Police continue investigation after Gilbey reportedly died in a workplace accident in Southend-on-Sea
A man arrested in connection with the death of the Gogglebox star George Gilbey has been released under investigation by police.
The man, who is in his 40s and from Witham in Essex, was arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter after Gilbey reportedly died after an accident at work on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Nicholas Hawkes, 39, from Basildon in Essex found guilty under provisions of Online Safety Act
A 39-year-old man has become the first person in England and Wales to be convicted of cyberflashing, which became an offence in January as part of the Online Safety Act.
Nicholas Hawkes, from Basildon in Essex, sent unsolicited photos of his erect penis to a 15-year-old girl and a woman on 9 February, the Crown Prosecution Service said. The woman took screenshots of the image on WhatsApp and reported Hawkes to Essex police the same day.
Continue reading...Teachers at Colchester council say they’re paid less than those at other councils despite ‘bending over backwards’ to provide classes
To those who turn up in Lycra to practise their sun salutations and downward dogs, a yoga class can represent a moment of calm reflection. For a group of instructors in Colchester, however, teaching yoga has become a much more stressful business.
Yoga, pilates and aerobics instructors employed by Colchester city council are balloting on possible strike action, after what their union says is nearly a decade without a pay rise.
Continue reading...Essex-based Bridie West’s edible creation based on setting in Cameron Diaz romcom got more than 1.2m views
An Essex cake baker has gone viral after making a cake version of a cottage that had a starring role in the Christmas movie The Holiday.
The clip of Bridie West meticulously piping butter cream over a cottage-shaped cake has garnered more than 1.2m views on TikTok and almost 50,000 on Instagram.
Continue reading...Report calls for immediate closure of Wethersfield as conditions causing irreparable harm to residents
Asylum seekers housed in the UK’s largest mass accommodation site have attempted to kill themselves and set themselves on fire because of conditions “no different from Libya”, according to a report.
The controversial Wethersfield site, on a remote military airbase near Braintree in Essex, is in the constituency of the home secretary, James Cleverly, who said earlier this year in a social media post that the site was not “appropriate”.
Continue reading...Council says it will apply to appeal court after judge rules in favour of government plans citing high risk of migrants being made homeless
Council bosses are planning to appeal against a high court ruling that gives the government the green light to use two military sites to accommodate thousands of asylum seekers.
Lawyers representing West Lindsey district council in Lincolnshire argued that plans to use the disused RAF Scampton, where the “dambusters” were based during the second world war, were unlawful. Lawyers for Braintree district council where Wethersfield airfield is based, made similar arguments. A local Braintree resident, Gabriel Clarke-Holland, was also involved in the legal challenge.
Continue reading...Danny Macklin, who left his role at AFC Wimbledon in September, went missing in Essex
A former football club managing director has been found by police after he was reported missing.
In a post on X, Danny Macklin said he had been found by police in Cornwall. Earlier, Essex police said its officers had been trying to find Macklin, who was last seen on foot in Great Notley near Braintree, Essex
Continue reading...Discontent among people housed at Essex site is growing, with residents complaining about conditions
James Cleverly has said he hopes to close down the controversial mass accommodation centre in Wethersfield “as soon as practicable”, in a departure from government policy to move asylum seekers out of hotels and on to sites like the Essex military base.
Wethersfield, most recently used by Ministry of Defence police, is the Home Office’s largest mass accommodation site in the UK for people seeking asylum, with several hundred people accommodated there.
Continue reading...Head of Honywood school says building of temporary structure is a near miracle after crisis it faced
“Three and a half weeks ago, there was nothing here,” said James Saunders, the headteacher of Honywood school, looking with pride – and disbelief – at the scene unfolding in front of him. “It was a field!”
Before us is a brand new school, built in the space of six weeks – a temporary home for the 800 pupils at Honywood in Coggeshall, Essex, one of the schools most severely affected by the recent concrete crisis that threw the start of the new term across England into chaos.
Continue reading...Unconfirmed reports say flight from Nairobi, which was diverted from Heathrow to Stansted, was intercepted by RAF fighters
Armed police have surrounded a Kenyan Airways flight at London Stansted airport after a security alert.
The Boeing 787 from Nairobi was due to arrive at Heathrow this afternoon but was diverted to Stansted in Essex 45 minutes before its expected arrival.
Continue reading...Ockendon solar farm to generate enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 15,000 homes
The largest solar farm in Europe to be built on a closed landfill site has begun generating renewable electricity from a former rubbish dump in Essex.
The Ockendon solar farm, the third largest in the UK, includes more than 100,000 solar modules covering 70 hectares (173 acres) of land.
Continue reading...From Essex to Cumbria, many are dismayed by timing of the government’s action on aerated concrete in buildings
On Thursday, the emails that have left headteachers reeling started to arrive. A ruling from ministers in the Department for Education said their schools, built using potentially dangerous concrete, would need to close or partially close.
Within hours, parents and children had been informed. Many were left angry and confused by the timing of the announcement, just before the start of a new school year. Schools across England were left with days to improvise temporary classrooms from marquees or empty office buildings, or arrange to share space with unaffected schools. The majority of schools will open as usual but for tens of thousands of pupils the new academic year will start like no other.
Continue reading...Ronnie-Lee Gray, from Essex, calmly phoned emergency services and explained the situation
A seven-year-old boy has been praised for his quick thinking after he dialled 999 when his mother collapsed at home.
Ronnie-Lee Gray, from Tilbury in Essex, called emergency services after his mother, Becky, fell unconscious at their home earlier this month. His mature actions meant an ambulance arrived quickly.
Continue reading...Essex police continue to appeal for witnesses after release of video leads member of public to rescue pet
Twiglet, the miniature dachshund who was stolen by a masked man during a burglary, is safe and well and has been reunited with her owner, police have said.
Officers in Essex launched a dog-hunt, releasing a video of the theft and appealing for information after an intruder took the 16-month-old dachshund from her home in Catmere End, Saffron Walden, at about 3pm on Wednesday.
Continue reading...The site, set up as a standard asylum seeker hotel, has no care workers or nurses there as part of the contract
The Home Office has been accused of abandoning 55 asylum seekers with a range of severe disabilities and life-limiting conditions at a former care home in an Essex seaside town.
The asylum seekers, who fled various conflict zones including Sudan and Afghanistan, are struggling with a range of health conditions they have suffered from since childhood or life-changing injuries suffered in war zones.
Continue reading...Scott-Swaley Stevens died at his home in Clacton-on-Sea of compression asphyxia, coroner says
A 12-year-old boy who was helping his father to knock down a garage wall at their home died after it collapsed on both of them, an inquest heard.
Scott-Swaley Stevens’ mother, Charmaine Lee, went to the fire station next door, shouting “help, my baby is trapped”, Wednesday’s hearing in Chelmsford was told.
Continue reading...White Hart Inn in Grays, which has been the subject of a reported hate crime, daubed with graffiti and has windows damaged
An Essex pub where police confiscated golly dolls has been vandalised with graffiti and damage to five windows occurring early on Sunday morning, police have said.
The incident occurred at about 12.40am at White Hart Inn in Grays. Essex police said they have deployed extra patrols in the area.
Continue reading...Benice Ryley plans to display new dolls despite police investigation into an alleged hate crime
The landlady of a pub whose collection of golliwog dolls was confiscated by police has assembled replacements, which she plans to display in defiance of a continuing investigation.
Last week four Essex police officers and a trainee seized all the dolls on show in the White Hart Inn in Grays as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime.
Continue reading...Force rebuffs claim home secretary said they should focus on ‘catching criminals’ after items taken from White Hart Inn in Grays
Essex police have denied being rebuked by Suella Braverman for seizing a collection of golliwog dolls that were on display in a pub.
Officers from the force took several dolls from the White Hart Inn in Grays, Essex, last week as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime reported in February.
Continue reading...Government-appointed managers will take over day-to-day running after authorities fell into effective bankruptcy
Two local authorities have been put into special measures after struggling to recover from the bad investments and governance failings that pushed them into effective bankruptcy.
The London borough of Croydon and Thurrock borough council in Essex have been told that government-appointed managers will take over the day-to-day running of operations, including overseeing all major financial and senior staffing decisions.
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