Two women die after incident in Snowdonia
Two women have died after being pulled from the water in Eryri national park, also known as Snowdonia, North Wales Police said.
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The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Blackpool teacher charged with sexual assault and murder of baby
A secondary school teacher has appeared in court accused of the sexual assault and murder of a 13-month-old baby boy he was adopting. Jamie Varley, 36, who was a head of year at a school in Blackpool, is also accused of a number of counts of assault, cruelty and taking and distributing indecent images relating to Preston Davey. Varley was in the process of adopting Preston along with the co-accused John McGowan-Fazakerley, 31. Both men appeared in court on Friday, nearly two years after police were called to Blackpool Victoria hospital, where the one-year-old died on 27 July 2023. Preston was taken into care by Oldham council six days after he was born, the Blackpool Gazette reported. After spending some time in foster care, a court order allowed him to be placed for adoption and he was moved to Blackpool on 3 April 2023. He died barely three months later. Varley spoke only to confirm his identity during the five-minute hearing at Lancaster magistrates court. The defendant is also accused of one count of manslaughter, two counts of assault by penetration of a child, five counts of child cruelty, one count of inflicting grievous bodily harm and one count of sexual assault of a child. He is further accused of 10 counts of taking indecent photographs of a child, one count of distributing indecent photographs of a child, two counts of possessing indecent pseudo-images of a child and one count of possession of an extreme pornographic image. Varley was teaching at South Shore academy, run by the Cidari multi-academy trust in Blackpool, when he was arrested in 2023. School records show that at various times he was head of years 9, 10 and 11. In a statement, the trust said: 'Our thoughts are with the family of Preston Davey and all those affected by this case.' It said South Shore academy was run by Bright Futures Education Trust at the time of Varley's arrest and he was immediately suspended while the police investigation was under way. His suspension continued when the academy was later transferred to Cidari Multi Academy Trust. 'During this time he has not been permitted on to, or attended, school premises, or been permitted to contact pupils or colleagues.' The trust said senior leaders and specialist staff had been providing support to colleagues and pupils at the academy on Friday. It added: 'Following the decision to charge Mr Varley, and the nature of those charges, Cidari is now considering its position in relation to Mr Varley's employment. 'This will be done in consultation with other agencies and within the relevant legislation and statutory.' McGowan-Fazakerley is charged with allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and one of sexual assault of a child. The defendant confirmed his identity and was also remanded into custody. All the charges for both men, spanning March to July 2023, relate to Preston. Both men, from Grimsargh, near Preston, will appear at Preston crown court on Monday.
The Sun
34 minutes ago
- The Sun
Cops unveil new £180k bullet-proof battle machine – 18 armoured 4x4s to tackle extreme riots unveiled by Met
ARMOURED cars have been spotted cruising London's streets after cops splashed out on military 4x4s to tackle extreme rioting. With matte-grey paint, flashing blue lights and the word " police" on the side written in block capitals, the hefty vehicles are hard to miss. 8 8 Several of the military-grade tanks intended to tackle rioting have been spotted weaving between lanes in London. These are the "Sandcats" - the newest addition to the Met Police 's fleet, estimated to cost around £180,000. The mammoth 9,000kg 4x4s can transport up to 11 officers and stands at 7ft 7in tall. The new armoured cars will be used for 'high-risk armed policing operations' and 18 have been ordered in total. The Met Police said the new trucks aren't yet being used in operations. The force is currently training drivers, which is why they have been seen driving around London. A spokesperson said: 'These are specialist armoured vehicles used for high-risk armed policing operations, by officers deployed at airports and as a contingency option for use in the most serious public disorder the like of which we thankfully rarely see." Sandcats are manufactured by Israeli company Plasan and have been used by the military in several countries. According to the company website, the Sandcat Tigris is the preferred choice for both the IDF and Ministry of Defence. They replace the older Jankel models, which were deployed during the 2011 riots but have very rarely been used. Fourth night of violence as families forced to hide in attics in riots which injured 41 cops 8 8 The bullet-resistant Jankel Guardians that the force previously used cost about £100,000 each. The seven-tonne personnel carrier could withstand AK-47 bullets and had a bomb-proof floor. Over the past year or so, the UK has been rocked by disorder and rioting in the streets. This week, masked yobs lobbed petrol bombs and fireworks at cops across four days of chaos across Northern Ireland. Police described the riots as "racially-motivated hate attacks" with a senior officer slamming the scenes as "racist thuggery". Several houses even put up signs identifying their residents as British or Filipino in an apparent attempt to avoid being targeted. Violence originally erupted on Monday, stemming from an initially peaceful gathering to support a girl and her family after an alleged sexual assault. Girl 'whose sex assault by teen boys' sparked 'racist' riots wants violence to end as 4th night of carnage erupts By Emily Jane Davies A YOUNG girl whose sexual assault by teenage boys sparked riots across Northern Ireland has called for an end to the violence. Northern Ireland Police Chief Jon Boutcher said the girl had been "further traumatised" by the riots - as the fourth night of chaos unfolded yesterday. Police quickly clamped down on hundreds of rioters who were spotted throwing missiles and petrol bombs in Portadown - less than an hour from where the riots started - last night. Shocking footage showed thugs lobbing live fireworks at rows of police riot vans. The chaos began in Ballymena on Monday night, hours after two 14-year-old boys appeared in court charged with attempted rape of a girl. The boys confirmed their names - which cannot be reported - and their ages through a Romanian interpreter at Coleraine Magistrates' Court. Cops decried the mass carnage which followed as "racist thuggery". Northern Ireland 's Chief Constable told how the girl's family had been left "mortified" by the horrific scenes. Speaking yesterday, he said: "I reiterate the retraumatising of this poor girl, she's been through enough through what happened to her on Saturday evening. She doesn't want any of this. "I know the family are mortified. I've spoken to them personally, they've asked me to make this plea.# "This girl's family and this girl want it to end. Our communities want it to end. We need it to end. "Stop this violence. We will come after you. We will arrest you. We will prosecute you successfully. "I want to specifically mention the 41 police officers who've been injured. Each of those officers have put themselves in harm's way to protect our communities. "It is not in any way a way for a civilised society to behave and it must stop now." Northern Ireland Police Chief Jon Boutcher said the girl had been "further traumatised" by the riots. Last summer, Britain was a tinderbox as widespread unrest and disorder broke out following misinformation about the Southport child killer. Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Da Silva Aguiar were murdered in a knife attack and social media posts falsely claimed they were killed by an illegal migrant. The disgraceful rioters torched cars, police stations and mosques. In 2020, Scotland Yard put out a notice saying it wanted to buy a new fleet of military-style trucks to tackle public disorder, firearms incidents and riots in the capital. It wanted security, fire-fighting and defence equipment and armour plating. Last year, it was reported that Police Scotland's £282,000 battle machine meant to be driven by "action man officers" has never been used. The gas-guzzling 4x4 beasts are used by military specialists in warzones and by police tackling drug cartels in South America. Yet, Police Scotland's bulletproof Sandcat has been locked in storage collecting dust for two years. Insiders have previously claimed the reason it has remained idle is from a lack of officers able to drive it, with regular training needed to operate it. The force has refused to comment on how many of its staff can use the 4x4 Sandcat. Underneath the Sandcat's hood lies a huge 6.7-litre V8 engine that only does around nine mpg, which is about as fuel-efficient as an F1 racing car. Although the armoured car hasn't seen any action, the force still believes it's necessary to keep it. A Police Scotland spokesperson said at the time: "The specialist vehicle can be used in a number of scenarios linked to a major incident and improves our options to keep people safe. "While it has not yet been deployed to a major incident, it has been used for training purposes and it provides additional operational capabilities." 8 8 8
The Guardian
37 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Seven men who groomed vulnerable girls in Rochdale guilty of multiple sex offences
Seven men who groomed and treated as 'sex slaves' two vulnerable teenage girls in Rochdale have been found guilty of multiple sex offences. A long running trial in Manchester heard that the men subjected the girls to years of misery and expected them to have sex with them 'whenever and wherever they wanted'. Both girls had deeply troubled home lives and were given drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, places to stay and people to be with, a jury heard. The crimes took place in filthy flats, on rancid mattresses, in cars, car parks, alleyways, disused warehouses and moors, the court was told. The crimes all happened, prosecutor Rossano Scamardella KC told a jury at Manchester Minshull Street crown court, 'under the noses of social workers and others who should have done far more to protect them'. After a four-month trial and three weeks of deliberation a jury on Friday returned unanimous guilty verdicts for 50 offences committed between 2001 and 2006. After the verdicts DCI Guy Laycock, the senior investigating officer on the case, paid tribute to the two survivors, known throughout the trial as Girl A and Girl B. 'They have been pivotal in bringing these abusers to long-awaited justice by bravely giving painful and difficult testimony during a four-month trial,' he said. 'Without them this would not be possible and today is about them. 'These seven men preyed on vulnerability for their own depraved sexual gain. The men abused, degraded and then discarded the victims when they were just children. This horrific abuse knew no limits, despite their denials throughout this lengthy investigation and court case. 'They had a callous disregard for these women when they were girls, and continue to show no remorse for their unforgivable actions all these years later.' Three of the abusers, Mohammed Zahid, 64, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50 – all born in Pakistan – were stallholders on Rochdale's indoor market. Zahid, a father of three who was known as Boss or Bossman, gave free underwear from his lingerie stall to both survivors and also money, alcohol and food and in return expected them to have regular sex with him and his friends. In 2016, Zahid was jailed for five years in an earlier grooming gang case after he engaged in sexual activity in 2006 with a 15-year-old girl who he met when she visited his stall to buy tights for school. Bashir did not attend the current trial and jurors were ordered not to speculate why. It can be revealed that he absconded while on bail before the trial got under way. It can also be reported that co-defendants Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 48, and Nisar Hussain, 41, were remanded in custody with their bail revoked in January before the jury was sworn in. Police received intelligence that the three Rochdale-born taxi drivers were planning to leave the UK and had already paid a deposit for their transport, the court heard. All three denied the accusation but Judge Jonathan Seely said the court was not prepared to take a risk that they too would abscond. A seventh defendant, Pakistani-born Roheez Khan, 39, was also convicted in a previous Rochdale grooming trial. In 2013 he was one of five men convicted of sexually exploiting a 'profoundly vulnerable' 15-year-old girl in 2008 and 2009. He was jailed for six-and-a-half years for engaging in sexual activity with a child and witness intimidation. Girl A told the jury she could have been targeted by more than 200 offenders but said 'there was that many it was hard to keep count'. The trial heard that Girl B was labelled a 'prostitute' from the age of 10 by social workers in Rochdale. Giving evidence, she said that social workers raised concerns with her that she may be having sex with Asian men. 'They said I was a prostitute. I was prostituting myself … I don't remember them being concerned enough to do anything about it. 'I remember knowing that they knew what was going on.' All the perpetrators were prosecuted as part of Operation Lytton, an ongoing investigation since 2015 by Greater Manchester police into non-recent child sexual exploitation in Rochdale. Thirty-seven individuals have been charged so far, with five more trials scheduled to take place from September onwards. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
