Ex-soldier died in fall from Lake District ridge during run event
Members of Wasdale and Cockermouth Mountain rescue teams were able to locate Mr Thomas's body at Pillar Cove in poor visibility as his head torch was still shining, the inquest was told.His wife, Jo, thanked the volunteers who recovered his body in a seven-hour operation.Mr Thomas was described as a fit and experienced fell runner who was well equipped and had previously climbed the mountain.After retiring from the SAS in 2005, he became a qualified mountain leader, guiding people on ridge walks in Scotland.The Queen appointed him MBE in 2003 for his Arabic linguistic skills that he had used during his Army career.
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Telegraph
3 minutes ago
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Prison officers forced to wait for stab vests
Prison officers at risk of attack from terrorists and dangerous criminals are still waiting for stab vests, nearly two months after the Government announced they would be issued. Ministers said at the beginning of June that front-line officers in high-security jails would be issued with the protective body armour after three officers were attacked with makeshift knives by Hashem Abedi, the Manchester Arena terrorist. However, they have not yet been issued with the kit because each officer has to be measured before the vest is then moulded and stitched so that it perfectly fits them. 'It has to be individual fittings so it's comfortable and allows a range of movement,' said a prison source. The disclosure came as Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, announced tasers would be issued to officers in the elite tactical response units who dealt with serious unrest and incidents in prisons. The trial will be the first time prison officers have carried tasers, which fire two small barbed darts at an assailant to administer an electric shock that incapacitates them without serious injury. The national tactical response groups (NTRGs) also wear stab vests, helmets, armoured gloves, aluminium batons, shields, pava pepper spray and smoke bombs. The moves follow a surge in violence in prisons, with a 14 per cent increase in serious assaults on officers and a series of high-profile attacks on staff. Abedi, who is serving life for his part in the murder of 22 people in the arena bombing of 2017, used knives and hot cooking oil to injure three officers, one of whom suffered life-threatening injuries, at high-security HMP Frankland in Co Durham. Another officer at Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire was seriously injured when he was stabbed by an inmate, using a weapon believed to have been brought into the high-security jail by a drone. The stab vests are being issued initially to officers in three high security jail separation centres, of which there are three, as well as segregation and close supervision units also in high security prisons. Officers also have the option of unfitted protective armour. The Ministry of Justice suspended the use of kitchens in separation units after the attack by Abedi, who is believed to have crafted his knives out of a baking tray. Ms Mahmood has commissioned Jonathan Hall, KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, to explore ways of segregating dangerous offenders after the attack by Abedi. The Prison Officers' Association has not only called for stab vests for staff but also for all terrorists and violent prisoners who assault officers to be held in US-style 'supermax' units or separate jails. They would only be allowed out of their cells for one hour a day, handcuffed and supervised by three officers. Mark Fairhurst, chairman of the Prison Officers Association (POA) welcome the taser trial but said it was 'pointless' without wider deployment. He said: 'The POA are grateful that the Government are taking our concerns seriously and are piloting the use of tasers with our national response teams. 'This is a step in the right direction and highlights the imminent threat to life brave prison officers face on a daily basis. This trial must initiate the rollout locally of taser use. 'It is pointless a national response being several hours away if locally a taser is needed immediately to preserve life and combat threat.'
Times
33 minutes ago
- Times
The Bitcoin businessman battling to save Bedford from the brink
Town centres are in decline. Coffee shop chains replace independent businesses, department stores lie empty long after closing. Disillusionment grows on crime-ridden streets. Yet few have the money or blind ambition to try what Peter McCormack has set out to do in Bedford, a market town that finds itself on the brink. 'When you ask people why they do not come to the town any more, they'll say either it's a shithole or it's dangerous,' the 46-year-old said. 'I warned the police that if they didn't fix it that I would. And they haven't.' The businessman, who made a small fortune on bitcoin, has hired ten private security guards to patrol the streets every Saturday in August, armed with body cams and radios. It's a £10,000 pilot which he hopes will provoke a civic response. 'Because look, I could spend all this money and nobody comes into the town. And then it's pointless. It can't be saved. If people do not come to the town, it will die.' There's a lot at stake. 'In less than a few years time, less than three miles from where we stand there's going to be eight million visitors and they're looking at this town and they go, 'Well, should we invest here, or should I go to Milton Keynes or […] anywhere else?' said Tom Wootton, the Conservative town mayor, indicating the Universal Studios being built next to Bedford. 'We've got a short window and a short time and we've got to make it work.' On a drizzly Thursday in the town centre, more than 60 people, including those who work in support services and business owners, piled into McCormack's café, Real Coffee, to hear McCormack and Wootton speak. They murmur agreement. People don't feel safe. They are angry. McCormack laments the loss of the police station in town, while others share frustration at littered needles and bike thefts. They share horrifying stories of violence, including wielding shovels to scare criminals away from a rundown apartment block. Then a woman chimes in: 'The fear of crime everywhere, nationally, is greater than crime itself.' She could have a point. John Tizard, the police and crime commissioner, told local press that antisocial behaviour was at a long-term low, and that McCormack was pulling a 'political stunt'. The council, in partnership with Bedfordshire police and others, have launched a new public spaces protection order. The police meanwhile have promised more visible patrols and a crackdown on shoplifting, antisocial behaviour and drug crime. Some have seen the efforts: Ghulam Khan, 55, has run the Al-Badar restaurant since 2006 and while business is slowing down, he often sees police apprehending suspects while he is delivering food at night. 'Three to four years ago it was dangerous, but in the last couple of years it is getting better,' he said. When McCormack mentions reports that crime is declining in Bedford, laughter breaks out among the crowd. They don't believe it, pointing out a lot of crime goes unreported. 'Even if it is getting better, I want people to feel safe,' McCormack said. How people feel about crime rates matters as much as, maybe more, than cold hard data. 'My son always says, no one will remember how often you steam clean the streets. It's how unsafe they felt,' Wootton added. Born and raised in Bedford, McCormack now owns the Real Bedford football club and bar as well as the café in town. He's the 'homegrown Bitcoin millionaire' bigged up by the mayor, and it's clear that McCormack feels a personal drive for Bedford's improvement, not least because of his own experiences. On the morning of his community meeting, he walked back into his café, saying 'He was threatening someone with knuckledusters,' a little breathlessly, pointing towards a grey-haired man who had just been bundled into a police car, a woman blowing kisses to him through the blackened window. Most worryingly, there has been a sharp increase in assaults on women in the town, McCormack said: 'I would like to improve the safety for everyone in the town. But I'm the father to a daughter and the partner to a girlfriend. They're my primary concern.' The security guards will function almost as scarecrows, deterring crime and calling the police when a crime is committed, he said. 'Will they be using their statutory powers to do citizen's arrests? No. That said, if one of them down the alley catches somebody sexually assaulting a young girl, I absolutely fully expect them to sit on top of that person and have the police come and look,' McCormack explained. But some people are worried about McCormack's plan. 'I agree with the initial incentive but I still feel it's shortsighted, and will make already marginalised people feel more pushed out,' said Siobhan Moriarty-Jones, who works at the Cavalier Club Barbershop that offers free haircuts to homeless people. 'This feels like a neanderthal approach. We don't have mental health provisions in Bedford so that is the repercussions, such as drug misuse.' McCormack returns again and again to discussing the 'plague' of drug addicts and drug dealers he sees pass by his café. He is sympathetic — he used to struggle with drug addictions himself — but 'cares more about those in the town who get up and work'. Dawn Manu, a 65-year-old with lupus, has a list of complaints about the town, and its services. Yet she worries that using force ignores the struggles people face and could simply push them into prisons. 'I've kicked off in town, I looked like I'd lost the plot, but I am annoyed,' she said. Perceptions matter, and people are wary of talking down a town that has much to offer. 'It breaks my heart when I come and I see all the problems because we've got some really fantastic shops and offerings,' Wootton added. 'A small element is ruining it for everybody, so I support anything that helps.'
BBC News
33 minutes ago
- BBC News
Worthing pub fight leaves man unconscious
A man has been knocked unconscious during a pub fight, according to Sussex Police. The force said the man was seriously hurt after being punched outside at about 02:40 BST on Sunday outside MacMillans bar in Police are seeking witnesses to the "serious assault", which is believed to have happened when everyone was leaving the pub. The force said it wants to clarify what happened.
