Author: Darren Smith

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);…

A critically endangered western lowland gorilla has given birth to a baby boy via caesarean section at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, in only the twelfth such procedure ever performed on the species and the first in the zoo’s 126-year history. Olympia, a 29-year-old gorilla weighing around 90kg, delivered the 5.4lb infant last month with the help of a combined team of human medical specialists and zoo veterinarians. The birth followed weeks of monitoring by Dr Sachita Shah, an emergency medicine physician who typically treats human patients, who had been visiting the zoo every Tuesday with portable ultrasound equipment to track…

Royal Marines have boarded a Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in a dramatic overnight operation in the English Channel, in the first such interception since the government granted the armed forces powers to seize sanctioned vessels in UK waters earlier this year. Forces used helicopters to take control of the tanker, named the Smyrtos, in the early hours of Sunday morning. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed the operation on X, writing: “In the early hours of this morning, I directed our Armed Forces to intercept a shadow fleet oil tanker attempting to pass through the English Channel. This successful…

One of America’s largest Christian foster care and adoption agencies has announced it will no longer license or re-license LGBTQ couples as foster families, in a move it says reflects a renewed commitment to its religious foundations rather than a new policy direction. Bethany Christian Services, a faith-based non-profit headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, confirmed the change in a press release on Wednesday, stating that all future and existing foster families will be required to align with the organisation’s Statement of Faith and Belief from June 2027. Founded in 1944, the organisation operates across more than 25 US states and…

A woman who says she was drugged and raped while held in police custody more than five years ago has accused Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham of failing to deliver on promises made after she went public with her allegations, as she continues to fight for access to missing CCTV footage from the night in question. Zayna Iman, 41, who has waived her right to anonymity, says she was given a substance, stripped and sexually assaulted before being left naked and distressed on the floor of a cell at Pendleton police station in February 2021, during the second Covid lockdown.…

More than 100,000 people whose asylum claims were rejected between 2010 and 2024 have not been recorded as leaving Britain, according to new analysis from the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, reigniting debate over the government’s ability to enforce removals. The analysis found that 108,022 people refused protection over the period have no record of departure. Around 26,850 of those whose claims were rejected between 2010 and 2016 have remained in the country for at least a decade since first applying. Among those who first sought asylum in 2010, around 2,000 individuals — roughly one in four whose…