The UK’s femicide epidemic: who’s killing our daughters?

In the latest part of our End Femicide campaign, we examine how stalking, coercive control and pornography lie behind so many of the killings of 272 young women in 10 years. Will the domestic abuse bill, due to become law this week, do enough to keep women safe?

Alice Ruggles was described by her friends and family as vibrant, witty and “sharp as a tack”. She loved life. Then, in January 2016, aged 24, she met Lance Corporal Trimaan “Harry” Dhillon, who was 26. She didn’t know that he had a restraining order taken out on him by a previous girlfriend.

Dhillon began to coercively control Ruggles, isolating her from friends. In July, having learned that he was cheating on her, she ended their seven-month relationship. Dhillon turned into a stalker. He frequently drove 100 miles from his camp in Edinburgh to spy on her, leaving unwanted flowers and chocolates. He continually texted and threatened to post intimate photographs. He told her on voicemail that he didn’t want to kill her, he wouldn’t kill her.

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Fourth officer allegedly fathered child after meeting woman undercover

Officer used alias Alan Bond while infiltrating the Socialist Workers party between 1981 and 1986, inquiry hears

A fourth undercover officer who spied on political campaigners is alleged to have fathered a child with a woman he met while using a fake identity, a public inquiry has heard.

The officer used the alias Alan Bond while infiltrating the Socialist Workers party between 1981 and 1986.

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Met dismisses police officer who belonged to banned neo-Nazi terror group

Hearing finds Ben Hannam’s actions ‘harmed public confidence in, and the reputation of’ force

A man who became the first British police officer convicted of belonging to a neo-Nazi terrorist organisation has been dismissed from the Metropolitan police without notice.

Ben Hannam was found guilty on 1 April of membership of the banned rightwing extremist group National Action (NA) following a trial at the Old Bailey.

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Colombus police chief addresses media after officer fatally shoots teenage girl – video

Police in Columbus, Ohio, fatally shot a 15-year-old girl on Tuesday afternoon, just moments before Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd. The girl was identified by local media as Makiyah Bryant.

Officers were responding to an attempted stabbing call and, when police arrived, shot the girl around 4.45pm, officials said. The 911 caller reported a female was trying to stab them before hanging up, they said.

The shooting, which took place approximately 25 minutes before the judge handed down the guilty verdict against Chauvin, cast a shadow over the celebrations across the country that followed the trial’s conclusion. 

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The Mexican women who kicked out the cartels – video

Adelaida Sánchez is a member of the community police force in Cherán, a Purépecha indigenous town in Michoacán, Mexico, which declared itself autonomous in 2011. When the town was under siege from illegal logging, cartel criminals, and corrupt authorities and the men of the town stood by and did nothing, it was left to women to lead the fightback. On the tenth anniversary of the uprising, Adelaida patrols the town and its forests, providing an oasis amidst the murder, kidnap and extortion across the state

  • Photograph credit:  Andrea Murcia 
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Police told man helping victims of arena attack to leave, inquiry hears

Daren Buckley told armed police ‘somebody’s got to help’ people injured in Manchester Arena terror attack

A man has described attempting to give first aid to victims of the Manchester Arena terror attack but was told to leave by armed police, the independent public inquiry into the attack has heard.

Daren Buckley was leaving the Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017 with his son when the suicide bomb exploded, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds.

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Minneapolis unrest grows as families of George Floyd and Daunte Wright speak out – video

Protesters were dispersed by police with flashbangs and gas grenades in the third night of demonstrations and unrest after the death of a black man shot by a white police officer during a traffic stop. The two officers who stopped Daunte Wright, 20, resigned two days after his death in Brooklyn Center on Sunday.

Across town, at Hennepin county courthouse, relatives of Daunte Wright and George Floyd talked about the two cases of fatal police violence. ‘The world is traumatised, watching another African American man being slain,’ said George Floyd’s brother

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West Midlands officer ‘visited abuse victim unannounced up to 30 times’

PC Colin Noble allegedly made ‘completely inappropriate comments’ at woman’s home, tribunal hears

A police constable visited a domestic violence victim’s house unannounced up to 30 times and made a “catalogue of completely inappropriate comments”, a tribunal has heard.

PC Colin Noble of West Midlands police is accused of “trying it on” with four domestic abuse victims and faces dismissal for gross misconduct.

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‘Kill the bill’ and trans visibility: human rights this fortnight in pictures

A round-up of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Mexico to China

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Belfast: police use water cannon on rioters in seventh night of unrest

Gangs of youths gathered near the scene of Wednesday night’s violence and hurled stones and fireworks at police

Rioters have been blasted with a water cannon by police as unrest stirred on the streets of Northern Ireland once again.

After calls for calm this week, violence again flared up on the streets of west Belfast on Thursday. Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths gathered on the nationalist Springfield Road, close to where riots took place on Wednesday night.

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Ex-police reveal bribes and threats used to cover up corruption in 70s London

BBC documentary to examine incidents that led to setting up of unit on which Line of Duty’s AC-12 is based

One of London’s most senior police officers, described by a colleague as “the greatest villain unhung”, was believed to be involved in major corruption in the 1970s but never prosecuted, according to a new documentary on police malpractice.

Former officers who exposed corruption at the time describe how they were threatened that they would end up in a “cement raincoat” if they informed on fellow officers and were shunned by colleagues when they did.

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Northern Ireland executive holds emergency meeting over Belfast unrest

Chief constable briefs party leaders after political crisis intensified by another night of riots in Belfast

Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive is holding an emergency meeting in Stormont after another night of riots scarred parts of Belfast and ratcheted up a political crisis.

Simon Byrne, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, briefed party leaders on the security situation on Thursday before a debate at the assembly, which has been recalled from its Easter break.

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UK’s ‘headlong rush into abandoning human rights’ rebuked by Amnesty

Covid failings, crackdown on protest, police discrimination and resumed arms trade with Saudi Arabia all listed in annual report

Amnesty International has published a stark rebuke of the UK government’s stance on human rights, saying that it is “speeding towards the cliff edge” in its policies on housing and immigration, and criticising its seeming determination to end the legal right for the public to challenge government decisions in court.

In its annual report on human rights around the world, Amnesty International says the UK’s increasingly hostile attitude towards upholding and preserving human rights legislation raises “serious concerns”.

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Police break up Good Friday church service in London – video

Police broke up a Good Friday service at a Polish church in London after officers said it was violating English coronavirus regulations. People were worshipping at Christ the King church in the south of the capital when police arrived following reports of queues outside the building. The service was being streamed live on social media and footage showed officers addressing those in attendance, telling them the gathering was unlawful. The church defended the service, arguing regulations had been met

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Lockdown brings alarming rise in modern slavery

Sexual exploitation rose by a quarter and criminal exploitation by 42% in 2020, analysis of helpline data shows

Reports of sexual and criminal exploitation have risen alarmingly during the pandemic, according to new data measuring the scale of modern slavery and trafficking in the UK.

Cases of sexual exploitation, which includes people held captive in brothels and coerced into prostitution, rose by a quarter in 2020 compared with the previous year. Nearly a quarter of cases involved children.

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Warning that police grasp of far-right threat is decade out of date

Author says Ben Hannam’s conviction suggests more extremists are serving and says scrutiny ‘isn’t fit for purpose’

The police’s understanding of the far-right extremist threat in the UK is a decade behind the curve because it is based primarily on an understanding of yesterday’s organisations, according to a leading expert.

The warning from Matthew Collins, the author of a book on National Action, came after a 22-year-old became the first serving British police officer to be convicted of a terrorism offence, after he was found guilty of belonging to the banned neo-Nazi group on Thursday.

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Bristol police chief accepts force was slow to correct protest injury claims

Mark Runacres says claim officers had bones broken at ‘kill the bill’ event were ‘hugely regrettable’

A police commander has accepted that his force was too slow to correct a false claim that two officers had suffered broken bones during clashes with “kill the bill” protesters in Bristol.

Supt Mark Runacres, the Bristol area commander, also said he regretted that demonstrators had been injured during a subsequent night of violence when police with riot shields, dogs and horses dispersed them.

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Doreen Lawrence says No 10 report gives ‘racists the green light’

Exclusive: Mother of murdered teenager says Sewell report has pushed fight against racism back 20 years or more

Doreen Lawrence, who campaigned for 18 years for justice after her son Stephen was murdered by racists, has said a government-commissioned report that claimed the UK no longer had a system rigged against minorities could allow racism to flourish.

“My son was murdered because of racism and you cannot forget that. Once you start covering it up it is giving the green light to racists. You imagine what’s going to happen come tomorrow. What’s going to happen on our streets with our young people? You are giving racists the green light,” Lady Lawrence said.

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Raymon Anning obituary

My father, Raymon Anning, who has died aged 90 from pneumonia aged 90, was a police officer who rose through the ranks to become the last British commissioner of the Hong Kong police force, commanding more than 30,000 police officers.

He was not particularly well educated, having left school at the age of 15, but Ray was always extremely ambitious. This was partly due to his desire to do better than his father, who was also a police officer.

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Ever-changing Covid rules on protest set up conflict with the police

Analysis: public disorder could have been avoided with more clarity about the legality of protests in the UK

Ambiguous, confusing and a mess is how the current coronavirus regulations dealing with protest have been described by MPs and peers tasked with scrutinising the government’s record on human rights. And it is the backdrop to the police versus protesters debate that should not be ignored.

In fact, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), a cross-party group, concluded that protest has never has been completely illegal during the pandemic, even under lockdown.

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