Author: Darren Smith

A Hindu festival attended by around 1,000 people in Harrow was violently disrupted last week when a group of up to 20 youths descended on the celebration, throwing glass bottles and beer cans before fleeing as police arrived — with only one arrest made in the aftermath. The incident took place on the evening of 3 March outside the Harrow Civic Centre on Station Road, where the International Siddhashram Shakti Centre had organised its annual Holi celebration. The event had been running peacefully when, just after 8.30pm, three teenagers arrived and switched off the sound system before throwing the speakers…

A prisoner has been charged with the murder of Ian Huntley, the convicted killer of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, after the Soham murderer died in hospital following a brutal attack at a maximum-security jail in County Durham. Anthony Russell, 43, a fellow inmate at HMP Frankland, was charged by Durham Constabulary after Huntley, 52, died on the morning of Saturday 7 March — nine days after being assaulted in the prison’s workshop on 26 February. Russell is due to appear via videolink at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 11 March. Huntley had been on life support in…

Former Premier League midfielder Joey Barton was in police custody on Monday morning after being arrested on suspicion of wounding following an alleged altercation at a golf club in Merseyside on Sunday night. Merseyside Police confirmed that emergency services were called to Fairway, close to Huyton and Prescot Golf Club in Huyton, at around 9pm following reports of an assault. A man was taken to hospital for assessment of injuries to his face and ribs. Two men were subsequently arrested in connection with the incident — a 50-year-old and a 43-year-old — both on suspicion of section 18 wounding. Both…

Relations between Ukraine and Hungary have deteriorated to their lowest point in years following a series of escalating confrontations involving a seized cash convoy, a blocked oil pipeline, a controversial visit to Moscow and a direct threat by President Volodymyr Zelensky against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The most recent flashpoint came in the early hours of Friday, when Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha accused Budapest of effectively taking seven Ukrainian citizens “hostage.” The individuals are employees of Oschadbank, one of Ukraine’s largest state-owned banks, and had been transiting between Austria and Ukraine in two bank vehicles carrying cash as…

A 19th-century synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège has been damaged in a suspected explosion in the early hours of Monday morning, with the city’s mayor describing it as a “violent act of antisemitism” as counter-terrorism police launched an investigation. The blast, which occurred at around 4am, caused significant material damage to the synagogue — a building dating back to 1899 that serves as a museum documenting the history of the city’s Jewish community. Windows in buildings across the road were also blown out by the force of the explosion. No injuries have been reported. Authorities have established a…

Samantha Bryan, the biological daughter of Soham murderer Ian Huntley, has said she felt “relieved” and “over the moon” upon learning of her father’s death, declaring he deserves no funeral, no grave and that his ashes should be “flushed down the toilet.” Huntley, 52, died on Saturday after his life support machine was switched off with the agreement of his mother, Lynda Richards, who had been at his bedside. He never regained consciousness following a brutal assault at HMP Frankland in County Durham on 26 February, in which he was allegedly bludgeoned with a three-foot metal bar in a prison…

Britain is facing a potential energy crisis after its natural gas reserves fell to just 1.5 days’ worth of supply, leaving the country more exposed than almost any other nation in Europe as the Middle East conflict disrupts global energy markets. New data published by National Gas shows the UK’s gas stores have collapsed from 18,000 GWh last year to just 6,700 GWh — equivalent to roughly a day and a half of national demand. A similar quantity is held as liquefied natural gas. By contrast, European nations have maintained several weeks’ worth of reserves, leaving Britain in a significantly…

Ian Huntley, convicted of one of the most notorious child murders in British criminal history, has died at the age of 52 after succumbing to injuries sustained during an assault by a fellow prisoner at HMP Frankland in County Durham on 26 February. Huntley had been on life support in hospital following the attack, in which he suffered severe head trauma after being struck with a makeshift weapon by another inmate in a prison workshop. He had never regained consciousness after the assault. Triple killer Anthony Russell, 43, is understood to be suspected of carrying out the attack. Huntley had…

Ian Huntley, the man convicted of murdering Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002, is on life support and considered unlikely to survive after being attacked with a spiked metal pole at a Category A prison in County Durham last week. The 52-year-old, who is serving a minimum 40-year sentence for the murders of the ten-year-olds, has not regained consciousness since the assault at HMP Frankland last Thursday. According to The Sun, doctors initially placed his chances of survival at just five per cent. Brain stem tests have since returned poor results, and medical staff are now reported…

Four men have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran as part of a long-running counter-terrorism investigation focused on the surveillance of Jewish community sites and individuals in London, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed. The arrests were carried out in the early hours of Friday morning by detectives from Counter Terrorism Policing London, who swooped on addresses in Barnet, Watford and Harrow as part of a pre-planned operation beginning shortly after 1am. A further six men were arrested at the same Harrow location on suspicion of assisting an offender, bringing the total number detained to ten. All ten remain…