UK Policing News

Police have identified five of the six young people who died in a head-on crash in Leicestershire. The victims died in the early hours of Thursday near Melton Mowbray after a Ford Mondeo collided with a lorry. The driver of the Mondeo, Richard Bolton, 23, of Beaumont Leys, died along with Christopher Worrad, 18, and Emily Rose Curnock, 18, of Enderby. Luke Whittle, 19, of Enderby and Carly Ann Arrindell, 18, of Glen Parva, also died in the crash. A front seat passenger, a 19-year-old woman, has not yet been formally identified.Police have described the accident as one of the worst they have ever seen. Pictures of Christopher Worrad and Carly Ann Arrindell were publish…

A group of illegal immigrants arrived in Britain after stowing themselves aboard Army vehicles, police have said. The five men were discovered on Tuesday by soldiers at the Duke of Gloucester Barracks, in South Cerney, in Gloucestershire. The men included two Indians, aged 24 and 26, two Afghans aged 16 and 18, and a 15-year-old Iranian. They are now being held in a detention centre in the county, a police spokesman confirmed. Officers used sniffer dogs to search for a number of the men within the Army barracks. The group is believed to have climbed aboard the convoy returning from Kosovo at Calais. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/glouces...ire/7510956.stm …

Smoke-sensitive officer asks attack victim out of flat Published Date: 15 July 2008 By MARK McLAUGHLIN Edinburgh Evening News A WOMAN who was kicked to the ground and beaten in an argument over cigarettes had to give her police statement in a stairwell – because a friend was smoking inside the flat. Margaret Baxter, 49, of East Craigs, was stunned to be asked to go outside after calling police to report the attack outside her friend's flat in Sandport Street, Leith. Lothian and Borders Police today defended the move and said one of the officers responding had just returned to work after suffering a "bronchial infection". Anti-smoking groups have also backed the of…

An audience at a theatre in Northampton witnessed the star use a mobile to phone the local police force on July 12. The actor, columnist and TV and radio presenter then claimed he had spotted "the underpass attacker". The call followed local media coverage of investigations into a number of assaults in underpasses in the town. Footage of the wind-up taken by an audience member and posted on the internet showed Brand telling Northamptonshire Police he had information they may be interested in. "I have seen a gentleman who fits the description," he said. "He was wearing a light green top and polka dot trousers and I thought, well look at the state of him." In his apol…

Smith offers police job to critic Jan Berry led the police union in its pay row with the government Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has offered a job to the police officer who called for her resignation in a pay dispute. Former head of the Police Federation of England and Wales, Jan Berry, has been asked to be "bureaucracy champion" for the police, BBC News has learned. A drive to cut red tape will feature in a Green Paper on policing. The document will also contain measures to increase police accou…

Hertfordshire Police are searching for two men suspected of involvement in last week's robbery from a network centre in Watford. Thieves took equipment from a Cable & Wireless network site in Watford forcing FT.com, the Ordnance Survey and Sainsburys.com offline for most of the day. Herts Police sent us the following: "POLICE are appealing for witnesses and information after Energis telecommunications company was burgled on Thursday July 10. "It happened at between 12.10am and 2.45am at the business premises on Holly Industrial Park on Ryan Way, Watford. One or more offenders broke into the building and, after a search, they took computer software and routers. They…

Tonight's top story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10...aw-YouTube.html In other news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7510123.stm Was going to post the wasp knife thing too, but someone beat me to it.

Magistrates should be banned from handing out custodial sentences to help ease overcrowding in prisons, an influential report says. The study says Britain's jails are full to bursting because too many offenders are being sent to prison for lesser offences like burglary. The report from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London says the burgeoning prison population is not because more offences are brought to justice. Rather, more offenders are being locked away for longer. It says magistrates should not be able to jail someone for a non violent minor offence. Article continuesadvertisement It comes after judges' sentencing advisers suggeste…

Death in custody, raising issues about: • Mouth searches • Training in first aid and medical equipment • Notification of next of kin • PNC reports • Need for appropriate adult • CCTV Overview of Incident Mr J, a man of 39, was known to the police. On 10 September 2005, following a report that he was likely to harm himself, he was detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 and, when he was taken to the police station, he was recorded in the course of the risk assessment as suffering from mental problems or depression, taking tablets/medication and a suicide/self-harm risk. He was taken to hospital, where he was subsequently assessed as…

Link Police car stolen from outside house Police are hunting a thief who stole an unmarked high-powered police car in Northamptonshire with a high-visibility police jacket inside it. They are appealing for witnesses following the car-key burglary in Brackley which saw the car taken from outside a police officer's private address between 10pm on Monday and 7am today. It is a blue Saab 95 estate car, registration GN07 LZL and an unmarked, high-powered police car, fitted with hidden blue emergency lights and sirens. Police said it is not known if the thieves knew they were stealing a police car which also contained a high-visibility yello…

Charge after beam hits aircraft A 19-year-old man has been charged with endangering an aircraft after a laser beam pen was apparently aimed at a Hampshire police plane as it took off. The alleged incident happened after Hampshire Constabulary's air support unit left Lee-On-Solent airfield at 2313 BST on 5 June. David Williams, of Cuckoo Lane, Stubbington, was charged under the Air Navigation Order 2005. He is due to appear before magistrates in Fareham on 24 July. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7493854.stm .............. Do people not learn. I am sure someone was jailed for doing something similar to a police helicopter. Sounds to me that he is …

'Harsher terms' for death drivers Police say the guidelines will mean more prison sentences for killer drivers Motorists involved in the most serious cases of causing death by dangerous driving should be jailed for at least seven years, under tougher guidelines. Such cases could involve persistent bad driving, drink or drugs, the advice for courts in England and Wales will say. Causing death while reading or writing text messages on a mobile phone should attract a term of up to seven years. Where "momentary inattention" is behind a death, drivers should not be jailed, the Sentencing Guidelines Council said. New offences The definitive guidance covers the of…

'Harsher terms' for death drivers Police say the guidelines will mean more prison sentences for killer drivers Courts in England and Wales are being told to jail more people convicted of causing death while driving - and for longer in the most serious cases. Under new sentencing guidelines, drivers who cause death while using a hand-held mobile phone could serve up to seven years in prison. More serious cases involving persistent bad driving, drugs or alcohol, could lead to jail sentences of 14 years. But road safety charity Brake says the charge structure is still "inadequate". The Sentencing Guidelines Council's new recommendations, which judges and magistra…

I'm sorry but what possible evidence could there be that indicates that the last Tenant in a block of flats, who is fighting against plans to redevelop the block, has his head taken off with a chainsaw and it's not suspicious.......

Young people who carry knives will be made to visit hospitals where stabbing victims are treated, in a bid to shock them into changing their behaviour. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said seeing "gruesome" injuries would be a tougher deterrent than sending all knife carriers in England and Wales to jail. A spate of stabbings was making people "nervous" about going out, she said. The Tories said more knife carriers should go to prison and the Lib Dems called Ms Smith's plans "half-baked". Meet families The home secretary's proposals for England and Wales will be outlined in more detail when the government publishes its youth crime plan on Tuesday. Ms Smith unveile…