Author: Darren Smith

A man with previous convictions for rape has been jailed for life with a minimum of 33 years for the sexual murder of a 21-year-old woman whose death he confessed to while being arrested for robbing an Asda supermarket — having taken graphic photographs of her body before going on a violent rampage across Dewsbury. Michael Moore, 38, also known as Michael Doherty, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after admitting the murder of Courtney Angus, whose body was discovered at his address in Batley, West Yorkshire, in July last year. Moore also pleaded guilty to theft and three counts…

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a village pub owner who died after being punched outside a cocktail bar in Lichfield over the Bank Holiday weekend. Billy Allison, 36, of Solihull, appeared before Judge Avik Mukherjee at Lichfield Crown Court on Thursday morning for an eight-minute hearing, speaking only to confirm his name. He is charged with murder and grievous bodily harm with intent following an incident outside the Ricco and Loren bar in the Staffordshire cathedral city at 11.25pm on Sunday. Police were called after reports that two men had been punched outside the…

A Thai masseuse has ignited a bitter planning dispute at an upmarket waterside development in Dorset after setting up a massage therapy room in a garden log cabin — with neighbours claiming it breaches residential contracts, poses a fire risk and raises security concerns about clients coming and going “day and night.” Preeyaphon Wansanit began advertising her Thai massage therapy business to residents at Carters Quay, a sought-after development in Poole, triggering a flood of complaints and forcing her to apply for retrospective planning permission after building the cabin without prior approval. The structure is almost 9ft wide and more…

A 32-year-old Colombian woman was kidnapped, held captive for more than 72 hours and repeatedly gang-raped in a derelict squat on the outskirts of Rome, Italian police have confirmed — with five irregular migrants arrested following her escape and eleven others expelled from the country. The victim, who had been in Italy for only ten days, was approached outside a restaurant on the evening of 19 May by a man offering a hashish deal. She was forced into a van, stripped of her phone and documents and taken to a squatted building on Via Cesare Tallone in the Tor Cervara…

Three people have been stabbed at a busy Swiss train station by a man reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar” in front of terrified bystanders including young schoolchildren, in an attack that prompted a major police response in the country’s eighth-largest city. The assault took place at Winterthur train station, northwest of Zurich, shortly after 8.30am on Wednesday morning. According to eyewitness accounts, a man began attacking people with a knife while repeatedly shouting the Arabic phrase. A teacher is reported to have stepped in front of a group of kindergarten pupils in an attempt to shield them from the attacker as…

Hundreds of swimmers returned to a protected wildlife pond on Hampstead Heath for a third consecutive day during the Bank Holiday heatwave — scaring nesting birds, kicking ducks off inflatables and swimming through waters where cygnets were only thirteen days old, as furious residents accused authorities of standing by and doing nothing. The scenes at the Model Boating Pond, a no-swimming zone that sits at the heart of a wildlife sanctuary created with £50,000 in public donations, have provoked some of the sharpest public anger seen on the Heath in years. Footage posted to Instagram account @swansofhampsteadheath showed boisterous swimmers…

The Taliban has introduced sweeping new family legislation that contains no minimum age for marriage, effectively legalising child marriage in Afghanistan and prompting urgent condemnation from the United Nations, human rights organisations and women’s rights groups around the world. The 31-article regulation, titled the Code on Judicial Separation of Spouses and approved by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, was published by the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice on 14 May. It dismantles legal protections that existed before the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, when Afghanistan’s civil code set the minimum marriage age at 16 for girls — and the 2009…

Clashes broke out in Norwich city centre on Wednesday after hundreds gathered to protest following the charging of seven Afghan asylum seekers with 40 child sexual exploitation offences — including multiple counts of rape against two teenage girls — in one of the most serious grooming gang investigations Britain has seen in years. The demonstration, advertised as a “Rape gang protest Norwich,” drew crowds to the steps of Norwich City Hall, where speakers addressed demonstrators carrying St George’s flags, Union Jacks and placards bearing slogans including “Stop Immigration, Start Deporting.” Tensions escalated when counter-protesters walked through the crowd, prompting shouting…

Bristol’s historic former Lloyds Bank regional headquarters is to undergo a £74 million transformation, with planning permission granted for a major overhaul that will turn the landmark harbourside building into a premium workspace destination complete with waterfront restaurants, saunas, a cold plunge pool and a rooftop boardroom. Canon House, a Grade II listed building on the city’s harbourside known for its distinctive crescent design and expansive courtyard, has been given the green light for the project by real estate investors Mactaggart Family & Partners and workspace company Kinrise, who acquired the site in 2024. The revamp will create 197,000 square…

A man filmed an 18-year-old student as he bled to death after stabbing him multiple times with a large ceremonial Sikh blade, a court has heard — with prosecutors alleging he then falsely accused the dying teenager of making racist remarks to justify the attack. Vickrum Digwa, 23, is on trial at Southampton Crown Court charged with murdering finance student Henry Nowak on 3 December 2023. Henry, who was studying at the University of Southampton, was making his way home from a night out when Digwa allegedly stabbed him repeatedly with a Shastar — a ceremonial Sikh blade measuring 21…