Tag: united kingdom

Calls for new Labour mayor to be sacked because he dressed up as Adolf Hitler for charity event

A newly appointed Labour mayor who dressed up as Adolf Hitler at a charity event is facing calls to resign. 

Photographs of Seve Gomez-Aspron MBE wearing a German Army uniform, complete with swastika, and a fake moustache, previously surfaced online in 2019 when he was serving as a councillor for St Helens. 

The series of snaps were taken at a fancy dress dinner in aid of Claire House Hospice, which supports seriously and terminally ill children, in 2009, when he was not yet a councillor.

Mr Gomez-Aspron said at the time the outfit was inspired by Mel Brooks‘ satirical comedy The Producers. He described the decision to wear it as ‘clumsy’.

But despite his apology, there is still much furor surrounding his recent appointment, with more than 1,000 people signing a petition for his removal as mayor. 

According to the Sun, 11 councillors also walked out in protest during his swearing in ceremony on May 14. 

‘He is reviled throughout St Helens for his inappropriate behaviour and attitude,’ a councillor told the newspaper.

‘Many feel that he is not fit for public office, never mind the prestigious role as mayor,’

The councillor told the Liverpool Echo the first time the photos went viral that they were taken in his early twenties, before he was a Labour Party member

He added at the time: ‘I have matured and learnt a lot since then, and it goes without saying that I would not do this now.

‘I know how this could be seen as insensitive and how it could cause hurt and offence.

‘That was not at all my intention and I sincerely apologise. I have part-Jewish ancestry and I recently visited Israel to commemorate those killed in the Holocaust and the war.’

But, for Mr Gomez-Aspron – who also once appeared on ITV’s Million Pound Drop where he scooped £100,000 with a pal – this scandal was not his first. 

Just last year the then deputy leader of St Helens Council was forced to apologise for ‘offensive’ comments made towards a councillor during a meeting about a proposed rise in council tax. 

Mr Gomez-Aspron described the councillor’s reasoning for voting against a 4.99% rise as ‘diatribe’ and claimed he has ‘not a clue what he is talking about’. 

He went on to describe the man and another councillor as the ‘Earlestown Brain Trust’, before correcting himself by saying ‘it was wrong to imply there was a brain’.

Keep reading

Labour set to free killers and rapists earlier under new soft-justice masterplan branded ‘recipe for a crimewave’ by the Tories

Labour is set to free killers and rapists from jail earlier under a new soft-justice masterplan.

The Government’s sentencing review was last night savaged by victims and senior police officers, while the Tories dubbed it a ‘recipe for a crimewave’.

The plan contains a raft of measures to slash sentences served by prisoners – from shoplifters to killers – by up to a third. 

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who commissioned the review to free up space in overcrowded prisons, is poised to become the weakest law and order minister in history by allowing thousands more criminals a year to dodge jail completely.

Most of the plan has already been adopted in principle by Labour. Tory frontbencher Robert Jenrick blasted the measures as ‘a get-out-of-jail-free card for dangerous criminals’.

‘It’s a recipe for a crime wave,’ the Shadow Justice Secretary told MPs in the Commons. ‘The Labour Party are clearly ideologically opposed to prison.

‘The radical, terrible changes today may be cloaked in necessity, but the root of them is their ideology. And it’s the public who will pay the price for their weakness.’

The review said criminals convicted of serious violence or sex offences could win their freedom after serving half their jail term, rather than at the current three-quarters point – a one-third reduction.

This lower automatic release date would apply to offenders convicted of ‘rape, manslaughter, soliciting murder, attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm’, the document said, providing they behaved well in jail.

Most other offenders would be released after serving just a third of their sentence if they demonstrated good behaviour.

Keep reading

U.K. will roll out chemical castration for sex offenders

The British government is to roll out the use of medication to suppress the sex drive of sex offenders, as part of a package of measures to reduce the risk of reoffending and alleviate the pressures on the prison system, which is running out of space.

In a statement to Parliament Thursday following the release of an independent sentencing review, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said so-called chemical castration would be used in 20 prisons in two regions and that she was considering making it mandatory.

“Of course, it is vital that this approach is taken alongside psychological interventions that target other causes of offending, like asserting power and control,” she said.

Though the review highlighted the treatment would not be relevant for some sex offenders such as rapists driven by power and control, rather than sexual preoccupation, Mahmood said studies show that chemical castration can lead to a 60 per cent reduction in reoffending.

It’s been used in Germany and Denmark on a voluntary basis, and in Poland as mandatory for some offenders.

The recommendation was part of a wide-ranging review led by former justice secretary, David Gauke. As well as looking at ways to cut reoffending, Gauke recommended reforms to overhaul the prisons system, which is running at near-capacity.

One of the first things Mahmood did as justice minister after Labour returned to power after 14 years last July was sanction an early-release program for prisoners to free up space. She says she inherited a judicial system that had been neglected for years by the previous Conservative government and set up the review as a means to stabilize it.

“If our prisons collapse, courts are forced to suspend trials,” she said. “The police must halt their arrests, crime goes unpunished, criminals run amok and chaos reigns. We face the breakdown of law and order in this country.”

The review recommended that criminals could be released from prison earlier than currently, while judges could be given more flexibility to impose punishments such as driving bans. It also recommended that sentences of less than 12 months would also be scrapped, apart from exceptional circumstances such as domestic abuse cases. It also called for the immediate deportation for foreign nationals handed a three-year sentence or less.

The review called for higher investment in the probation service to allow officers to spend more time with offenders for their rehabilitation and extra funding for the many more being tagged in the community.

Mahmood responded by giving a 700 million-pound (US$930 million) a year for probation within years.

Keep reading

The UK’s Digital ID Era Starts This Summer

A sweeping transformation of the UK’s identity systems is underway, with the government poised to launch a digital identity wallet this summer. Beginning with a digital version of the Veteran card and expanding to include driving licenses later this year, the initiative is designed to eventually consolidate all government-issued credentials into a single, centralized app by 2027.

While pitched as a modernization effort, this dramatic shift toward a digital-first ID system has sparked serious concerns about surveillance, data security, and individual autonomy in an increasingly watchful society.

To enroll in the system, users will be expected to provide personal documentation.

The Gov.uk Wallet, as it is known, represents a fundamental redesign of the relationship between the state and its citizens.

This overhaul comes at a time when nearly 50 million people across the UK could be affected by the new digital infrastructure. While specific instructions on how to apply for or access the wallet have yet to be detailed, the direction is clear: the UK is moving toward a society where physical IDs may soon be relics of the past.

The government frames the change as part of its larger digitization strategy, yet the scale and permanence of eventual biometric data collection call into question the long-term implications for individual freedoms.

The introduction of digital driving licenses has also been tied to broader regulatory reforms, including newly proposed rules for e-scooter purchases. Buyers will need to provide license details as a form of identity verification, reinforcing the idea that access to everyday services will increasingly hinge on digital ID systems. This entrenchment of digital identity into daily life carries substantial consequences: it embeds surveillance mechanisms into transportation, access to benefits, and public services in ways that may be difficult to reverse.

Keep reading

Inside The Secret Illegal Antifa Headquarters

From Portland to Washington, D.C., and across Europe, the far-left extremist movement known as Antifa has unleashed years of orchestrated chaos driven by a radical, anti-capitalist agenda aimed at destabilizing the West. Now, for the first time, explosive undercover footage reveals life inside an illegal Antifa headquarters. 

YouTuber The Urban Legend has released 30 minutes of explosive footage captured inside a secret and illegal Antifa headquarters in Manchester, United Kingdom.

The video reveals what appears to be a fully operational base—complete with stockpiles of food, racks of clothing, a sleeping area, and what looks like a makeshift revolutionary workshop for rioters. The footage offers a rare and disturbing glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of the revolutionary movement that has fueled unrest across the West. 

We grabbed a series of screenshots from the video, including text on the wall that said: “Give Trans Girls Guns.” 

Additional graffiti included slogans like “Protect Trans Kids” and “Punch Nazis”—language that, while politically charged, raises serious concerns due to its potential to incite violence. 

Keep reading

Jailed wife of ex-Tory councillor loses sentence appeal over Southport tweet

A childminder who was jailed for 31 months after calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire after the Southport attacks has lost an appeal against her sentence at the court of appeal.

Lucy Connolly, who is married to a former Conservative councillor, said in an X post in July last year: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care … if that makes me racist so be it.”

The post came after three girls were killed in a knife attack at a holiday club in Southport on 29 July, sparking nationwide unrest. It was viewed 310,000 times in three and a half hours before Connolly deleted it.

In a written judgment published on Tuesday, the appeal court judge Lord Justice Holroyde said: “There is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive. The application for leave to appeal against sentence therefore fails and is refused.”

He said the principal ground for appeal “was substantially based on a version of events put forward by the applicant which we have rejected”.

The former childminder was sentenced at Birmingham crown court last October after pleading guilty to a charge of inciting racial hatred.

She is married to Raymond Connolly, who was a Tory councillor for West Northamptonshire but lost his seat in May this year.

The court heard that the day before Connolly was arrested, she sent a WhatsApp message saying the “raging tweet about burning down hotels has bit me on the arse lol”. She also said she would “play the mental health card” if arrested, and would deny responsibility for the post if asked.

Naeem Valli, prosecuting, said Connolly, who had no previous conviction, also sent a message saying she intended to work her notice period as a childminder “on the sly” despite being deregistered.

She sent another tweet commenting on a sword attack that read: “I bet my house it was one of these boat invaders.”

Keep reading

Police could search homes and phones after pregnancy loss

Police have been issued guidance on how to search women’s homes for abortion drugs and check their phones for menstrual cycle tracking apps after unexpected pregnancy loss.

New guidance from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) on “child death investigation” advises officers to search for “drugs that can terminate pregnancy” in cases involving stillbirths. The NPCC, which sets strategic direction for policing across the country UK, also suggests a woman’s digital devices could be seized to help investigators “establish a woman’s knowledge and intention in relation to the pregnancy”. That could include checking a woman’s internet searches, messages to friends and family, and health apps, “such as menstrual cycle and fertility trackers”, it states.

Details are also provided for how police could bypass legal requirements for a court order to obtain medical records about a woman’s abortion from NHS providers.

Abortion law in the UK is based on the Offences Against the Person Act from 1861. In recent years, an increasing number of women have been investigated and prosecuted under this law. The Abortion Act of 1967 allows women to end their pregnancies under medical supervision up to 24 weeks, or beyond in certain circumstances, such as if the life of the mother is at risk or if the foetus has a serious abnormality.

The guidance replaces a 2014 document that did not mention investigating stillbirths, but had one mention of investigating women who may have had an illegal abortion. The new guidance, published in January and developed by a sub-group of the NPCC’s Homicide Working Group alongside the College of Policing, National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police, covers the scenario over several pages.

The lead authors were Ch Supt Liz Hughes of Avon and Somerset police force; Det Supt Jon Holmes of Lancashire; DCS David Ashton of Durham; Ch Supt Fiona Bitters of Hampshire and Isle of Wight; Sonya Baylis, of the National Crime Agency; and DS Robert Simmons of Suffolk.

Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), said: “The new guidance is shocking. Women in these circumstances have a right to compassionate care and to have their dignity and privacy respected, not to have their homes, phones, ­computers and health apps searched, or be arrested and interrogated.”

Leading abortion providers, legal experts and medical professionals have told The Observer they were not consulted over the NPCC guidance and called for it to be amended.

Katie Saxon at BPAS, the leading abortion provider, said the organisation was aware of an increase in police investigating women who had had abortions in recent years, “but to see it in black and white after years of criticisms of the way this outdated law is enforced is harrowing”.

She added: “This [NPCC] guidance was written at the same time as unprecedented threats to global abortion rights and while parliament was set to consider decriminalising women abortion. To write it without public conversation or discussion with experts shows just how detached from reality the NPCC is.”

Louise McCudden at the abortion provider MSI Reproductive Choices said the guidance was “fuelling a culture of hostility and suspicion towards abortion and pregnancy loss”.

Keep reading

UK Contractor Extradited to U.S., Pleads Guilty in Massive USAID Fraud Scheme Tied to Pakistan Energy Program

A UK citizen who ripped off American taxpayers through a U.S.-funded foreign aid program has been sentenced to time served after a brazen kickback scheme drained nearly $100,000 in USAID funds — and he’ll now be handed over to immigration authorities.

Stephen Paul Edmund Sutton, 53, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty in Washington, D.C. federal court Monday to conspiring to commit theft concerning a program receiving federal funds, a felony offense.

Sutton was a Logistics Operations Manager for a contractor implementing the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Power Distribution Program (PDP) in Pakistan — a five-year effort that was supposed to help modernize Pakistan’s failing electric utilities.

Instead, Sutton and his co-conspirator, who remains under indictment, lined their pockets by setting up bogus shell companies that funneled inflated contracts for forklifts and crane services — all under the guise of helping Pakistan’s struggling power grid. Sutton personally pocketed at least $21,000 in kickbacks.

More from DOJ:

 According to court documents, PDP was a component of U.S. government assistance to the government of Pakistan to support its energy sector.

Launched in September 2010, the five-year program was designed to facilitate improvements in Pakistan’s government-owned electric power distribution companies through interventions and projects addressing governance issues, technical and non-technical losses, and low revenue collection.

The main goal of the PDP was to improve the commercial performance of the participating distribution companies through technology upgrades and improvements in processes, procedures, and practices, as well as training and capacity building.

Under the PDP contract, Sutton’s employer subcontracted through purchase orders with vendors in Pakistan for certain goods and services.

From May through November 2015, Sutton and his co-conspirator, an employee supervised by Sutton, participated in a kickback scheme by creating two companies, obtaining PDP purchase orders for forklift and crane services for the companies, and distributing the profits to themselves.

As part of the scheme, his co-conspirator arranged for low-grade local vendors to provide the services for at least half the contract rates, and Sutton ensured that the company paid the invoices despite suspicions raised by an accounts payable officer.

U.S. government sentencing documents indicate the agency was defrauded of almost $100,000 and that for his part, Sutton received at least $21,000 in kickbacks.

Sutton’s co-conspirator is also charged by indictment and his case is pending disposition.

Keep reading

Britain ‘investing in 30,000 more electronic tags for criminals’ amid massive overhaul

Britain is investing in 30,000 more electronic tags for criminals as part of a massive overhaul in sentencing law.

The huge expansion of tagging technology will see nearly 40,000 criminals electronically monitored at once.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is understood to have secured £700 million in funding from the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to buy the devices.

This will increase the Probation Service’s budget by roughly a third and enable it to quadruple the number of criminals fitted with electronic tags, The Times reports.

It comes as David Gauke, the former Conservative justice secretary, will publish a long-awaited sentencing review this month.

The report is expected to lead to the most drastic shake-up of sentencing legislation in decades and, the government is predicted to accept most of his recommendations.

A MoJ spokesman said last week: ‘This Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with prisons days from collapse.

‘David Gauke is conducting a sentencing review to ensure that we never run out of prison places again, and we are committed to reforming sentencing to ensure our prisons cut crime and keep the public safe.’

The Ministry of Justice is also thought to be preparing to announce a new type of tag that will measure the level of drugs in an offender’s system by monitoring their blood pressure and heart rate.

Mahmood said the new devices are the ‘holy grail’ of tagging technology because of the large proportion of criminals whose offending is driven by drugs.

Keep reading

UK Man Arrested For ‘Racially Aggravated Harassment’ After Trying to Book a Room in Migrant Hotel

A UK man was arrested for ‘racially aggravated harassment’ after he tried to book a room in a hotel that was housing illegal migrants.

The individual, who goes by the handle @gb_national on X, was filming outside the The New Bridge Hotel in Newcastle when the incident occurred.

The man briefly entered the hotel after hearing reports that migrants staying there had sexually harassed students and underage girls in the immediate vicinity.

Security immediately called the police and the man left the hotel.

He then continued filming from the other side of the road but was subsequently approached by police.

The officers told the man he was not being detained but continued to question him, before telling him he couldn’t walk on the path alongside the hotel due to it representing a “threat to public order.”

Keep reading