Category Archives: England

Crown court backlog in England and Wales ‘could hit 100,000 without radical overhaul’

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Chief inspector raises prospect of judge-only trials and greater use of magistrates to reduce prosecutors’ caseloads

The backlog of cases in crown courts in England and Wales could hit 100,000 unless radical action is taken to overhaul the criminal justice system, a watchdog has said.

Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said prosecutors’ caseloads were already beyond what had been seen before and he feared the situation could deteriorate.

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More than meatballs: Ikea opens its first UK standalone restaurant in London

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Diners hail ‘great price’ of dishes at Swedish furniture chain’s food outlet next door to its Hammersmith store

Its meatballs are as famous as its flatpack furniture, with a meal in one of its restaurants often the highlight of an Ikea trip.

Now shoppers can enjoy an Ikea meal without lugging around their kitchen sink – literally – as the furniture company has opened its first standalone restaurant on the UK high street in King Street in Hammersmith. Located next door to its west London city store, the space seats 75 people and serves a range of Swedish dishes.

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Sara Sharif’s father ‘hit her like crazy’ and made her do sit-ups all night, court hears

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Stepmother’s WhatsApp messages read out at Old Bailey in trial over death of 10-year-old in Surrey last year

The father of Sara Sharif forced his daughter to do sit-ups all night because she hid his keys, a court has heard.

Urfan Sharif was also said to have made the schoolgirl put her hands in the air after beating her so badly her stepmother, Beinash Batool, feared he would break her arms and legs.

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Mike Amesbury urged to resign as MP after ‘bridge row’ altercation

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Witness reportedly says Runcorn and Helsby MP and second man were arguing about temporary bridge closure

The Labour MP who punched a constituent in the early hours of Saturday morning has been urged to resign, as it was reported that the pair rowed over the closure of a local bridge.

Mike Amesbury was suspended from the party over the weekend and has had the whip withdrawn after videos emerged of the altercation in Frodsham, in his constituency in Cheshire.

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Police viewed sensitive files on Sarah Everard out of ‘curiosity’, panel hears

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Seven Met officers accused of accessing X-rays and witness information after Wayne Couzens was arrested

Police viewed confidential information about the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard such as her X-rays out of “curiosity”, a disciplinary hearing heard.

Seven Metropolitan police officers were accused of looking at sensitive information relating to the case after the arrest of the firearms officer Wayne Couzens, the Times reported.

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Labour suspends MP Mike Amesbury after video appears to show him punching man

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Footage appears to show MP for Runcorn and Helsby knocking man to ground before aiming six more blows at his head

Labour has suspended the whip from the MP Mike Amesbury after footage appeared to show him punching a man to the ground, the party said.

A video published by the Mail appeared to show Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, hitting the man in the face and knocking him to the floor, before standing over him and aiming six more blows at his head.

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Change drug policy or risk more poisoning deaths, UK government warned

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Experts call for consumption rooms and wider testing of substances, as number of people dying hits new high

Experts in drug addiction have warned the government must take a different approach towards illegal substance use, or risk an increasing number of deaths from drug poisonings.

Data published by the Office for National Statistics last week showed that the number of people dying as a result of drug poisoning had reached the highest level on record.

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Which disease-modifying Alzheimer’s drugs are the most promising?

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Many drugs in development aim to delay, slow or reverse symptoms, but which are causing the biggest stir?

This week England’s health spending watchdog rejected a new Alzheimer’s drug – the second such drug it has turned down this year.

Both donanemab and lecanemab were approved by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), yet the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said their benefits were too small to justify their costs, while there have also been concerns over potential side-effects – such as brain swelling and bleeding.

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12 ebike fire survivors sue London landlords and battery manufacturer

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Legal action after fire that killed man at overcrowded flat in Shadwell thought to be the first of its kind involving ebikes

Twelve survivors of an ebike battery fire that killed a man have launched legal action against their landlords and the battery’s manufacturer.

The 12 managed to escape in the early hours of 5 March 2023, after an overcrowded flat they were living in – in Maddocks House in Shadwell, east London – caught fire due to an explosion found by a coroner to have been caused by a faulty ebike battery. Mizanur Rahman, a 41-year-old father-of-two, died in the fire.

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Coventry student who hid baby in cereal box convicted of murder

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Jia Xin Teo, 22, concealed her pregnancy from friends and gave birth in bathroom at student halls

A Coventry University student who concealed her newborn baby in a cereal box hidden inside a suitcase after giving birth on her bathroom floor has been convicted of murder.

Jia Xin Teo, a 22-year-old student from Malaysia who arrived in the UK earlier this year to study, was found guilty of murdering the baby she gave birth to in March. The trial at Warwick crown court heard how Teo concealed her pregnancy and gave birth to a full-term baby on 4 March in the en suite bathroom of her bedroom in student halls of residence.

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Alarm at first fall in disadvantaged students in England reaching university

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Proportion of students eligible for free school meals at 15 who progress to higher education falls from 29.2% to 29%

The proportion of disadvantaged teenagers in England going on to study at university has fallen for the first time on record, leading to accusations that the country is moving backwards in terms of social mobility.

Figures released by the Department for Education show that 29% of students eligible for free school meals at 15 had progressed to university by the age of 19 in 2022-23, compared with 29.2% the previous year – the first time the rate has fallen since it was first measured in 2005-06.

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Special educational needs bill in England hits record £10bn a year

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National Audit Office report finds no signs of improvement in lives of pupils despite record spending

The bill for special needs education in England has hit £10bn a year, with the number of children and young people entitled to government support in the form of education, health and care plans set to double to 1 million within a decade, a landmark report has found.

The investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that despite record levels of spending there had been no signs of improvement in the lives of children with special educational needs (SEN).

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NHS in England to trial AI tool to predict risk of fatal heart disease

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‘Superhuman’ technology known as Aire can detect potential problems doctors cannot see from ECG results

The NHS in England is to trial a “superhuman” artificial intelligence tool that predicts a patient’s risk of disease and dying early.

The new technology, known as AI-ECG risk estimation, or Aire, is trained to read the results of electrocardiogram (ECG) tests, which record the electrical activity of the heart and are used to check for problems.

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Woman, 60, arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over Dorset care home deaths

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Police confirm ‘possible carbon monoxide poisoning’ is main line of inquiry after fatalities at care home in Swanage

A 60-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by detectives investigating the deaths of three people at a care home in Dorset.

Officers are still treating the deaths at the Gainsborough care home in Swanage as unexplained and have confirmed that “possible carbon monoxide poisoning” is the primary line of inquiry. Seven other residents were taken to hospital.

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Plan to put solar panels on all new English homes could be scrapped

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Long-delayed regulations may ‘encourage’ housebuilders to equip homes with solar panels, rather than requiring them

Labour is considering making solar panels optional on new homes in England, after pressure from housebuilders, in a move that would weaken low-carbon regulations, the Guardian has learned.

Ministers are preparing to publish long-delayed regulations for new homes, known as the future homes standard, which would ensure that all newly built homes are low-carbon.

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Manchester Arena survivors win case against man who claimed there was ‘no bomb’

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Martin and Eve Hibbert, who suffered life-changing injuries in attack, win harassment claim against Richard Hall

Two survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing have won a high court harassment case against a former television producer who claimed the attack had been staged.

Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve sued Richard Hall for harassment and data protection over his claims in several videos and a book that “there was no bomb”.

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Coin trove from time of Norman conquest becomes England’s highest-value find

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£4.3m hoard acquired for the nation by South West Heritage Trust will be displayed at British Museum next month

It began with a speculative trip to a soggy field in south-west England by a seven-strong band of metal detectorists more intent on figuring out how to use some new kit rather than unearthing anything of great historical importance.

But the friends came upon an astonishing hoard of coins – 2,584 silver pennies – from the time of the Norman conquest, which has been valued at £4.3m, making it the highest-value treasure find ever in England.

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Met police officer who shot Chris Kaba acquitted of murder

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Martyn Blake shot Kaba, who was unarmed, in 2022, saying he feared Kaba would use his Audi to kill officers

A Metropolitan police armed officer on trial for murder after shooting an unarmed suspect in the head has been acquitted.

Martyn Blake shot Chris Kaba in September 2022 on a residential street in Streatham, south London.

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Woman in Leeds jailed for posting sexual images of father’s ex-lover online

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Eleanor Brown, 24, given three-year sentence for ‘vindictive, selfish and vengeful offending’ against woman

A woman who posted sexual images of her father’s former lover on an escort site has been jailed for three years by a judge who described it as “vindictive, selfish and vengeful offending”.

Eleanor Brown, 24, had held a deep-seated grudge against the victim after her father had a short-lived affair with the woman in 2012, Leeds crown court heard.

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Water companies raise bonuses to £9.1m despite record sewage discharges

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Third of total comprises bonuses at Severn Trent as indebted Thames nearly doubles payouts to executives

Bonuses for water company bosses in England and Wales rose to £9.1m this year despite record sewage discharges into rivers and seas.

More than a third of that total comprised bonuses at Severn Trent, which was fined £2m this year for “reckless” pollution but lifted its bonuses to £3.36m.

Thames Water almost doubled its payouts to executives, from £746,000 in 2021-22 to £1.3m in 2023-24, despite its CEO quitting halfway through the year.

Data from Companies House, analysed by the Liberal Democrats, show that overall bonuses increased from £9.013m last year to £9.127m this year.

The payouts pile further pressure on the regulator, Ofwat, to intervene in the decisions of water company boards. Last year, raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas, a 105% increase on the previous 12 months.

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