Author: Darren Smith

Six members of a drugs gang have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a woman who was shot dead at her door in Talbot Green after being caught in the crossfire of a turf war between two rival organised crime groups. Joanne Penney was killed on 9 March 2025 when Marcus Huntley, 21, shot her as she answered the door of a property in Talbot Green that was being used by both gangs to deal drugs. Joanne herself had no connection to either criminal group. Melissa Quailey-Dashper, 40, had been instructed to knock on the door to…

A 16-year-old boy has been found not guilty of the murder and manslaughter of nine-year-old Aria Thorpe, who died after being stabbed through the heart at her home in Weston-super-Mare last December. The jury at Bristol Crown Court returned its not guilty verdict after hearing harrowing evidence about the death of Aria, who was stabbed in the chest on 15 December last year while sitting on the sofa eating pizza and watching YouTube at her home in North Somerset. In a statement read to the jury, Aria’s mother Victoria Hull described the ordinary family evening that ended in tragedy. She…

A short video showing a young man blocking an elderly woman’s path on a London Overground staircase while she struggled to ascend has gone viral, drawing more than 400,000 views and sparking widespread anger over what many described as a failure of basic public decency. The 31-second clip, posted to X by user @TheNorfolkLion, shows an elderly woman in a pink top, light trousers and sandals making her way up a station staircase while holding the handrail for support. A younger man in shorts and white Nike trainers is positioned directly in her path near the rail, appearing to be…

Police made multiple arrests and dispersed crowds after fights broke out on beaches in Broadstairs and Margate on Wednesday as large numbers of people descended on the Kent coast during the heatwave. The trouble began at around 5.35pm when officers were called to a fight on the beach at Viking Bay in Broadstairs involving a small group that had attracted a crowd of onlookers. An 18-year-old man from London, an 18-year-old man from Swanley and a 16-year-old boy from Dartford were all arrested on suspicion of assault. A man in his 20s suffered a cut to his head in the…

Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake Strikes Off Japan’s Iwate Prefecture A powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake has struck off the coast of Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan, with strong shaking reported across parts of Aomori and Iwate as emergency alerts were broadcast across the region. The Japan Meteorological Agency recorded the quake at approximately 7.30am local time on Wednesday 25 June, with the epicentre located off the Iwate coast at a depth of around 50 kilometres. The JMA recorded shaking of upper 6 — described as “6-strong” on Japan’s seismic intensity scale — in parts of Aomori Prefecture, including the Sanpachi-Kamikita region, while…

Earthquake Strikes Northern Venezuela As Tremors Felt Across Region A magnitude 6.2 earthquake has struck northern Venezuela this evening, with tremors felt across a wide area including the cities of Valencia, San Felipe and Puerto Cabello, according to preliminary seismological reports. The quake struck at around 22:04 UTC — 6:04pm local time — with its epicentre located approximately 104 kilometres east of Barquisimeto in Lara state, at a depth of around 35 kilometres. The relatively shallow depth contributed to the wide area over which shaking was reported, with residents across the Yaracuy and Carabobo regions describing strong movement in homes…

A 17-year-old boy, Louis has died after being ambushed and beaten to death by a group of five attackers in Narbonne, southern France, with his killers filming themselves repeatedly kicking him in the head while mocking him as he lay dying on the ground. Louis, who had been placed in foster care in nearby Carcassonne by child protection services, was found unconscious on a construction site on the evening of 19-20 June with catastrophic head injuries, severe facial trauma and bleeding from his nose and mouth. He was rushed to hospital and placed in an induced coma but could not…

Tonight’s World Cup clash between Brazil and Scotland at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens kicks off at 11pm UK time — and if one of Brazil’s most followed psychics is to be believed, it could end with thousands of fans and players being beamed aboard a UFO mothership. Vó Bahiana, whose real name is Elisângela de Souza, has gone viral across the globe after posting a warning on 2 June to her 23.4 million Instagram followers, urging people to stay away from the stadium tonight. “Do not go to the stadium in Miami on June 24, 2026. Stay away,”…

A former British Airways pilot has been jailed for nine years and four months after grooming a 12-year-old girl on Instagram and travelling across the country to rape her three times at an isolated location. Kwame Yeboah, 30, of Drake Way, Reading, first made contact with the child online in late 2025. She initially told him she was 17, but the Crown Prosecution Service said the nature of her messages, her references to school and images of herself in school uniform would have made her true age apparent long before the attack took place. When he met her in person,…

Frank Carone, who served as chief of staff to former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, has been arrested as part of a federal investigation into an alleged bribery scheme involving a city contract, according to a person familiar with the matter. Carone was taken into custody alongside his brother and two other individuals, said the source, who was not authorised to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. Indictments were expected to be unsealed later on Wednesday. No further details about the nature of the alleged bribery scheme or the specific city contract involved…