Merseyside police launch murder investigation after incident in the Old Swan area of the city
A woman has died after she was found with gunshot wounds in the garden of a home in Liverpool, Merseyside police have said.
Officers were called just after 12.40am to a house in the Old Swan area of the city and found a woman in the rear garden of the property with injuries to her body consistent with gunshot wounds.
Continue reading...Annual figures indicate ‘dramatic collapse’ in confidence in criminal justice system, says Labour
Almost 1.5 million victims of crime in England and Wales have decided not to pursue their cases, feeding concern that public confidence in the criminal justice system has collapsed.
Home Office figures unearthed by Labour show there were 1,411,650 victims who did not support continuing action after they had reported a crime in the year to March 2022.
Continue reading...CPS move comes after it was found most women don’t think some forms of harassment are serious enough to report them
Victims of street harassment such as cyberflashing and upskirting are being encouraged to report offences to police, amid concerns there is a lack of awareness that such behaviour can amount to criminality.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for England and Wales has published new legal guidance on public sexual abuse, which also includes exposure of genitals, to clarify the law and “send a clear message that this intimidating behaviour can be a criminal offence”.
Continue reading...Five men and a woman guilty of public order offences after Nicholas Watt was accosted in central London last year
Five men and a woman who verbally abused a BBC journalist at a protest have been convicted of a public order offence, according to police.
A court previously heard how members of the group intimidated Newsnight’s political editor Nicholas Watt during the politically charged incident in Whitehall on 14 June 2021.
Continue reading...Cash and gems worth £25m were stolen from her Kensington mansion in 2019
Tamara Ecclestone, the daughter of ex-Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, has offered a reward of up to £6m for information that may lead to the recovery of some of her “most precious” belongings stolen in 2019.
The 38-year-old was on holiday in Lapland with her husband, their daughter and their dog, when the £25m jewel heist occurred in their 57-room Kensington mansion, on 13 December 2019.
Continue reading...Graham Mansfield, sentenced this week for killing terminally ill Dyanne, says if he had to do the ‘horrible act’ again, he would
A man who cut his terminally ill wife’s throat in an “act of love” said he would do the same again to give her peace, as he called for a change in the law to allow assisted dying.
Graham Mansfield, 73, was cleared of murder by a jury this week. They found the retired baggage handler guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter after hearing how he and his wife, Dyanne, 71, agreed to die together after the pain of her terminal cancer became too much to bear.
Continue reading...Angharad Williamson, John Cole and a teenager murdered boy after he suffered months of violent abuse
A mother and stepfather have been jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of five-year-old Logan Mwangi, who died after months of violent abuse and imprisonment in the “dungeon” of his small, dark bedroom.
Logan’s mother, Angharad Williamson, was told she will serve at least 28 years before being considered for parole, while her partner, John Cole, will spend a minimum of 29 years in prison. A 14-year-old youth who was also convicted of Logan’s murder was told he will be detained for at least 15 years.
Continue reading...Nick Watt said he was ‘very scared’ and ‘shaken’ after pursuit by protesters at anti-lockdown rally in London
A BBC journalist said he felt “very scared” and “shaken” as he was chased by a mob of anti-vaxxers in London last year.
Anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown protesters, who had been attending at rally in central London, called Nick Watt a “traitor” and shouted in his face, Westminster magistrates court heard on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Watson, 41, evaded detection for over 20 years, changing his account as evidence against him piled up
A 41-year-old man has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 15 years for the murder of the schoolboy Rikki Neave, who was found strangled in woods near Peterborough almost 28 years ago.
James Watson, of no fixed abode, was convicted in April at the Old Bailey in London of the 1994 murder after a DNA breakthrough in 2016 revealed that, as a 13-year-old, he had been in physical contact with the six-year-old boy on the day of his disappearance.
Continue reading...Sevenfold rise in those waiting at least a year for cases to be heard as lawyers quit over cuts in legal aid
More than 5,800 victims of violent crime and sexual offences are stuck in one of the worst-ever backlogs in the crown courts, enduring delays of at least a year before their cases are heard, the Observer can reveal.
The number of cases facing these delays once a defendant has been charged has increased more than sevenfold in two years, according to an analysis of crown court figures in England and Wales.
Continue reading...Man arrested in Kent after teenager was killed and his mother injured on Thursday night
A 44-year-old man has been arrested in Kent on suspicion of murder after a teenage boy was stabbed to death and his mother was injured at a Manchester home, Greater Manchester police said.
Police said the man, from Manchester, is believed to be known to the victims. Officers were called by colleagues from North West ambulance service at about 9.30pm on Thursday after the domestic incident in Miles Platting.
Continue reading...Former National Crime Agency chief worries civil service reductions could have devastating effect
The former head of Britain’s equivalent of the FBI has said she fears ministers’ plans to cut civil servant posts could have a “devastating” impact on tackling serious and organised crime.
Speaking to Policing TV, Dame Lynne Owens, the former director general of the National Crime Agency (NCA), said she was keeping a “keen eye” on discussions about proposals to axe 90,000 jobs and how they may affect the agency she led for five years.
Continue reading...Can Arslan stabbed Matthew Boorman to death on lawn and seriously injured two others
A “monster” who murdered one neighbour and seriously wounded two others in a “spree of planned violence” after they took legal action to try to curtail his 12-year campaign of extreme harassment has been jailed for at least 37 years.
Can Arslan, 52, stabbed Matthew Boorman on Boorman’s front lawn in the village of Walton Cardiff, Gloucestershire, on 5 October last year. Boorman’s wife, Sarah, sustained a knife wound to her thigh as she tried to help, while another neighbour, Peter Marsden, was stabbed eight times but managed to fend off Arslan.
Continue reading...Force claimed it approached groups before launch of Project Alpha which scours social media sites
Youth violence experts have said they had no involvement with a police scheme that collects children’s personal data, despite the Met claiming to have consulted them.
Project Alpha, involving more than 30 staff and launched in 2019 with Home Office funding, scours social media sites looking at drill music videos and other content. It has prompted concerns about racial profiling and potential privacy violations.
Continue reading...Singer, whose real name is Lamar Jackson, was killed in a fight at an event in Woodford Green
A rapper has been stabbed to death at a jubilee party in east London.
The Metropolitan police have opened a murder investigation after Lamar Jackson, known as Hypo, was attacked at an event in Woodford Green on Saturday morning.
Continue reading...Former world heavyweight champion arrested at Heathrow after alleged assault in west London
The former world heavyweight boxing champion David Haye has appeared in court charged with assault.
Haye, 41, who retired from the sport in 2018, is accused of assaulting Nickesh Jhala at the Hammersmith Apollo in west London on 30 October last year.
Continue reading...London magistrates sentence Michael Strubel to more than six years for failing to pay compensation
A fraudster who conned people out of more than £70m in a “Ponzi-style scheme” claiming he was supplying services to the London 2012 Olympic village and large hotels has been given more than six years in jail for failing to hand back more than £1.4m of illicit profits.
City of London magistrates court committed Michael Strubel to prison for six years and seven months for failing to pay his confiscation order.
Continue reading...Black rights campaigner was shot in head at close range in May 2021 and now requires constant medical care
A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for information about who shot a prominent black rights campaigner as a charity tries to smash a “wall of silence” that has frustrated investigators for the past year.
Crimestoppers will pay the money to anyone who anonymously shares information leading to the conviction of those responsible for Sasha Johnson’s shooting.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Fears over regulator’s ability to cope with planned expansion in nuclear energy
The number of formal reports documenting security issues at the UK’s civil nuclear facilities has hit its highest level in at least 12 years amid a decline in inspections, the Guardian can reveal.
Experts said the news raised concerns about the regulator’s capacity to cope with planned expansion in the sector.
Continue reading...Public Accounts Committee report says business department efforts to identify fraud came after trails had ‘long ago gone cold’
The business department’s handling of Covid support schemes left an “open goal” to fraudsters and embezzlers that has added “billions to taxpayer woes”, parliament’s spending watchdog has found.
In its review of the annual report of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it recognised that the government offered crucial support to businesses at the height of the pandemic.
Continue reading...