Author: James Grant

A drug dealer who flaunted a luxury lifestyle including three Rolex watches and fast cars must repay nearly £400,000 or serve an additional four-year prison sentence, a court has ruled. Leeds Crown Court heard on Monday how Curtis Clark, 25, amassed significant wealth through his involvement in an organised crime group that controlled a major drug dealing operation across Leeds and West Yorkshire. The criminal enterprise supplied substantial quantities of Class A and B drugs throughout the region. Officers who raided properties linked to Clark in November 2024 discovered the extent of his ill-gotten gains. Search warrants executed at his…

A couple killed their two severely autistic teenage sons and the family’s pets before ending their own lives in a quadruple murder-suicide that has devastated a Perth community. Jarrod Clune, 50, and Maiwenna Goasdoue, 49, were found dead alongside their sons Leon, 16, and Otis, 14, at the family home in the affluent suburb of Mosman Park on Friday morning. The family’s two dogs and a cat were also found deceased at the property. Police confirmed the tragedy was a murder-suicide after discovering notes at the scene indicating the parents had made plans to end their lives and those of…

A Metropolitan Police detective sergeant has been dismissed from the force following a misconduct hearing that found her Instagram posts about the Gaza conflict breached impartiality standards and included content meeting the international definition of antisemitism. Rebecca Collens, who worked in the Road and Transport Policing command, faced disciplinary proceedings after her private social media account was reported to the force’s Right Line whistleblowing service in May 2024. The misconduct panel examined material posted to her Instagram account, which had more than 100 followers. The panel’s determination centred on two key findings: that the collection of posts demonstrated overtly political…

Five individuals have been convicted following an elaborate fraud operation that siphoned more than £300,000 from NHS accounts, with the ringleader sentenced to three years and eight months in prison. Edias Mazambani, 42, exploited his position as a credit controller in the finance department at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust to orchestrate the theft between December 2016 and January 2019. The former NHS employee pleaded guilty to fraud at Southwark Crown Court on 30 January 2026. The scheme involved Mazambani authorising refund requests for money held in hospital trust accounts, typically funds remaining from overpayments on previous invoices.…

Metropolitan Police are appealing for witnesses following an aggravated burglary at a family-run jewellery business in Richmond, the latest in a series of similar attacks targeting London jewellers. Scotland Yard confirmed no arrests have been made following Saturday’s incident at Gregory & Co in Paved Court, where two suspects used hammers to smash street-facing windows around 10:30am before escaping with valuables stored in a blue bag. The west London borough location, which has served as a filming site for Apple TV’s Ted Lasso, sits on a narrow cobblestone pedestrian street lined with shops, cafes and restaurants. Officers are treating the…

Rural officials across England have signed up to a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs initiative aimed at reducing the dominance of white visitors in the British countryside through diversity targets and engagement programmes. Protected landscapes including the Chilterns, Cotswolds and Malvern Hills have adopted measures designed to attract ethnic minority visitors to areas described in internal reports as largely “white environments” traditionally dominated by middle-class Britons. The coordinated push follows government-commissioned research warning that Britain’s natural heritage risks irrelevance as the nation becomes increasingly multicultural. A 2019 report overseen by Julian Glover cautioned: “Our countryside will end up…

A whole-life prisoner has made his first public admission of being a killer, confessing to the murder of a 17-year-old girl whose body was found in a ditch more than a quarter of a century ago. Steve Wright, 67, changed his pleas at the Old Bailey on Monday to admit kidnapping and murdering Victoria Hall in Suffolk in September 1999. He also pleaded guilty to the attempted kidnap of a 22-year-old woman the night before Victoria disappeared. Gasps and sighs were heard in the courtroom as Wright stood in the dock wearing glasses and a two-toned grey sweatshirt to enter…

Twelve people have been killed and seven injured after a Russian drone struck a bus in Ukraine’s Pavlohrad district, regional authorities have confirmed. Oleksandr Hanzha, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, reported the casualties following the attack in the southeastern area of the country. The strike targeted the civilian vehicle, causing multiple fatalities amongst passengers. The bus attack occurred during a night of widespread Russian drone operations across Ukraine. The country’s air force stated that Russia launched 90 attack drones overnight, with 14 successfully striking nine separate locations. Mr Hanzha also confirmed earlier that a woman and a man were killed…

Emergency crews have successfully contained a fire at University Hospital Southampton following a major incident declaration in the early hours of Saturday morning. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service responded to the blaze at Southampton General Hospital after receiving the alert at 5:30am. The hospital has confirmed no injuries have been reported in connection with the incident. Authorities closed multiple roads surrounding the medical facility as emergency services coordinated the response. The closures remain in place whilst crews continue working at the scene and ensure the area is safe. Hospital staff carried out an evacuation of patients from affected areas as…

Iranian authorities have dismissed claims that a senior military figure was targeted in an explosion that struck the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, describing social media reports as “completely false”. The semi-official Tasnim news agency refuted allegations circulating online suggesting a Revolutionary Guard navy commander had been the intended target of the blast. The denial came as rescue and firefighting teams continued working at the scene of the incident. An eight-storey building sustained serious damage across its first to third floors in the explosion, according to Fars news agency. Persian Gulf Radio reported that several vehicles and…