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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Former head of nursing at Countess of Chester says Letby ‘cried in my arms’ after being removed from the ward
Lucy Letby’s former boss has said “if she was acting she deserves an Oscar” as she described tearful meetings with the neonatal nurse after accusations against her first emerged.
Karen Rees, the head of nursing at the Countess of Chester hospital before her retirement in March 2018, revealed to the Sunday Times that she had always believed in Letby’s innocence. The pair developed a close relationship in the months after Letby was removed from the ward over concerns she was connected to a sharp rise in infant deaths.
Continue reading...Vehicle and firearm recovered at Dartford crossing after woman in 40s killed in Knockholt
A woman in her 40s has died after a shooting at a Kent pub, police have said.
She was shot at the Three Horseshoes in the village of Knockholt on Valentine’s Day evening, Kent police said.
Continue reading...US vice-president’s comments, part of a wide-ranging tirade against Europe, called inaccurate and misogynistic
JD Vance has been labelled an “extremist” after he launched a broadside against the UK’s efforts to protect women seeking an abortion.
The US vice-president’s criticisms of UK and Scottish policies on safe access zones around abortion clinics – part of a wide-ranging tirade against Europe on Friday – were derided as inaccurate and misogynistic by a number of groups, politicians and governments.
Continue reading...Exchange of insults between David Darling and Colin Pease, both in their 70s, led to scratches, bleeding and broken spectacles
The agenda for the Middleton St George parish council meeting was quite dull: village show costs, condition of footpaths and a quote for a flagpole inspection.
But the meeting itself was more lively, with two councillors exchanging insults before a “wrestling match” that led to scratches, bleeding, a bruised finger and the destruction of spectacles said to be worth £325.
Continue reading...Potentially life-saving drug was prescribed for William Hewes but not given quickly enough due to communication mix-up
A consultant paediatrician warned medical colleagues treating her son that they had failed to give him life-saving antibiotics hours before he died from sepsis, an inquest has heard.
William Hewes, 22, a history and politics student, died on 21 January 2023 of meningococcal septicaemia at east London’s Homerton hospital, where his mother, Dr Deborah Burns, worked.
Continue reading...Jaysley Beck’s friends tell inquest she did not report her boss because her previous complaint was ‘squashed’
Colleagues of a 19-year-old soldier found dead in her barracks room after allegedly being sexually assaulted by an officer twice her age have strongly criticised how her complaint about the incident was dealt with.
One colleague of Gnr Jaysley Beck confirmed at her inquest he was “incensed” that WOI Michael Webber was only subject to a “minor sanction” after he allegedly pinned the teenager down and tried to kiss her during an adventure training exercise.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
Continue reading...Kristie Higgs was dismissed after sharing posts on plans to teach equalities programme at her son’s C of E school
A Christian school worker who was sacked after she shared Facebook posts raising concerns about lessons in LGBTQ+ relationships for primary schoolchildren has won her battle in the court of appeal.
Kristie Higgs was dismissed from her role as a pastoral administrator and work experience manager at Farmor’s, a secondary school in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 2019 after an anonymous complaint from a parent at the school.
Continue reading...Judge-led statutory inquiry announced into killings of three people by Valdo Calocane in June 2023
A judge-led public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks will start in “a matter of weeks”, Keir Starmer has told the families of the three people killed and the injured survivors.
At a meeting at No 10 on Wednesday, the prime minister said the inquiry would scrutinise a “number of different agencies” and a retired judge would soon be appointed to lead the process.
Continue reading...Greenpeace protest draws attention to worsening typhoons and demands accountability from major polluters
For two days and two nights, Ronalyn Carbonel and her four children clung to the roof of their home as a huge storm raged around them. With the wind battering her village of Rizal, about 10 miles east of Manila in the Philippines, and water swirling through the rooms below them, they had no choice but to wait, hoping that someone would come to rescue them and hundreds of their neighbours.
“We did not have shelter, we did not have food … we just had to wait for the government for two days,” Carbonel said. “It is not easy, no electricity, no light, we just wait for the sun to rise. The children were scared, we had never experienced anything like this.”
Continue reading...Research shows happiness levels have bounced back post-Covid, although depression also remains more common
People 50 and over in England have greater life satisfaction and sense life is more worthwhile than before the Covid pandemic, although depression is more common, researchers have found.
Prof Paola Zaninotto, first author of the research from University College London, said the study showed wellbeing and mental health worsened between the early stages of the pandemic and later in 2020, contrary to some reports. However, this situation subsequently improved.
Continue reading...Force faces having to reinstate officers and staff removed under scheme launched in wake of Sarah Everard case
The Metropolitan police have lost a high court case over whether they can oust officers and staff deemed unsuitable through enhanced vetting procedures.
Scotland Yard had used the scheme, which effectively dismisses officers by removing their vetting clearance, to get rid of scores of staff, some of whom had faced allegations of sexual assault.
Continue reading...Ryan is second MP to face sanctions after emergence of details of Trigger Me Timbers group
The Labour MP Oliver Ryan has been suspended by the party over his membership and comments on a WhatsApp group that featured offensive messages, including alleged racism and sexism.
The party took action against the Burnley MP after the emergence of details about the Trigger Me Timbers group, mainly involving a group of councillors and party activists in Greater Manchester.
Continue reading...Industry insiders say it will be ‘tricky’ to find suitable candidate who would agree to location and civil service pay
Britain’s state-owned energy company faces a “challenging” task to find a chief executive for its Aberdeen HQ when it begins recruiting this month, senior industry sources have said.
Great British Energy is poised to begin the hunt, but sources claim there are still no obvious frontrunners for the top job almost six months after the £8.3bn publicly owned clean energy company was formed.
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