Author: Darren Smith

A woman who murdered her 84-year-old husband with a small paring knife and told police he must have stumbled and fallen onto the blade while carrying her lunch tray has been jailed for life with a minimum of 12 years, after a jury rejected her account of an accident for the second time. Daryl Berman, 72, was convicted of murdering retired businessman David Berman at their £500,000 detached home in Butterstile Lane, Prestwich, Greater Manchester, on 13 March last year. A first jury was unable to reach a verdict, but following a retrial last month she was found guilty of…

Vickrum Digwa, the man jailed for life for stabbing 18-year-old student Henry Nowak to death in Southampton, has applied to the Court of Appeal in a bid to quash his murder conviction and reduce his sentence — a move that comes as newly released footage shows him lying to police as his victim lay dying metres away. Digwa, 23, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years after stabbing Henry five times with a 21cm ceremonial blade in December 2025. The sentence had already been referred to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient scheme by Solicitor…

Tens of thousands of migrants have fled South Africa after gangs issued death threats to the country’s estimated ten million foreign nationals, demanding all undocumented migrants leave by a 30 June deadline or face being hunted down and killed. The anti-migrant group March by March had set the deadline weeks in advance, triggering waves of violence across major cities including Johannesburg, Durban and Pietermaritzburg. While some demonstrations remained peaceful, others descended into looting, riots and clashes with police, resulting in more than 900 arrests. South African police have confirmed the deaths of at least four people — one Malawian, two…

Millions of people in England are going to have to wait longer than expected before they can claim a free bus pass, following a change that took effect this year as the state pension age begins its gradual rise from 66 to 67. The free bus pass in England is directly tied to the state pension age, meaning that as the pension age increases, so does the age at which people become entitled to free travel. Under the previous system, anyone reaching 66 was eligible to apply. That has now changed. Anyone who turned 66 before April 2026 can still…

A 17-year-old British boy is on life support in an Athens hospital after falling from a hotel balcony in the early hours of Friday morning, with a local shopkeeper arrested for allegedly selling him alcohol before the incident. The teenager plunged from the first floor of a hotel in Chalandri, a northern suburb of Athens known as a party district, and was rushed to the Red Cross Hospital where he was intubated and placed in intensive care. A source told the Sun his condition was “touch and go,” describing multiple injuries including internal wounds. “He has multiple wounds, some internal,…

Manchester City’s record-breaking £116 million capture of England midfielder Elliot Anderson has thrown fresh attention on one of football’s most extraordinary ongoing sagas — the still-unresolved outcome of the Premier League’s 115 charges against the club, with no verdict in sight more than 19 months after the hearing concluded. Anderson joins from Nottingham Forest in a deal that makes him one of the most expensive midfielders in Premier League history. That City are willing to spend at this level in the first transfer window since Pep Guardiola’s departure is itself significant — it signals that the club’s ambitions and their…

Christian Horner is expected to make his return to the Formula One paddock at this weekend’s British Grand Prix — a year on from the controversy that ended his two-decade reign at Red Bull — as he weighs up a number of options that could see him back in the pit lane in a senior role. The 52-year-old was relieved of his duties at Red Bull just 48 hours after last year’s Silverstone race following a power struggle within the organisation. He received an £80 million severance package and has been free to pursue other employment since March. According to…

Wimbledon has permitted a Turkish tennis player to display a watermelon symbol on her racket — widely recognised as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity — while simultaneously telling her she was not allowed to wear a Palestine pin, in a distinction that has prompted sharp questions about the tournament’s approach to political expression on court. Tournament director Jamie Baker confirmed that the watermelon-shaped vibration dampener used by world number 51 Zeynep Sönmez, 24, did not breach the All England Club’s rules on political messaging. “We don’t allow any kind of political messaging from players on court, certainly that caused any…

Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated from campsites and homes in southern France as out-of-control wildfires swept through the country, while violent scenes erupted in supermarkets across the nation as desperate shoppers fought each other — in some cases pulling each other’s hair and tackling rivals to the ground — to secure fans and air conditioning units ahead of a fresh wave of extreme heat. The fire broke out at a campsite in Sainte-Marie-la-Mer, near the Spanish border, destroying dozens of mobile homes before spreading to the neighbouring town of Canet-en-Roussillon. Perpignan airport was closed as approximately 2,000 firefighters battled…

A man is fighting for his life in a New York hospital after setting himself on fire outside the United Nations headquarters in an apparent act of protest over Tibet, in one of the most dramatic demonstrations seen outside the landmark building in recent years. The incident unfolded at around 7pm on Thursday on East 43rd Street and First Avenue in Manhattan, directly in front of the UN complex. According to sources cited by the New York Post, UN surveillance cameras captured the man planting a Tibetan flag on the pavement before the self-immolation took place. Emergency services rushed to…