Category Archives: Metropolitan police

UK ‘turning a blind eye’ to threats to kill Saudi activists living in exile

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Saudis living in the UK claim Riyadh is targeting them for speaking out on human rights and jailing of female activists

Saudi exiles living in the UK have spoken of threats to their lives and harassment over their support for improvements in human rights in their home country.

Saudi Arabia has been attempting to present itself as a reformed state since the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad at its consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

It has spent billions on sporting deals and promoting tourism in the country and was recently named host of a UN commission on women’s rights, despite what Amnesty International called its “abysmal” record on women’s rights.

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Met apologises for spying on police justice campaigners in 1980s and 1990s

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Force admits use of undercover officers was ‘indefensible’ and had ‘corrosive effect’ on public trust, inquiry hears

The Metropolitan police have issued a series of wide-ranging apologies to campaigners for the “indefensible” use of undercover officers to spy on them, a public inquiry has heard.

The Met admitted to “serious failings and wrongdoing” by some of the undercover officers, conceding there was a “general failure” by senior managers to supervise them properly.

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Sunak cites ‘confidential’ inquiry as he refuses to answer questions over aide and election date bet – live

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PM again declines to say whether he told Craig Williams in advance about his decision to hold the election in July

Rishi Sunak is returning to the campaign trail on Thursday, PA reports, after a two-day hiatus for the Emperor and Empress of Japan’s state visit and preparations for the final head-to-head debate with Sir Keir Starmer.

With one week to go until polling day, the deepening gambling scandal is still likely to feature heavily when he faces the media during a tour of the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

He is expected to visit a factory in Derbyshire and hold an evening campaign event in Leeds.

Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of using transgender issues “as a political football to divide people” during their head-to-head debate on Wednesday.

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UK general election live: Labour suspends candidate Kevin Craig over Gambling Commission probe

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Party says it acted after being contacted by the regulator about the candidate for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich

All along the course of the Thames, turning north, meandering south, passing through locks, historic landmarks, Richmond and Kew, swelling beneath the House of Commons with the turning tide, and on to Docklands and beyond – concern for the health of the Thames has led many other ordinary people, who live, work or play on the water, to take up the fight for the health of the river.

The last 15 years of decline in rivers suggests they have much to do. In 2009, a year before the Conservatives first took power in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, a quarter of English rivers were judged as being of good ecological standard, a marker which examines the flow, habitat and biological quality; by 2022 not one river was in a healthy state.

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Four taken to hospital after fairground ride fails in south London

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Eleven-year-old girl among those injured at Lambeth country show in Brockwell Park

Four people including an 11-year-old girl have been taken to hospital after a fairground ride malfunctioned at an event in London on Saturday, police said.

Emergency services were called to the scene at the Lambeth country show in Brockwell Park at about 6.20pm.

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More than 2,000 officers police protests and Champions League final in London

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Forces outside the capital drawn on for Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid match and a Tommy Robinson march and counter-protest

More than 2,000 officers have been deployed across London, including more than 400 from outside the capital, to police the Champions League final, a protest by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson and a counter-demonstration.

The final between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid takes place at Wembley on Saturday evening. And, earlier, a protest organised by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, more commonly known as Tommy Robinson, set off from the Victoria area on Saturday, ending in Parliament Square where speeches took place.

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Stephen Lawrence’s father says he has forgiven killers but not Met police

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Neville Lawrence writes of continuing fight for justice 31 years after murder of his son in south-east London

The father of Stephen Lawrence has said he has forgiven the racist killers of his son, but has yet to forgive the Metropolitan police for the failings that left them free.

In a comment piece for the Guardian, Neville Lawrence said his “grief has no ending” and told of his enduring pain to “identify the human cost” of the police’s failings.

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Woman killed by her two XL bully dogs at home in east London

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Victim, who was in her 50s, pronounced dead at scene in Hornchurch and the animals seized

A woman has been fatally attacked by her two XL bully dogs at her home in east London.

The woman, who was in her 50s, was pronounced dead at the scene in Cornwall Close, Hornchurch, and the two registered dogs were safely seized having been contained inside a room, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan police said.

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Young people buying large knives on Telegram and TikTok, police say

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Commander says authorities scrambling to keep up with supply trends as knife crimes rise

Young people are using sites such as Telegram and TikTok to buy large knives for use in attacks and intimidation, with some linked to Britain’s drug wars, police said.

Stephen Clayman, national lead for knife crime for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, made it clear on Tuesday that police want tougher action after a 7% year-on-year rise in knife offences, with a 20% rise in knife-point robberies.

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Policing minister calls for officers to conduct more stop and searches

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Chris Philp says police should not ‘tiptoe around using these powers in an aim to appease’ despite concerns over racial bias

Police officers must carry out more stop and searches to address knife crime as the tactic is “not used nearly often enough”, according to the policing minister.

Chris Philp said that police forces cannot afford to “tiptoe around using these powers in an aim to appease”.

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CAA cancels counter-protest against London pro-Palestinian march

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Campaign Against Antisemitism, led by Gideon Falter, cites safety fears and promises more protests to come

Campaign Against Antisemitism has cancelled its planned counter-protest against a pro-Palestinian march through central London on Saturday.

The group, led by Gideon Falter, had said it wanted to use the “walk together” initiative to support its view that the area around the planned pro-Palestinian march was not safe for Jewish people.

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Met’s handling of new evidence about Stephen Lawrence case to be reviewed

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A separate police force will report on failures relating to sixth murder suspect, Matthew White, who was never prosecuted

An independent police force will review the Metropolitan police’s handling of new evidence relating to the murder of Stephen Lawrence 30 years after his death, the mayor of London has said.

It comes after the Met commissioner, Mark Rowley, apologised to Stephen’s mother, Doreen Lawrence, for not fulfilling a promise to answer questions stemming from a BBC investigation into the murder of the 18-year-old in 1993.

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Rwanda bill clears parliament after peers abandon final battle over safety amendment – as it happened

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Bill could become law this week as end of parliamentary ping-pong in sight

Q: Do you think you will be able to implement this without leaving the European convention of human rights?

Sunak says he thinks he can implement this without leaving the ECHR.

If it ever comes to a choice between our national security, securing our borders, and membership of a foreign court, I’m, of course, always going to prioritise our national security.

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Met chief apologises to Stephen Lawrence’s mother over handling of sixth suspect

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Commissioner says failure to explain why police did not pursue case against Matthew White ‘totally unacceptable’

The Metropolitan police commissioner has apologised to the mother of Stephen Lawrence for not fulfilling a promise to explain why his force failed to properly handle evidence against one of the suspects in the teenager’s murder.

A BBC investigation in 2023 identified Matthew White as the sixth suspect in the case, where only five had previously been known. The broadcaster said Doreen Lawrence had been promised answers to her questions about the way police handled the investigation.

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Being Jewish ‘should never be seen as provocative’, says Home Office

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Statement comes after Met police apologised for calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’

Being Jewish “should never be seen as provocative”, the government has said after a row over the policing of a pro-Palestine march.

In a video released by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), the charity’s chief executive, Gideon Falter, who was wearing a kippah skull cap, was told by a Met officer at a pro-Palestine march last Saturday: “You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march. I’m not accusing you of anything but I’m worried about the reaction to your presence.”

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Met apologises for calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’

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Police officer had stopped Gideon Falter from walking near pro-Palestinian march while wearing kippah skull cap

The Metropolitan police has apologised after an officer used the term “openly Jewish” to an antisemitism campaigner who was threatened with arrest near a pro-Palestine march.

Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing the road near the demonstration in the Aldwych area of London last Saturday afternoon.

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Met to pay £10,000 to woman detained overnight after Sarah Everard vigil

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Jennifer Edmunds sued police, which have now settled after dropping charges relating to 2021 gathering on Clapham Common

The Metropolitan police has agreed to pay £10,000 in damages to a woman arrested at the Sarah Everard vigil in Clapham, her solicitors have said.

Jennifer Edmunds was detained overnight and charged with breaching Covid restrictions at the Clapham Common gathering on 13 March 2021, said Bhatt Murphy Solicitors.

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Met police to return lost sim card of bullied schoolgirl who killed herself

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Force was previously unable to locate sim belonging to Mia Janin, 14, after investigation into her death in 2021

Scotland Yard will return the lost sim card and phone of a bullied schoolgirl who killed herself, after the items were found months after her family requested their return.

Mia Janin, a 14-year-old pupil at Jewish free school (JFS) in Kenton, north-west London, died on 12 March 2021. Police admitted losing evidence it had gathered following her death last year – including the teenager’s main phone, second phone and sim card – but have since recovered them.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Police aggression towards Gaza march observers ‘on the rise’ in UK as woman says officers knocked her over

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Legal adviser to pro-Palestinian protesters was taken to hospital by passersby after the incident on Westminster Bridge in London

A 71-year-old legal observer has accused a group of police officers of deliberately knocking her over and leaving her bloodied and unconscious on the ground during a Gaza ceasefire protest in London.

Lesley Wertheimer – who was wearing a hi-vis bib with “legal observer” printed on the back – crashed face down into the road when a phalanx of about 30 police officers ran towards Westminster Bridge during the first pro-Palestine demonstration of 2024.

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