Author: Darren Smith

A secondary school teacher suffocated a 13-month-old baby to death after subjecting him to a prolonged and “sinister” campaign of sexual abuse and physical violence while in the process of adopting him, a jury has heard. Preston Davey died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on 27 July 2023, having been brought in unconscious and in cardiac arrest by the two men who were seeking to adopt him. He was pronounced dead 48 minutes after his arrival, despite the efforts of medical staff. Jamie Varley, 37, a secondary school teacher, is accused of murdering Preston and faces a further range of charges…

Mobile phone bans in England’s schools are set to be enshrined in law after the Government announced plans to make the restrictions statutory. The Department for Education said it intends to amend the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to give legal force to existing guidance, which currently advises schools to prohibit phones on site but stops short of compelling them to do so. Under the current arrangements, head teachers are free to disregard the guidance if they see fit. A DfE spokesperson said the move was intended to formalise what the majority of schools were already doing in practice. “We…

Ukraine is drawing up plans to open its borders to migrant workers from Africa in an attempt to address a deepening labour shortage, as the country grapples with the human cost of more than three years of war with Russia. Kyrylo Budanov, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Presidential Office, outlined the proposals at the CEO Club Ukraine, saying the government intended to introduce new legislation governing the legal entry and residency of foreign workers. A revised list of designated “migration-risk” countries would be established as part of the framework, with the stated aim of making it easier for migrant workers…

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.5 in magnitude has struck off the northeast coast of Japan, prompting tsunami warnings across multiple coastal prefectures and triggering the evacuation of thousands of residents as emergency services moved swiftly to respond. The tremor was detected at approximately 4.53pm local time, originating around 100 kilometres off the Sanriku coast at a shallow depth of ten kilometres. The Japan Meteorological Agency initially recorded a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 before revising the figure, and immediately issued warnings of waves of up to three metres expected to strike coastal areas across northern Japan. The shaking was felt as…

Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a sharp public condemnation of an Israeli soldier who was photographed apparently destroying a statue of Jesus Christ in southern Lebanon, as the Israeli Defence Forces launched a criminal investigation into the incident. The image, which is believed to show the vandalism taking place in the Christian town of Debel, was shared on social media on Sunday and rapidly spread across multiple platforms, accumulating more than 5.3 million views on X alone. The photograph was initially posted by Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi, who captioned it as depicting an IDF soldier smashing the head of a Jesus…

The gunman who murdered eight children in a series of attacks across Shreveport, Louisiana on Sunday morning has been identified as Shamar Elkins, a 31-year-old Army veteran who had posted a photograph with one of his daughters just hours before carrying out the massacre. Elkins opened fire at three separate addresses shortly after 6am, killing children aged between one and 14. Seven of the eight victims were his own children. The revelation of the victims’ ages prompted audible gasps from those present as a police representative read them aloud at a Sunday press conference. Elkins was subsequently shot and killed…

Britannia Daily can exclusively reveal that a senior pastor with more than 35 years of evangelical ministry has been arrested by British police while preaching in a public street, sparking outrage among his supporters after footage of the incident circulated widely online. Steve Maile, senior pastor of Oasis City Church in Watford and a well-known figure in apostolic evangelical circles, was detained in front of his wife, Karina — who is also his co-pastor — and their children. Video footage captured during the arrest shows Maile continuing to preach as officers moved to restrain him, declaring repeatedly that no offence…

Eight children aged between one and 14 have been killed in a mass shooting in Louisiana following what police described as a domestic disturbance in the early hours of Sunday morning. Police Chief Wayne Smith confirmed that ten people were shot in total at around 6am, with the crime scene spanning three separate locations. “This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,” he said. Some of the children killed were related to the suspect, Chief Smith said. The gunman fled the scene in a stolen vehicle before being pursued by officers and shot during the…

Shocking footage has emerged of the moment a car drove into a group of people on one of central London’s most frequented late-night streets, leaving a woman critically injured and trapped beneath the vehicle as horrified bystanders rushed to intervene. The incident took place at around 4.30am on Argyll Street — a short but busy road connecting Oxford Street with Great Marlborough Street and home to a number of well-known nightspots, including Inca nightclub, as well as the iconic London Palladium. Emergency services were called following reports of a vehicle in collision with pedestrians, arriving to find three people injured…

Donald Trump has escalated his warnings to Iran, threatening to demolish the country’s power infrastructure and bridges if its government refuses to reach a negotiated settlement, as tensions over the Strait of Hormuz intensified following fresh attacks on international shipping. In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, the US president responded directly to Iran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz — a move that included what Trump described as gunfire directed at vessels in the waterway, among them a French ship and a British freight carrier. “Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz…