Author: James Grant

The Home Secretary will gain new powers to directly intervene in underperforming police forces and remove chief constables who fail to meet standards under sweeping reforms announced today. Shabana Mahmood unveiled a white paper titled ‘From local to national: a new model for policing’, which the Government describes as the largest overhaul of policing since forces were professionalised two centuries ago. Under the proposals, ministers will be able to send specialist teams into struggling forces to improve performance if crime solving rates or response times fall short. New laws will also hand the Home Secretary statutory powers to force the…

A criminal defence solicitor who paid two 13-year-old girls hundreds of pounds for explicit images before sexually abusing them on around 20 occasions has been sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison. Suleman Baig, 40, from Grimsby, exploited his relationship with the young victims after first encountering them through a childhood friend whose daughter he was close to. Leeds Crown Court heard how Baig offered the girls increasing sums of money, up to £100 for a single photograph, to send him nude images via Snapchat. He hid cash in the family home for them to find, including stuffed…

A fictional schoolgirl created for a UK Government-funded game designed to steer young people away from far-right extremism has been subverted and transformed into a viral racist meme spreading across social media. The character, known as Amelia, was originally developed for Pathways: Navigating the Internet and Extremism, a multiple-choice video game aimed at 13 to 18-year-olds in Yorkshire. The initiative was funded by the Home Office and created by political literacy company Shout Out UK. However, the purple-haired “goth girl” carrying a miniature union flag has now been co-opted by far-right accounts and is proliferating rapidly on platforms including X…

A jury has convicted an asylum seeker of raping an 18-year-old woman described as “drunk and obviously vulnerable” in a Nottinghamshire park. Sheraz Malik, 28, was found guilty of two counts of rape following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court. He was acquitted on a third charge. The jury of five men and seven women reached unanimous guilty verdicts after deliberating for approximately three hours. It can now be reported that Malik is an asylum seeker born in Pakistan who had previously lived in Italy, Germany and France before arriving in the United Kingdom. A reporting restriction imposed at Nottingham…

A 40-year-old man has pleaded guilty to murdering a university graduate described by her family as “a bright young star” whose ambition to become a clinical psychologist was cut short. Adedapo Adegbola admitted killing Steph Irons, 23, during a brief hearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday. Members of Miss Irons’ family were present to hear the plea. Judge Nirmal Shant KC told Adegbola he faced a mandatory life sentence and that sentencing next month would determine the minimum term he must serve. Miss Irons was stabbed at her home in Mapperley, Nottinghamshire, on the evening of Tuesday 21 October…

President Donald Trump has dispatched Border Czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to take control of immigration operations following the fatal shooting of an American citizen by federal agents and subsequent unrest in the city. The move comes amid reports that Mr Trump has privately expressed frustration with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s handling of the situation, particularly around public perception of the shooting. Writing on Truth Social, Mr Trump announced: “I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair,…

The Israeli Defence Force has confirmed it has retrieved the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza, bringing an end to efforts to recover all those taken captive. Soldiers recovered the body of Israeli police officer Ran Gvili during a targeted operation in the heavily damaged enclave. The retrieval completes the return of all living and deceased hostages from Gaza, fulfilling a key condition of the initial phase of President Donald Trump’s plan to end the conflict. Mr Gvili’s recovery marks the conclusion of lengthy military efforts to locate and bring home all Israeli hostages seized during the conflict.…

Three people have become the first in Britain to face racial hatred charges for allegedly chanting “intifada” at a pro-Palestine demonstration. Abdallah Alanzi, 24, Haya Adam, 21, and Azza Zaki, 60, were charged by the Metropolitan Police with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour intending to stir up racial hatred. The trio were arrested at a protest outside the Ministry of Justice in Petty France, Westminster, on the evening of Wednesday 17 December after being identified as allegedly involved in the chanting. The Met’s Public Order Crime team investigated not only the specific chant but also other shouts…

A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after investigators discovered he possessed over a thousand of the most serious category of child abuse material. Guiseppe Bottone, of Stone Street, Bradford, was handed a 27-month jail term at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to multiple offences relating to indecent images of children. Police Constable Scott Tyson, of Bradford District’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team, described Bottone as “a dangerous online sexual predator” and said the case was among the most horrific he had encountered during his career. The investigation began after another…

Britain and eight European nations have committed to delivering 100 gigawatts of jointly developed offshore wind power, in what ministers are describing as a historic step towards energy sovereignty amid growing global instability. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband signed the Hamburg Declaration at the Future of the North Seas Summit on Monday, alongside counterparts from Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The agreement marks the first time North Sea countries have pledged to deliver a specific portion of their offshore wind ambitions through collaborative cross-border projects. Three years ago, the same nations committed to building 300GW…