Review ordered into decision to accept Nottingham attacker's manslaughter pleas - Sky News

The CPS decision to accept the manslaughter pleas of the Nottingham attacker who killed three people is to be examined in an independent review.

The review will look into the decision to accept Valdo Calocane's guilty pleas to manslaughter and whether it sufficiently consulted with the families of the victims.

Last week, Calocane was given a hospital order for manslaughter by diminished responsibility after the city's crown court heard he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

The 32-year-old stabbed students Barnaby Webber, 19, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, with a dagger in the early hours of 13 June last year.

Mr Webber's family described the hospital order as a "huge insult" and called for a public inquiry into the case.

Image: (L-R) Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar

On Tuesday, Attorney General Victoria Prentis said: "The senseless deaths of Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates have horrified the country.

"While nothing will bring their loved ones back, the families understandably want to understand what happened in this case.

"That's why I have asked the inspectorate to carry out a prompt and thorough review of CPS actions so we can properly investigate the concerns raised by the families in this devastating case."

Ms Prentis is also considering whether judges should review the sentence after receiving a submission that it could be unduly lenient.

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2:38

Nottingham attack: 'Our children were failed'

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'We will get answers'

Earlier, Rishi Sunak said independent investigations have been set up into Nottingham institutions' role in alleged missed opportunities to stop Calocane.

It came a day after a meeting with the families of Mr Webber and Ms O'Malley-Kumar in Downing Street.

Mr Sunak said the NHS, police forces and CPS will all be looked at "promptly and thoroughly and effectively" to try and get answers for the families.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning the prime minister said: "What I said to them (the victims' relatives) is that we will get the answers. That's what they deserve. That's what I've committed to.

"Once we hear back from that, then we can sit down with them and decide if there are more questions that need answering, is the inquiry then the next logical step?"

Concerns arose after it emerged an arrest warrant had been issued for Calocane months before the killings.

Leicestershire Police have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and leaders at Nottinghamshire Police have met with Policing Minister Chris Philp.

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Families united in 'national tragedy'

The families of Mr Webber, Mr Coates and Ms O'Malley-Kumar said they welcome the "full, open and transparent investigation" into the CPS.

In a joint statement, they said: "We reiterate our deep and grave concerns in this case, and our disappointment that we have had to resort to this additional level of trauma and stress to feel listened to and for further actions to be taken.

"We are united as families in this national tragedy."

They said they wish to be given the opportunity to speak in person with the IOPC and attorney general about concerns and evidence of concerns that they have.

The findings of the review are expected by Easter.

A spokesperson for His Majesty's Chief Inspector of the CPS said they accept the request for the review.

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Man with crossbow shot dead by police after breaking into home in Rotherhithe - Evening Standard

Adam Hood, who represents Surrey Docks ward on Southwark Council, said he was "deeply concerned" by Tuesday's incident. "Details are still emerging but at this point I'm thankful to the fast response from emergency services," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

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2024-01-30 12:56:15Z
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Bristol stabbings: More arrests expected over fatal attack on boys - BBC

By Leigh Boobyer

BBC News, West of England

More arrests are expected to be made over the stabbings of two teenagers, police investigating the murders say.

Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15, died after an attack in Ilminster Avenue, in the Knowle West area of Bristol, at about 23:20 GMT on Saturday.

A 20-year-old man and a 22-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday afternoon.

A 15-year-old boy and a 44-year-old-man have also been arrested in connection with the stabbing.

All four remain in police custody.

Avon and Somerset Police

Bristol Police Commander Supt Mark Runacres, who is leading the murder investigation, said he expects there to be more arrests.

"There are numerous live lines of inquiry which are being pursued and progressed... and I confidently anticipate more arrests to follow," he said.

He added that the force had more than 100 officers working on the case.

PA Media

The boys, who the local community have described as much-loved, were attacked by a number of people, sustaining serious stab wounds.

They were taken to separate hospitals - Southmead Hospital and Bristol Royal Hospital for Children - but died hours later.

GoFundMe pages have been set up to help with funeral costs, raising more than £10,000.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Supt Runacres said: "I don't believe this is rooted in gang warfare.

"I understand the impact this incident has had, I'm a dad myself - but we've seen the strength of the community.

"Any death is awful, but the loss of Mason and Max, who had their whole lives in front of them, is particularly tragic and my heart breaks for the families who have to endure such unimaginable pain and suffering."

He could not confirm whether the suspects and victims were known to each other or whether the killings were a case of mistaken identity.

On Sunday, about 200 people attended a vigil in Ilminster Avenue. Members of the community came to light candles and lay flowers.

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Northern Ireland: Protests outside and leaks from inside but the deal to restore power-sharing is done - Sky News

There were protestors outside the talks and someone was leaking the details from inside but it did not thwart breakthrough.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson emerged from a lengthy meeting of the DUP Executive with support for a deal to restore power-sharing.

He said his party would end its boycott of devolved government once the UK government honoured commitments it has made.

The government is now expected to table legislation to address Unionist concerns about the Brexit border in the Irish Sea.

The legislation is designed to strengthen Northern Ireland's place in the UK and limit the impact of the trade border.

The agreement is set to end two years of stalemate at Stormont and comes after months and months of negotiation.

Image: DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson leaving his party's HQ after briefing senior members on government proposals Pic: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Unionists felt betrayed when Boris Johnson agreed to a trade border between GB and Northern Ireland to "get Brexit done".

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The previous year, he had told the DUP conference that no British prime minister could ever countenance such a move.

Frustrated by what they regarded as a threat to Northern Ireland's position within the UK, Unionists pulled out of power-sharing.

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Rishi Sunak's new deal with the EU - the Windsor Framework - addressed some, but not all, of their concerns about sovereignty.

Read more: 150,000 public sector workers walk out in Northern Ireland's biggest strike in recent history

But a crisis in public services in Northern Ireland has piled pressure on the Democratic Unionists to restore devolved government.

Earlier this month, the UK government pledged an eye-watering £3.3 billion to support the efforts of any new Stormont administration.

Rishi Sunak can take much credit but this complex deal represents a huge leap of faith by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.

Jamie Bryson, a loyalist activist and fierce opponent of compromise, was live tweeting from a DUP source inside the meeting.

But the party leader has faced down his critics to restore the power-sharing at the heart of the peace process.

"It's all over bar the shouting," one DUP source said, and there will be plenty of noise about this decision.

But Northern Ireland seems set to have a devolved government in place within days and that signals a historic moment.

Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill, who topped the poll in the election, is poised to become the first Nationalist First Minister.

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Stormont power-sharing in sight as Northern Ireland DUP accepts post-Brexit deal - The Guardian

The Democratic Unionist party has endorsed a deal with the UK government to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland, paving an end to two years of political deadlock.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the party would revive the mothballed Stormont executive and assembly once the government tabled promised legislation.

“I am pleased to report that the party executive has now endorsed the proposals that I have put to the party,” he told a press conference early on Tuesday after facing down hardline opponents in a dramatic and chaotic five-hour meeting of the party’s 130-member executive. “The result was clear, the DUP has been decisive, I have been mandated to move forward.”

The DUP collapsed Stormont in February 2022 in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements that it said undermined Northern Ireland’s position in the UK. The impasse left civil servants to run Northern Ireland on a form of auto-pilot amid a fiscal crisis, crumbling public services, strikes and doubts about whether devolved government would ever return.

However the boycott proved popular with DUP supporters and bolstered its electoral position, complicating Donaldson’s effort to abandon the protest.

Tuesday morning’s breakthrough paves the way for Sinn Féin, which overtook the DUP as the biggest party in the 2022 assembly election, to take the first minister post for the first time under its deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill – a historic, if symbolic precedent. A DUP member will be eligible to be deputy first minister, a post with equal power but less prestige.

Sinn Féin’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald, expressed optimism Stormont could return before an 8 February legislative deadline for forming an administration. “Sinn Féin will now engage with the parties and both governments to ensure we now all press on without delay,” she said.

Donaldson said the deal – yet to be published – would safeguard Northern Ireland’s place in the UK and restore its place in the UK internal market. “It will remove checks for goods moving within the UK and remaining in Northern Ireland and will end Northern Ireland automatically following future EU laws,” he said.

Conservative MPs will scrutinise the deal, once published, for any sign that Downing Street has weakened the ability to diverge from EU rules.

Rishi Sunak’s administration would need to deliver legislative commitments it made to the DUP before the party would revive power-sharing, said Donaldson. “The package of measures will require a significant number of actions to be taken and we look forward with confidence to their ongoing implementation, according to an agreed timeline.”

On that basis the DUP would support convoking the Northern Ireland assembly to elect a speaker and facilitate the nomination of ministers, said Donaldson.

The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, who presided over months of tortuous negotiations with the DUP, welcomed the news and said London would keep its side of the bargain. “I now believe that all the conditions are in place for the assembly to return, the parties entitled to form an executive are meeting tomorrow to discuss these matters and I hope to be able to finalise this deal with the political parties as soon as possible.”

Dublin, Brussels and Washington will also welcome the restoration of Stormont, a central plank of the 1998 Good Friday agreement. Many Northern Ireland nurses, teachers, bus drivers and other public sector workers will also welcome a revived executive, which is a condition to unlock a £3.3bn financial package from London.

Donaldson’s victory – and possibly his leadership – will be tested in coming days by hardliners who consider the deal a betrayal that will weaken the union, raising the prospect of a party split. Donaldson did not reveal the size of the majority in favour of the deal.

Senior figures in the DUP, including Sammy Wilson and Nigel Dodds, had warned against a compromise that would merely tweak the Irish Sea border. Dozens of protesters, some holding union jack flags and signs saying “Stop DUP sellout”, picketed the meeting, which ended shortly before 1am.

The Traditional Unionist Voice party and Jamie Bryson, a prominent loyalist, denounced Donaldson. The meeting was supposed to have been confidential but Bryson live-tweeted it, suggesting he had sources inside the room. “There’s only one betrayal, and it is of the mandate given to the DUP,” Bryson tweeted.

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Wembley fire: Around 125 firefighters tackle blaze in block of flats - Evening Standard

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Wembley fire: Around 125 firefighters tackle blaze in block of flats  Evening StandardView Full coverage on Google News
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Archbishop of Canterbury attacks Rishi Sunak's 'damaging' Rwanda plan - The Independent

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Rishi Sunak’s proposed Rwanda asylum law has cleared its first major hurdle in the House of Lords, but faces a bruising ride as the Archbishop of Canterbury warned it is “leading the nation down a damaging path”.

Justin Welby made a rare intervention into politics by speaking out in the Lords on Monday evening, against the legislation aimed at sending asylum seekers on one-way flights to the African country. The Church of England’s most senior cleric insisted that Britain “can do better than this bill” as he condemned the Sunak’s government’s “pick and choose” approach to international law.

A barrage of criticism was levelled at the government’s Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, during its lengthy second reading debate in the upper chamber, with accusations that it was immoral, repugnant and an attempt to “legislate a lie”.

The Archbishop of Canterbury speaking in the Lords

(Parliament TV)

Mr Sunak has told peers to listen to “the will of the people” as he tries to push his Rwanda scheme through parliament in time to get deportation flights started for the spring.

Only 11 right-wing rebel Tory MPs voted against the “weak” legislation in the Commons – but it faces a bigger test in the Lords, where many members have expressed unease about the safety of Rwanda.

While the Bill survived a Liberal Democrat-led bid to derail it on Monday, the unelected chamber is certain to seek numerous changes, putting them on a collision course with the Tory administration and an extended tussle between the Commons and Lords during “ping-pong”. Peers voted 206 to 84 against the blocking motion, a majority of 122.

Speaking ahead of the second-reading stage vote, the Archbishop of Canterbury told the Lords: “We can as a nation do better than this bill.”

“With this bill, the government is continuing to seek good objectives in the wrong way – leading the nation down a damaging path,” the faith leader added.

Rev Welby called Rwanda as a “wonderful country”, adding: “My complaint is not with Rwanda, nor with its people – it has overcome challenges that this House cannot begin to imagine.”

But the cross-bench peer insisted that Mr Sunak’s bill would “outsource our legal and moral responsibility for refugees and asylum seekers” when other countries “far poorer than we are already supporting multitudes more than we are now”.

He also argued that “pick and choose approach to international law undermines our global standing and offends against the principle of universality”.

Rishi Sunak insists his Rwanda bill will help him deliver his ‘stop the boats’ pledge

Rev Welby added: “It is damaging for asylum seekers in need of protection, and safe and legal routes. It is damaging for this country’s reputation … It is damaging in respect of constitutional principles and the rule of law.”

The senior Liberal Democrat peer Lord German urged fellow peers to vote down the Rwanda bill at the second reading stage. However, Rev Welby said he would not vote against the government on Monday evening. With the government widely expected to win tonight’s vote, peers are waiting to amend the legislation at the next stage.

First blood was drawn on the bill in the Lords last week, when peers backed by 214 votes to 171 an unprecedented move seeking to delay a treaty with Rwanda which forms part of the government’s plan.

The unelected second chamber backed calls for parliament to not approve the pact until ministers can show the country is safe. However, unlike the Commons – which has the power to delay ratification of a treaty – the Lords can only advise.

The ex-Tory cabinet minister Kenneth Clarke said he could not support the Rwanda bill – warning that its powers to overrule the courts on Rwanda’s safety set a “very dangerous constitutional provision”.

Lord Clarke told peers about “the risks of moving towards an elective dictatorship in this country” – arguing that there ought to be “constitutional limits on any branch of government in a liberal democratic society such as ours”.

And in a scathing speech, former Labour home secretary Lord David Blunkett, said the Tory plan was all about “virtue signalling” to hardline voters and demonising the courts, the Lords and the opposition.

He also pointed out that far-right Italian Giorgia Meloni had a similar plan to deport asylum seekers to African nations. “What sort of county are we?” he asked.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Sunak’s official spokesman said the bill remained the “right thing to do” to tackle people smugglers and deter asylum seekers from crossing the Channel.

“It is also the fair thing to do both for taxpayers and for those individuals seeking to come here through safe and legal routes who see their place jumped by those who can afford to make crossings on small boats,” said the No 10 official.

Meanwhile, the number of migrants who made unauthorised Channel crossings of the Channel this year passed 1,000 after more than 300 made the journey at the weekend.

The asylum scheme comes with a £290m, bill but a series of legal challenges has meant no flights have taken off since it was first proposed in 2022, when Boris Johnson was in No 10.

Under the plan, people who cross the Channel in small boats could be removed to Rwanda rather than being allowed to seek asylum in the UK. The legislation, along with the recently signed treaty with Kigali, is aimed at ensuring the scheme is legally watertight.

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