Category Archives: Crime

Met police did not consult us on children’s data project, say youth violence experts

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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.

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‘Ponzi-style’ conman jailed for failing to repay victims of £72m fraud

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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.

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Sasha Johnson: £20,000 reward offered to break ‘wall of silence’ over shooting

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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.

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Security warnings at UK nuclear facilities hit 12-year high as inspections fall

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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.

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Covid support schemes left ‘open goal’ to fraudsters, says watchdog

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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.

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Neo-Nazi group National Action’s founder faces jail after guilty verdict

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Alex Davies, described in court as the ‘biggest Nazi of the lot’, found to have remained in the group after it was banned

The founder of a violent neo-Nazi group created to inspire a race war in the UK is facing jail after being found guilty of continuing to be a member of the organisation after it was banned.

Alex Davies, 27, who was described in court as the “biggest Nazi of the lot”, formed the group National Action (NA) when he was a teenager and acted as its main recruiter.

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Piers Corbyn fined over ‘murder’ claim at Covid vaccine clinic

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Anti-vaxxer convicted of causing nuisance or disturbance at Guy’s hospital in London in January

Piers Corbyn has been fined £250 after accusing NHS staff at a London Covid-19 vaccination clinic of murdering people.

The brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had arrived with a group of anti-vaxxers at Guy’s hospital in central London on 18 January with a “cease and desist” letter that they claimed was to prevent NHS staff from administering the Covid-19 vaccine.

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Firebombs and death threats: councillors need more protection, say UK bodies

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Dozens of seats going uncontested as candidates step down due to ‘truly toxic’ environment

More must be done to protect councillors from abuse, according to local government bodies, as those on the frontline of local democracy describe a “truly toxic” political environment where online aggression spills over into real-life behaviour.

Candidates for council elections on Thursday across the UK have shared their experiences of escalating hostility as the chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), councillorJames Jamieson, warned that “an increasing number … are being subjected to abuse, threats and intimidation both online and in-person, undermining the principles of free speech, democratic engagement and debate”.

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Recorded sex crimes reach record high in England and Wales

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Victims’ commissioner calls goal of returning prosecution levels to pre-2017 levels ‘a pipe dream’

Sex crimes logged by police in England and Wales have reached a record high amid warnings from the victims’ commissioner that the government’s aim to boost prosecutions to levels last seen five years ago is “a pipe dream”.

Police-recorded sexual offences increased to their highest level over a 12-month period, with 183,587 in the year to December 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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Fraud in Covid bounceback loan scheme not being addressed, say MPs

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Public accounts committee say government must devote more resources to recovering nearly £5bn

MPs have criticised the government for its “unacceptable” failure to draw up plans to recover nearly £5bn taken from the coronavirus emergency bounceback loan scheme by fraudsters.

The government must give more resources to counter-fraud agencies and account properly for how much of the money will be lost forever, according to a report published on Wednesday by parliament’s influential public accounts committee.

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David Oluwale: blue plaque for victim of police racism stolen hours after unveiling

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Theft from Leeds Bridge of memorial to British-Nigerian man who drowned in river in 1969 treated as hate crime

Detectives have launched a hate crime investigation after a blue plaque commemorating David Oluwale, a British-Nigerian man who died in 1969 after being harassed by police, was stolen within hours after being unveiled on Leeds Bridge.

An event to mark the installation of the plaque, attended by the leader of Leeds city council, was held between 5pm and 7pm on Monday and by 10pm it had been taken. The theft followed racist graffiti being daubed on the office of Leeds Civic Trust – which installs blue plaques in the city – on Sunday night.

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Gold box stolen in 2003 Waddesdon Manor heist is returned home

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18th-century bonbonniere was identified after coming up for auction last year and will now go on display

It was an audacious and highly professional heist. At 2am on a June night in 2003, five men wearing balaclavas and blue boilersuits smashed their way through a window at Waddesdon Manor, the extravagant French-style chateau built in Buckinghamshire by the Rothschild banking dynasty.

Despite high security, they grabbed more than 100 gold boxes and other precious objects worth several million pounds – and four minutes later they were gone. Almost all disappeared without trace.

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Ali Harbi Ali given whole-life sentence for murder of David Amess

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Amess’s family make plea for greater kindness in society after ‘beyond evil’ attack on MP

The family of Sir David Amess said they would “for ever shed tears” after his murder by a terrorist assassin who was sentenced to “die in prison” for an attack “on the heart of democracy”.

Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was handed a whole-life tariff by Mr Justice Sweeney after being convicted on Monday of murdering the MP and of planning terrorist attacks on other MPs, including the cabinet minister Michael Gove, for two years before he killed Amess.

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Prime minister pays tribute to Sir David Amess after killer convicted

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Politicians call for focus to be put on slain MP’s life and work – rather than on deeds of his murderer

Boris Johnson has joined MPs and others in paying tribute to Sir David Amess, with several stressing the importance of focusing on the Conservative backbencher’s life and work rather than the deeds of his murderer.

In a tweeted statement, Johnson called Amess, who was killed last October by Ali Harbi Ali in an Islamist-inspired terrorist attack, “a beloved colleague, public servant and friend who championed the city of Southend in everything he did”, saying his thoughts were with Amess’s family.

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Family of Sabina Nessa call killer a ‘coward’ for refusing to attend court

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Koci Selamaj did not attend sentencing for murder of 28-year-old primary school teacher in London

Sabina Nessa’s family called her killer a “coward” when he refused to come to court to be sentenced for her murder on Thursday.

Koci Selamaj, 36, drove to London from his home in Eastbourne on the south coast to carry out a premeditated attack on a woman after being spurned by his estranged wife.

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Prisoner escapes custody wearing just underwear and socks

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Police are searching for Kyle Darren Eglington, 32, who absconded from a court prisoner transit van

Police are searching for a prisoner who escaped custody wearing just his underwear and socks.

Kyle Darren Eglington, 32, absconded from a court prisoner transit van in Poole after assaulting security officers on Saturday morning, Dorset police said.

The force said it is carrying out “extensive searches” to find Eglington and appealed to the public for information.

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Neighbours tell of shock at fatal stabbing of woman in east London

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Woman stabbed to death in Bethnal Green while her two children were at school described as ‘a lovely person’

Neighbours have told of their shock and sadness after a woman was stabbed to death while her two children were at school.

Those who knew the 40-year-old from Bethnal Green in east London said she was “a lovely person” and that she had lived in the area for a long time.

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