PC Owen Davies also posted offensive comments about the photos on WhatsApp, according to IOPC
A police officer has been sacked for sharing images of people in custody on WhatsApp, along with inappropriate and derogatory comments.
PC Owen Davies of South Yorkshire police has been dismissed without notice, according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which conducted an investigation into operational images being shared without any policing purpose.
Continue reading...Two men in their 20s were pulled from the sea near Torbay as boy who died in Carlisle named as Lewis Michael Kirkpatrick, 15
At least three people have drowned over the bank holiday weekend as the UK experienced the hottest day of the year so far on Sunday.
Two men in their 20s died after being pulled from the sea off the coast of Torbay, Devon and Cornwall police said. Officers were called to assist the coastguard at about 9am on Saturday after reports of concern for two people off Oddicombe beach.
Continue reading...Victim in his 20s found with gunshot wounds when emergency services arrived at Gleadless Valley estate
A murder investigation has begun after a man in his 20s was shot dead in Sheffield.
Shortly after 1.30am on Sunday, emergency services were called to the Gleadless Valley housing estate in the south of the city, after reports that a man had been shot.
Continue reading...Exclusive: 240-year-old scrap of indigo woollen cloth identified as fabric made in Yorkshire to clothe millions of enslaved people
It is a scrap of indigo woollen cloth that is slightly moth-eaten and so tiny that few would give it a second glance, but a 1783 note on its reverse has revealed its chilling significance.
Discovered in a public record office in England, it has been identified as the only surviving fragment of its kind used to clothe millions of enslaved people in the Caribbean and North America for almost 200 years. This coarse fabric, known as “slave” or “negro” cloth, was woven in West Yorkshire, close to the town of Penistone, from which it derives its name.
Continue reading...Body of Christopher Alder could have been seen by cadets after mixup of remains, says South Yorkshire force
South Yorkshire police have admitted that officers may have been shown the body of Christopher Alder, a former paratrooper who died in police custody, in a mortuary as part of their routine training years after he was supposed to have been buried.
Alder, an ex-Parachute Regiment soldier, choked to death while handcuffed and lying face down on the floor of a Hull police station on 1 April 1998. CCTV footage showed officers laughing, joking and making monkey noises while he lay unconscious in a pool of blood. It was more than 10 minutes before police went to his aid.
Continue reading...Mountain rescuers say man who was climbing with two friends was ‘very, very unfortunate’
A 23-year-old climber who died after falling 180 metres from a mountain ridge in Wales as he climbed with two friends was “extremely unfortunate”, mountain rescuers have said.
The man, from Yorkshire, was ascending Y Gribin in Snowdonia or Eryri national park in north Wales at 5pm on Saturday when a handhold he was using to pull himself up broke, causing him to fall down the mountainside.
Continue reading...National Grid put Drax and EDF’s West Burton generator on standby, with the latter stood down at 5am
National Grid asked coal-fired power stations to warm up on Thursday for the third time this week in case they are needed as cold weather across the UK continues.
Two units at Drax in Yorkshire and one at West Burton in Nottinghamshire were asked to fire up just before midnight on Wednesday. The West Burton unit was stood down at 5:13am, but the Drax units have continued to heat up, according to notifications sent to the industry.
Continue reading...Town in prime minister’s Yorkshire constituency to receive £19m from latest £2.1bn package, which Labour says overlooks neediest
Rishi Sunak’s wealthy rural constituency is receiving £19m of funding from the government’s latest round of levelling up funding, prompting accusations of favouritism towards Conservative seats.
Catterick Garrison, a small army town in the prime minister’s Richmond constituency in North Yorkshire, will receive money to regenerate its town centre as one of 100 projects awarded a share of the £2.1bn package after months of delays.
Continue reading...Discovery of stuffed animals from central Africa and recordings from ‘human zoo’ inspires exhibition
It was when part of a Scarborough museum was being redeveloped more than a decade ago that builders found a blocked-up door. Behind it they discovered bags filled with asbestos and, under that, a collection of taxidermied animals that had been collected by a Victorian big game hunter and left to the museum.
Neglected, outdated and ethically problematic, the temptation may have been to shut the artefacts away again. Instead, the Scarborough Museums and Galleries opted to do something else with the archive bequeathed by Col James Harrison – some of it much more morally challenging than stuffed antelope heads.
Continue reading...Organisers plough on with plans after Brexit meant Leeds missed chance to be European capital of culture
When Leeds was denied its chance to become European capital of culture in 2023 due to Brexit, it should have been the killing blow to what it had been hoped would be a massive year-long cultural celebration.
But, refusing to be beaten, cultural leaders ploughed ahead regardless, and now almost a decade of planning and ideating will culminate on Saturday in the launch of Leeds 2023, the city-wide cultural festival.
Continue reading...Project has been planting grass to help restore vital peatland but found some of it was not taking
Green sludge pours out of thick hosepipes wielded by two Welshmen in a bog in the north of England. It is not many people’s vision of cutting-edge technology.
But although the goop splattering messily on to bare patches of moorland may not look much, it is the first of its kind – a special type of glue designed to help restore vital peatland, which has been disappearing at rapid rates.
Continue reading...Vehicle belonging to motor neurone disease fundraiser was targeted on Friday evening in West Yorkshire
The former rugby league star Rob Burrow’s wheelchair accessible van was vandalised while his family were out for a Christmas meal, his father has said.
Geoff Burrow said his son, who played for Leeds Rhinos between 2001 and 2017, had been out in Castleford, West Yorkshire, on Friday when the vehicle was targeted.
Continue reading...Five metro mayors meet transport secretary saying action needed to avoid ‘Christmas chaos’
Mayors in the north of England have called for immediate government action to tackle continuing rail misery, warning time is running out to avoid a Christmas of chaos.
The five metro mayors for Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and North of Tyne met Mark Harper, the transport secretary, in offices near to Manchester Piccadilly station on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Yusuf Ahmed died after a tonsil infection spread to his lungs and caused multiple organ failure
A hospital trust in South Yorkshire has opened an investigation after the family of a five-year-old said he died after being turned away by doctors because there were no available beds.
Yusuf Ahmed died on Monday after a tonsil infection had spread to his lungs and caused multiple organ failure. The boy had been taken to Rotherham general hospital by his uncle Zaheer Ahmed on 14 November with complaints of a sore throat. He had been prescribed antibiotics the previous day by his GP, but his condition had not improved.
Continue reading...Sally Mays’ parents fought for seven years to hear details of chat outside mental health unit their daughter was turned away from
An NHS trust has “not covered itself in glory” in its dealings with the family of a vulnerable young woman who killed herself after being refused admission to hospital, a coroner has found.
The three-day hearing looked at evidence withheld from the original inquest into the death of Sally Mays, who killed herself in 2014 after being turned away from a mental health unit.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
Continue reading...Ban begins from 26 August and follows similar moves by four other water firms in England and Wales
Yorkshire Water has become the fifth water company in England and Wales to announce a hosepipe ban owing to the hot and dry conditions.
The company, which has more than 5 million customers, said the restrictions would come into effect from 26 August.
Continue reading...Elected leader would take office in 2024 alongside return of powers from Westminster as part of levelling-up agenda
York and North Yorkshire are to elect a mayor and receive £540m of government investment over 30 years in a landmark devolution deal to be signed on Monday.
The agreement will create a new combined authority across the region led by a directly elected mayor, who will have the power to spend the money on local priorities such as transport, education and housing.
Continue reading...Local MP and councillor angered by comments about Roundhay school, rated ‘satisfactory’ when foreign secretary attended
Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has been criticised for comments about the quality of education at her Leeds school, which she claims caused children to be “let down”.
Speaking at the launch of her economic plan, the foreign secretary is expected to describe seeing “children who failed and were let down by low expectations” during her time at Roundhay school in the 1990s.
Continue reading...A lack of recent rainfall forces part of the Leeds-Liverpool canal to shut while 5 million face a hosepipe ban
Boat owners on the UK’s longest canal will not be able to move their boats next week, due to a water shortage, while 5 million people have been warned they may be soon facing a hosepipe ban.
Stretches of the Leeds-Liverpool canal will be closed during periods next week after a lack of rainfall has led to low levels in some Yorkshire and Lancashire reservoirs, leaving canal locks unable to be filled.
Continue reading...Loss of Wakefield, and Tiverton and Honiton could push backbench Tories towards restarting efforts to oust PM
Voting has closed for two crucial byelections, in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton, the results of which could play a pivotal role in Boris Johnson’s political future.
Defeat in both of what were previously Tory-held seats could reignite a challenge to the prime minister from disgruntled Conservative MPs, particularly if the Liberal Democrats overturn a 24,000-plus majority in Tiverton and Honiton.
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