Police are appealing for information from anyone who saw Owami Davies, who was last seen in West Croydon at 12.30pm on 7 July
New CCTV footage showing the last known images of a student nurse who went missing last month has been released by police.
Owami Davies was last seen about 12.30pm on Derby Road in West Croydon, south London, on 7 July.
Continue reading...Appropriate adults were often absent during the search, and the majority of children were innocent
The children’s commissioner for England has denounced the Metropolitan police’s record on child protection after new data revealed that 650 children were strip-searched over a two-year period and the majority were found to be innocent of the suspicions against them.
Dame Rachel de Souza said she was not convinced that the force was “consistently considering children’s welfare and wellbeing” after police data showed that in almost a quarter of cases (23%) an appropriate adult was not present during the search, despite this being a requirement under statutory guidance.
Continue reading...Horniman museum is first government-funded institution to hand back artefacts looted by British forces in 1897
A London museum is to return 72 treasured artefacts, including its collection of Benin bronzes, to Nigeria in what experts described as an “immensely significant” moment.
The Horniman museum said it would transfer the ownership of the historic objects to the Nigerian government after an unanimous vote by its board of trustees.
Continue reading...Friends of the Joiners Arms intend to create the UK’s first community-run LGBTQ+ venue to replace pub on Hackney Road
A fundraiser to replace a famed east London gay bar that was shut down by developers has hit its target of £100,000 and secured its future with more than 24 hours to go before its deadline.
The Friends of the Joiners Arms (Fotja) campaign group confirmed that it had pulled off the feat – raising more than £30,000 since the weekend for what would be the UK’s first community-run LGBTQ+ venue.
Continue reading...Woman was reportedly handed information from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children at London clinic
A pregnant woman who told her GP she was considering having an abortion says she was left “shocked and traumatised” after being given a leaflet for an anti-abortion group.
The woman, 38, says she was seeking treatment for a bladder problem on 19 July when a doctor at All Saints Medical Centre in Plumstead, south-east London, asked whether she was pregnant.
Continue reading...London commissioner Andy Roe calls for national ban after barbecues blamed for blazes across the country during driest spell in 111 years
London’s fire commissioner has joined calls for a total national ban on disposable barbecues after they were blamed for starting wildfires in England during the recent spate of dry weather.
The barbecues are a fire risk, especially when used on dry ground, and areas of England have seen the driest weather experienced for 111 years.
Continue reading...Sheffield, Glasgow and others tell why they should play host after decision not to hold event in Ukraine
In 1956 Sheffield became, it is believed, the first UK city to officially twin with one behind the iron curtain, partnering with a similar steel and mining-rich place then called Stalino, but later Donetsk.
It is the reason that there is a Shefield Square on the banks of the River Kalmius. In Sheffield there’s a long, busy road called Donetsk Way. And it those links that are one reason the Yorkshire city is now bidding to host next year’s Eurovision song contest, which is coming to the UK but, everyone agrees, should really be in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Human rights leaders report receiving emails from account purporting to be from Pavlou in recent days after campaigner’s arrest in London
Australian activist Drew Pavlou has said he was the victim of an “orchestrated campaign” before his arrest over a false “bomb threat” after it emerged that human rights leaders and politicians have been receiving emails from an account purporting to be him in recent days.
Pavlou was arrested after a “small peaceful human rights protest” outside the Chinese embassy in London, where he intended to glue his hand to the outside of the embassy building.
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Continue reading...More than 40 houses were destroyed by fires on Britain’s hottest day. Now there are calls for an urgent rethink on building safety laws
Fires that burned in several parts of the UK last week spread in the same way as those that led to the great fire of London and would have been far worse with stronger winds, a fire expert has said.
Fires in Wennington, Uxbridge and Erith destroyed 41 properties last Tuesday, when temperatures went above 40C to make it the hottest day on record in the UK, and fire services had their busiest day since the second world war.
Continue reading...Pavlou says the emailed threat was intended to frame him after he staged a peaceful protest carrying a Uyghur flag outside the embassy
Australian activist Drew Pavlou has been arrested in the UK over a false “bomb threat” delivered to the Chinese embassy in London that he claims came from a fake email address designed to frame him.
Pavlou said the “absurd” email claimed he would blow up the embassy over Beijing’s oppression of its Uyghur Muslim minority, but that it was confected by the embassy in order to have him arrested.
Continue reading...Medical secretary’s body lay in her London flat for over two years despite neighbours raising the alarm
It was “difficult to comprehend” that a “model tenant” could die and lie undisturbed in her flat for over two and half years, despite not paying her rent and neighbours raising the alarm, an inquest into the death of Sheila Seleoane heard.
On Thursday, coroner Julian Morris said it was “clear something went wrong” when Seleoane’s repeated failure to engage with her landlord, gas engineers or the police, failed to flag up concerns or trigger any suspicions.
Continue reading...The final evidence sessions have heard unflinching accounts of how victims died, panicking and desperate in horrific conditions
The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster is ending as it began: with a shocking reminder of the human cost. It opened in May 2018 with elegies to the 72 victims. Its final evidence sessions have been unflinching accounts of the violence of their final moments.
The hearings sought to satisfy the fact-finding requirements of the coroner but swung the spotlight of an often highly technical inquiry back to the sheer barbarity wrought upon a community that still awaits justice.
Continue reading...Antelope by Samson Kambalu depicts John Chilembwe wearing hat in defiance of colonial rule in Nyasaland, now Malawi
A sculpture of a preacher who was killed in an anticolonialist uprising in what is now Malawi will be unveiled in September on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
Antelope by Samson Kambalu is the 14th contemporary artwork to be commissioned for public display in the historic central London square.
Continue reading...A cache of emails and documents sheds light on the would-be ruler’s activities at a time when he was entering public life
The organiser said it would be “the most amazing party ever done in Punta del Este”, a glamorous seaside resort in Uruguay. He offered his client a sound system, a DJ, decorators, fireworks and “naked models swimming in the pool”. The client – a fixer with close ties to the rulers of Libya – turned down the fireworks.
It appears the fixer wired the organiser $34,300 – and asked him for a whole roast lamb to be delivered every day to the party villa between 30 December 2006 and 6 January 2007. He would be joined there by fellow Libyans and his boss, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was due to fly in from South Africa.
Continue reading...Study found that the most at-risk neighbourhoods were also among the most ethnically diverse and have lower carbon footprints than average
People of colour are four times more likely to live in areas at high risk from heatwaves in the UK as the climate heats up, according to experts.
Researchers at the University of Manchester and Friends of the Earth found one in three people from minority ethnic groups lived in areas most exposed to extreme heat, compared with just one in 12 white people.
Continue reading...US company says recruitment drive will take permanent workforce in Britain to 75,000
Amazon is creating more than 4,000 permanent jobs across the UK this year, the online company has announced.
The US firm said the recruitment drive would bring its permanent workforce in the UK to 75,000, having created 40,000 new jobs in the past three years.
Continue reading...Government forecast anticipates 12% decline, mainly due to fewer births, with surplus school places in years ahead
England’s school population is set to shrink by almost a million children over the next 10 years, according to the government’s latest data, raising the prospect of surplus places and school closures in some areas of the country in the years ahead.
Department for Education figures reveal that predicted pupil numbers, already in marked decline according to earlier modelling, have had to be revised down further in line with projections of fewer births than expected.
Continue reading...24 hours after Guardian revealed family’s plight Home Office does U-turn and grants baby visa
A British resident stranded in Jamaica with her baby, who was told by the Home Office the boy could not come to the UK because he had an “established life” on the Caribbean island, has now been told by the Home Office that she can bring him, after the Guardian exposed the family’s plight.
Just 25 hours after the Guardian’s article was published, the Home Office granted the baby’s visa and informed his mother, Tiffany Ellis – who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK, where she has lived since the age of eight – that it was ready for immediate collection.
Continue reading...Police order dispersal of crowds awaiting rapper at Cafe Koko after numbers threaten public safety
A meet and greet scheduled in Camden for Nicki Minaj had to be cancelled due to overcrowding.
Adoring fans descended upon Cafe Koko in their droves after the rapper took to social media to reveal she would be at the venue from noon on Monday.
Continue reading...Former counter-terrorism chief takes over as force is embroiled in crises over women, race and homophobia
Sir Mark Rowley is to become the new commissioner of the Metropolitan police, after winning the top job in British law enforcement by promising “urgent reforms” to lead the country’s biggest force out of crisis.
Rowley, 57, a former head of counter-terrorism, left the Met in 2018 and returns after time in the private sector. He was selected over the Met assistant commissioner Nick Ephgrave, the other candidate to reach the final shortlist of two.
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