Author: Darren Smith

Surrey Police have launched formal investigations into two separate allegations of historical child sexual abuse contained within the Epstein files, making the force the third British police service to open a criminal inquiry since the US Department of Justice released millions of documents relating to the convicted sex offender. The force confirmed that one allegation relates to locations in Surrey and Berkshire between the mid-1990s and 2000, while the second concerns west Surrey in the mid to late 1980s. In a statement, officers said alleged victims are currently being interviewed and that no arrests have been made. “We take all…

Pep Guardiola is set to leave Manchester City at the end of the season, bringing down the curtain on one of the most successful managerial reigns in the history of English football — with an announcement expected on Sunday following City’s final Premier League game against Aston Villa. The Daily Mail reports that City have begun informing their commercial partners that the announcement is imminent, and that the news has been an open secret among those close to the Catalan coach for some time. Sources inside City’s training ground suggest Guardiola made his decision weeks ago, with further changes to…

A 22-year-old Israeli man was beaten to near unconsciousness by a group of masked attackers in Golders Green in the early hours of Monday morning after they overheard him speaking Hebrew on his phone — the latest in a wave of antisemitic attacks targeting one of London’s most prominent Jewish communities. Shalev Ben-Yakar had stepped outside his flat on Golders Green Road, close to the King Solomon Hotel, at around 2am to take a call from friends in South America, not wanting to disturb his flatmates. After hearing him speaking Hebrew, a group of five or six men wearing tracksuits…

The Government is considering raising the age of criminal responsibility from ten years old in England and Wales, Justice Secretary David Lammy has confirmed — a move that risks becoming the latest flashpoint in a growing row over Labour’s approach to crime and punishment. A new youth justice White Paper published by the Ministry of Justice on Monday stopped short of proposing a specific new minimum age, but explicitly raised the possibility of change for the first time, noting that comparable jurisdictions have adopted higher thresholds and that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends a minimum…

Police are hunting a second suspect after two teenage girls were raped in the early hours of Saturday morning on South Beach Parade in Great Yarmouth, in an attack that has shocked the Norfolk seaside resort and prompted a major police response. Officers were called to the scene at 12.37am following reports that the two girls had been raped. A man in his 30s was arrested the following day in Northamptonshire on suspicion of rape and taken to King’s Lynn Police Investigation Centre, where he remains in custody. However, police believe a second man was involved and have issued a…

The FBI has announced a $200,000 reward for information leading to the capture of a former United States Air Force counterintelligence officer who is wanted on federal espionage charges after allegedly defecting to Iran and handing over highly classified national defence secrets. Monica Witt, now 47, served in the US military from 1997 to 2008 before working as a government defence contractor until 2010. She defected to Iran in 2013, according to the FBI, and was charged with espionage in February 2019 following an investigation into her alleged activities on behalf of the Iranian regime. During her military service, Witt…

Tens of thousands of protesters have poured into central London for two rival demonstrations in what police have described as an unprecedented policing operation costing £4.5 million, as the city simultaneously hosts the FA Cup final at Wembley. Around 80,000 people are expected across both events — an estimated 50,000 at Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally and a further 30,000 at the annual pro-Palestine Nakba Day march. Some 4,000 officers have been deployed, with 660 drafted in from forces outside the Metropolitan Police, alongside armoured vehicles, horses, dogs, drones and helicopters. By 1pm, eleven arrests had been made for…

British Transport Police have released CCTV footage of a man they want to trace following the sexual assault of a woman on the stairs of a busy London Overground station last month. The incident took place at Walthamstow Central station on 29 April, when a man approached the victim on a flight of stairs before allegedly assaulting her. The suspect left the area following the attack. Detectives have now released an image of a man they believe may have information that could assist their investigation. A British Transport Police spokesperson said: “Detectives would like to speak to the man pictured,…

A man in his twenties has been found dead inside a car in woodland near the M54 motorway in Staffordshire, after a teenager with potentially life-threatening injuries was discovered at a separate address in Smethwick — with police now investigating a collision that appears to connect both incidents. Officers were alerted in the early hours of Friday morning after West Midlands Police received reports of a man in his late teens being taken to hospital by ambulance from an address in Smethwick. The teenager, whose injuries were described as potentially life-threatening, was said to have been involved in a collision…

A Syrian refugee has been found guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman in a public toilet on Bournemouth seafront after luring her away from the beachfront during a night out, a court has heard. Mohammed Abdullah, 19, locked his victim inside a Portaloo before subjecting her to a violent sexual assault as she desperately tried to fight him off. He was convicted of rape and assault by penetration following a trial at which he had claimed the encounter was consensual. Sentencing Abdullah to an inevitable custodial term, Judge Robert Pawson told him directly: “On the 5th to 6th July, having…