Author: Darren Smith

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…

Nearly half of the judges sitting at the European Court of Human Rights had no experience as judges in their own countries before being appointed to the Strasbourg court, according to an analysis by the Daily Mail that has reignited debate about the quality and legitimacy of Europe’s top human rights tribunal. The Daily Mail’s audit of judges’ CVs found that 19 of the court’s 46 justices had never presided over a case before joining the ECHR. Among them are career academics, civil servants and diplomats with no judicial background whatsoever. A further two judges were appointed as so-called “ad…

Israel has announced it will launch a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times over a column alleging that Israeli soldiers and prison guards systematically sexually abused Palestinian prisoners — with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemning the piece as “hideous and distorted lies” and accusing the paper of perpetuating a “blood libel.” The legal action was announced by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which described the article as “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press.” Netanyahu went further, saying: “They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel…

A North African asylum seeker described by police as a known repeat offender has died after plunging from the 17th floor of a building in Germany while attempting to flee officers who had cornered him following a knife attack on an Italian woman. The incident, which has circulated widely on social media, saw police respond to reports of the stabbing before tracking the suspect to the high-rise building. As officers closed in, the man attempted to escape by climbing or jumping from the 17th floor and fell to his death. The condition of the Italian woman victim has not been…