The mushrooms, the plates and the orange cake: GUY ADAMS breaks down all the key evidence that saw mushroom killer Erin Patterson found GUILTY in our brand-new YouTube show Evidence Box
Guy Adams has been following this case from the very beginning, and now he's taking you through all the key pieces of evidence that help the jury reach their guilty verdict in our brand new series, Evidence Box.
Click to watch the video above.
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The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Scandal of indefinite jail terms has left prisoners damaged by ‘state's failure', ex-justice secretary warns
The scandal of ' totalitarian' indefinite jail terms has left prisoners profoundly damaged by the 'state's failure' to rehabilitate them, a former Tory justice secretary has warned. Alex Chalk KC said Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms are 'overbearing' and 'unfair' as he urged his successor Shabana Mahmood to look carefully at fresh proposals to end the historic wrong. In a candid interview after leaving government a year ago, he described the abolished jail terms as a 'state overreach' which have left thousands languishing in prison for up to 22 times longer than their original tariff. He told The Independent and the podcast Trapped: The IPP Scandal: 'If you take the time to explain to people how the state has got things wrong and that this is a state overreach, and that ultimately it has acted in a way which is overbearing, unfair and almost totalitarian, then I think that offends against most British people's sense of justice.' More than 2,500 inmates are still trapped under the outlawed jail terms, which have been described by the UN as 'psychological torture'. They were abolished in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving those already jailed incarcerated indefinitely. Victims of the scandal, whose tragic cases have been highlighted by The Independent, include: Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for robbing a mobile phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, 41, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery. Mr Chalk, 48, a barrister who first encountered the sentence when he was prosecuting cases in the criminal courts, said he tried to address the 'toxic legacy' of the jail terms when he ushered in changes by reducing the IPP licence period from 10 years to three. Almost 1,800 people have had their licence terminated in the community following his reforms, passed under the Victims and Prisoners Act before last year's general election. He said that although many had committed serious offences, whether you consider yourself a 'bleeding heart' or 'tough on crime', the jail term 'offends against people's sense of fairness in Britain'. 'There is not a single vote in taking that 10-year minimum period for an IPP down to three years,' he said. 'A, because most people don't understand it and B, insofar as they do understand it there is no sympathy for those individuals. 'But I did it because I thought it was right. I did it because I thought it was right and I'm absolutely sure it was the right thing to do.' However, while in Rishi Sunak's government, Mr Chalk stopped short of accepting recommendations from the justice committee that all IPP prisoners should be resentenced. The decision was branded 'not good enough' by campaigners after 94 IPP prisoners have taken their own lives as they lose hope of ever being released. He warned that Ms Mahmood has a tough problem to solve as she considers fresh proposals from the Howard League for Penal Reform and former top judge Lord John Thomas to end the injustice by giving prisoners a release date at their next review by the Parole Board within a two-year window. He admitted some prisoners who are automatically freed from regular, determinate jail terms would not pass the Parole Board's release test, but this is still demanded of all IPP prisoners. In some cases, he believes their long-term incarceration is what has made them too dangerous to pass this test. He said: 'So the injustice can be framed as follows: that you have people who were considered dangerous, but for whom there was hope for rehabilitation some 10, 15, 20 years ago, and yet the experience of being in custody, of having languished under these unfair orders, has for some turned them into extremely volatile and dangerous people. 'And so the exam question is, how do you right this historic wrong without leading innocent members of the public to pay the price for the state's failure?' He continued: 'The wickedness of it is, as I say, the state is very much part of why they are too dangerous. So what do you do? Well, I think that the proposal that the Howard League and Lord Thomas have come up with is certainly worthy of careful consideration.' Although he would be 'twitchy' about agreeing to a release date for remaining IPP prisoners within a two-year window, Mr Chalk 'wouldn't rule it out' if it came with additional safeguards such as tagging and enhanced monitoring. This would ensure prisoners were 'guided, as it were, not to a cliff edge from custody to freedom but much more of a glide path towards a rehabilitated future', he said. However he backed the Howard League's calls for fewer IPP prisoners to be recalled for minor breaches of licence conditions, agreeing that the threshold is currently 'too low'. 'Our duty as the state is to throw all the resources we can at making this person better to try to get them to stand on their own two feet to lead a law-abiding life, and that is our obligation,' he added. The Howard League's proposals were put together by a panel of Britain's top justice experts led by Lord Thomas, who served as lord chief justice from 2013 to 2017. The ex-judge, who is a member of the House of Lords, believes the 'practical solutions' could be the last chance to help those on the jail term, warning that without action some IPP prisoners will languish in jail until they die. Urging the state to take responsibility for its own mistakes, he insisted 'enough is enough', noting that if these prisoners had committed their crime a day after the sentence was abolished, they would have long been freed. 'It is time to address this problem in the way we have set out, which produces justice and minimises risk as much as possible,' added the judge, who last year backed The Independent 's campaign to review IPP sentences. The government has said ministers will 'carefully consider' the Howard League's recommendations. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'It is right that IPP sentences were abolished. IPP prisoners are considered for release by the independent Parole Board every two years and those who are deemed safe will be released. 'The government is supporting IPP prisoners to achieve their release but this must be done in a way that does not put the public at risk."
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on private prosecutions: access to justice should not depend on people's ability to pay
In England and Wales, anyone can take a suspected criminal to court. Private criminal prosecutions, which can be initiated by individuals, companies or charities, can give people a shot at justice. They can also be open to abuse. The Post Office brought 918 successful private prosecutions against its employees to protect its own commercial interests – at a shocking human cost laid bare by an official report last week. Rail companies take the draconian measure of prosecuting people for mistakenly buying the incorrect ticket: in 2023, a woman received a criminal record for erroneously using her railcard to save a total of £1.60. In the context of a depleted justice budget, these prosecutions appear especially dystopian, allowing the wealthy to pay for their day in court. No official record exists for the number now taking place, though available data suggests there has been a steep increase. In 2014, 32 'costs orders' (the instruction a court gives to pay another party's legal expenses) were awarded to private prosecutions. By 2019, this had risen to 276. Organisations such as the DVLA and TV Licensing have long used these prosecutions for routine violations. But funding cuts to the criminal justice system are making them more common, and creating what the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) calls a 'two-tier justice system'. At their best, private prosecutions provide a safety valve against state malfeasance or inaction. The parents of the murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence famously brought one against the five main suspects in 1994, after the CPS declined to prosecute. For victims of fraud, meanwhile, a private prosecution may be their only route to justice. In 2004 4.1m cases of fraud were recorded in England and Wales – yet just 6% of all cases reported to Action Fraud, the ineffective national hotline, are actually referred to the police. Of these, fewer than 1% result in an offender being charged or prosecuted. In these cases, a private prosecution may be a person's only hope. But the risks aren't hard to grasp. On average, it costs £8,500 to bring one, putting justice out of reach for many. Counterintuitively, they can also be more expensive for the state. Private prosecutors can recover their costs from the Ministry of Justice, which paid out more than £11m to those who brought private prosecutions through the crown courts in 2020. A supermarket chain can bring a private prosecution against a shoplifter and have its costs covered by the taxpayer, while most victims of fraud will never hear back from the police. If the state can afford to pay for the prosecution of financial crimes against companies, why isn't it prepared to ensure the police and CPS have enough resources to prosecute similar offences against ordinary people? This discrepancy sends a message that certain crimes, particularly fraud targeting individuals, aren't a matter for public concern. After the Post Office scandal, the Labour government has recognised the need for new safeguards. A recent consultation from the Ministry of Justice suggested that a compulsory code of conduct and an accreditation system would stop private prosecutions from being abused. But the government must go further. It is only a properly resourced criminal justice system that will prevent justice from being the equivalent of a gated community in Britain – where access depends on your ability to pay.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Russia's most wanted serial killer, who ‘raped & murdered 100 women' could be dead as cops find body with gold teeth
RUSSIA'S most wanted serial killer who "raped and murdered 100 women" could be dead as cops find a body that could belong to him. Police are investigating whether a corpse with a mouthful of gold teeth found in a quarry belongs to truck driver Valery Andreev, the country's "most wanted" killer. 7 7 Andreev is feared to have raped and murdered more than 100 women, but has never faced trial. Known as the Orsk Maniac after his home city, he has evaded police for 12 years after officers questioned then released him due to 'lack of evidence' at the time in what is now seen as a catastrophic blunder. Later, police established "proof" of eight cases where women were raped and murdered by Andreev who - if he is still alive - would now be 68. But he is also suspected of being responsible for abducting, raping and killing more than 100 women listed as 'missing' between 2006 and 2016 in Orenburg region in southwest Russia, close to the border with Kazakhstan, according to law enforcement. If true, this would make him Russia's worst-ever serial killer, exceeding ex-policeman Mikhail Popkov, aka The Werewolf, who has been convicted of 81 murders in Siberia - and confessed to an additional two. A decaying male body discovered near Akkermanovka is undergoing tests, reported Shot media outlet. The man was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words 'Collection of 99 International Games' and dark trousers. All his teeth were gold - matching wanted descriptions of the suspected mass killer. The cause of death is as yet unclear. There have been frequent 'sightings' of Andreev after police offered a £15,000 reward for information. Nato jets scrambled as Putin launches one of war's biggest attacks in Ukraine His truck was tracked containing a stash of condoms, women's underwear, and hair clips. Among his suspected murder victims are Ekaterina Morozova, who was 19 when she disappeared in 2012. Another is Irina Nikolskaya, aged 25 when she went missing in 2012. Two other suspected victims were named as Olga Zhuravleva and Arzhan Urkumbayeva. Andreev has been on the run since 2013 when he was put on Russia's federal wanted list. He was described as a married father of two, considered a 'peaceful and obedient family man'. Locals said he was 'polite, well-mannered and respectable'. He was a lorry driver for at least 15 years. Earlier, police urged anyone seeing the suspected serial killer to contact them immediately. 7 7 7 7
