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...Counter-terrorism police say investigation linked to alleged spying on locations and people linked to Jewish community
Four people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran on locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in the London area, Scotland Yard has said.
The men – one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals – were arrested on Friday at addresses in Barnet and Watford on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, namely Iran, the Metropolitan police said.
Continue reading...CMA says it wants to ensure market ‘working well for consumers’ as more Britons forced to seek private care
The UK’s competition watchdog has launched a review into the £8bn private dentistry market after the price of a consultation increased by nearly 25% over a two-year period.
One in five people in Great Britain sought private dental care in 2024 in part because they could not access NHS treatment. Announcing its investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it wanted to make sure the market was “working well for UK consumers”.
Continue reading...Government says it is working to solve ‘postcode lottery’ of access to green or blue spaces
There are urban areas of England where no one lives within a 15-minute walk of nature, government data shows, as ministers scramble to meet their access to nature targets.
While the data shows 80% of people live within walking distance of green or blue spaces such as a river, park or woodland, it also reveals a disparity between rural and poorer urban areas.
Continue reading...Firm admits supplying water unfit for human consumption after nearly 150 people fell ill
A major utility company has admitted supplying water unfit for human consumption after a parasite outbreak in Devon made almost 150 people sick.
South West Water (SWW) pleaded guilty to the criminal offence relating to the cryptosporidiosis outbreak in Brixham, Devon, which affected 2,500 homes.
Continue reading...Valdo Calocane approached security at Thames House in 2021 but did not meet threshold for further assessment, public inquiry told
A man who killed three people during a 2023 knife attack in Nottingham had attempted to hand himself into MI5 for arrest two years earlier, an inquiry has heard.
Valdo Calocane, 34, fatally stabbed Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, during a stabbing spree in the city on 13 June 2023.
Continue reading...Law Society says home secretary’s review of refugee status after 30 months is in tension with UK’s legal obligations
Shabana Mahmood’s decision to tell every person applying for asylum from Monday that their status is temporary could undermine the refugee convention, the Law Society has said.
The body representing solicitors in England and Wales said the home secretary’s move to review every refugee’s status after 30 months was “in tension” with the UK’s legal obligations.
Continue reading...Hartlepool leaders ‘furious and appalled’ after meeting with Steve Reed about growing cost of social care
The housing, communities and local government secretary has been accused by a Labour council of showing “arrogance, indifference and moral bankruptcy” towards children in social care.
In an unusually forthright attack, Labour leaders of Hartlepool council said they were “furious and appalled” at Steve Reed after a meeting with him last week. A cross-party delegation had asked the secretary of state for £3m to help alleviate the growing cost of social care.
Continue reading...Funding uncertainty is main concern, despite Labour’s pledge to revitalise construction, survey shows
Almost two-thirds of senior council officers have said they are seeing construction projects delayed, despite the key role of local authorities in creating the wave of new housing and infrastructure promised by Labour.
Before Rachel Reeves’s spring forecast on Tuesday, a survey of senior council officers showed that 40% do not think the local authority they work for is well placed to follow through on its construction plans.
Continue reading...Met urges pupils not to get involved and asks platforms to ban accounts promoting ‘fights’ with images of weapons
Pupils aged 11 to 16 are being encouraged to join in school fights in posts circulating on TikTok and Snapchat, prompting police to urge children not to get involved.
The Metropolitan police have asked social media platforms to ban accounts promoting “school wars”, while headteachers have warned parents about the posts.
Continue reading...Most believe they will struggle to get an appointment, with over a quarter choosing to manage ailment themselves
Almost half the public delay or avoid contacting their GP surgery when they are ill, mainly because they think they will struggle to get an appointment.
Overall 48% of people across the UK did not bother to ask their family doctor for help – either initially or at all – when they got sick over the past year, a survey found.
Faster access to GPs and A&E are the public’s top priorities for the NHS.
Only 32% believe the NHS provides a good service nationally.
42% think the standard of NHS care has worsened over the past year and only 12% think that it has improved.
47% fear NHS care will decline further over the next year and just 15% expect it to get better
Continue reading...Exclusive: Project Giving Back, set up in 2022 to help charities exhibit show gardens, says this year will be its last
Chelsea flower show is looking for new charity sponsors after the mystery philanthropic couple who have spent more than £23m on show gardens end their support.
Project Giving Back was set up by two anonymous donors in 2022, and since then it has paid for 63 gardens at the most prestigious horticultural event in the world, held each summer at the Royal Hospital gardens in south-west London.
Continue reading...Government plans legislation giving landowners and tenants rights to cull deer to protect crops and property
It will be much easier to shoot deer in England under government plans that aim to curb the damage the animals are doing to the country’s woodlands.
Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, plans to bring forward new legislation to give landowners and tenants legal rights to shoot deer to protect crops and property.
Continue reading...Demand is rising at unsustainable rate and could cost £3.4bn by 2030-31, local authorities warn
Families who have children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) should be means tested for school transport, according to councils in England, who say demand is rising “at an unsustainable rate”.
Local authorities are urging the government to be “radical” in its Send reforms, which are expected imminently, warning that annual costs on home-to-school transport for children with Send could rise to £3.4bn by 2030-31, up from £2bn last year.
Continue reading...Police arrest four after incident in the Briar Hill area that left a man in his 20s dead
A man is dead and a teenage boy is in a critical condition in hospital after they were stabbed at a Northampton skate park.
Northamptonshire police launched a murder investigation after emergency services were called to the park in Ringway in the Briar Hill area on Wednesday following reports that two people had been stabbed “during an altercation”.
Continue reading...London police say criminal gangs are using Snapchat to offer cash rewards of up to £380 for stolen iPhones
Gangs are recruiting children to go out to steal smartphones before they head to school, using Snapchat to offer rewards of up to £380 for the latest Apple iPhones, police have revealed.
The Metropolitan police said they were deploying new resources including drones and Surron ebikes to chase suspects as they step up their fight against phone snatching.
Continue reading...Official report says forces in England and Wales yet to implement recommendations for investigations
A quarter of police forces in England and Wales are yet to implement “basic policies for investigating sexual offences”, an official report has found, with women still being failed despite promises of change after the murder of Sarah Everard four years ago.
The report by Dame Elish Angiolini follows an inquiry set up after Everard was murdered by a serving police officer, Wayne Couzens, in March 2021. She was abducted off a London street while walking home.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Letter says L&Q appears to have systematically failed in its duty to provide adequate standard of living
UN experts have said that one of England’s biggest social landlords appears to have systematically failed to ensure the habitability of its rental properties.
In a letter to the UK government, they cite the case of a disabled tenant, Sanjay Ramburn, 55, who they say lived with his family of five in an L&Q group property in Forest Gate, east London, for several years with no electricity. They experienced four ceiling collapses, as well as severe damp and mould that affected their health.
Continue reading...Environmental charity Fidra says 168 of 195 SSSIs it surveyed are contaminated with tiny pellets
Plastic nurdles have been found in 84% of important nature sites surveyed in the UK.
Nurdles are tiny pellets that the plastics industry uses to make larger products. They were found in 168 of 195 sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), so named because of the rare wildlife they harbour. They are given extra protections in an effort to protect them from pollution.
Continue reading...University leaders says planned levy on international student fees will leave many institutions even worse off
University students in England get just two-thirds of the funding they would have received a decade ago, after inflation and government cuts have reduced the resources available for teaching, according to vice-chancellors.
University leaders said the situation was likely to get worse if the government went ahead with a new levy on international student fees in Wednesday’s budget.
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