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.
Continue reading...Richard Wakeling, 55, had been on the run since he fled the UK before his trial for drug smuggling in 2018
A British organised crime boss has been arrested in Thailand after being on the run for five years.
Richard Wakeling, 55, from Brentwood, Essex, tried to import £8m of liquid amphetamine into the UK in April 2016.
Continue reading...‘Obsessive’ David Richards lay in wait for Alex Alam to leave her home after their relationship broke down
A former manager of the Dreamboys stripper group has been jailed for 27 years for attempted murder after attacking his wife with an axe.
David Richards, 42, attacked Alex Alam, 32, outside her home after their relationship broke down, fracturing her skull and cutting her face and scalp.
Continue reading...Image believed to be of Constance Marten, who went missing last week with her baby and Mark Gordon
A couple and their newborn baby who went missing last week are thought to have been seen after travelling inland from an Essex port, police have said.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon abandoned their vehicle when it broke down on the M61, near Bolton, on Thursday evening.
Continue reading...Shopping centre eatery said to have begun sinking before lunch service and observers describe it as ‘going down like the Titanic’
A restaurant on a converted paddle steamer has begun to sink into a lake in Essex.
Photographs of the Miller & Carter Steakhouse at the Lakeside shopping centre showing it partially submerged emerged online on Friday. Some observers described the venue as “going down like the Titanic”, while one wrote online: “Looks like my family meal is cancelled!”
Continue reading...Tory-led Essex authority is on brink of bankruptcy and has appealed to government for emergency bailout
A Tory-led council has admitted a series of disastrous investments in risky commercial projects caused it to run up an unprecedented deficit of nearly £500m and brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.
The staggering scale of the catastrophe at Thurrock council in Essex – one of the biggest ever financial disasters in local government – is contained in an internal report made to the council’s cabinet, which reveals it has lost £275m on investments it made in solar energy and other businesses, and has set aside a further £130m this year to pay back investment debts.
Continue reading...Authority lent total of £655m over four years to owner of 53 solar parks across Britain
One of the country’s largest solar farm owners has entered administration amid the fallout from a scandal that forced an Essex council leader to resign.
Administrators at Interpath Advisory have been appointed to Toucan Energy Holdings, which owns a portfolio of 53 solar parks with a combined capacity of 513 megawatts across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...External commissioners to take charge of finances amid ‘grave concerns’ local services could be at risk
The government has launched an urgent investigation into the finances of a Tory-run council amid “grave concerns” that local services are at risk from the authority’s exposure to more than a billion pounds in loans it took out to fund a series of commercial investments.
The communities secretary, Greg Clark, said government-appointed commissioners would take full control of Thurrock’s finances because of fears over “the exceptional level of financial risk and debt incurred by the council”.
Continue reading...Essex police arrest 18 people at three locations as protesters try to disrupt distribution of fuel
Dozens of environmental protesters have blocked critical oil infrastructure in Essex and the Midlands as they revived a campaign to “just stop oil”.
At daybreak on Tuesday, about 50 people took part in protests targeting three oil terminals, from where fuel is distributed to petrol stations, the activist group Just Stop Oil said.
Continue reading...RHS Hyde Hall has made a virtue of its position in the driest county in England by embracing adaptable plants
It has not been artificially watered for 22 years, yet this garden, on an exposed slope in Essex, the driest county in the UK, is bursting with bloom.
A dry bed at the Royal Horticultural Society Hyde Hall dominated by cool greys and pale greens, and full of Mediterranean, Australian and African shrubs and flowers, could this be the future British garden?
Continue reading...