Paul Condon tells inquiry there was ‘appalling behaviour by individual officers’ but that greater fault was systemic
A former Metropolitan police commissioner has admitted that the force failed over decades to properly control a controversial undercover unit that committed “horrendous” abuses, the spycops inquiry has heard.
Paul Condon said he was appalled by the wrongdoing of the unit, which spent 40 years spying on tens of thousands of political activists.
Continue reading...George Cottrell’s mother, Fiona, at centre of criminal inquiry over potential evasion of restrictions on donations
Police are investigating donations worth £500,000 made to Reform UK by the mother of a convicted fraudster and ally of Nigel Farage.
The investigation concerns two donations of £250,000 made by Fiona Cottrell, whose son George has often accompanied Farage to Reform events and media appearances. The May 2024 donations are under investigation over whether they were intended to conceal a donation by an impermissible donor.
Continue reading...Father Ted co-creator detained by armed officers at Heathrow airport last year over gender-critical posts on X
The Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has been paid £25,000 in compensation by the Metropolitan police and received an apology after his arrest over his gender-critical social media posts.
Linehan, 57, was detained by armed officers at Heathrow airport last September after a 10-hour flight from Arizona.
Continue reading...IOPC confirms complaints from three survivors of alleged sexual misconduct by late Harrods owner in addition to ongoing investigation
Survivors of abuse at the hands of the late Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed have complained to a watchdog about how the Metropolitan police handled allegations.
More than 400 claims of sexual misconduct have been made against Al Fayed, including rape and human trafficking, dating between 1977 and 2014.
Continue reading...Met seizes far-right activist’s phones after he disembarks flight at Heathrow under counter-terrorism provisions
British police say they stopped the far-right activist Tommy Robinson and seized his phones as he returned from a trip to Russia.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, met Elon Musk’s father in Moscow during his trip.
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...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...Four people are in hospital, with one 25-year-old man facing life-threatening injuries
A drive-by shooting in Brixton which left four people in hospital on Saturday has been called “an act of indiscriminate violence” by police.
Shots were fired in the early hours on Coldharbour Lane in the south London area, leaving one 25-year-old man in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
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...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...Scheme for accusers of store’s former owner Mohamed Al Fayed to close before end of retailer’s internal investigation
Harrods has been accused of being “neither fair nor just” over its decision to close a compensation scheme for survivors of alleged sexual abuse by the luxury department store’s former owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
Kingsley Hayes, partner at KP Law, which is representing nearly 280 survivors, questioned why the scheme was being closed on Tuesday 31 March, before Harrods had completed an internal investigation into what happened and who knew about it.
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...Metropolitan police say men were arrested and detained as part of an investigation into alleged surveillance of locations
Two men have been charged with spying for Iran over alleged surveillance of the Jewish community in London, police said.
Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, a dual Iranian and British national, and Alireza Farasati, 22, an Iranian national, have both been charged with engaging in contact likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between 9 July and 15 August last year.
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...London police say criminal gangs are using Snapchat to offer cash rewards of up to £380 for stolen iPhones
Gangs are recruiting children to go out to steal smartphones before they head to school, using Snapchat to offer rewards of up to £380 for the latest Apple iPhones, police have revealed.
The Metropolitan police said they were deploying new resources including drones and Surron ebikes to chase suspects as they step up their fight against phone snatching.
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