
Firefighters and helicopter tackle wildfire near Alford
Multiple fire crews have been tackling a large wildfire near a rural road close to Alford in Aberdeenshire.The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said nine fire appliances and a number of specialist units responded to the blaze in an area of gorse on a hillside near to Suie Road.A helicopter was also used to waterbomb the flames.SFRS said it was alerted at about 11:30 and it urged nearby residents to keep the windows of their homes closed due to the smoke.
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Telegraph
37 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Miscarriage of justice watchdog ‘incompetent', says new boss
The watchdog that investigates miscarriages of justice is 'incompetent', the organisation's new chairman has said. Dame Vera Baird, a former solicitor general and victims' commissioner, said she would be carrying out a root-and-branch review of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), of which she has been appointed interim chair. The CCRC has been heavily criticised for its role in the scandal of Andrew Malkinson, whose case it failed to refer to the Court of Appeal despite evidence that he had been wrongly convicted of rape. Mr Malkinson was cleared 17 years after being jailed, but could have been freed years earlier if the CCRC had not rejected two applications on cost-benefit grounds. Dame Vera said the CCRC was 'negative' in its approach when it should be 'bold', and had subsequently shown itself to be 'incapable of learning from mistakes'. She told Sky News: 'They don't communicate with applicants, are reluctant to challenge the Court of Appeal, they look for reasons not to refer rather than to refer and are quite often incompetent.' 'I didn't find her impressive' The previous chair, Helen Pitcher, was forced to resign in January, and MPs have expressed deep reservations over Karen Kneller, the current chief executive, saying it was 'no longer tenable' for her to continue in post. Dame Vera, who has also been a police and crime commissioner, said she would be meeting Ms Kneller next week when she starts her post and 'discussing her position'. She was not impressed by Ms Kneller's evidence to the Commons justice committee, which expressed concern that she may have misled it. 'I didn't find her impressive,' said Dame Vera. 'I was really quite concerned about, first of all, the kind of fairly sketchy way in which she even allowed that they got it wrong in Malkinson, and these assertions that she was sorry that people only judged them by the mistakes, and they all took them very seriously, but actually they were otherwise doing a very good job. 'My fear is that the attitude in the case of Malkinson and others, points to there being an attitude that's not positive, that's not mission-driven, that is not go-getter in other cases. So, are they getting it done properly?' 'A complex task' She said there needed to be a complete rethink over how the CCRC operated, including ending its full work-from-home regime where even executives come into the office only 'one or two days every couple of months'. 'They need to be bold, they need to be mission-driven,' said Dame Vera. 'It is in my mind that this policy of 'remote first' must change. Obviously there will be people who have just had a baby who cannot do it but I completely agree that [you need to come into the office] for esprit de corps, team spirit.' In February, the CCRC received an application from Lucy Letby, the former nurse convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, following concerns that a miscarriage of justice may have taken place. Asked whether she thought the CCRC could deal with it, Dame Vera said: 'Remember I'm quite new to it. It will need complexity. It will need a team. It will need the readiness to commission reports, I would guess from what's been said about the lack of scientific value in some of the things that were asserted. 'So it's going to be a very complex task.'


BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Man stabbed and racially abused in Swindon by suspects on mopeds
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Carlisle child sex abuser's sentence referred for being 'lenient'
The sentence of a man jailed for sexually abusing two children is being challenged for being too "lenient". Jacob Corrie, 31, admitted several offences involving sexual activity with a child and repeatedly inciting a child to engage in sexual activity in the Carlisle area in 2013 and 2014. He was jailed for six years and four months at Carlisle Crown Court in Attorney General's Office has confirmed that his sentence will be considered at the Court of Appeal on 11 July after it was referred for being "unduly lenient". Cumbria Police said Corrie, who initially denied the offences, was aware that his victims were under 16. He had admitted nine counts of sexual activity with a child, eight counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two counts of sexual communication with a child. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.