High court strikes out part but not all of Bridgen’s case and orders him to pay Tory MP’s costs
The MP Andrew Bridgen has been ordered to pay Matt Hancock more than £40,000 in legal fees after an early stage of their libel battle.
The MP for North West Leicestershire is bringing a libel claim against the former health secretary regarding a January 2023 message on X that followed Bridgen posting a comment about Covid-19 vaccines.
Continue reading...Jessica Daley rushed to the rescue after Curve theatre in Leicester put out a call for someone who knew the role
An actor travelled more than 150 miles to ensure the show went on after both the lead and understudy became ill and could not perform in a musical.
Jessica Daley travelled from her home in Middlesbrough to the Curve theatre in Leicester to sing the starring role of Eva Perón in a 7.30pm performance of Evita on Saturday.
Continue reading...Katie Tidmarsh found guilty of killing ‘defenceless young child’ she had been in the process of adopting
A woman has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years for murdering the one-year-old baby she was in the process of adopting, after failing to disclose mental health problems to the adoption panel.
Katie Tidmarsh, 39, was convicted of murdering Ruby Thompson, who sustained catastrophic brain damage and died in hospital in August 2012.
Continue reading...Mahek and Ansreen Bukhari convicted over killing of pair who died when car was rammed off road
A former TikTok influencer and her mother have been found guilty of murdering two men who died in a fireball when their car was rammed off the road during a late-night chase outside Leicester.
Mahek Bukhari, 24, and her mother, Ansreen Bukhari, 46, were convicted alongside two other defendants of killing Saqib Hussain and his friend Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, in February last year.
Continue reading...Ansreen Bukhari and her daughter, Mahek, partied together and ended up plotting to murder two young men
When she gave evidence at Leicester crown court, 46-year-old Ansreen Bukhari described how her daughter’s fame on TikTok had completely transformed her life.
“When I got married I was like a housewife, but with this TikTok thing I was going out more. It was like two different lives,” she said. “It was more excitement. We were out and meeting people and stuff.”
Continue reading...‘No major issues’ reported so far, as most voters in Leicester say they were made well aware of change
Despite warnings that the introduction of new voter ID requirements might lead to disruption at polling stations across England on Thursday, by lunchtime there were few reports of problems.
In Leicester, the city council said things were “so far, running smoothly”.
Continue reading...Cause of death of Duangpetch Promthep, who moved to Leicester to attend a football academy, has not been confirmed
Duangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys from the Wild Boars football club who were rescued from a flooded Thai cave in 2018, has died in the UK.
Duangpetch, who had moved to the UK to attend a college’s football academy, died on Tuesday, the Zico Foundation, which had supported his scholarship abroad, said. His death was also confirmed by Brooke House college in Leicester.
Continue reading...Minority ethnic people make up 59% and 51% of respective populations in UK’s first ‘super-diverse’ cities
Leicester and Birmingham have become the first “super-diverse” cities in the UK, where most people are from black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, according to the 2021 census.
A total of 59% of people in Leicester are from minority ethnic backgrounds, while 51% of Birmingham’s population are people of colour, as are 54% in Luton, according to the data. Across England and Wales, 18% of people are BAME.
Continue reading...Letter to mayor says community has ‘little confidence’ in process after leader Chris Allen’s comments ruling out Islamist extremism
Hindu groups in Leicester have said they will boycott a review into recent disorder in the city as they believe the academic appointed to lead it is biased.
On Wednesday, the Leicester city mayor, Peter Soulsby, announced that the review would be conducted by Dr Chris Allen, an associate professor in hate studies at the University of Leicester.
Continue reading...Leicester East MP says ministers must clamp down on ‘extremist rightwing ideology’
Violent clashes between groups of mainly Hindu and Muslim young men will spread beyond Leicester to other towns and cities without central government and police intervention, a local MP has warned.
Claudia Webbe, whose Leicester East constituency has been at the centre of several incidents over the past month, said ministers needed to clamp down on “extremist rightwing ideology” and misinformation being spread through social media.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Concerns outsiders have stirred up trouble between Hindu and Muslim groups heightened after discovery people travelled into the city
Almost half of the 18 people arrested after violence between Hindu and Muslim communities in Leicester over the weekend came from outside the county, the Guardian has learned.
Concerns that outsiders have stirred up trouble in the city have heightened as it was discovered eight of those arrested were not from Leicestershire. Of these, five came from Birmingham, while one came from Solihull, one from Luton and one gave an address in Hounslow.
Continue reading...Police said groups of men were gathering in North Evington after incidents of violence and damage in the city’s east
Fifteen people have been arrested during a policing operation in east Leicester “to deter further disorder”.
It comes after two arrests were made when police said disturbances broke out at an unplanned protest on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Continue reading...Seyi Omooba is suing Leicester theatre and talent agency after being sacked for Facebook post on homosexuality
A sacked actor who would have refused to play the role in which she had been cast as a lesbian because it was against her Christian beliefs made herself “commercially toxic” and her continued employment would have forced the show’s cancellation, a tribunal has heard.
Seyi Omooba was due to play Celie in a production of The Color Purple at the Curve theatre, Leicester, but was removed from the show in March 2019 after the emergence of a Facebook post from 2014 in which she said homosexuality was not “right”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Third-party reports set out allegations at 18 Leicester suppliers
The fast-fashion retailer Boohoo has been selling clothes made by at least 18 factories in Leicester that audits say have failed to prove they pay the minimum wage to workers, a Guardian investigation has found.
Third-party audit reports produced over the past four years make claims of “critical” issues over record-keeping and working hours at the time they were written, suggesting that in parts of the supply chain workers may be paid as little as £3-£4 an hour.
Continue reading...Serco and Sitel paid more than £200m to test and trace but reach just over half of infected people’s contacts
Outsourcing companies running the government’s flagship test-and-trace system have failed to reach nearly half of potentially exposed people in areas with the highest Covid infections rates in England, official figures show.
In the country’s 20 worst-hit areas, Serco and Sitel – paid £200m between them – reached only 54% of people who had been in close proximity to an infected person, meaning more than 21,000 exposed people were not contacted.
Continue reading...Serco and Sitel paid £200m to test and trace, but reach just over half of infected people’s contacts in some regions
Outsourcing companies leading the government’s flagship test-and-trace system have failed to reach nearly half of potentially exposed people in areas with the highest Covid infection rates in England, official figures show.
In the country’s 20 worst-hit areas, Serco and Sitel – paid £200m between them – reached only 54% of people who had been in close proximity to an infected person, meaning more than 21,000 exposed people were not contacted.
Continue reading...Exclusive: proportion of close contacts being reached is below 80% in high infection areas
The government’s flagship test-and-trace system is failing to contact thousands of people in areas with the highest infection rates in England, raising further questions about the £10bn programme described by Boris Johnson as “world-beating”.
Local leaders and directors of public health are demanding more control over the tracing operation amid concerns that their ability to contain the virus is being put at risk.
Continue reading...Exploitation occurring in UK farming, construction, contract cleaning, fishing, recycling and domestic work, say labour organisations
The labour abuses and sweatshop conditions reported in factories in Leicester are occurring “at scale” across the UK’s garment, manufacturing and farming industries, campaigners warn.
Reports of similar exploitative conditions and labour abuses alleged to be occurring in Leicester have also been linked to garment factories in Birmingham, Manchester and London, among other places.
Continue reading...Home secretary suggested officials ignored problem for fear of seeming racist
Priti Patel, the home secretary, has come under fire over claims that “cultural sensitivities” prevented a robust response to alleged worker exploitation in Leicester, with critics arguing cuts to regulators, the decision to limit inspections and an absence of unions were the biggest causes.
Ten days after the Guardian reported on fears that conditions in sweatshops were a factor in Leicester’s surge in coronavirus cases and resulting lockdown, reports emerged on Sunday that Patel was considering new laws to curb modern slavery.
Continue reading...Readers respond to the reimposition of lockdown in the city after a surge in Covid-19 cases
Living and working in Leicester city centre we find ourselves in a new social experiment (Leicester forced into local lockdown to combat surge in Covid-19 cases, 30 June). We were all surprised to learn from Matt Hancock of an increased infection rate in a daily briefing on 19 June. Since then we’ve been the focus of speculation, and now of action. Our store opened two weeks ago, a Monday morning that saw two-hour queues snaking around the city-centre streets. Shops including ours are now closed again, and bars and barbers have put their reopening plans on ice. The community overall has patiently respected a sensible and cautious return of safe behaviours.
But there is a problem: Leicester has huge poverty and inequalities. Living and working conditions are extremely challenging for many families trying to do their best and follow guidance. Government financial support has not reached many as they fall through the gaps. National health messages just have not reached many BAME communities. All of this was only made worse by our own elected mayor breaking lockdown rules, and admitting he didn’t understand them, which only enhanced the Cummings effect. Did Leicester ever stand a chance? I think not.
James Hempsall
Director, Hempsall’s, Leicester