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.
Continue reading...Official report says forces in England and Wales yet to implement recommendations for investigations
A quarter of police forces in England and Wales are yet to implement “basic policies for investigating sexual offences”, an official report has found, with women still being failed despite promises of change after the murder of Sarah Everard four years ago.
The report by Dame Elish Angiolini follows an inquiry set up after Everard was murdered by a serving police officer, Wayne Couzens, in March 2021. She was abducted off a London street while walking home.
Continue reading...Undercover unit monitored Stephen Lawrence’s family, as well as thousands of mainly leftwing political activists
Two senior officers who supervised an undercover Scotland Yard unit spying on political campaigns were “horribly and incredibly” racist, a whistleblower has told a public inquiry.
Peter Francis, a former member of the unit, testified that one regularly used the “N-word”, while the other used a repertoire of explicit racist slurs.
Continue reading...Stephen Lawrence’s mother tells inquiry she did not believe Michael Howard when he told her he did not know police had spied on her family
The mother of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence has told a public inquiry that she does not believe claims by the former home secretary Michael Howard that he did not know undercover police officers had spied on her family.
Doreen Lawrence told the spycops inquiry on Thursday that Lord Howard, a former leader of the Conservative party, invited her to a meeting shortly after the inquiry was set up in 2014.
Continue reading...Algerian man, 24, ‘released in error’ from HMP Wandsworth two days after stronger checks for jails were brought in
Police have launched an urgent manhunt for a second foreign prisoner freed mistakenly, two days after the justice secretary, David Lammy, brought in stronger checks for jails.
The 24-year-old Algerian was wrongly released from Wandsworth prison in south London last Wednesday, with the Metropolitan police informed only this week.
Continue reading...Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, whose case triggered summer protests in Essex, detained again and faces deportation
A former asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was released from prison in error is back in custody and faces deportation.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl and was made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
Continue reading...Former asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has been missing since being released from prison in error
Police searching in London for a former asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was released from prison in error have urged him to hand himself in.
The Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read our full report here
The accidental release of the asylum seeker was a “mind-blowing” blunder, says the MP for Chelmsford.
The Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman said on Saturday: “My mind has blown. How this could possibly happen?”
He came out of the airlock, and kept saying to the officers there, ‘Where am I going? What am I doing? I don’t know where I’m going and what I’m doing.’
He was holding a pack of paperwork in his arms, and his bag of bits …
He knew he’d been deported. He came over to me and said, ‘I need you to help me.’
Continue reading...IOPC investigating incident at property in Walthamstow where man reportedly had firearm and made threats to kill
A man was taken to hospital in a “life-threatening” condition after he was shot by police at a home in London on Friday afternoon.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched an investigation into the actions of Metropolitan police officers during the incident at a property in Walthamstow, north-east London.
Continue reading...Nigel Farage and right-wing commentators seek to portray capital as ‘lawless’ despite evidence to the contrary
Claims that London is becoming more dangerous despite the crime figures indicating otherwise are being made because it suits some people, a senior police commander has said.
The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, and right-wing commentators have increasingly sought to portray the capital as a “lawless” city from which high net-worth individuals are fleeing.
Continue reading...Sergeant arrested on suspicion of perverting course of justice after colleagues filmed making racist and sexist remarks
A serving Metropolitan police officer has been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, after undercover footage showed colleagues at Charing Cross police station making racist and sexist comments.
The footage, gathered for a BBC Panorama documentary, appears to show officers at a central London station calling for immigrants to be shot and boasting about using violence against suspects.
Continue reading...Commissioner Mark Rowley says prejudice has ‘put down deep roots’ within force after BBC Panorama investigation
Metropolitan police officers have been recorded calling for immigrants to be shot, bragging about excessive force, being dismissive about a rape complaint and making anti-Muslim and anti-women comments.
The BBC Panorama programme followed seven months of undercover filming at Charing Cross police station.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Force examining whether hundreds of recruits had substandard or no checks before being allowed to join
Scotland Yard is urgently making checks on whether it bungled the vetting of hundreds of officers after concerns they may have used inadequate measures when hiring them to see if they posed a criminal risk.
About 300 new recruits may have had substandard or no vetting to see if they had criminal convictions, cautions or criminal associations and whether their integrity was at risk because of debt.
Continue reading...Met chief Mark Rowley says many questions remain and detectives are liaising with German and Portuguese police
Mark Rowley has said the British police investigation into Madeleine McCann will explore extraditing the German national Christian Brückner to the UK to stand trial over the three-year-old’s disappearance.
Brückner was released from a German prison on Wednesday after serving a seven-year jail term for the rape of an elderly woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2005, two years before Madeleine disappeared while on holiday with her family in the same town.
Continue reading...Met ask public for help identifying those who aimed ‘kicks and punches’ at officers among other offences
Police are looking for 11 people suspected to have committed violent disorder offences after the large far-right-led march through London on Saturday, and said they had already charged eight people with offences.
The “unite the kingdom” march was led by the far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson and attracted more than 110,000 people, police said, in excess of what they or the organisers expected.
Continue reading...Scotland Yard made formal request to interview Christian Brückner, due for release from seven-year rape sentence
The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has refused to be interviewed by the Metropolitan police before his pending release from prison in Germany, the force has said.
The Met confirmed it had submitted a formal international request to question Christian Brückner, the 49-year-old German national who has long been under investigation in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance, but the suspect declined.
Continue reading...Watchdog says there are also allegations of discriminatory and misogynistic comments, centring on Charing Cross police station
Nine Scotland Yard officers have been suspended after an investigation was launched into claims of excessive use of force and the making of discriminatory and misogynistic comments.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the allegations centre on Charing Cross police station in central London, the source of a previous scandal for the Metropolitan police.
Continue reading...Ian Comfort calls for government to recognise cultural importance of event and guarantee its sustainable future
About 2 million people are expected to take to the streets this weekend at the annual Notting Hill carnival for its mix of music, food and Caribbean culture, but for the man who runs it, there is a sense of relief to see it taking place at all.
The chair of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, Ian Comfort, told the Guardian that the event needed to secure a sustainable future after a year of funding rows, public disagreements with the Met police, and negative press after violence last year.
Continue reading...Source says presence of large crowds would not prevent arrests under terrorism laws
Police are planning to arrest anyone demonstrating in support of Palestine Action this weekend.
The group has been banned under terrorism laws and this weekend a large event protesting against its proscription has been organised by the group Defend Our Juries.
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