Tragic mother's attacker is given a taste of freedom after just one year in prison
A 'violent monster' who was jailed for abusing his partner before her death has been offered a taste of freedom – after serving just one year behind bars.
Demi Hannaway, 23, died in May 2021 after Andrew Brown throttled, spat at, and hit her countless times over two years, often in front of their children.
Last year the 33-year-old admitted abusive and threatening behaviour and was jailed for three-and-a-half years.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry initially concluded that the 23-year-old killed herself, but her parents insist Brown may have been responsible.
Now just 13 months since a Sheriff accused him of 'horrendous' crimes and sent him to jail, Brown is preparing to spend up to a week every month on home leave.
The thug has already moved to open prison Castle Huntly, where he has been allowed out to do work placements and meet with social workers.
Demi's devastated parents, who have previously campaigned for Brown to be dealt a harsher sentence, say the news has left them 'sickened to our stomachs'.
Mum Helen stressed: 'A violent monster like Brown should not be walking the streets just a year after being sentenced to almost four years in jail.
The Justice Secretary needs to answer some very tough questions on how and why this has happened.'
The decision to grant Brown additional freedoms comes after Scotland's top law officer ordered a fresh investigation into the nature of Demi's death in February.
They have criticised Police Scotland's handling of the investigation, lodging a formal complaint including claims that police took an hour to arrive and there was evidence of a violent struggle in the house.
Evidence including clumps of Demi's hair and blood splatters around the house were also ignored, as was Brown's alleged admission to attending officers that it was 'all his fault'.
The Hannaways later discovered further damning evidence of Brown's toxic relationship with Demi, which they say point to his responsibility for the young woman's death.
Facebook messages sent by Brown call his partner a 'cancerous cow' warning: 'U will get your day u evil, filthy boot. And al [sic] laugh and laugh'.
Her phone was found smashed and hidden, with the SIM card missing, raising questions over the possible existence of further abusive messages.
Dad John said: 'We've fought every inch of the way to have Demi's death re-opened because the shambolic police investigation was so deeply flawed it was nonexistent - only to discover Brown has been moved to open prison and is granted home leave.'
His wife agreed: 'We finally felt that we were being listened to after four years fighting for justice. We were hopeful, only to discover that Brown has been moved to an open prison and is being allowed out. We had not been consulted or warned. It has been a complete shock.
Labour MSP Claire Baker, who raised the family's calls for a new probe in Holyrood, added: 'It's shocking to discover Andrew Brown is getting home release barely a year into his sentence, particularly at a time when the Lord Advocate is looking again at the circumstances of Demi's death. On balance, the decision to allow home release is wrong and needs to be looked at again.'
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: 'We do not comment on individuals. Anyone assessed for temporary home leave is subject to a rigorous multiagency risk assessment and, if approved, individualised plans are put in place to meet their risks and needs.'
They explained that prisoners at Castle Huntly are assessed and 'tested' in the community as they prepare for release, and are often subject to strict curfews and geographic restrictions.
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Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Undercover Mail investigation exposes how crooked businesses are pocketing tens of thousands of pounds by illegally using skilled worker visas to get cheap labour for barbers, convenience stores and warehouses
Corrupt immigration advisers are helping illegal workers dupe the Home Office in a cash for visas scam, a Mail investigation has found. They are charging up to £22,000 per person to provide 'skilled' jobs in the UK for under-qualified foreign workers. It comes amid concern skilled worker visa routes could be hiding an immigration scandal 'worse than the small boats crisis'. Critics claim it could render Sir Keir Starmer 's immigration crackdown pointless after he made new restrictions on skilled visas a major tool in ending the economy's reliance on cheap overseas labour. The ruse has proved so lucrative that many companies have started up just to profit from hiring foreign staff – then shut down after a year, having extorted migrants and exploited them for cheap labour. The scam involves businesses telling the Home Office they can't find the right people in the UK and therefore need special 'sponsorship' licences to recruit workers from abroad. 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Mr Estibeiro even claimed the Government didn't care if companies bring in unqualified staff on skilled worker visas, insisting: 'The Home Office is just interested in the money.' The foreign staff he helps recruit have to pay illegal work finder fees of between £19,000 to £22,000 to their new employer for the job and visa, with Mr Estibeiro pocketing a large commission. They then have to work 60 hours a week and, in real terms, will earn far below the minimum wage, in some cases with a take-home pay of less than £4 an hour. Mr Estibeiro, managing partner of immigration advisers Flyover International, said he works with businesses in Bradford, Leicester, Northampton and Peterborough. Incredibly, his Leicester headquarters overlooks the bureau of a Home Office affiliate where UK visa applications are processed. A long-serving recruiter for a small Hertfordshire domiciliary care company said there has been widespread abuse in the overseas recruitment of supposedly skilled workers. 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Flyover International is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, but Mr Estibeiro is not a registered adviser. The firm specialises in international student recruitment. The firm is owned by another man who is understood to be investigating and said that Mr Estibeiro was not officially hired to work in the UK end of the business. Mr Estibeiro denied involvement in any 'illegal or unethical' activity and said he was 'solely involved in student recruitment'. He insisted he always told anyone who inquired about certificates of sponsorship for skilled worker visas that 'we do not deal with such matters'. The Immigration Advice Authority said: 'We recognise the seriousness of the issue and are working closely with the Home Office to determine the most appropriate course of action.' 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It is also illegal for UK-based recruitment agencies to impose fees on individuals for the promise of securing employment opportunities. Is there a minimum salary for staff on skilled visas? Yes, though this varies depending on the role. For all routes, licensed businesses must ensure the role they are sponsoring the worker for complies with both the national minimum wage and the working time regulations. What are immigration legal advisers? Depending on their level, advisers can help with visa applications, obtaining leave to remain, nationality and citizenship and, at the highest level, represent clients at immigration tribunals. Advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) which is tasked with ensuring they are competent and act in their clients' best interests. What rules do they have to follow? 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There was also the chance to work in a role moving stock at a drinks warehouse in Yorkshire, but this was more expensive because the boss had got a 'bit greedy' after recently managing to hire some Pakistani staff, who he claimed had paid the warehouse boss £22,000 to secure similar roles, Mr Estibeiro explained. Most of the illegal fee goes to the employer, but Mr Estibeiro said he took 'a little bit of commission' of £1,500. 'So basically you pay me and then I pay the employer,' he said. 'We will handle everything. So that's all-inclusive. So including the visa – I'll do all the paperwork.' The initial £5,000 deposit to start the process could be paid by bank transfer, but not to his company otherwise the foreign worker might reveal he was charged for a job. 'We can't take it on Flyover. I'll give either my personal account [or] I'll give somebody else's, like one of my clients' personal accounts. 'See, there can't be a trail of it. Can't be a paper trail. 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'What I do with my client, one month before, two months before, we start advertising on Indeed and all those job sites. 'We'll get candidates for interview. So, the worst candidates, we will record a conversation. The good ones we'll say, let's not record it. 'So then, if the Home Office does an inquiry as to why, you say I interviewed seven candidates, and if they say we need a proof, you have the proof.' He said once the worker was in place with a visa there would be no further checks from the Home Office to make sure he really was a specialist. 'They want people to come over here, because what is there in UK apart from immigration? How does UK make their money? Immigration.' Despite it being called a skilled worker visa, he said no specialist skill was required to get a certificate of sponsorship. 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The Home Office is just interested in the money you're getting.' He described how his phone rings 'non-stop' from 7am until midnight. The high volume of applicants meant sponsorship licences for skilled workers have become so popular in recent years that 'everybody' was opening businesses just to make money out of the scheme – including himself. He said he had a restaurant which he opened 'only for immigration purpose'. 'So, you know, we'll get a sponsor licence. 'We'll sponsor, get their money and then tell one of them that, OK, you take over the business, sell the business to him. 'In a year, if we can make like, £30,000, £40,000. Why not?' 'This is how everybody got into this business of sponsor licence. The business was very good in 2024. A lot of people made a lot of money.' He even told a second undercover reporter at the meeting – who was posing as the Indian student's UK-based cousin – that he could organise a sponsorship licence for his fitness business so he could also charge overseas workers £20,000 for visas and jobs. Flyover International is based in a large centre a short drive from Mr Estibeiro's £300,000 four- bedroom semi-detached home in a smart suburb on the outskirts of the city. As the reporters left, he pointed across the concourse to an office of an official partner of the Home Office's UK Visas and Immigration section, where applicants to stay in the UK provide their biometrics and complete visa applications. The Home Office has launched an urgent investigation and suspended Flyover International's sponsorship licence. In the last six months of 2024, the Home Office revoked and suspended the highest total of skilled worker sponsor licences since records began in 2012. 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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews The Gold on BBC1: Gold, greed, booze... this caper has the hallmarks of a classic crime flick
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Football Foundation funds scholarship in memory of Stephen Lawrence
A new scholarship programme commemorating the memory of Stephen Lawrence is to be funded by the Football Foundation, with the aim of supporting black students from low socioeconomic backgrounds to train as architects and help develop more inclusive infrastructure for the national game. The Stephen Lawrence Scholarship has been developed in conjunction with Greenwich University and will see one student each academic year provided with a fee waiver for the establishment's MArch Architecture programme. The recipient of the scholarship will also work with the Football Foundation outside their studies. Stephen Lawrence aspired to become an architect before he was murdered in a racist attack in the south London neighbourhood of Eltham in 1993 at the age of 18. He was also a keen Manchester United supporter and his mother, Doreen Lawrence, said the scholarship would be a 'meaningful continuation' of his legacy. 'Through the Stephen Lawrence Scholarship, Stephen's legacy will continue to inspire and empower future generations, ensuring that his vision for equality, opportunity and justice lives on,' said Lady Lawrence, who holds an honorary doctorate at the university. '[It] will provide opportunities for the next generation and reinforce the vital role that education and sport can play in transforming communities.' The Football Foundation works to improve grassroots facilities in the sport, with an emphasis on 'where the need is greatest and the greatest impact will be made'. It is funded by the Premier League, Football Association and UK government. Robert Sullivan, the organisation's chief executive, said the scholarship would form part of its work to lower barriers to entry in the sport. 'This initiative is the perfect legacy as we work to plan, design and construct facilities that target and support groups and communities who have faced barriers in terms of participation,' Sullivan said. 'This includes lower socioeconomic groups and culturally and ethnically diverse communities. These facilities provide not only a great place to play but also a safe space for communities to come together, where people can meet and build friendships.' A lack of representation for black and minority ethnic people within football continues to be an issue for the game. In 2022, data recorded by the Black Footballers Partnership found that 43% of players in the Premier League were black but only 4.4% of former players were in managerial roles in England. Meanwhile, only 1.6% of executive and leadership roles at men's clubs were held by black people. Paul Elliott, the vice-chair of Charlton, which sits in the borough of Greenwich, helped to broker the scholarship deal. A long-term activist for racial equality in football, the former Celtic and Chelsea defender said: 'This partnership between the University of Greenwich and the Football Foundation is a powerful example of what can be achieved when shared values and vision come together. 'It has been a personal honour to help bring these organisations together in Stephen Lawrence's name – uniting his passion for football with our collective commitment to creating inspiring spaces and life-changing opportunities for young people. Through the Stephen Lawrence Scholarship, we not only honour his legacy, but actively build on it, empowering a new generation.'
