Police searching for a missing walker in North Wales have found a body.
North WalesPolice had previously issued an appeal to help find the 26-year-old man, who has now been formally identified as Daniel Adams from Selby, North Yorkshire.
Officers from the force and colleagues in the Mountain Rescue Team had been involved in the search.
In an update, police said the body of a man had been discovered on Monday night in the Carneddau area of Eryri (Snowdonia).
His body was formally identified on Tuesday and police say Mr Adams's family have been informed.
North Wales Police have thanked volunteers and members of the public who helped with the search.
In its initial appeal, North Wales Police said Mr Adams was last seen on Sunday after he failed to return from a hike.
The force said it believed he went walking "somewhere in the area of Tryfan, Tregarth or Llanberis".
The vehicle he was driving was found in nearby Bethesda, police later confirmed.
A spokesperson for North Wales Police said: "Officers and the Mountain Rescue Team colleagues searching for missing walker Daniel have sadly discovered the body of a man last night in the Carneddau area."
Inspector Mike Andrews added: "Our deepest condolences remain with Daniel's family and friends at this difficult time.
"Thank you to partner agencies, volunteers and members of the public who assisted in our searches."
Police say they continue to work with the coroner.
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The Conservative party’s deputy chairman Lee Anderson said asylum seekers complaining about being moved into the Bibby Stockholm barge should “f*** off back to France”.
The senior Tory’s incendiary comments came after the first 15 migrants boarded the barge in Dorset, while 20 others were granted a last-minute reprieve after a series of legal challenges.
Care4Calais said they did not board the barge because their transfers were “cancelled” after lawyers challenged the decisions. The campaign group described the barge as a “quasi floating prison”.
“If they don’t like barges then they should f*** off back to France,” Mr Anderson told the Express.
He added: “These people come across the Channel in small boats, if they don’t like the conditions they are housed in here then they should go back to France, or better not come at all in the first place.”
Justice secretary Alex Chalk defended his colleague Mr Anderson’s “f*** off back to France” comment – arguing that it was “salty” language but his point was “not unreasonable”.
Going further, Mr Chalk also told LBC that the deputy Tory chair “expresses the righteous indignation of the British people” and said his “indignation is well placed”.
Disabled asylum seekers, torture victims and those suffering from “traumatic experiences at sea” were among those the Home Office initially tried to put on the Portland barge.
The Independent understands that a man who is blind in one eye, another partially-sighted person, and migrants with phobias of water were issued with transfer orders that were successfully challenged by lawyers.
But Tory right-wingers have reacted with fury to the hold-up. Ex-home secretary Priti Patel said campaigners and lawyers were “milking the legal aid system” and the same “naysayers and left-wingers who have sought to smear our Rwanda policy”.
15 migrants arrive at Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset
(Getty Images)
Home Office sources said those refusing to leave hotels and board the barge could have their asylum application delayed or withdrawn after one day.
“Anyone refusing to move without a reasonable excuse has 24 hours to reconsider, after which their asylum support will cease and they will have to fend for themselves,” one government source told The Telegraph.
Mr Chalk said the asylum seekers’ legal challenges were “not improper” but are “completely misconceived”.
The justice secretary also said it was “unlikely” to be illegal for the government to refuse asylum seekers accommodation if they refuse to go on the barge.
A small group of 15 migrants arrived on Monday following delays caused by last-minute safety checks. The government is not believed to have identified all 500 people it eventually hopes to house on board.
Home Office minister Sarah Dines had suggest all 500 could be on board by the end of this week – but No 10 later played down the idea.
First arrivals on controversial barge
(AFP via Getty Images)
The charity Migrants Organise has sent a pre-action letter to the Home Office calling for it to stop transfers “until and unless all concerns regarding the safety and suitability of the barge have been adequately addressed”.
Internal guidance states that only single men up to the age 65 can be put on the Bibby Stockholm, and they cannot be victims of modern slavery or trafficking. They cannot be disabled, elderly, or victims of torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence.
Mr Chalk acknowledged it is “frustrating” that only 15 migrants have boarded the 500-capacity barge so far. “It doesn’t diminish our resolve to solve this,” he told BBC Breakfast.
The cabinet minister also told Times Radio that the point of the “austere” Bibby Stockholm is to act as a deterrent. He said the government spending £6m a day on “4-star hotel accommodation” for asylum seekers is not what the British people want.
But campaign groups One Life to Live and Reclaim the Sea have estimated that the barge will cost £18m a year, saying it would “almost certainly” cost more than housing migrants in hotels.
The number of asylum seekers in hotels has risen by a 25 per cent since Rishi Sunak promised to end the practice. There were 50,546 migrants in hotels, according to the latest Home Office figures for June, up from around 40,000 in December.
Suella Braverman announces crackdown on ‘crooked’ lawyers
The controversy comes as the government announced a new “task force” to identify “crooked” lawyers after reports that false asylum claims are being submitted for a fee.
Home secretary Suella Braverman, speaking about the task force, said: “Crooked immigration lawyers must be rooted out and brought to justice.”
Any lawyers – or any other professionals who help migrants make fraudulent claims – could face a maximum sentence of life in prison following the implementation of the Nationality and Borders Act.
It comes after the Daily Mail reported that a number of solicitors agreed to help an undercover journalist posing as an economic migrant submit a false application in exchange for thousands of pounds.
But the Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, said the necessary powers are already in place to deal with immigration advisers engaged in misconduct.
It added the Home Office is focusing on a “tiny minority of lawyers” rather than “significant” asylum claim backlogs and “the unworkability of the Illegal Migration Act”. Steve Reed, Labour’s shadow justice secretary said it was “too little too late”.
Asylum seekers who did not get on the Bibby Stockholm on Monday have until today to board the vessel or face having their government support cancelled, Sky News can reveal.
While 15 people did board the barge in Portland, Dorset, around 20 people did not take up the offer made on what the government has called a "no-choice basis".
Sky News has seen a letter sent by the Home Office to one of those people who stayed on dry land.
Image:A letter sent to an asylum seeker who refused to get on the Bibby Stockholm
Image:The first people boarded the Bibby Stockholm today
It states: "Arrangements were made for you to travel from your accommodation... to alternative accommodation at the Bibby Stockholm in Portland on 7 August 2023.
"On 7 August you did not take up the offer of this accommodation.
"Please consider this letter a second notification to change your accommodation with arrangements in place to move you to the Bibby Stockholm, Portland on 8 August 2023.
"Accommodation is offered on a no-choice basis. Where asylum seekers fail to take up an offer of suitable accommodation without a reasonable explanation, there should be no expectation that alternative accommodation will be offered.
"If you do not travel tomorrow, on 8 August 2023, arrangements for ceasing the support that you are receiving from the Home Office may commence."
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It is not clear whether this means the person in question would be left homeless.
Asked if the government was breaking its legal duty to asylum seekers, Just Secretary Alex Chalk told Sky News: "Those who object to going on the barge can seek legal advice and try to resist it in the normal way and we will have those arguments played out in an independent court. That's absolutely right."
He described the barge as "basically safe and decent" and said the policy was about "fairness to the British taxpayer" to find a cheaper alternative to "four star hotels".
The Bibby Stockholm will ultimately hold 500 asylum seekers who are expected to board the barge gradually.
On Monday, Cheryl Avery, the director of asylum accommodation at the Home Office, said the first cohort was made up of 15 people.
She added: "We have had a few challenges, but this is part of an ongoing structured process to bring a cohort of up to 500 people on board.
"There have been some challenges, some minor legal challenges, and I can't go to the detail of those, but accommodation is offered to all individuals on a no-choice basis - so we are looking at how we manage that going forward."
The Care4Calais group says about 20 asylum seekers did not board the barge because their transfers were "cancelled" due to legal challenges.
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2:14
Analysis: The impact of the barge
The charity claimed solicitors raised concerns about the suitability of the accommodation for people with disabilities, mental and physical health problems, as well as those who had fled torture and persecution.
Care4Calais chief executive Steve Smith said: "None of the asylum seekers we are supporting have gone to the Bibby Stockholm today as legal representatives have had their transfers cancelled.
"Amongst our clients are people who are disabled, who have survived torture and modern slavery and who have had traumatic experiences at sea. To house any human being in a 'quasi floating prison' like the Bibby Stockholm is inhumane. To try and do so with this group of people is unbelievably cruel. Even just receiving the notices is causing them a great deal of anxiety."
Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK's refugee and migrant rights director, said: "It seems there's nothing this government won't do to make people seeking asylum feel unwelcome and unsafe in this country.
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"Reminiscent of the prison hulks from the Victorian era, the Bibby Stockholm is an utterly shameful way to house people who've fled terror, conflict and persecution."
Sky News has approached the Home Office for comment.
Andy Street has called for the Crooked House pub to be “rebuilt brick by brick” after it was demolished following a huge fire over the weekend.
The building, known as the Britain’s “wonkiest pub” and dating back to 1765, was gutted by a fire on Saturday night just two weeks after it was sold to a private buyer.
On Monday the remains of the building in Himley, near Dudley in the Black Country, were demolished, hours after Staffordshire police said they were gathering evidence as part of an investigation into the cause of the fire.
It is not yet clear who demolished the pub.
Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, said he had written to the leader of South Staffordshire council, Roger Lees, asking him to ensure the building was rebuilt, and any application to change its use was blocked.
“This pub may be just over the border in your county of Staffordshire, but it clearly holds real cultural and historical significance to the West Midlands. We therefore found it deeply upsetting to see the iconic location gutted in this way,” the letter read.
“We therefore ask you to consider ensuring the property is rebuilt brick by brick (using as much original material as possible) before any further discussion about the future of the site take place.”
He added: “We would strongly ask you to consider not allowing any alternative use and instead keeping this iconic location as a pub. It is in all our interests that we do not allow the Crooked House pub to be consigned to history.”
On Monday, Staffordshire police said they were “reviewing all of the available evidence alongside fire investigators to determine the cause of the incident”.
Firefighters said they struggled to access the building when it was ablaze on Saturday as large mounds of dirt were blocking the road leading up to it.
The station commander, Liam Hilton, from Staffordshire fire service said they were “a good 800 metres to approximately 1,000 metres distance” from the building meaning they had to get water from a “high volume pump”.
In another letter to the chief constable of Staffordshire police and the chief fire officer, Street said “there are major questions to be answered given how swiftly this fire happened following the sale of the pub to an unknown private developer”.
“We are also intrigued by the fact your officers faced blocked access when trying to get to the scene,” he said.
Staffordshire police and Staffordshire fire and rescue service have been approached for comment.
Ministers have warned immigration lawyers who help migrants to fabricate fraudulent asylum claims that they face life in jail under a crackdown to start today.
The Professional Enablers Taskforce will be dedicated to identifying suspicious activity among asylum claims, gathering evidence with the help of industry watchdogs and handing it over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Separately, Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, said some lawyers had become “almost enthusiastic about parading their politics”.
Hetold the BBC: “In the last ten years there has been a growing and I think regrettable trend for lawyers to acutely sort of parade their politics and to identify more with their clients . . . It’s much better I think for lawyers in the main to keep their politics
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A man has been charged with causing or allowing the death of a child after a 12-year-old died in a collision on the M62 on Saturday, West Yorkshire Police said.
Matthew Rycroft, 36, of Nowell View, Leeds, will appear before Leeds Magistrates’ Court charged with causing the death of Callum Rycroft and failing to provide a specimen, the force said.
Callum was struck by a Toyota C-HR car between junctions 25 and 26 at around 9.50pm.
Police believe that he had been walking on the motorway with a man after an earlier collision involving an Audi Q5 on the slip road to Hartshead Moor services.
The force added that no other vehicles are believed to have been involved in that collision.
In a statement, Callum’s mother paid a tribute to her “fun and larger than life” son.
“Callum was a beautiful happy soul who was unique, great fun and larger than life. He brought light, laughter and noise into any room,” she said.
“Callum had a massive impact on everyone who met him. The house is so quiet without him here.
“We are devastated at what has happened and request that people respect our wish for privacy at this difficult time. We are very grateful for the support and kind comments we have received.”
The suspected driver of a car which struck and killed a 12-year-old boy in a hit-and-run crash on a motorway in West Yorkshire has been arrested.
The boy was hit while on the eastbound carriageway of the M62 near Cleckheaton at around 22:00 BST on Saturday.
A man, 47, from Bolton had since been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, police said.
Another man, 36, arrested in connection with the incident, remained in custody, according to West Yorkshire Police.
He had earlier been held on suspicion of causing or allowing the death of a child.
Before the fatal crash, the 12-year-old was believed to have been walking with a man on the motorway following an earlier collision.
That incident, on the slip road to Hartshead services, involved an Audi Q5, police said.
The boy was then struck and killed by a black Toyota C-HR.
'Dreadful incident'
The windscreen and front of the Toyota was damaged in the crash, officers said.
The driver was believed to have travelled from the Chain Bar roundabout along Whitehall Road, A58, towards the junction with Westfield Lane following the incident, they added.
Det Ch Supt Sarah Jones said: "A man, believed to be driving the Toyota C-HR which failed to stop after it was in collision with the victim, has now been arrested and will be questioned about the incident.
"We continue to conduct a number of inquiries into this dreadful incident and to support the victim's family."
The black Toyota involved in the crash had since been recovered, West Yorkshire Police said.
Anyone with information about what happened, or with dashcam or CCTV footage of the car after the crash, has been asked to contact the West Yorkshire force.
