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Woman killed by falling tree branch ‘while walking with child' in country park

Woman killed by falling tree branch ‘while walking with child' in country park

Independent2 days ago
A young woman has died after being hit by a falling branch in a park.
The woman, in her 30s, was struck by the branch near the Buncer Lane entrance of Blackburn 's Witton Country Park, Lancashire, just after 8.30pm on Monday.
Paramedics rushed to the park shortly after she was hit but she died shortly afterwards, according to Lancashire Police.
According to local reports, the woman was walking with a child at the time.
A Lancashire Police spokesperson: 'We were called to Witton Park, Preston Old Road, Blackburn following reports a woman had been struck by a falling tree branch.
'Emergency services attended and found the woman unresponsive. Despite the best efforts of the emergency services, she was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.
'Her death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for HM Coroner in due course."
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Man fleeing Ice raid outside LA Home Depot hit and killed on freeway
Man fleeing Ice raid outside LA Home Depot hit and killed on freeway

The Guardian

time11 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Man fleeing Ice raid outside LA Home Depot hit and killed on freeway

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TikTok migrant who gave a step-by-step guide on how to cross the Channel 'filmed a how to kill your wife rant weeks before boarding small boat to Britain'
TikTok migrant who gave a step-by-step guide on how to cross the Channel 'filmed a how to kill your wife rant weeks before boarding small boat to Britain'

Daily Mail​

time41 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

TikTok migrant who gave a step-by-step guide on how to cross the Channel 'filmed a how to kill your wife rant weeks before boarding small boat to Britain'

A TikTok migrant who shared a 'step-by-step guide' on how to cross the Channel 'filmed a how to kill your wife rant weeks before boarding a small boat to Britain'. Parwiz Hanifyar, known online as Alexandra420, shared videos of his journey on TikTok and gained nearly one million views as he boasted about entering the UK illegally. Mr Hanifyar, who left Calais at around 4am on Saturday, even shared videos of himself on the small boat before live streaming in an asylum hotel. There, he told followers he was in 'the best place' while broadcasting from his free accommodation near Heathrow Airport. Now, it has been alleged that the TikTok migrant was reported to police for telling men how to kill their estranged wives in a social media clip filmed just weeks before he crossed the Channel, the Sun has reported. 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Mr Hanifyar later claimed the boat he illegally travelled on began to deflate halfway through the journey and would have sank if Border Force officials had not rescued them. He said: 'It was dangerous. Our boat sank. It was punctured. The water came from the inside of the boat. 'On the other side, three people pumped the water. If the British boats hadn't come in an hour, we would have been in trouble.' Despite nearly facing serious danger, he encouraged others to pay the people-smugglers to risk the dangerous crossing. He said: 'I risked my life, I spent my money, I came. Your country is not your mother. 'Those who want to come, this is the best place. Don't be stingy. Your country is not your father, that you are so stingy. Live your life. 'Tell your four friends to come. Why are you so stingy? Being stingy is not good for God. You see, I risked my life! Why don't you come? My wish was to come to this hotel and live. I came here just for this.' 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Former Labour home secretary Jacqui Smith blamed the Tories, claiming: 'What is happening is the result of the last government.' Pictured: A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel on August 12 The Government's 'returns deal' with France appears to have done little to deter those determined to get to Britain, with the latest total including more than 1,500 arrivals in the seven days since the 'one in, one out' scheme launched. Pictured: migrants cross the Channel on August 6, 2024 In response, Reform Leader Nigel Farage criticised the Prime Minister on social media. He wrote: 'As I predicted five years ago, unless we deport illegal migrants the invasion will be huge. 50,000 since our weak Prime Minister took office and there is no sign of it stopping.' The Government's 'returns deal' with France appears to have done little to deter those determined to get to Britain, with the latest total including more than 1,500 arrivals in the seven days since the 'one in, one out' scheme launched. Official figures revealed there were 474 arrivals on Monday alone, bringing the total since the general election on July 4 last year to 50,271, despite the Prime Minister's promise to 'smash the gangs' behind the trafficking trade. The milestone was passed seven months earlier than under his Conservative predecessor, Rishi Sunak. Baroness Smith – who is now an education, women and equalities minister under Sir Keir – said: 'It is a completely legitimate claim to say that what is happening is the result of the last government that chose to focus on gimmicks with the Rwanda scheme.' Labour scrapped the Tories' Rwanda asylum deal – designed to deter migrants from crossing – as one of its first acts, pledging instead to 'smash the gangs' by boosting law enforcement. However, small boat numbers are soaring, with 27,029 arrivals this year, up by 47 per cent on the same point last year and 67 per cent on the same point in 2023. Since the start of the crisis in 2018, 178,167 migrants have reached Britain, with only about four per cent of them removed. The Home Office told The Sun that it does not comment on individual cases. In a previous statement issued regarding Mr Hanifyar, a Home Office spokesperson said: 'It is our long-standing policy not to comment on individual cases, but we have made clear that it is unacceptable for any individual, whether they are a member of a smuggling gang or otherwise, to promote the criminal services of people-traffickers or for social media companies to allow it. 'We are introducing specific laws through our Border Security Bill that will make it easier to prosecute individuals who publish material online which promotes or offers services facilitating small boat crossings, and these kinds of cases show why it is so essential for that Bill to be passed through Parliament at the earliest opportunity.' A TikTok spokesperson previously said: 'We take a zero-tolerance approach to content promoting human smuggling, this account has been banned and we remove the vast majority of content before it is even reported. 'Through industry-leading search interventions and close collaboration with the UK National Crime Agency, we work to identify and disrupt organised immigration crime online, adapting our efforts to meet evolving threats.'

Child sexual exploitation victims 'not in scope' of violence against women and girls strategy
Child sexual exploitation victims 'not in scope' of violence against women and girls strategy

Sky News

timean hour ago

  • Sky News

Child sexual exploitation victims 'not in scope' of violence against women and girls strategy

Victims of child sexual exploitation are "not explicitly within the scope" of the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy being drafted by the government, Sky News can reveal. Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSEA) is a form of child abuse, described by police as a "critical threat" to women and girls. It includes crimes such as grooming, and can involve both physical contact, such as rape, or non-physical - like forcing children to look at sexual images. Sky News has been shown an internal Home Office document presented to various stakeholders in the sector. It's titled "Scope of the Strategy... Our draft definition of VAWG", and says that while it recognises "links" between VAWG and child sexual exploitation, it is not "explicitly within the scope of the strategy". "VAWG is Violence Against Women and Girls. If you take child sexual abuse out of it, where are the girls?" Poppy Eyre told Sky News. Poppy was sexually abused and raped by her grandfather when she was four. It wasn't until she was 11, after a PHSE lesson on abuse at school, that she understood the enormity of what had happened. "I remember very vividly when the police came round and told me… this is what we're charging him with," said Poppy. "We're charging him with sexual abuse and rape. And I remember being like, I had no idea that's what it was, but I know that's really bad." Poppy's grandfather was convicted and died in prison. She questions how authorities would police crime if child sexual abuse is excluded from an umbrella strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. "Are they holding child sexual abuse at the same level of importance as they are with violence against women? You'd hope so, but potentially not, because it doesn't need to be in the figures", she said. The government has pledged to halve VAWG within a decade, by 2035. "If the government are measuring themselves against halving violence against women and girls - if they're not looking at the scale of child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation within that - that will mean we are failing many young victims of abuse," said Andrea Simon, director of campaign group End Violence Against Women. The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which is funded by the Home Office, estimates 500,000 children in England and Wales are sexually abused every year. 'Danger' of having separate plan Rape Crisis told Sky News that "for any strategy to be effective" it "must include all forms of gender-based violence against all women and girls", suggesting there is a "danger" in having a separate plan for child sexual abuse. Its chief executive, Ciara Bergman, said it could create a "problematic and potentially very unhelpful" distinction between victims of domestic abuse, expected to be covered by the strategy, and child sexual abuse. "Some perpetrators of domestic abuse also sexually abuse their children," she told Sky News. The government insists the strategy will include action to tackle child sexual abuse, but says it also plans to create a distinctive programme to address its specific crimes. "Sexual abuse is violence against a child," said Poppy's mother, Miranda Eyre, who now works as a counsellor specialising in trauma. "It is violence against girls… and you can't separate it out," she said. "I'm speechless to be honest… it does make me quite angry." A Home Office spokesperson told Sky News it is "working tirelessly to tackle the scourges of violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse". "These issues are complex and run deep within the fabric of society," they added.

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