The coroner, Brendan Allen, has asked Dorset police for details of how its domestic abuse policies are disseminated to officers after it emerged that the force had been told of allegations of coercive behaviour. Allen has also asked for Warwickshire county council to give more details of what measures it took after a safeguarding review relating to Katie.
It seems to be to absolve those responsible, the teenagers, of any culpability.
The jury concluded that Jack had had a troubled childhood and had tried to take his life“multiple” times before. The jurors said the alleged offence had been a factor in what happened and the loss of contact with his child after his arrest had led to a “lot of distress”.
Notice how the claim he’d tried ‘Many times’ isn’t challenged yet we’re supposed to believe he suddenly got it right this time?
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Lyne of Dorset police said: “Dorset police has reviewed its actions and involvement in the investigation to identify any learning opportunities. Subsequently, some protocols have been refreshed.” The force said it was considering its response regarding the coroner’s request for more information about domestic abuse policies.
Ah learning opportunities, never the ones they really need, which is to stop employing middle aged neon haired social studies graduates who waste their time on this sort of thing.
Retailers will be required to report suspicious or bulk purchases of knives, and those caught selling blades to under-18s will face tougher sentences under a new raft of measures to clamp down on young people’s access to weapons labelled Ronan’s law.
Who?
Named after Ronan Kanda, the 16-year-old killed in Wolverhampton in 2022 by a teenager carrying a 22in ninja blade he had ordered online, the new laws are part of a raft of anti-knife crime plans announced by the government on Wednesday.
So, not a teenager carrying more than one knife? So why the bulk purchase thing?
A government-commissioned review has found that age verification for buying knives online is “a huge vulnerability”, and that 15 illegal dealers had sold more than 2,000 knives in an 18-month period.
Metropolitan police commander Stephen Clayman, the national lead for knife crime who led the review, said: “I could go to a legitimate dealer and buy 300 knives, and the dealer has no obligation to tell police that someone’s just bought that, or the fact I bought five knives each week for the last 10 weeks.
Well, no, of course not, you idiot! Because what's more likely, that they bought them to sell off individually to Shaniqua and DeWayne to settle beef in the ends, or that they are supplying chef's shools and catering colleges? It seems we hadn't quite scraped the bottom of the 'knife crime idiocy' barrel after all....
“We need to plug that and understand who is buying these knives. Because they are then selling indiscriminately to children and young men, predominantly men, because there are no age verification safeguards.”
How many of them? And how many are not? So you're going to start investigating legitimate business to catch the one, maybe two, people misselling? That doesn't sound likr a good use of time to me. As a wise woman once pointed out:
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “It is horrifying how easy it is for young people to get hold of knives online even though children’s lives are being lost, and families and communities are left devastated as a result.”
And how horrifying is it that they don't have to, because there's multiples in every kitchen in the country. Gosh. Maybe it's not the method, maybe it's the person, Yvette?
Ronan’s mother, Pooja Kanda, said her son “didn’t stand a chance” against the weapons. “How was this allowed? A 16-year-old managed to get these weapons online and sold them to other people,” she said.
“We welcome the government’s plans to tackle the online sale of these weapons, and the proposal of a registration scheme, which will continue to implement stricter measures on the online sale of bladed articles. We have so much work to tackle knife crime; this is a much-needed beginning.”
Because we all know they aren't going to stop at this idiocy...despite being very well aware of where it's going to lead:
The prison sentence for people caught selling weapons to under-18s will be increased from six months to up to two years, and both the individual who has processed the sale and the chief executive of a company face being charged.
The measure will be implemented even after an official review found that longer incarceration had driven the country’s justice system to breaking point, and that successive governments had prioritised longer prison sentences over cutting reoffending.
Joseph's mother, Sarah, described in a statement following the case how she was still trying to come to terms with her son's death.
She said: 'Joseph was an amazing young man who had the world at his fingertips. He was kind, funny, caring, loyal and compassionate.
'His murder has left a huge hole in the lives of his family and friends and he will be forever loved and missed by us all.
'I will never forgive and never forget.'
Another innocent robbed from his family by savages, eh?
Detective Chief Inspector Laura Harrison, from West Mildands Police's homicide unit, added: 'This is another young life lost to knife crime.
'Only those involved will know the reason for the attack, but no doubt it was not worth the price of a life, or the lengthy sentences that those convicted are facing.'
Woah, hold up there, Laura! It's no mystery at all, is it? After all, it all came out at the trial, didn't it?
Joseph, from Bartley Green, Birmingham, was in Stourbridge town centre with friends on the day of his murder, the court heard, when he spotted another group of teenagers and ran up to them at the bottom of High Street.
Joseph attacked two of them with a screwdriver before attempting to get into a car with his friends which had pulled up alongside him, jurors were told.
But the teenager struggled to get into the car and ran off along Coventry Street as he was chased. Joseph was then attacked himself, suffering a fatal blow to the chest.
Leo Gradwell was behind the wheel of a stolen Fiat 500 when he lost control and collided with a Kia Sportage and then a Renault Clio on Asthon Road in Golborne, Wigan.
Leo, from Platt Bridge, was initially rushed to the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan, before being taken to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.
However, his injuries were considered unsurvivable and his life support , of the 'much-loved son and brother' was withdrawn the following day.
Some might argue that decision should perhaps have been made before the crash...
Yesterday, a jury who began hearing evidence in the case last week, returned their findings and conclusion.
Was it 'Good riddance'..?
Summing up the evidence, Mr Brennand said GMP PC Darren Sharpe who was asked to review the incident 'considered the actions of his colleagues to proportionate and legitimate.'
Neville Lowden from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), also concluded the pursuit was 'proportionate and legitimate', the hearing was told.
Not that any of that prevented the family's solicitor having a dig at the cops, instead of staying wisely silent, of course...
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said:'I fully appreciate the public will be very concerned. '
What's to be concerned about? Did the police throw a handcuffed prisoner off the bridge for shits n' giggles? That'd be something to be concerned about...
The father of a labourer who entered the Thames as he was being arrested after a drunken row with his girlfriend today accused police of 'watching' him die, claiming his son could have been saved as the water was only 'waist-deep'.
At the point he went in, yes, no doubt. But this sorry collection of chavnames are the ones to blame for what happened here, entirely.
Liam Allan was on a night out in Kingston, south-west London, with his partner, Caitlin, and teen brother Ethan Adami-Clack on Friday when he entered the water via steps by Bill's restaurant on Riverside Walk just after 10.30pm.
She reportedly ran to the corner of the bridge where she saw him swimming away from police, and officers are alleged to have tried to stop her chasing after him.
So they saved her from drowning with him. Win some, lose some!
The response of this kid's father is quite telling about what sort of person we are talkiing about here:
'Why did the police even take him down to the river bank? It was an alleged theft, but his girlfriend was always ringing the police over him for something, and it wasn't a theft. They were out together, what would he have taken?'
Who know? That's why the police were in the process of arresting him, so they could find out...
Mr Allan, who did agency work in construction but wanted to be a rapper...
The mum of a schoolboy who was fatally stabbed has called for 'trial juries to be diverse to avoid racial bias.'
She told how she is 'still seeking justice' after her son's killer was jailed for manslaughter.
Hmmm...oh. This case.
"I didn't get any justice. I feel so upset about it. It feels like Dea-John has been killed once more," Joan told BirminghamLive.
"Someone was chasing my son with a knife, stabbing and killing them. How can that be? Dea-John didn't do anything. He was running away for his life and how can he be a threat to him?
"I don't expect my son should go like this. I sat in the trial for six-weeks and thought I would get justice, but there was no justice."
Given he was - as almost always these days! - no angel, the only real surprise here is that he wasn't killed by someone of his own race:
Dea-John was part of a group who tried to take a bag from a 16-year-old on parkland.
But of course, the usual suspects see an opportunity:
A protest march is planned starting at Twickenham Park, on College Road, in Kingstanding, from 1pm, on Saturday, July 9.
Bishop Desmond Jaddoo:"That jury did not reflect Birmingham. The city is a black and Asian majority city."
And it's a byword for peace and brotherly love as a result, eh?
Drunk swimming is becoming an “increasing challenge” in the Lake District this summer, a national park spokesman has said, as visitors try to replicate boozy foreign holidays at home.
*shrugs* But hasn't this always happened?
Yes. But it seems this is happening more often:
Tony Watson, head of visitor services and communications at the Lake District national park, said TikTok and Instagram were leading visitors to party in isolated locations where there have never previously been issues.
He explained: “What we are seeing is a massive desire to be near the water, and what used to be lake shores are now beaches, and there’s a lot of booze consumed. That booze really reduces people’s common sense and fear factor. We might be having Mediterranean air temperatures but we’ve still got traditionally cold northern English waters.”
It probably doesn't reduce their common sense all that much. I doubr they have a lot to begin with. So, we're blaming booze and covid, right? And German supermarkets.
...
Wait, what?
As well as an increasing appetite for wild swimming, there has also been a rise in popularity in other water activities, with visitors turning up with cheap paddleboards without the right safety equipment, said Watson.
“The middle aisle of Lidl is often on our lakes. We see Lidl selling paddleboards but we don’t see them selling buoyancy aids.”
In a powerful statement, his family say Ronaldo was a talented athlete who had simply gone out with a friend and never made it home.
Perhaps his choice of friend could have been better, then.
"As a backseat passenger of his friend’s car, Ronaldo sustained serious injuries after their drive ended in a collision brought about by a police pursuit."
No, actually, brought about solely by the actions of the driver who ran a red light, then decided not to stop for police...
"There is an investigation into Ronaldo’s death by the IOPC and as a family we hope the police officer and the driver of the car my brother was a passenger in are dealt with in accordance of the law."
Me too. I hope the driver has the book thrown at him, and the police officer is commended for doing his job in stopping this menace before he injured more people.
You'll note there's no mention of the taxi driver and passenger who had to be cut free from the wreckage when they were hit in this 'powerful statement'.
...but because it's human, we have to keep it alive.
The teenager who murdered teaching assistant Lindsay Birbeck has been unmasked as a traveller named after boxing legend Rocky Marciano.
The 17-year-old strangled the 47-year-old mother-of-two before hiding her in a wheelie bin and burying her naked body in Accrington cemetery, the same place where his grandfather, who shares his name, and other family members are buried.
Turns out the wheelie bin had a higher IQ that this worthless waste of oxygen...
Price, who has an IQ of just 65, previously could not be named for legal reasons as he is under the age of 18, granting him automatic anonymity.
But after he was found guilty by a jury at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday, reporters today challenged the restriction due to the severity of the crime.
At last, reporters doing their job! This wasn't a crime it was easy to predict, appearing to be one of those 'rare events' the police always warn about:
Price was a stranger to Lindsay, with the attack thought to be unprovoked and carried out while he was 'prowling' the area looking for 'lone females'.
Naturally, despite only getting a predicted 16 year sentence, his hired mouthpieces tried the court's mercy, claiming ordinary decent criminals may deal out some real justice:
'There is certainly a potential that those in custody may feel a degree of revulsion about what he has done and may even verbally or physically abuse him.
'It maybe difficult for him to respond and report it to the appropriate authorities.
'The effect of revealing his name will also have an effect on various members of his family.'
Louise, who works at Roots Research in Grand Parade, said there were no signs to warn pedestrians about a new alternative lane layout, and the pedestrian crossing machine was not working.
She said: “I was leaving work to get some lunch and was crossing the road where I usually do.
“Normally there are two lanes going in the same direction towards London Road, and so I didn’t look that way because there’s normally no traffic coming from that direction.
“I heard a man shouting something and then I was hit, side on.”
Louise, who lives in Helena Close, Portslade, said she put her arm down to steady herself and her wrist was broken in two places.
She said: “Luckily I didn’t hit my head.
“The bus driver came out and I was just sat there in shock, feeling sick.
“I’m annoyed at myself for not looking, but if there were working lights or a ‘look both ways’ sign, this would not have happened.
“We walk across that road every day to get lunch and are always saying how ridiculous it is.
“It was an accident waiting to happen.”
...but you'd definitely, positively have seen the signs, if they'd been there?
Denny’s mum, Sam Ramplin, questioned why the driver of the reversing car had not heard the motorbike approaching.
She said: “Why didn’t he hear the motorbike? We can hear them come, we have all got eyes and ears, we can all hear it.
“It’s one of my questions that will haunt me.”
We've all got brains as well. Some of us use them. Some clearly don't.
In a character reference read out by coroner Michelle Brown at the inquest yesterday, his family told of how many of his pals would look to Denny for advice and guidance, as despite his age, he was very mature.
Speaking after the court hearing, the family of the boy, who did not want to be identified, said: "We are deeply saddened at the very poor choices of the driver of the car which hit our son, the consequences of which have had an indescribable impact on our family and will do so for years ahead as our son bravely continues with his recover(sic).”
Clearly, State pensions are too high if a 74 year old can afford cocaine!
But why was he only charged with drug-driving?
The Crown Prosecution Service said there was "no evidence" that the defendant's driving was at fault and added two witnesses had seen the boy ride his bike into the path of Pennick's car, despite nearby traffic lights showing a green light to road users.
The family of a young woman shot dead outside Bexleyheath police station nearly 17 years ago has expressed "relief" at coming a step closer to finding out exactly how she died.
Hasn't there been a trial?
Yes indeed, reader. There has:
Sabina Rizvi, 25, was killed in the early hours of March 20 2003 outside the police station on Arnsberg Way.
In 2004, Paul Asbury, then aged 22, was convicted of her murder and the police watchdog went on to produce a report in 2011.
So what's left to argue?
Speaking outside court afterwards, family solicitor Anna Moore said: "Sabina was shot outside a police station in 2003.
"A man has been convicted of that crime but there has never been an investigation into the full circumstances of her death, whether there was involvement of anyone else and what happened at the police station.
"My client has been fighting for years, ever since Sabina's death in 2003, for an investigation into her death. They are relieved this is starting.
"There has never been an investigation into how Sabina came to her death. They are looking for answers. They want to know what happened to their loved one and what happened on the night she died.
"There was an indication this case is likely to be heard by a jury, which is what the family are asking for."
What exactly were the circumstances, then?
Sabina loved cars and a friend of hers, Mark, offered her an Audi TT to buy. It was very expensive and I didn't want her to buy it, but she'd fallen in love with it. When she rang me to tell me she'd bought it, it was as if she'd won the world, so I couldn't be annoyed with her.
The following day however, she told me that the owners of the car were threatening her, saying it'd been stolen and that they wanted it back. Sabina immediately phoned the police and went with Mark to the police station to try and sort things out. I spoke to her several times that evening, and she said everything was fine.
Hmmm....
The trial was very anti-climactic for me. You desperately want justice, to find out exactly what happened, but all it did was confirm that Sabina wasn't going to come back. Paul Asbury, one of the murderers, was found guilty but the police don't think he pulled the trigger, those people are still out there. I feel very let down by the police.
Why? Shouldn't you feel let down by her friend Mark? Wasn't he the one who got her into this?
It is a bitter pill for the community in Kensington North to swallow. This morning, almost 30 months since the fatal fire at that killed 54 adults and 18 children, the general election returned a Conservative MP, Felicity Buchan, by just 150 votes.
Ouch!
A swing of 9% to the Lib Dems in this strongly remain borough gave Gyimah more than 9,000 votes, splitting the vote.
Sure. It can't possibly be because the voters of Kensington are sick to the back teeth with the griefwhoring over Grenfell, can it?
If Buchan wants to last in Kensington, she will need to quickly familiarise herself with the commitments already given by council leaders, study the work set out in the Independent Taskforce reports, and deliver on promised change.
Or ignore it all. It's a gamble, but one she may just win...
The mother of Britain's youngest gang victim has called on people to ask themselves if taking drugs is worth it as children are 'dropping like flies'.
Yes, children unassociated with the drug trade are just keeling over in their bedrooms in the Hebrides and Jersey, and the wilds of Cumbria.
Jaden Moodie, 14, was said to have been 'groomed' by a drug gang before he was targeted by rival Mali Boys in east London in January.
They are always 'groomed', aren't they? They never make a choice. Gosh, no!
His mother, Jada Bailey, has now called on people to question if taking drugs is worth it and has said there are lots of people to blame for his death including the 'groomers' and the 'dealers'.
But not his family, oh no! Or him.
Jurors also learned that Jaden had been in trouble with police since he was a 13-year-old.
He was handed a youth conditional caution in March last year after police seized an air-powered pistol, Rambo knife and cannabis during an altercation in Nottingham.
In November last year, he admitted appearing in a Snapchat video with an imitation firearm.
The previous month, Jaden was found with crack cocaine at an address in Bournemouth, jurors were told.
A heartbroken mum whose son was jailed for the murder of teenager Lyrico Steede said her world was torn apart when she found out he was responsible.
Amanda Jamieson, 49, from Beeston, said she went through her life "with a fine-toothed comb" and spent many days hiding under a quilt while she tried to make sense of what went wrong.
Hmmm, are there any clues?
The single mum believes her son, Christian Jamieson, who was brought up going to church, probably needed more male mentors to stop him falling in with the wrong crowd.
Ah!
As a mother, she said, she tried to do everything to steer her son away from crime, even moving out of St Ann's.
But not settling down in a stable relationship with the father.
She added: "We need to provide support to families - the home should be the biggest pull - the best gang should be the family unit."
That's the 'family unit' you clearly failed to provide?
Coroner’s officer Kirsty Roberts told the court Mr Gardiner had a medical history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and self harm.
She said: “He was reported as missing to the police and officers found him hanged on May 6.
“A postmortem examination on May 16 at Basildon Hospital gave a cause of death of hanging.
“Toxicology reports showed he was under the influence of cannabis and also found therapeutic levels of morphine, codeine and clonazepam and death was confirmed at the scene.”
Seems pretty cut and dried then. What do the experts say?
Temporary Inspector Darren Beer attended the scene and gave evidence at the inquest.
He said: “I got the call about Jack, who I knew through previous roles.
“I put him as a risk missing person, meaning there’s a risk of harm to himself or others.
“Based on the information I was given at the time there was nothing to suggest any third party involved or any suspicious circumstances, and I stand by that.”
Ginario Da Costa, Edson's father, said: "Edir's passing has left a huge hole in our lives. Seeing him with his little boy made me so proud, but now his son will have to grow up without his father.
"Losing Edir has broken my heart. We will forever feel that if things had been done differently his life may have been saved."
He added that hearing details of the last moments of Edson's life had been extremely traumatic for the family and something they would never forget.
"We cannot help but wonder whether Edir would still be here had the police identified the risk of Edir choking earlier and taken steps to help him," Mr Da Costa said.
Did the poor man have a medical condition? Was he brutally restrained in a dangerous and illegal fashion?
"This was not immediately apparent to the officers involved. It is clear that swallowing drugs is a lethally dangerous thing to do."
Well, it's apparent to everyone except the family of this waste of oxygen.
And to the usual suspects, who see yet another campaign slip through their fingers:
Edson is one of five young black men who died within a six-month period following police restraints, according to the charity Inquest.
It slammed the tactics the officers and Met's legal teams employed during Edson's inquest.
Deborah Coles, Inquest's director, said she believed "a hostile environment was created through the defensive and combative tactics of police lawyers, who sought to narrow lines of inquiry and divert attention away from the circumstances that resulted in Edir's death.
"This adversarial approach must not be tolerated as it fundamentally undermines the ability of an inquest to seek the truth."
Translation: "Waaah! S'not fair! How dare you not just roll over and let us excoriate you for doing your job (for once)!"
Susie Labinjoh, head of civil liberties at Hodge & Allen, representing the family, said the inquest highlighted concerns about how police respond to people suspected of placing drugs in their mouths.
"A great deal needs to be done, both with officers on the street and those in the control room, to ensure tragedies like this do not happen again," she added.
Deborah Coles, the director of Inquest, which supports the families of people who die in custody, said the system had again failed to hold police to account.
This is the case of Sean Rigg, the floridly mentally ill strapping young man acting aggressively in a public street, who died while being restrained in 2008.
That's right. 11 years ago. And there's been no less than four attempts in that time to try to blame the police for his death. All of which have now failed.
Because they weren't to blame. They did the best they could, in challenging circumstances, to keep people safe.
An initial hearing by the IPCC exonerated officers of responsibility for Rigg’s death, but in 2012 an inquest jury found Rigg had died of cardiac arrest after “unnecessary” and “unsuitable” restraint while lying face down.
I'd love to hear what that jury would have done faced with someone refusing to listen to reason...
This prompted the police watchdog to review its earlier investigation.
It was another four years before prosecutors confirmed that no criminal charges would be brought over his death, bar one count of perjury against White, who was later cleared.
The IPCC was abolished in January 2018 and replaced by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which directed the Met to bring disciplinary action against the officers.
And they've been cleared again. What a waste of time, money and police resources.
The investigations have taken so long that Birks is now an ordained priest, although he is still paid a police salary because he was denied permission to resign while proceedings were ongoing.
Still, looks like the sister is getting a book out of it, and more publicity to spit her dummy on all the TV stations & radio shows she attends.
In the six years before Ms Gazzard's death, Maslin was arrested 23 times for a variety of offences, including domestic violence, criminal damage, possession of Class A drugs and theft.
He was also involved in 24 violent incidents - three involving Ms Gazzard, 12 involving one former partner, two involving another ex, three involving his mother and four against other unconnected people.
Police apologised after a homicide review revealed that numerous agencies knew about his violent history but didn't share information.
And would it have made the slightest bit of difference if they had? Because I think the answer's 'No'...
Many of his victimsroutinely refused to support action against him and this may have masked the number and the seriousness of his harassment, threats and violence towards them.
As long as some women are attracted to these types, like moths to an open flame, this will go on and on and on.
