Asylum seeker living at Epping migrant hotel at heart of anti-immigration protests is charged with seven offences including sexual assault
Mohammed Sharwarq, a Syrian national, faces seven charges linked to offences alleged to have been committed between July 25 and August 12.
Sharwarq, 32, is facing two counts of common assault, four counts of assault by beating and a single count of sexual assault on a man, contrary to section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2002.
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The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Death of girl left alone by fake ID worker was unlawful, jury inquest concludes
The death of a teenage girl, who was left alone at a children's mental health ward by an inexperienced agency worker using fake ID, has been ruled as an unlawful killing by an inquest jury. Ruth Szymankiewicz was being treated for an eating disorder at Huntercombe Hospital in Berkshire and had been placed under strict one-to-one observation when on February 12 2022, she was left on her own by the member of staff responsible for watching her. The 14-year-old was able to shut herself in her bedroom at the hospital's psychiatric intensive care unit – also known as Thames ward – where she self-harmed. She died two days later at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. On Thursday, an inquest jury sitting at Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court in Beaconsfield returned a conclusion of unlawful killing. 'Ruth was not prevented from accessing the harmful material which could be used to self-harm,' the jury foreman told the hearing. 'Ruth's care was insufficient to allow for discharge.' The foreman added Ms Szymankiewicz's parents were not given 'adequate information' about her care on the ward. Jurors could be seen crying as they recorded their conclusion, as well as the coroner and members of the family. The agency worker responsible for watching Ms Szymankiewicz – a man then known as Ebo Acheampong – had never worked in a psychiatric hospital environment before coming to Huntercombe on February 12 2022 for his first shift. A police investigation later found he was hired by the Platinum agency – which supplied staff for Huntercombe Hospital – under a false name. Mr Acheampong never returned to work at the hospital following the incident and fled the UK for Ghana. The court heard the ward was missing at least half of its staff on the day Ms Szymankiewicz, who had self harmed several times in the past, was left unsupervised. Mr Acheampong was originally working on a different ward, but was asked to join the team on Thames ward because they were so short-staffed nurses could not go on breaks, jurors were previously told. A risk management form known as a 'Datix incident' had been filed on the day by Michelle Hancey – a support worker with 18 years' experience at Huntercombe – who raised concerns the Thames ward team would 'fail to monitor patients on prescribed special observation because of staff shortage'. During the inquest, jurors were shown CCTV footage of the moment Mr Acheampong left Ms Szymankiewicz unsupervised while she sat in the ward's lounge watching TV, enabling her to leave the room. She had been placed on the 'level three observation' plan following earlier incidents of self-harm – meaning she had to be kept within eyesight at all times. In the footage, Mr Acheampong can be seen leaving the room repeatedly – at first only for seconds at a time, then for two minutes – prompting the teenager to walk up to the door and look into the lobby, seemingly waiting for the opportunity to leave the room. She was last captured on CCTV walking out of the ward's day room 'completely on her own' before going straight to her bedroom and closing the door behind her, coroner Ian Wade KC told the inquest. Around 15 minutes passed before a nurse discovered the teenage girl and raised the alarm. Huntercombe Hospital had been inspected twice by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) prior to the incident, the inquest previously heard. It was rated as 'overall inadequate' in a CQC report dated February 2021. Active Care Group, which owned Huntercombe at the time of Ms Szymankiewicz's death, has since closed the facility.
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Woman thought volunteer officer could ‘kill' her during alleged sexual assault
A young woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by a volunteer Metropolitan Police officer told a court she thought he could 'kill' her. Amersham Law Courts heard that James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, assaulted the alleged victim multiple times while she was between the ages of 12 and 18. The trial heard they met on video chat site Omegle in 2018, when the complainant was 12 years old and the defendant was about 21, before meeting in person for the first time at a Christian festival a few months later. On Thursday, the complainant said she was 18 when Bubb assaulted her at the defendant's studio flat in Chesham. The defendant is charged with assault by penetration in relation to the complainant, relating to the alleged assault in 2024. Of this alleged assault, prosecutor Richard Milne asked: 'You said the word that he had 'raped' you, can you explain what aspects of the sexual activity between you were in your mind rape and why?' The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: 'The fact that I didn't consent, I couldn't consent with the gag in my mouth, I didn't feel there was any way to consent that.' She went on to say that she froze during the alleged attack which she thought could 'ruin my chance of fertility for life, and potentially kill me'. The complainant said she had told the defendant she was five years older when they first started speaking online, had sent them photos of herself wearing her school uniform but was 'scared' they would reject her if she revealed her true age. The alleged victim's mother told the court that she could often hear a 'male voice' coming from her child's bedroom at night when the complainant was about 11 to 12. She clarified that she thought this voice belonged to 'a man'. The trial previously heard that Bubb allegedly sexually assaulted the complainant on Shepherd's Bush Green while she was visiting London with her parents to celebrate her forthcoming 13th birthday. Of this trip, her mother told jurors that her child had 'disappeared' for a period while the family were in a shopping centre buying her birthday presents, and that the complainant's father said he thought she had 'gone to meet a friend'. 'She didn't come back, we were meant to board the train to go home and I'd waited, we'd waited for half an hour, maybe an hour, and I began to get really panicked,' she said. After the child returned, her mother said she seemed 'very subdued' on their journey home and did not tell her about the alleged assault until 'much later on'. The defendant, wearing a white shirt and black cardigan, dabbed their eyes and appeared to be crying at points during the hearing. The 27-year-old has denied one count of rape in relation to one complainant, and two counts of rape, two counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, one count of rape of a child under 13 and one count of assault by penetration in relation to the other complainant. A not guilty verdict on one of the rape charges in relation to the second complainant was returned on Wednesday after the prosecution offered no evidence. All charges are alleged to have taken place between January 1 2018 and April 2 2024. The defendant, of High Street, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, denies all charges. The trial continues.
BreakingNews.ie
14 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Rapist (79) died alone in custody after family not notified of stroke, investigation finds
A 79-year-old inmate who had been jailed for brutally raping a six-year-old girl died alone in custody after prison authorities failed to notify his family that he had suffered a suspected stroke, an investigation has found. Dan Flynn, a former farm labourer who lived in Tipperary, was sentenced to six years in prison with four years suspended in 2019 after pleading guilty to raping a child when he was 36 years old in 1979. Advertisement The Court of Appeal subsequently found the sentence to have been 'unduly lenient', and said it had not 'come close to reflecting the gravity' of the offence, increasing it to five years. The court said the rape had involved a troubling level of brutality and degradation, hearing that Flynn had thrown his victim onto his bed, telling her 'I have got you now' before raping her and spitting in her face. The victim, who is now a married mother, told the court that he had stepped over her as she lay on the ground after the attack, 'as if I was nothing'. Flynn was living in a community hospital for older people before he was jailed at the Midlands Prison in June 2019. He was suffering from Parkinson's disease and had complex medical needs. Advertisement He was provided with a high-backed orthopaedic chair in his cell, and he received "round the clock" support from healthcare assistants in prison with his personal and hygiene needs as part of an advanced healthcare plan. An investigation into Flynn's death by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP) found that he was reported to be 'in good form' on the morning of October 8th, 2022, as he watched television in his cell. After lunch, he was helped into bed in accordance with his daily routine, and appeared to be 'fine' when he got up again with the assistance of healthcare professionals around 2.15pm. However, he was found 'slumped over' the arm of his chair around an hour later. He was unresponsive, and his face was slumped to one side, a nurse officer told OIP investigators. Advertisement It was suspected that Flynn had suffered a stroke, and an ambulance was called. He was transferred to Naas General Hospital in the company of two prison escorts around 4pm. Around midnight, Flynn was moved from the emergency department to the intensive care unit (ICU). When a prison officer took over escort duty at 7.15am the next day, they were told by colleagues that they hadn't expected the prisoner to survive the night. At 8.25am, a doctor informed the prison escorts that Flynn had passed away. A prison chaplain who started work at 8am made contact with Flynn's family around 8.30am, advising them that he had become ill and had been taken to Naas General Hospital. Advertisement The chaplain was updated on the situation around 30 minutes later, and had to contact the family again to inform them that Flynn had died, according to the OIP investigation report, which did not identify the deceased by name. The OIP noted that Irish Prison Service (IPS) protocol requires the families of inmates to be contacted 'in the quickest way possible' in the event of grave illness, so they have an opportunity to be with their loved ones. The IPS accepted a recommendation that it should comply with this protocol in future. Ireland Kerry farmer tearfully hugs wife as they succeed i... Read More It also accepted a recommendation regarding the provision of working medical aids and appliances, after the OIP found that an air cushion supplied to Flynn for a bed sore on his buttock had been defective. Advertisement Around a month later, he was found to have developed a second bed sore on the other buttock, and only then did a nurse observe that the air cushion was not working. The OIP report noted that Flynn's family was 'upset' that they had not been informed when he was transferred from the Midlands Prison to Naas General Hospital. It offered its sincere condolences to the family on their loss. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at or visit Rape Crisis Help.
