Author: Darren Smith

Britain’s first official heatwave of the year brought chaos to Bournemouth beach over the Bank Holiday weekend, as tens of thousands of sun-seekers descended on the Dorset coast and scenes unfolded around the pier that kept police and paramedics busy throughout the afternoon. Youths were photographed inhaling nitrous oxide — commonly known as “hippy crack” — from balloons as crowds gathered in the sweltering heat. The smell of cannabis hung in the air as drum and bass music blared from loudspeakers along the seafront. A teenage girl, believed to have consumed too many vodka mixers, had to be carried from…

A former military officer with a history of mental health incidents has been shot dead by police after emerging from his home in suburban Brisbane armed with a rifle and wearing full tactical gear, in circumstances that the Queensland Police Union has described as a possible case of “suicide by cop.” Jordan Thomas Kirk, 48, was killed by two Queensland Police officers in the early hours of Sunday morning outside a property on Cavill Way in Narangba, in the Moreton Bay region of southeast Queensland. Officers had responded to a domestic violence call for help from inside the home and…

A world-record diver who descended 900 feet into one of South Africa’s most notorious underwater caves on a mission to recover a fellow diver’s body made a single catastrophic error that cost him his life — a tragedy whose haunting echoes have resurfaced following the deaths of five Italian divers in a cave system in the Maldives earlier this month. Australian diver Dave Shaw, a commercial pilot and celebrated cave explorer, first visited Bushman’s Hole in the Northern Cape in October 2004, setting a world record for the deepest dive using a rebreather device at 927 feet — a depth…

A Nigerian man convicted of three attempted rapes and kidnapping has finally been deported from Britain after almost a decade of legal wrangling, following a Court of Appeal ruling that previous judgments blocking his removal had stretched human rights law too far and were based on speculation too remote to justify keeping him in the country. The man, known only as OSB and granted anonymity by the immigration courts, had been fighting deportation since the Home Office issued a removal order in February 2017 — despite having had no legal right to be in Britain since his appeal rights were…

A government minister broke down in tears on live television after hearing a 15-year-old rape victim describe the decision to spare her attackers from jail as feeling like “a rock straight in my face” — as the Attorney General faces mounting pressure to refer the sentences to the Court of Appeal. The girl, one of two teenagers raped by a group of boys in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, gave a harrowing interview on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme in which she questioned why she had put herself through the ordeal of a trial only to see her attackers walk free.…

A 17-year-old boy has been stabbed and nine people arrested after mass brawls broke out at a large unauthorised gathering of youths on Clapham Common on Friday evening, in the latest outbreak of youth violence to strike south London in the space of weeks. Officers were scrambled to the popular park on the evening of 22 May after fighting erupted among large numbers of teenagers at what was described as an unauthorised gathering, believed to have begun as a music event. Footage circulated widely on social media showing brutal scenes — including youths throwing punches and, in some cases, targeting…

The BBC has faced serious criticism after presenting the conclusions of an organisation that anyone can join for the price of a cinema ticket as the considered verdict of “the world’s leading genocide scholars” — in a headline that triggered parliamentary debates, shaped public opinion and rippled through international media coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict. On 1 September last year, the International Association of Genocide Scholars published a press release declaring that Israel’s actions in Gaza met the legal definition of genocide. The BBC ran with it immediately, headlining the story: “Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s leading experts say.”…

Almost 700 migrants crossed the English Channel in just two days at the weekend as people-smugglers exploited warm weather and favourable sea conditions, pushing the yearly total above 8,000 arrivals and reigniting debate about the government’s ability to stem the flow despite a landmark new deal with France. Official figures show 681 migrants made the crossing from France across ten boats on Friday and Saturday — the first recorded dinghy arrivals in 13 days. Nearly 400 crossed on Friday alone, with a further 287 making the journey on Saturday. The two-day surge brings the total number of small boat arrivals…

Britain holds less than two weeks’ worth of stored gas supply and risks becoming dangerously dependent on foreign imports unless urgent action is taken to reverse the decline of North Sea production — warnings that have intensified pressure on the Labour government over its decision to block new oil and gas exploration licences. The stark figures, highlighted by industry body Offshore Energies UK, lay bare the scale of Britain’s exposure. An analysis by sector body Energy UK found the country has significantly less natural gas storage capacity than comparable European nations. While the Netherlands holds close to 200 days’ worth…

The RSPCA is appealing for information after CCTV footage captured the moment a woman abandoned a dying four-month-old puppy outside a kennels near Leeds — leaving him in the dark two hours after the facility had closed, with a head injury, blood coming from one ear and a body condition so poor vets rated it just one out of five. The puppy, named Hobi by those who cared for him, was a lurcher-cross left outside Woodhaven Kennels in South Milford at 7pm on 6 May. The kennel owner discovered him and rushed him to a vet, but despite their efforts…