Category Archives: Crime

Woman who handed over British girl, 3, for FGM in Kenya given seven years

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Amina Noor travelled from north London with the child to Kenya where the procedure was carried out in 2006

A woman who was found guilty of handing over a three-year-old British girl for female genital mutilation (FGM) during a trip to Kenya has been jailed for seven years.

Amina Noor, 40, was convicted last year of assisting a Kenyan woman to carry out the procedure overseas in 2006. The conviction was the first for assisting in such harm under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.

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Violence and abuse against UK retail staff rises to 1,300 incidents a day

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British Retail Consortium says criminals ‘being given a free pass’, with thefts more than doubling to 16.7m incidents last year

UK shop workers are facing 1,300 incidents of violence and abuse a day and a battle to control “brazen” acts of shoplifting, as pressure mounts on ministers to intervene to protect retail employees.

Retailers saw the number of incidents of racial abuse, sexual harassment, physical assaults and threats with weapons rise 50% last year, while thefts more than doubled to 16.7m incidents, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body which represents most major retailers.

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Brianna Ghey’s mother warns tech bosses more children will die without action

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Exclusive: Esther Ghey says she believes social media use left her daughter vulnerable, while killers were able to access violent content online

The mother of Brianna Ghey has called for her murder to be a “tipping point” in how society views “the mess” of the internet, warning that a generation of anxious young people will grow up lacking resilience.

Esther Ghey said technology companies had a “moral responsibility” to restrict access to harmful online content. She supports a total ban on social media access for under-16s – a move currently under debate in certain legislatures, including Florida in the US.

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Chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi probably dead, police say

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Met police say no body found but Ezedi has not been seen since assault on woman and her daughters in London

Police hunting the Clapham chemical attack suspect, Abdul Ezedi, say they believe he is dead after going into the River Thames at Chelsea Bridge four hours after he left a woman severely injured.

Scotland Yard said Ezedi’s body had not been found but he was last seen close to the River Thames. Officers had been looking for the 35-year-old since Wednesday 31 January when he was suspected of using a strong alkaline substance in an attack on a mother and her daughters, aged three and eight. The mother, 31, is still in hospital in an induced coma.

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Dover Port health body fears gangs of meat smugglers looking to bypass new post-Brexit checks

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Authority weighs up legal action against government over new checks on imported meat taking place 22 miles inland

The Port of Dover could become a target for criminals smuggling illegal and diseased meat into the country under new post-Brexit plans that will involve lorries from the continent being checked 22 miles inland, the port’s health authority has warned.

The Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) is now considering legal action against the government over its decision to end physical checks of imported meat at a post within the port. Instead, lorries will be directed to a new checking facility half an hour’s drive up the M20 at Sevington, Ashford.

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UK to send specialist assistance to Turks and Caicos after surge in fatal shootings

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It is the second time in less than two years the Caribbean archipelago is seeing escalating violence, attributed to warring drug gangs

The United Kingdom is sending specialist assistance to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) following a surge in shooting deaths in the Caribbean archipelago.

Four men were found dead from gunshot wounds on the island of Providenciales on 1 and 2 February, and two more were killed during January.

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India’s wealthy ‘fear London is worse than Delhi for muggings’

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Fear of crime in UK capital is one of biggest concerns of rich Indians, says entrepreneur

Indian business people are avoiding being out and about in Mayfair over fears they could be mugged for their expensive watches after a 27% rise in “theft from a person” in London, an entrepreneur has said.

Devin Narang, an entrepreneur, told a meeting attended by David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, that fear of crime in London was one of the biggest concerns of India’s rich elite.

“People are being mugged in the heart of London – in Mayfair,” Narang, a member of the executive committee of the federation of Indian chambers of commerce and industry, said at a meeting in New Delhi, according to the Financial Times. “All CEOs in India have had an experience of physical mugging and the police [in London] not responding.”

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Former pop star Gary Glitter must stay in prison, parole panel decides

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Panel said it was not satisfied releasing former singer, jailed for sexually abusing girls, was safe for public

Paul Gadd, known as the former pop star Gary Glitter, has lost a bid to be freed from prison where he is serving a sentence for sexually abusing girls.

Gadd, 79, was automatically released from prison in February 2023, halfway through a 16-year sentence – but was recalled just six weeks later for allegedly viewing downloaded images of children.

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Family of Brianna Ghey murderer apologise and pay tribute to mother

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Scarlett Jenkinson’s relatives thank Esther Ghey for ‘incredible selflessness and empathy towards our family’

The family of Scarlett Jenkinson, who was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years for the murder of Brianna Ghey, have said they are “truly sorry” for the teenage killer’s “brutal” actions and paid tribute to Brianna’s mother.

Jenkinson, described by the judge as the “driving force” behind the murder, was sentenced on Friday for what the Crown Prosecution Service said was “one of the most disturbing cases” its lawyers had ever dealt with. Her accomplice, Eddie Ratcliffe, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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Crime victims die while waiting for justice as England and Wales legal system ‘on its knees’

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‘Shameful’ backlogs in cases are causing severe mental health problems, says victims commissioner

Victims of crime are dying waiting for justice as they face delays of up to six years for their cases to be dealt with in court, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales has said.

As a new law to enshrine victims’ rights is scrutinised in the House of Lords, Baroness Helen Newlove warned that the wider justice system was “on its knees”, with “shameful” backlogs leaving victims suffering acute mental health problems.

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‘Thought it would be fun’: why did two teenagers kill Brianna Ghey?

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Scarlett Jenkinson said killing was ‘exciting’ while Eddie Ratcliffe wanted help to woo a girl he fancied, court hears

One question hung over the trial of the two teenagers convicted of killing Brianna Ghey: why? At the sentencing on Friday, Brianna’s family finally received some answers.

The hearing began with some startling new information: though she had pleaded not guilty at trial, Scarlett Jenkinson had now admitted to stabbing Brianna repeatedly – more times than she could remember. It was “a lot”, she said.

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Brianna Ghey’s teenage murderers named ahead of sentencing

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Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 16, killed trans schoolgirl after developing ‘warped’ obsession with torture

Two teenagers who murdered Brianna Ghey have been named for the first time before sentencing.

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 16 and described by police as “really intelligent kids”, can now be named as the killers after a judge lifted reporting restrictions.

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Police were warned of offender safety fears before Nottingham killings

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An official report a year before three people were stabbed to death in the city raised concerns about the force’s management practices

Nottinghamshire police was ordered to review its management of offenders a year before a wanted man with paranoid schizophrenia stabbed three people to death.

A report by the official policing inspectorate in April 2022 said the force should “immediately review” their approach to managing low-risk offenders to ensure risk was “effectively monitored and managed”.

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Man who stole Duke of Westminster’s watches given suspended sentence

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Decorator Matthew Turner stole three watches worth more than £30,000 from Hugh Grosvenor’s bedroom

A decorator who stole three watches worth more than £30,000 from the Duke of Westminster’s home has been told he “escaped prison by the skin of your teeth”.

Matthew Turner, 24, was given a 20-month sentence, suspended for two years, at Chester crown court after admitting the burglary of three watches from Hugh Grosvenor’s bedroom while he was doing renovation work at Eaton Hall in August 2022.

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Nicola Sturgeon regarded Boris Johnson as ‘a clown’ because of his handling of Covid, inquiry learns – UK politics live

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Former Scotland first minister used expletives in private messages about former UK PM’s handling of pandemic

At the Covid inquiry hearing in Edinburgh Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon’s former chief of staff, was asked about her wanting a row with the UK government. (See 11.35am.)

Asked if she was looking for a spat, Lloyd replied:

I was looking for a spat with a purpose.

It had been shown in the past that they would sometimes change their mind if they felt that pressure and I wanted them to change their mind.

Sturgeon said his address was “fucking excruciating” and that the UK communications were “awful”. Sturgeon also told Lloyd: “His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere.”

Lloyd said she was “offended” on behalf of special advisers everywhere. Sturgeon replied: “He is a fucking clown.”

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‘Justice not served,’ says Nottingham victim’s mother as Valdo Calocane sentenced

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Calocane detained in high-security hospital after pleading guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility

The mother of a Nottingham stabbing victim said “true justice has not been served” after the killer was sentenced to indefinite detention in a high-security hospital.

Emma Webber, the mother of 19-year-old Barnaby Webber who was killed alongside fellow student Grace O’Malley-Kumar in the violent attacks that left three people dead last year, also said the assistant chief constable of Nottinghamshire police had “blood on his hands” over the force’s failure to arrest the killer in the months before the killings.

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‘You will not replace us’: a deadly attack on a Slovakian gay bar – and its link to a fast-spreading racist ideology

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Fifteen months after two men were shot in Bratislava, evidence suggests the killer may have been helped by an unidentified US-based extremist

The October evening was warm and sunny. At about 7pm, two young men stepped out of the Tepláreň bar on Zámocká Street in the centre of Bratislava, to sit on a concrete bench and drink lemonade. Matúš, 23, had just arrived in the Slovakian capital to study Chinese. His 26-year-old friend worked in a local clothes shop and enjoyed anime, K-pop and dance.

Standing in an alcove a few metres away was Juraj Krajčík. The 19-year-old had been loitering for about half an hour, witnesses later said. Shortly after the two patrons of the Tepláreň sat down, Krajčík stepped forward, raised a .45-calibre handgun and fired several shots at them. Then he turned and ran, gun in hand.

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Israel-Gaza war behind surge in Islamist activity, says UK counter-terror head

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Britain faces ‘dangerous climate’ as online propaganda and referrals to Prevent surge, says policing leader

The conflict in the Middle East has led to a surge in Islamist activity, with online terrorist propaganda rocketing and new individuals feared to have been radicalised, the head of counter-terrorism policing has said.

Metropolitan police assistant commissioner Matt Jukes, who is head of the UK Counter Terrorism Policing network, said the events had led to a “dangerous climate” with indications of a rising threat, after Hamas’s atrocity against Israel on 7 October last year led to a sustained Israeli assault on Gaza with heavy civilian casualties still continuing.

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Two men jailed on racist police officer’s evidence have convictions overturned

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Saliah Mehmet and Basil Peterkin’s convictions linked to British Transport Police officer Derek Ridgewell posthumously quashed

Two men who were jailed based on evidence from a racist and corrupt police officer have had their convictions posthumously overturned by the court of appeal.

Saliah Mehmet and Basil Peterkin are the 10th and 11th people to have convictions relating to the British Transport Police (BTP) officer DS Derek Ridgewell quashed. Their appeals after a referral by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) were uncontested on Thursday.

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British Library begins restoring digital services after cyber-attack

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UK’s national library apologises to researchers, saying full recovery could take until end of the year

The British Library is restoring online its main catalogue, containing 36m records of printed and rare books, maps, journals and music scores, 11 weeks after a catastrophic cyber-attack.

However, access is limited to a “read-only” format, and full restoration of services provided by the UK’s national library could take until the end of the year.

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