Author: Darren Smith

A senior legal executive who joked that a raffle winner could “take the virginity” of a junior female colleague, and was found to have trapped a wheelchair user against her will on a dancefloor, has been banned from the legal profession following a disciplinary tribunal. Darren Shaw, a chartered legal executive at personal injury firm Keller Postman, made the comments during the firm’s annual conference in Manchester in 2022, after a “Virgin Experience Day” was announced as a raffle prize. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard he joked “loudly” that a junior colleague was a “virgin” and that whoever won the…

West Ham have insisted they are under no financial pressure to sell midfielder Mateus Fernandes, despite growing interest from Manchester United and Arsenal following the club’s relegation from the Premier League. Shareholder Daniel Kretinsky, who is set to become West Ham’s largest shareholder and also owns the Daily Mail, told The Times the club’s priority is securing an immediate return to the top flight rather than raising funds through player sales. “We have a very credible strategy,” Kretinsky said. “We don’t need to sell the players for financial reasons. We are doing this to make sure we are promoted back…

US President Donald Trump has said a deal to end the war with Iran could be signed as early as Sunday, even as Tehran disputed the timeline and Israel carried out renewed strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs despite a declared ceasefire. According to Al Jazeera, Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would “open to all” once the deal is signed, and claimed the United States would eventually secure access to Iran’s nuclear material. Iranian media, however, reported that Tehran had “not yet taken a final decision” on the proposed framework agreement, with officials suggesting any signing could instead take place…

A Victorian woman has been widely praised online after standing up for an Officeworks staff member who was being berated by a customer, in an incident that escalated into a heated exchange in the store’s car park. Georgia Koik said she intervened after witnessing the customer being unkind to a staff member at Officeworks Maroochydore on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. “I just ran into Officeworks and this old hag was having a go at the person that worked and I was like, ‘There’s no need to speak like that to him,'” Koik said. “She’s like, ‘You need to mind your own…

A 28-year-old Ukrainian mother died just metres from safety after shielding her two young sons from a second missile strike on her Kyiv neighbourhood, in an attack that killed six people and injured almost twenty during a renewed wave of intensified Russian strikes on the capital. Veronika Chuyan had already survived one missile impact near her apartment block, which shook the building and destroyed a children’s playground in the courtyard below. Seeing a neighbouring residential building engulfed in flames, she gathered her sons, three-year-old Jacob and five-year-old Jasim, and led them through debris and damaged furniture to join other residents…

British Transport Police have released CCTV images of two men they want to identify after a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by buskers travelling on the Elizabeth Line. The incident occurred at around 11pm on Saturday 6 June, when a group of buskers boarded an eastbound service at Whitechapel station in east London. During the journey, two men from the group are alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman before the train reached Stratford, where the suspects got off. In a statement, BTP said: “At just before 11pm on Saturday 6 June, a group of buskers boarded an eastbound service…

Footage circulating online appears to show police officers restraining a young boy, believed to be around five years old, during the arrest of a man in an open area. The clip has prompted a heated debate about how officers handle children who are present when a parent or relative is detained. In the video, officers can be seen using pepper spray on a man lying on the ground. One officer then takes hold of the boy, holding his arms behind his back before placing him inside a police vehicle. The boy’s mother, who is carrying a baby, attempts to reach…

A man has been sentenced to 34 years in prison after a 24-year-old woman was abducted by masked men upon landing at Birmingham Airport, driven to London and subjected to more than a day of torture and rape at a house in Hanwell. Gagandeep Singh, 34, of Heathfield Road, Wandsworth, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday after being found guilty of two counts of rape, false imprisonment, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and kidnap. The sentence comprises 28 years in custody followed by a six-year extended licence period. He will not be eligible for parole until he…

A 66-year-old cyclist had a quarter of his skull removed after crashing into the debris of a fly-tipped shed on a country road in Essex, leaving him with no memory of his own family when he eventually woke from a three-week coma. Colin Appleton came off his bike near Brentwood after his tyre was punctured by a nail protruding from a dismantled, asbestos-riddled shed that had been dumped at the roadside. He was airlifted to hospital in a life-threatening condition, where doctors gave him only a ten per cent chance of survival. He remained unconscious for three weeks and spent…

The Red Arrows return to the skies this afternoon for a display over Shropshire and the West Midlands, just a day after taking part in the Trooping the Colour flypast over Buckingham Palace for the King’s birthday. The aerobatic team will take off from East Midlands Airport in Castle Donington before heading towards Stoke-on-Trent, Newport and Lilleshall en route to the main display at RAF Cosford. After leaving the crowds there, the jets will fly over Wombourne and Lichfield before landing at RAF Waddington. The official flight path timings for today are as follows: 2.48pm departure from East Midlands (EGNX);…