Three women in their 40s, 50s and 60s interviewed under caution in relation to alleged abuse by late Harrods owner
Three women have been interviewed under caution on suspicion of facilitating one of Britain’s worst sexual abuse scandals, involving the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed and his alleged attacks over four decades.
Scotland Yard said 154 women may have been raped or sexually assaulted by Fayed, or been subject to human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Continue reading...Financial abuse is a factor in more than half of deaths related to domestic abuse but is often misunderstood
Economic abuse from a partner contributes to one death from homicide or suicide every 19 days, a charity has found.
Surviving Economic Abuse (Sea) said economic abuse from an intimate partner was a factor in more than half of deaths related to domestic abuse but was often misunderstood or overlooked.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Minister told MPs the deal had been been paused, but that was immediately denied by the Foreign Office
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published figures showing that local authorities in England dealt with 1.26m flytipping incidents in 2024/25 – 9% increase on the previous year.
And there was an 11% increase in incidents involving a “tipper lorry load” amount of rubbish. There were 52,000 of these, up from 47,000 in 2023/24. Defra said these alone cost councils £19.3m.
These figures show the equivalent of 142 monster landfills a day took place, confirming what communities across the country know all too well – our beautiful countryside is being used by criminal gangs as their personal landfill.
For far too long, waste gangs have pocketed millions in illegal earning, poisoning our environment and our health without consequence. The Liberal Democrats are demanding an end to this environmental vandalism.
Continue reading...NPCC lead for domestic abuse says officers dealing with huge caseloads, made worse by justice system backlogs
Police are “determined to do more” to hold to account domestic abusers who drive victims to kill themselves, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has said.
Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, the NPCC lead for domestic abuse, has said that “more posthumous investigations are taking place”, but that officers struggle with a lack of resources, adding that 20% of all crime relates to domestic abuse in most forces.
Continue reading...Parliament delays debate over law defining sex without consent as rape, after comments by far-right deputy PM
Italy’s parliament has delayed a debate over a landmark law that would define sex without consent as rape amid a rift within the ruling coalition.
The measure, the result of a rare pact between the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her main political opponent, the centre-left leader, Elly Schlein, passed in the lower house last week and had been expected to get final approval in the senate this week.
Continue reading...Five-year strategy aims to improve casework after analysis finds domestic abuse in more than third of rape cases
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will train its staff to recognise the “wide spectrum of abuse” in cases of violence against women, after new data found that domestic abuse was present in more than a third of rape cases, and in more than eight out of 10 cases of stalking and image-based abuse.
Launching its five-year Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy, the body said its main aims were to increase casework quality and increase trust in the CPS.
Continue reading...Women’s groups welcomed the announcement on the eve of the international leaders’ summit in Johannesburg
Hundreds of women gathered in cities across South Africa on Friday to protest against gender-based violence in the country before the G20 summit in Johannesburg this weekend.
Demonstrators turned out in 15 locations – including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban – wearing black as a sign of “mourning and resistance”.
Continue reading...Supreme court ruled ‘rape shield’ laws to limit intrusive cross-examination may breach men’s right to fair trial
Scotland’s most senior law officer has moved to reassure victims of sexual abuse that they will be protected after a supreme court ruling warned that Scottish laws designed to limit intrusive cross-examination could be breaching men’s right to a fair trial.
In a strongly worded statement, the lord advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, said: “I would like to make clear that I understand sexual abuse inflicted upon women and children to be the single greatest challenge our justice system faces.
Continue reading...Splits grow over its remit as survivors angered by effort to recruit chairs from professions that failed to protect them
Deep divisions surrounding Keir Starmer’s inquiry into grooming gangs were first disclosed by the Guardian last week. But for one of the survivors now refusing to take part, splits first emerged in July, a month after the inquiry was announced.
Fiona Goddard, who was abused by a gang while a teenager in a Bradford children’s home, said she and other grooming gang survivors were told in June that the inquiry would centre on group-based child sexual exploitation of girls by grooming gangs.
Continue reading...Jim Gamble cites ‘vested interests’ and ‘political opportunism’, as Keir Starmer brings in Louise Casey as adviser
Keir Starmer’s grooming gangs inquiry has descended into fresh turmoil after the only remaining candidate to be its chair blamed “political opportunism” and “a lack of trust” for his withdrawal as an applicant.
As a key survivor called for a face-to-face meeting with the prime minister to save the inquiry, Jim Gamble, a former deputy chief constable, said the process to appoint a committee head was “toxic” and defined by “vested interests”.
Continue reading...Former Lambeth children’s services director Annie Hudson pulls out following intense media coverage
A national grooming gang inquiry ordered by Keir Starmer is facing further disruption after one of two candidates who had been shortlisted to lead it withdrew from the process.
Annie Hudson, a former director of children’s services for Lambeth, told survivors on Tuesday that she no longer wanted to be considered after intense media coverage.
Continue reading...Commissioner’s review found 87% of cases uncovered physical, psychological or sexual abuse of a family member
Nearly 90% of cases before the family courts in England and Wales show evidence of domestic abuse, a watchdog has disclosed.
Physical, psychological or sexual abuse of a member of the family or household was uncovered in 87% of cases, according to a review ordered by the domestic abuse commissioner, Nicole Jacobs.
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...‘Sobering and concerning’ that Axel Rudakubana had searched X for Australia knife attack, inquiry told
A lawyer said it was “sobering and concerning” that the Southport attacker probably viewed footage on social media of a stabbing in Australia by a teenage boy just 40 minutes before carrying out his own crimes.
An inquiry is being held into the circumstances and events leading up to the attack by Axel Rudakubana, then 17, on 29 July 2024 in which he murdered three young girls and attempted to murder eight children and two adults.
Continue reading...Family submitted a case last year accusing police, social services and courts of ‘serious failings’ but had no response
The family of a woman killed by an ex-partner who bombarded her with hundreds of messages and calls will ask a judge on Monday to force the French authorities to explain why they failed to protect her.
Sandra Pla had complained to police three times about Mickaël Falou’s threatening behaviour over a period of six months, but her application for a protection order was rejected.
Continue reading...Italian platform Phica closes after sharing altered images of PM, her sister, opposition leader and others
The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said she is “disgusted” that photos of her and other women were posted on a pornographic website, and called for the perpetrators to be swiftly identified and “punished with the utmost firmness”.
Images of Meloni’s sister, Arianna, and the opposition leader, Elly Schlein, were also discovered on the Italian platform Phica, which had more than 700,000 subscribers before its managers closed the site on Thursday, blaming users for “using the platform incorrectly”.
Continue reading...Women’s safety campaigners welcome plan to switch from exclusion zones that ‘have made victims feel trapped’
Restriction zones aimed at “locking” violent offenders – rather than their victims – into specific areas when they are released from prison are to be introduced by the government in England and Wales.
At the moment, exclusion zones are often used to keep an offender away from their victim’s home but many campaigners for women’s safety have long called for this to be flipped.
Increased tagging for domestic perpetrators.
Requiring judges to flag domestic abuse at sentencing so prisons, probation and police can better identify and manage abusers.
Expanding specialist domestic abuse courts.
Bolstering transparency for victims at sentencing – including the provision of free copies of judges’ sentencing remarks for victims of rape and other sexual offences.
Continue reading...Minister points to ‘sexist’ practice of country relying on women to provide services so government did not have to
Labour MP Jess Phillips has said the UK has got “fat” from the free labour of women for decades.
The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls said the country has relied on women providing charity, adding it was a “fundamentally sexist” practice that meant the government was less willing to provide the service itself.
Continue reading...Warning: this article contains graphic and distressing testimony and images
Research documents ‘horrific and extreme’ attacks by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces and warns that impunity has meant such atrocities are expanding to new regions
Hundreds of health workers across Tigray have documented mass rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and sexual torture of women and children by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers, in systematic attacks that amount to crimes against humanity, a new report has found.
The research, compiled by Physicians for Human Rights and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH), represents the most comprehensive documentation yet of weaponised sexual violence in Tigray. It reviewed medical records of more than 500 patients, surveys of 600 health workers, and in-depth interviews with doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and community leaders.
Continue reading...Arrests made in Balochistan after video showing man and woman being fatally shot went viral
Thirteen suspects have been arrested in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province after a video emerged of a woman and a man being shot dead for marrying against the wishes of their families in an “honour” killing.
The footage caused uproar in the country, with activists demanding swift justice and a stop to the crime, which targets women who do not follow local traditions and culture or decide to marry someone of their choosing.
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