
New Edinburgh public toilets vandalised before opening day
The new toilets are part of a £1m investment across the city to provide more free public toilets, with four new public toilet banks included in the funding.One of the four, located in South Queensferry, opened at the end of June.The new toilet blocks will feature three regular toilet cubicles, an accessible toilet and a changing places toilet, as well as tool storage for local community groups.Each block will also feature bike racks, benches and a drinking water fountain.Margaret Graham, City of Edinburgh Council's culture and communities convener, said: "I'm extremely disappointed to see that our brand-new facilities have been defaced by graffiti."There is of course a real spectrum of 'graffiti', from formal murals like Colinton Tunnel which have the consent and support of the community, through to offensive tags."The majority of the complaints we receive are about the latter. We're arranging for it to be removed."Reporting by local democracy journalist Joe Sullivan.
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Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
SNP accused of 'betraying' victims of crime as they wait three years for justice
Exclusive by Michael Blackley Victims of crime are now having to wait nearly three years to get justice in the most serious cases, including murder and rape. Growing backlogs of cases in the High Court have resulted in a sharp rise in the time taken to proceed from offence to verdict. Scheduled High Court trials have soared amid rising pressure on the justice system, which has failed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Official figures reveal the median time from offence to verdict in the High Court has risen to 1,032 days, almost double the 520 days recorded in the year before the Covid pandemic. New data also shows scheduled High Court trials reached 743 in March and climbed to 818 by June - compared to 390 trials originally projected for the end of 2024/25 by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service when it carried out modelling in 2021. Liam Kerr, Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, said: 'These damning figures highlight that the SNP is miserably failing to clear the horrendous backlogs in Scotland's courts. 'Thanks to the Nationalists' chronic mismanagement of Scotland's courts, we are still miles away from hitting pre-pandemic backlog levels, despite what was predicted during the Covid period. 'SNP cuts to the justice budget and its failure to get funding to the front line are inevitably leading to mounting backlogs in the system - and that's a shameful betrayal of victims, because justice delayed is justice denied. 'Even victims of the most serious crimes are being betrayed by SNP ministers, as they now have to wait over 1,000 days on average for a verdict in High Court cases.' The figures, revealed by 1919 magazine, show that the median time from offence to verdict in the High Court was 1,032 days in 2023/24, compared to 520 days in 2019/20. In Sheriff Court cases, the median time from offence to verdict in 2023/24 was 564 days, compared to 283 days in 2019/20. Modelling from the SCTS published in March 2021 found that there was expected to be 390 trials scheduled in the High Court and 500 trials scheduled in Sheriff Solemn Courts by March 2025. But the new data shows there were actually 743 scheduled trials in the High Court and 1,004 in Sheriff Solemn Courts, which cover serious crimes like assault and drug offences, at this point. Summary cases, including common assault, domestic abuse, crimes of dishonesty and motoring offences, are also facing delays. Figures from March this year show more than 20,600 cases still waiting, nearly 50 per cent higher than predicted in 2021. The Scottish Police Federation has warned that delays and collapsed trials are wasting valuable resources and draining frontline capacity. An SCTS spokesman said: 'We remain conscious of the impact delays in the criminal justice system have on victims and witnesses. 'That is why our focus has been on striving to reduce the number of cases in the system and the length of time people wait for the outcome of a case. 'SCTS advised the criminal justice committee in December 2021 that we anticipated the backlog created by the Covid-19 pandemic would be cleared by 2026. 'Since then, and through our strong criminal court recovery programme, the number of scheduled trials has reduced from over 43,000 in January 2022 to under 18,000 at the end of June 2025. That is the fewest number of planned scheduled trials since 2018/19. 'However we are now dealing with a substantial increase in High Court business - the most serious criminal cases - which places pressure on a system with finite capacity. 'High Court scheduled trials at the end of June 2025 number 818, far higher than the pre pandemic position of 390. This means maintaining increased capacity is essential to prevent delays for all who use the system.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Scotland is the only part of the UK to have successfully brought court backlog levels back down to below Covid levels - a testament to our comprehensive approach and substantial investment in recovery funding of over £201 million since 2021, which includes £20.3 million to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service in 2025/26. 'This trend is continuing and we remain committed to supporting justice partners to maintain this progress.'


BBC News
8 hours ago
- BBC News
Liverpool Nelson Mandela memorial defaced days after restoration
A memorial to former South African President Nelson Mandela has been vandalised days after being reopened to the stone structure was officially unveiled in Princes Park in 2023 by Mandela's daughter and granddaughter, but vandals pushed into the park's was repaired and given a new home at the entrance to the Mandela memorial garden. However Sonia Bassey, the chair of Mandela 8 - the organisation which commissioned the stone - said vandals have struck again. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.


Times
8 hours ago
- Times
The ex-soldier who has raised £30k to fund anti-migrant protests
A former soldier has raised more than £30,000 in donations to help fund an anti-migrant movement that is calling for protests to take place outside every hotel housing asylum seekers 'until they are all deported'. Richard Donaldson, 33, from Chester, is the leader of the Great British National Protest (GBNP), a group that has claimed to be behind 20 protests around the country. The group is calling for further protests to take place outside named hotels this Saturday in Liverpool, Canary Wharf, Birmingham, Leeds, Exeter and Bristol. • Why are we seeing anti-immigration protests again? It has also shared a list purporting to show the locations of every hotel housing migrants in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and called on its followers — of which there are almost 150,000 on Facebook — to protest outside them every Saturday 'for the foreseeable future … until they are all deported'. Through a GoFundMe page, Donaldson has raised £31,000, which he says is used to pay for leaflets, megaphones, banners and lawyers fees 'to keep me out of jail'. He added: 'I never intend to break the law but with what I'm doing, I have no option but to push the boundaries as much as possible without crossing the line.' In comments to The Times, he said that the money was also being used to fund 'covert investigations inside hotels'. The group claims to have recruited members of staff in migrant hotels who are willing to wear hidden body cameras to 'catch footage and gather intel'. Neither he nor any members of his team had ever taken 'a penny' of the donated money for personal use, he said. The group is also selling merchandise branded with the GBNP emblem, including caps costing £19.50. Donaldson served in army logistics for seven years and completed tours of duty to the Middle East. Since leaving the army, which he said had 'got quite woke', he has worked in retail management. This year, he began uploading videos of himself to TikTok calling for a 'national strike' in protest against the government's policy on asylum, net zero and farming. A 'strike', whose stated purpose was to 'stop the invasion and get Labour out', was organised in May in 77 towns and cities around the country but failed to attract large numbers. Donaldson said that he started the movement because he was 'angry at the state of rapid decline' in the country and 'scared for my son's future and for all of our kids in the UK'. He has voiced support for Nick Tenconi, leader of Ukip, who has made appearances at GBNP events. Since the Brexit referendum in 2016, which was Ukip's original raison d'etre, the party has re-emerged with a more radical agenda and has courted Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, as a potential ally. Ukip has also been involved in organising anti-migrant protests and is calling for three 'mass deportation marches' to take place over the coming months. Protests, organised by a variety of groups including far-right parties such as Homeland, have taken place across the country over the past month. There are concerns that they could spiral out of control as was the case during the race riots of last summer when marauding gangs attempted to set fire to migrant hotels. The Home Office has said that the number of hotels being used for asylum seekers has decreased from more than 400 in summer 2023 to less than 210. It also announced plans to end the use of hotels to house migrants by 2029, which the Treasury says will save £1 billion a year. However, Home Office figures show that more than 25,000 migrants have attempted to cross the Channel to the UK in small boats this year — the earliest the figure has been reached. • Yvette Cooper's fast-track asylum plan revealed as protests erupt again Over the weekend, 15 people were arrested when anti-migrant groups and counter-demonstrators clashed at protests in London and Newcastle, and before a march in Manchester city centre. The protest outside The New Bridge Hotel in Newcastle was organised by GBNP. Four people were arrested and remain in custody, according to Northumbria police. Asked whether he was concerned that the protests he was organising could result in criminality and the stirring of racial tensions, Donaldson said: 'We support peaceful protesting. We have to be peaceful and we have to be lawful. We absolutely do not support any criminality or any law-breaking.'