Algerian man, 24, ‘released in error’ from HMP Wandsworth two days after stronger checks for jails were brought in
Police have launched an urgent manhunt for a second foreign prisoner freed mistakenly, two days after the justice secretary, David Lammy, brought in stronger checks for jails.
The 24-year-old Algerian was wrongly released from Wandsworth prison in south London last Wednesday, with the Metropolitan police informed only this week.
Continue reading...Agreement that will increase drivers’ pay to nearly £80,000 by 2027 comes after strike action in September
The RMT union has accepted a three-year inflation-plus pay deal for London Underground workers, ending the dispute that led to travel chaos in London in September and increasing drivers’ pay to nearly £80,000 by 2027.
The deal, with an initial 3.4% increase backdated to this April, means London Underground staff pay will rise in line with RPI inflation – higher than the CPI rate normally used for index-linked pay rises – with guaranteed minimum rates if inflation falls, making the total deal worth at least 9.2%.
Continue reading...Alana Odysseos, 32, was pregnant with her third child when she was killed by Shaine March in July last year
A man who murdered his pregnant girlfriend after being released from prison on licence has been jailed for 42 years.
Alana Odysseos, 32, was in the early stages of pregnancy with her third child when she was killed by Shaine March last year at her home in Walthamstow, east London. She died at the scene from stab wounds after the attack on 22 July 2024.
Continue reading...Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, whose case triggered summer protests in Essex, detained again and faces deportation
A former asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was released from prison in error is back in custody and faces deportation.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl and was made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
Continue reading...Former asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has been missing since being released from prison in error
Police searching in London for a former asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was released from prison in error have urged him to hand himself in.
The Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
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The accidental release of the asylum seeker was a “mind-blowing” blunder, says the MP for Chelmsford.
The Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman said on Saturday: “My mind has blown. How this could possibly happen?”
He came out of the airlock, and kept saying to the officers there, ‘Where am I going? What am I doing? I don’t know where I’m going and what I’m doing.’
He was holding a pack of paperwork in his arms, and his bag of bits …
He knew he’d been deported. He came over to me and said, ‘I need you to help me.’
Continue reading...Film and TV stars are selling tickets, but director says reliance on famous names is ‘killing audiences’ intellects’
From Ncuti Gatwa in Born With Teeth to Alicia Vikander in The Lady From the Sea and Susan Sarandon in Mary Page Marlowe, there is no shortage of starry celebrities being cast for the West End right now.
It is a phenomenon happening in subsidised theatre too: Indhu Rubasingham’s inaugural season at the National Theatre features the likes of screen favourites Paul Mescal and Nicola Coughlan.
Continue reading...Collapse in construction activity causing alarm but mayor and Whitehall face pushback over ‘extreme solutions’
Sadiq Khan has known for a while that he has a problem with housebuilding in London. But last week a consultancy published figures about the scale of the problem, which prompted full-scale alarm in City Hall and Whitehall.
The analysis from Molior showed that new housebuilding in the capital had collapsed. Only 40,000 homes are under construction – two-thirds the normal rate – and in the first three months of the year builders started work on just 3,248 private sector units.
Continue reading...Officer, known as W80, shot Jermaine Baker during a foiled prison break in 2015
The family of a man shot dead by a police officer during a foiled prison break have accused Scotland Yard of evading accountability after a case against the marksman was thrown out.
The officer, known only as W80, shot Jermaine Baker as police stopped a plot to snatch two prisoners from a van near Wood Green crown court in 2015.
Continue reading...IOPC investigating incident at property in Walthamstow where man reportedly had firearm and made threats to kill
A man was taken to hospital in a “life-threatening” condition after he was shot by police at a home in London on Friday afternoon.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched an investigation into the actions of Metropolitan police officers during the incident at a property in Walthamstow, north-east London.
Continue reading...Abdallah, 27, and Soha, 31, describe adjusting to their new lives after leaving their war-torn home
The young man emerging from a backstreet accommodation block in a bustling corner of east London looks much like any other student, getting to grips with his studies at the start of a new term. But 27-year-old Abdallah carries more of a burden than most. A qualified doctor, he has recently been evacuated from Gaza to begin his studies at Queen Mary University of London on a fully funded, government-backed Chevening scholarship.
As well as his work in hospitals, he has been striving for months on behalf of the dozens of Palestinian scholars like himself who have been stranded in war-torn Gaza awaiting evacuation by the British government to take up places in UK universities.
Continue reading...Nigel Farage and right-wing commentators seek to portray capital as ‘lawless’ despite evidence to the contrary
Claims that London is becoming more dangerous despite the crime figures indicating otherwise are being made because it suits some people, a senior police commander has said.
The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, and right-wing commentators have increasingly sought to portray the capital as a “lawless” city from which high net-worth individuals are fleeing.
Continue reading...Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday
Ministers are to give police new powers to target repeated protests, aimed particularly at cracking down on demonstrations connected to Gaza, the Home Office has said.
The announcement, made the morning after almost 500 people were arrested in London for expressing support for Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation, could allow police to order regular protests to take place at a different site.
Continue reading...Sergeant arrested on suspicion of perverting course of justice after colleagues filmed making racist and sexist remarks
A serving Metropolitan police officer has been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, after undercover footage showed colleagues at Charing Cross police station making racist and sexist comments.
The footage, gathered for a BBC Panorama documentary, appears to show officers at a central London station calling for immigrants to be shot and boasting about using violence against suspects.
Continue reading...Commissioner Mark Rowley says prejudice has ‘put down deep roots’ within force after BBC Panorama investigation
Metropolitan police officers have been recorded calling for immigrants to be shot, bragging about excessive force, being dismissive about a rape complaint and making anti-Muslim and anti-women comments.
The BBC Panorama programme followed seven months of undercover filming at Charing Cross police station.
Continue reading...Primary pupil numbers could fall by 4% over next five years leading to reduction of 162,000 pupils, study finds
Declining numbers of children across England could lead to the equivalent of 800 primary schools falling empty or being closed by the end of the decade, according to research by a thinktank.
The national decline in pupils at state primary schools is mainly driven by low birthrates but is magnified in London by increasing numbers of people moving out of the capital or leaving the state system to move abroad or send their children to private schools, according to the Education Policy Institute.
Continue reading...Khan’s comments come after US president used speech at UN to call London mayor ‘terrible’
Sadiq Khan has hit back at Donald Trump, accusing the US president of being “racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic” after he used a speech at the UN to call the London mayor “terrible” and claim the city was being steered toward “sharia law”.
Trump’s remarks on Tuesday night provoked anger among Labour figures, with the health secretary, Wes Streeting, praising Khan as someone who “stands up for difference of background and opinion”.
Continue reading...Manchester mayor urges Keir Starmer to reveal plans to deliver reform but denies he is plotting to replace PM
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has described Nigel Farage over his comment implying Donald Trump might be right about paracetamol posing a risk to pregnant women. (See 10.23am.)
Dangerous and irresponsible.
This man is a snake oil salesman and it’s time people stopped buying.
Nationwide survey in London, Manchester and Glasgow shows pandemic trends may be reversing as more people return to office
People buying homes in London 500 metres from a tube or railway station pay £42,700 more than buyers of similar properties 1,500 metres away from transport hubs, according to new data.
The figures indicate that despite the reshaping of the housing market sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and dramatic changes to working patterns, the traditional estate agent mantra of “good transport links” continues to wield its power over buyers.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Force examining whether hundreds of recruits had substandard or no checks before being allowed to join
Scotland Yard is urgently making checks on whether it bungled the vetting of hundreds of officers after concerns they may have used inadequate measures when hiring them to see if they posed a criminal risk.
About 300 new recruits may have had substandard or no vetting to see if they had criminal convictions, cautions or criminal associations and whether their integrity was at risk because of debt.
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