UK

The chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales has warned that today’s early release of around 1,750 offenders is going to be “risky”. It is being done to create space in the country’s overcrowded prisons and the government insists the alternative was “unthinkable” and would have led to a “total collapse of the criminal

A man who admitted the rape and murder of a woman he stabbed 60 times during sex 27 years ago should be freed from prison, the Parole Board has said. Steven Ling was jailed for life in December 1998 after admitting an attack on Joanne Tulip, 29, in Stamfordham, Northumberland. He has been recommended for

A loud crash jolts Paul Wheeler into waking up in the middle of the night. As he peers out of his bedroom window, which overlooks the park at the back of his home in a quiet, suburban part of Kent, he sees a shadowy figure setting fire to something. It’s a warm summer night, Labour

The health secretary has said he is “not remotely happy” about having to vote to cut the winter fuel allowance for some pensioners. Wes Streeting said he has apologised to his elderly constituents who it will affect, but said cutting the payment from those not on pension credit is essential to balance public finances. He

The deaths of around 2,000 mental health patients will be investigated as a long-awaited new public inquiry begins on Monday. Warning: The following article contains details some readers may find distressing Families of the patients who died in Essex have been campaigning for years, claiming they have not been told the truth about what happened

Police searching for a British man in a mountainous area of Majorca where a British woman was found dead earlier this week have found a body. Both are believed to have been swept away in a flash flood. Spain’s Civil Guard said both people were on a trail that leads through a small canyon to

England interim manager Lee Carsley has said he will not be singing the British national anthem before his side take on the Republic of Ireland on Saturday. The 50-year-old was born in Birmingham in the UK but represented Ireland during his playing career through his grandmother, who is from County Cork. Speaking in a news

An arsonist who stoked a fire outside a Rotherham hotel hosting asylum seekers during last month’s riots has been jailed for nine years. It is the longest sentence handed down so far over last month’s violence, which erupted across the UK following the killing of three children in a stabbing at a dance class in

A member of the Royal Navy has died after a helicopter ditched while conducting night-flying exercises with HMS Queen Elizabeth. In a statement the Navy said: “It is with great sadness that we must report a member of the Royal Navy has died following a training incident last night. “Our thoughts are with the family

Jeremy Kyle has defended both his chat show and his presenting style during the inquest into the death of a man after appearing on the programme. It came as the court was also shown clips from the unaired show for the first time. Steve Dymond, 63, was found dead at his home in Portsmouth, Hampshire,

A banking boss and his wife, who died when a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily, suffocated to death in an air bubble as oxygen ran out, according to Italian media. Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer were two of the seven people who died when the Bayesian superyacht sank last month. The

The government was “well aware” of the deadly risks posed by combustible cladding and insulation a year before the Grenfell Tower fire, but “failed to act on what it knew”, a landmark report has found. The report also said “systemic dishonesty” from cladding and insulation companies and a “toxic” relationship between the tower’s residents and

Three children and two teenagers have been arrested over the murder of an 80-year-old man. The victim, who was walking his dog in a park in Braunstone Town, Leicestershire, was seriously assaulted on Sunday and died in hospital last night. A boy and a girl, both 14, and one boy and two girls, all aged

An inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire will deliver its final report this morning, seven years after the deadly blaze. The long-running inquiry’s second report into the disaster, which claimed the lives of 72 people, will present its findings on how the west London tower block came to be in a condition to allow the

The UK has experienced its coolest summer since 2015, according to provisional data from the Met Office. Despite recent years seeing persistently hot and dry summers – edging into extreme weather at times – 2024 has somewhat bucked that trend. While a handful of days were hot, they were not close to the heat we’ve

The wife of a Tory councillor has pleaded guilty to publishing written material to stir up racial hatred following the Southport stabbings. Childminder Lucy Connolly admitted making the post about asylum seekers at Northampton Crown Court after she was previously arrested and re-arrested in the first half of August. UK riots latest: Anti-racism protests planned

One-word Ofsted judgements for state schools are being scrapped with immediate effect in a move that has been hailed as a “landmark moment for children”. Previously, the education watchdog awarded one of four marks to schools it inspects: outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate. From this academic year, four grades will be awarded across the

Two teenagers have been arrested after a 13-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Oldbury. West Midlands Police said the teenagers were held on Sunday in connection with the fatal stabbing in Lovett Avenue on Thursday and are being questioned in custody. “The family of the 13-year-old boy who died are aware of the developments

Oasis fans have scrambled for tickets for the band’s reunion tour, battling technical issues and waiting for hours in virtual queues. Noel and Liam Gallagher confirmed the band’s long-awaited reunion on Tuesday, saying: “The great wait is over.” Tickets for the Oasis Live 25 tour sold out within hours, with the band posting on X

Two people have died after being attacked in separate incidents at Notting Hill Carnival last weekend. Cher Maximen, 32, was at the event last Sunday with her child when she was stabbed. She died this morning. Police said officers gave emergency treatment to Ms Maximen until paramedics arrived. She was then taken to hospital in