweeney, despite the theft of the former chief of staff’s phone in October last year.
The whereabouts of McSweeney’s messages with Mandelson has been under intense scrutiny since it was reported his work device was stolen last year shortly after Mandelson was sacked as US ambassador.
Continue reading...House of Lords decision welcomed as ‘landmark moment’ after attempt to strike out amendment is defeated
Women who have been convicted, and in some cases jailed, over illegal abortions are set to be pardoned after a historic vote in the House of Lords.
Last June, the House of Commons voted to end the criminalisation of women who terminate their pregnancies outside of the legal framework, while keeping the existing framework in place. Doctors and others who act outside of the law could still face the threat of prosecution.
Continue reading...Academic Shereen Daniels says plan by Mark Rowley to absorb police’s race policies into broader anti-discrimination programme is backward step
The Metropolitan police has been accused of insulting black people and mocking the pain it has caused them after revealing it wants to absorb its anti-racism strategy into a broader anti-discrimination scheme.
The Met said the scheme, also including gender and sexual orientation, will increase its chance of success in better serving groups it has failed in the past.
Continue reading...Research found extreme disproportion in use of police power in districts such as Richmond-upon-Thames
Black people are up to 48 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police in some of London’s best-off areas, a new report has found.
The study found that the reasons given by officers for subjecting black people to the controversial power were more likely to be vague, with examples including that a black person gave a “furtive glance”.
Continue reading...Three women in their 40s, 50s and 60s interviewed under caution in relation to alleged abuse by late Harrods owner
Three women have been interviewed under caution on suspicion of facilitating one of Britain’s worst sexual abuse scandals, involving the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed and his alleged attacks over four decades.
Scotland Yard said 154 women may have been raped or sexually assaulted by Fayed, or been subject to human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Continue reading...Move comes after Gordon Brown’s claim that files show sex offender used airport in Essex to ‘fly in girls’
Police are assessing information about private flights to and from Stansted airport following the publication of files relating to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It comes after former prime minister Gordon Brown claimed the documents showed in “graphic detail” how Epstein was able to use the Essex-based hub to “fly in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia”.
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