Author: Darren Smith

A transgender woman sentenced to 14 months in prison for stalking the surgeon who carried out her gender reassignment procedure is being held at a women’s jail in Surrey, prompting scrutiny from a Conservative MP who says she is urgently looking into the placement. Vivienne Taylor, 28, pleaded guilty to causing serious alarm or distress and stalking at Isleworth Crown Court last March, following a four-year campaign of harassment against consultant urological surgeon Dr Tina Rashid. The offending began shortly after Taylor underwent reassignment surgery in Putney in 2021, initially sending the surgeon a cake as a gesture of thanks…

Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israeli commanders to destroy as many high-value Iranian targets as possible within 48 hours, amid deepening alarm within the Israeli government that Donald Trump could reach a ceasefire deal with Tehran before Israel’s core war objectives are achieved. The deadline was issued from Netanyahu’s Tel Aviv bunker after he reviewed Trump’s proposed 15-point peace framework, which Israeli officials present at the meeting described as insufficiently robust in curbing Iran’s military capabilities despite its restrictions on missiles and nuclear development. Sources described the atmosphere in the underground meeting as “tense.” Israel’s war aims centre on three objectives:…

A 27-year-old trainee veterinarian has died after being attacked by a pregnant hippopotamus during a late-night inspection at a zoo in Karnataka, India, prompting an official inquiry into why she was in the enclosure alone. Sameeksha Reddy was conducting checks on animals at the Tavarekoppa Lion and Safari Zoo in the Shivamogga district shortly before midnight on Thursday when the incident occurred. Armed with a thermal camera to assess the animal’s temperature, she entered the enclosure of a hippo named Hamsini — which was days away from giving birth and had been under close observation. The animal charged without warning…

A teenager who spent weeks meticulously planning his mother’s killing — researching methods of murder, researching how to avoid detection and purchasing an array of potential weapons — has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years and six months. Tristan Roberts was 18 years old when he killed Angela Shellis, 45, a teaching assistant, in the early hours of 24 October 2025. In the weeks before the killing, he had posted a still from the film American Psycho on the messaging platform Discord, alongside messages suggesting he was experiencing violent urges. On the day of…

Dame Sarah Mullally has been enthroned as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury at a historic ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral, becoming the first woman to lead the Church of England in its nearly five centuries of existence and the first female spiritual leader of Christianity in England in over 1,400 years. Around 2,000 people attended the service, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and representatives from other faiths, charities, healthcare and schools. The King, who congratulated Dame Sarah on her appointment last October, was not present, though as head of the…

A Moroccan asylum seeker already serving a life sentence for murder has been charged with the attempted murder of prison officers following two separate incidents at high-security jails, counter terrorism policing has confirmed. Ahmed Ali Alid, 47, faces charges of attempted murder, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon in connection with incidents at HMP Full Sutton on 8 August last year and HMP Wakefield approximately two months later. Alid was convicted in October 2024 of murdering Terence Carney, a 70-year-old man from Hartlepool, in a street attack. He is currently serving a life sentence for…

A judge at Liverpool Crown Court called for a minute’s silence to honour the memory of a thirteen-week-old baby boy after his parents were sentenced to life imprisonment for his murder. Miguel Pirjani died having suffered injuries that medical examination revealed were not isolated to a single incident — fractures at various stages of healing across his body pointed to a sustained pattern of harm during his short life. The severe and irreversible brain injury that ultimately killed him came to light on 24 November 2024, when his father Klevi Pirjani called 999 saying the baby had “just stopped breathing.”…

A man who laughed in a police interview when shown footage of himself killing a 56-year-old woman in a random street attack has been convicted of murder, following a five-week trial at Leicester Crown Court. Chukwuemeka Ahanonu, 24, of Leicester, was found guilty on Monday of murdering Nila Patel, a mother described by her family as “a beautiful, vibrant soul” and “one of the most kind-hearted people you could ever meet.” Mrs Patel died in hospital two days after the attack in Leicester city centre in June last year, having sustained severe brain damage. The assault took place moments after…

Kent Police has declined to investigate an art exhibition featuring drawings of Israelis eating babies, ruling that the artwork does not constitute a hate crime or a non-crime hate incident — a decision that has drawn sharp criticism from Jewish community organisations and prompted calls for the force to reverse its position. The exhibition, titled “Drawings Against Genocide,” was held at a gallery in Margate and sparked immediate backlash from Jewish groups who described the content as “grotesque,” “sickening” and “dangerous.” Among the works displayed was a piece depicting two auctioneers at Sotheby’s — owned by French-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi…

French authorities are intercepting a smaller proportion of migrants attempting to cross the English Channel than at any point this year, new figures show, as British officials prepare to travel to Paris to renegotiate the terms of a border security agreement worth close to half a billion pounds. In the week beginning 9 March, French patrols stopped just 68 migrants from making the crossing while 357 succeeded — a success rate of 19 per cent, the worst recorded in 2026 so far. The figures represent a continued decline from an already falling baseline. When Rishi Sunak signed the original £478…