Category Archives: England

Police to get new powers to find stolen phones in England and Wales

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Warrant will not be required where tracker shows an item is present, as part of raft of measures in crime and policing bill

Police will be able to search properties without a warrant for stolen phones or other electronically geotagged items under the government’s crime and policing bill.

The measure is among dozens in the bill, which will be put before parliament on Tuesday and would mostly apply to England and Wales. It has a particular focus on lower-level offences such as theft and wider antisocial behaviour.

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Thousands of children in England accused of witchcraft in past decade

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Figures emerge as Kindoki Witch Boy film tells true story of Mardoche Yembi who underwent an exorcism as a child

Thousands of children in England have been accused of witchcraft over the past decade, according to new figures that come alongside a film released on Monday.

Faith-based abuse is a worldwide phenomenon but experts found 14,000 social work assessments linked to witchcraft accusations since 2015. In the year running to March 2024 alone, there were 2,180 assessments linked to witchcraft.

Children accused of witchcraft can call Childline on 0800 1111 or NSPCC on 0808 800 500.

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Flood warnings issued in parts of UK after weekend of rain and wind

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Environment Agency warns of risk of river and surface flooding, as climate crisis brings warmer and wetter winters

Flood warnings are in place across the UK after a weekend of heavy rain and high winds.

As sunshine and scattered showers moved in on Monday, flood warnings were issued across much of Wales, the south and south-west of England and a few in central Scotland.

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‘A source of national shame’: shelters in England turn young people away as number of rough sleepers soar

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Charities across the country highlight the rising demand for emergency accommodation as costs spiral to care for those most in need

Holly Udobang is packing the last bag: a sleeping mat, gloves, woolly hat, waterproof poncho, hand warmers. It’s the sort of kit that teenagers might need for a Duke of Edinburgh trip.

But this bag is for young homeless people, to give them a fighting chance of getting some sleep on the streets of London. Holly and her colleagues at the New Horizon Youth Centre are packing them to give to the young people they now have to turn away every day, as an increasing number of emergency shelters shut their doors.

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Three-year-old girl killed in collision in Manchester city centre

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Greater Manchester police say girl died from her injuries after incident on Mosley Street involving tram and van

A three-year-old girl has been killed in a collision between a tram and a van in Manchester.

Greater Manchester police officers attended the scene on Mosley Street, near to St Peter’s Square, after the collision on Saturday morning.

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NHS doctor who ‘glorified terrorist violence’ wins deportation challenge

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Home Office moved to cancel Menatalla Elwan’s leave to remain over posts on Hamas’s 7 October attack

An Egyptian NHS doctor who “glorified terrorist violence” by mocking Israeli civilians fleeing the Hamas attacks in October 2023 has won a legal challenge against deportation.

In one of three social media posts hours after the attacks began, Dr Menatalla Elwan, 34, who worked at an NHS trust in Liverpool, reposted footage of music festivalgoers running from Hamas terrorists and wrote “if it was your home, you would stay and fight”, accompanied by a smiling face emoji.

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Far-right links and Putin praise: fears over £600m UK history theme park plan

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French family behind project visited Kremlin in 2014 to discuss building ‘Tsarland’ in annexed Crimea

With its spectacular shows featuring Viking longboats, Roman charioteers and sword-wielding knights who perform death-defying stunts, Puy du Fou in France is consistently ranked among the world’s best theme parks. Each performance of its centrepiece Cinéscénie show, which depicts 700 years of French history, features more than 1,000 actors, hundreds of horses and about 800 fireworks.

Now the company has set its sights on bringing its brand of immersive history to the UK via a £600m investment to build its mock medieval castles, hotels and restaurants on farmland just off the M40 in Oxfordshire. It has asked the upmarket property firm Savills to help with its planning applications and is expected to look for British co-investors for a project that it says will create thousands of jobs.

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Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann charged with stalking

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Julia Wandel allegedly sent letters, calls, WhatsApps and visited family of missing girl

A woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann has been remanded in custody after being charged with stalking the missing girl’s family by allegedly turning up at their home and contacting them repeatedly.

Julia Wandel, also known as Julia Wandelt, was arrested at Bristol airport on Wednesday and appeared in Leicester magistrates court on Friday.

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Pilot of domestic abuse experts helping in 999 call rooms begins in England

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Jess Phillips says ‘Raneem’s law’ scheme will support ‘force-wide cultural change’ as initial phase is rolled out

Domestic abuse specialists embedded in control rooms receiving 999 emergency calls will help “create force-wide cultural change”, said Jess Phillips as the first phase of “Raneem’s law” was rolled out across England.

The new law is named in memory of Raneem Oudeh, who was killed alongside her mother, Khaola Saleem, in Solihull by Oudeh’s ex-husband, whom she had reported to the police at least seven times, as well as making four 999 calls on the night she was murdered.

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Man dies at Manchester airport after arrest by Border Force officers

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Police watchdog is investigating death of 27-year-old who showed ‘unusual behaviour’ at security check

A 27-year-old man has died at Manchester airport after being arrested by Border Force officers.

The man had been stopped while going through security in Terminal 2 on Wednesday after “displaying unusual behaviour”, the police watchdog said.

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Dissatisfaction among gen Z staff is ‘ticking timebomb’ for NHS

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Warning from the Royal College of Nursing is based on Nuffield Trust analysis of NHS England staff surveys

The NHS in England is facing a “ticking timebomb” when it comes to retaining young staff, nursing leaders have warned, after new analysis showed its generation Z workers are becoming more stressed and unhappy over time.

A new report by the Nuffield Trust shows soaring dissatisfaction rates among staff in the health service’s youngest cohort, aged 21 to 30 – based on analysis of NHS surveys.

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Four seals die on Norfolk coast after contracting bird flu

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Experts raise fears for England’s largest colony at Blakeney Point as they conduct tests to identify source of infection

Experts have raised fears for the seals at England’s largest colony after four were found to have died after having been infected with bird flu.

Government scientists are investigating to find out whether the seals died after scavenging from the corpses of infected birds.

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Northumberland postal worker jailed for sexually assaulting women on rounds

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Michael Stewart abused his position to target women and subject them to ‘traumatic ordeals’, said police

A postal worker described as a “calculating and dangerous predator” has been jailed for six and a half years for sexually assaulting women when he was making deliveries on his rounds.

Police said that Michael Stewart abused his position to target his victims and subject them to “traumatic ordeals”. The family of one of his victims have blamed Stewart for her suicide.

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Thames Water wins court backing for £3bn debt package

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Deal approved at high court gives company £1.5bn in upfront cash to stave off collapse

Thames Water has won court approval for an emergency debt package worth up to £3bn that should stave off the collapse of Britain’s biggest water company for at least another few months.

London’s high court said on Tuesday that the deal could proceed, after hearing four days of complex arguments earlier this month over whether it should go ahead. The deal will allow the company to avoid special administration, in effect a temporary nationalisation.

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Prison system crisis due to overreliance on long sentences, says Gauke review

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Successive governments’ ‘penal populism’ has driven England and Wales justice system to brink of collapse, report finds

Successive governments’ overreliance on prison sentences and desire to seem “tough on crime” have driven the justice system in England and Wales to the brink of collapse, an official review has found.

A form of “penal populism” where longer incarceration is seen as the only effective means of punishment has contributed to the crisis in the prison system, according to the interim findings of a review led by former justice secretary David Gauke.

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Poorest UK households pay rising share of income on council tax, study finds

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Resolution Foundation report says failure to reform has ‘slowly recreated the issues that undid the poll tax’

Britain’s poorest households are paying an increasing share of their income on council tax, according to new analysis that likened it to the poll tax that contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.

The poorest fifth of households paid 4.8% of their income on council tax in England, Wales and Scotland and on domestic rates in Northern Ireland in the 2020-21 financial year, up from 2.9% in 2002-3, according to research by the Resolution Foundation.

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Most NHS users in England affected by dysfunctional admin, report finds

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About 64% of people had difficulties with health service last year relating to communication about care

Patients routinely have to chase up test results, receive appointment letters after their appointments and do not know when their treatment will occur because the NHS is so “dysfunctional”.

That is the conclusion of research by two major patients’ organisations and the King’s Fund, which lays bare a host of problems with the way the health service interacts with it users.

32% had to chase up the results of a test, scan or X-ray.

32% had not been told how long they would have to wait for their care or treatment.

23% were unaware of who to contact while they waited.

20% received an invitation to an appointment after the date had passed.

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NHS England launches first advertising drive to boost breast cancer screenings

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TV, radio and online adverts aimed at increasing uptake of routine mammograms for women aged 50 to 71

Women in England will be encouraged to attend potentially life-saving screenings for breast cancer in TV, radio and online adverts as part of the first NHS awareness campaign for the disease.

Women in the UK are invited for their first routine mammogram between the ages of 50 and 53, with further invitations arriving every three years until they reach 71, after which they can request screening.

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Parents working from home is affecting school attendance, says Ofsted chief

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Martyn Oliver says less office-going since pandemic has led to a shift in attitudes among pupils in England

School attendance rates are being affected by parents working from home after the pandemic, the head of Ofsted has said.

The chief inspector of the schools watchdog in England, Martyn Oliver, told the Sunday Times that the widespread change in working habits after the pandemic had led to a shift in attitudes among pupils.

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