Author: Darren Smith

A young pianist was threatened with violence in broad daylight at one of London’s busiest international train stations — calmly continuing to play as an aggressive man leaned inches from his face, claimed the public piano as his own and warned he would “hurt” him if he ever returned. The confrontation at St Pancras International, filmed on Thursday morning amid Eurostar passengers and tourists, has gone viral after being posted to social media by a Norfolk resident named Natalie, who said she shared the footage after experiencing her own threatening encounter at the station earlier that day. The clip has…

Hampshire Police have issued a public apology after it emerged that officers handcuffed a mortally wounded 18-year-old student as he lay dying in a Southampton street — a blunder that occurred because his killer told police he had been the victim of racist abuse, ensuring the wrong man was arrested in his final moments. Vickrum Digwa, 23, was convicted of murder at Southampton Crown Court on Wednesday after a jury found he had stabbed finance student Henry Nowak six times with an eight-inch ceremonial Sikh blade before using a false racism allegation as what prosecutors called his “trump card” —…

A 21-year-old Kentucky man who had documented ambitions to hunt homeless people like animals — and had already murdered, dismembered and carved satanic symbols into one victim — has been shot dead by a SWAT officer after calling 911 to announce he wanted to be killed, police have revealed in a press conference accompanied by the release of body camera footage. Michael Hristov was killed at his Louisville home on 14 May following a standoff with police who had arrived to serve an arrest warrant connected to the brutal Christmas Eve murder of Michael Howard, a homeless man whose body…

The body of a 25-year-old American tourist who drowned after jumping into a fast-moving creek at a popular Canadian waterfall has been recovered nearly a month after he disappeared beneath the surface, ending a distressing search that saw his family hire a private diver from California after official efforts were suspended. Pavlo Shemchuk, who was visiting Banff from the United States with his cousin and friend, drowned on 1 May after jumping into Johnston Creek near the Lower Falls at Johnston Canyon and not resurfacing. His body was reported to RCMP and Parks Canada at midday on 26 May, discovered…

Two women from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, have been federally charged after allegedly defrauding the United States Medicaid system of more than $21 million through a four-year scheme that exploited a programme designed to provide autism therapy to vulnerable children — paying parents kickbacks to enrol their children in fake sessions while channelling proceeds into property purchases and overseas transfers to Kenya. Shamso Ahmed Hassan, 55, and Hanaan Mursal Yusuf, 25, were arrested and charged by federal prosecutors as part of a sweeping Department of Justice operation announced in Minneapolis on 21 May, which brought charges against 15 individuals for Medicaid…

A supply teacher has pleaded guilty to 21 child sex offences after secretly photographing more than 100 girls up their skirts at schools across Greater Manchester — an investigation that began when a parent spotted an image of their child in school uniform circulating on social media. Abusali Rahman, 36, from Salford, admitted the offences at Bolton Crown Court on Wednesday, with sentencing adjourned until 1 September to allow a psychiatric report to be prepared. His defence barrister Emma Kehoe told the court he “was going through a mental health crisis at the time.” Rahman, a British national of Bangladeshi…

A man has been convicted of murdering an 18-year-old university student with a 21-centimetre Sikh ceremonial blade after a trial that centred on whether the fatal stabbing was an act of self-defence or murder — with the jury rejecting the defendant’s claim that he had been racially abused and attacked before drawing the knife. Vickrum Digwa, 23, was found guilty of murder at Southampton Crown Court, along with a charge of carrying a knife in public. His mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was also found guilty of assisting an offender by removing the weapon from the scene after the attack. Henry…

A rare albino buffalo nicknamed “Donald Trump” for its distinctive blond tuft has been saved from ritual slaughter in Bangladesh hours before the Eid al-Adha festival, after the government stepped in and ordered the animal transferred to the national zoo in Dhaka. The nearly 700-kilogram animal had already been sold for ritual slaughter when authorities intervened, citing security concerns after a surge of public interest ahead of Thursday’s festival. Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed ordered the buffalo to be spared, the buyer refunded, and the animal moved to the national zoo. The buffalo’s former owner, Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his…

A garbage truck driver was filmed angrily confronting anti-ICE protesters who blocked him from doing his job outside Newark’s Delaney Hall immigration detention centre, as a week of escalating clashes between demonstrators and federal agents showed no sign of abating. Dramatic footage published by Freedom News TV showed the driver for Elizabeth-based Regional Industries pleading with masked protesters to let him pass. “If I hit one of y’all, I go to jail. What’s wrong with ya all?” he shouted at the crowd before eventually managing to drive away. The driver was one of several civilians caught up in the disorder…

Residents of a Welsh street who developed PTSD, anxiety and claustrophobia after years of catastrophic flooding are finally leaving their homes after Rhondda Cynon Taf Council agreed to purchase most of the properties on Clydach Terrace in Ynysybwl for £2.57 million — with the entire row expected to be demolished. The decision, approved by the council’s cabinet in February and reported by the BBC, marks what is believed to be one of the first times a local authority in the UK has bought an entire inland residential street purely as a measure of climate defence. The height of the main…