The watch-mad Met detective calling time on Rolex robbers
Millions of tourists will arrive in the capital this summer, and London's biggest attractions and nighttime venues are banking on a busy trading period.
Detective Sergeant Andy Swindells of the Metropolitan Police is also braced for a hectic few months. As head of the proactive robbery unit, his small team of officers are focused on tackling robbers who prey on victims wearing the world's most desirable watches.
'July and August are our peak months; the weather is great, people are wearing T-shirts and short-sleeve tops, and their watches will be on show,' Swindells, 52, said. 'Watches are a status symbol — people want to show them off, but sadly it creates problems.'
While personal robbery across London has dipped 14 per cent over the past year, watch thefts have crept up since April. About four watch thefts are reported each day but the true figure could be higher, because many victims do not come forward.
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BBC News
27 minutes ago
- BBC News
Scandal-hit Apostle Accounting 'called police' after complaint
A company at the centre of a tax rebate scandal called the police after a client complained, court papers have 800 people were left with large bills after making claims through Apostle Accounting, based in Stowmarket, Suffolk, and receiving money to which they they were not former client who lost an appeal at a tribunal against HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) over its efforts to recover more than £3,500, said Apostle had responded that "police have been informed of threats and harassment".The BBC has sent requests for comment to the former directors of Apostle. The former client, Dennis Lucas, a UPS driver from Camberwell in south London, contacted Apostle after being told about the company by work had received thousands of pounds in "tax rebates" relating to the cleaning of uniforms and subsistence expenses, he tribunal judgement recorded how Apostle "did not ask for, nor did Mr Lucas provide, any details of income or expenses or receipts". He was unaware of what had been claimed on his behalf - but Mr Lucas lost his case as the tribunal found HMRC had acted correctly when it sought to recover the money."We have a great deal of sympathy for Mr Lucas who was misled by Apostle into authorizing claims which he believed to be legitimate, but which Apostle knew were not. However, we must apply the law as it stands," the judgement stated. Mr Lucas estimates that about 200 UPS colleagues had been in contact with Apostle."There's a lot of embarrassment," he said. "I should imagine it has caused conflicts in relationships."He added that he would struggle to repay the money back to HMRC."The impact will ultimately be debt. A loan will have to be taken out to cover the payments or a credit card," Mr Lucas said. He confirmed that there was no police contact after Apostle's letter claiming they had reported Lucas said he was "bitter" and that he was "really upset with the tribunal's decision". The judgement included an email sent by Apostle to Mr Lucas, after he had complained to the said: "The police have been informed of your threats and harassment and so has our solicitor."Mr Lucas told the BBC the police had not spoken to letter was "factually inaccurate and threatening" according to the directors of Apostle Accounting, Zoe and Martin Goodchild, have so far not responded when contacted about Ms Goodchild - who now appears to use the name Zoe Payne - had denied any wrongdoing. 'Acted deliberately' Former Apostle clients collectively ended up owing millions of pounds back to HMRC according to calculations seen by the company has since been wound up and is currently in latest judgement from the Upper Tier Tax Tribunal said it had "little doubt that Apostle acted deliberately in submitting tax returns containing the excessive and unallowable expense claims". Tax lawyer Dan Neidle, who has highlighted the tribunal judgement to his social media followers, told the BBC: "The judge saw an email trail which made clear that Apostle submitted false claims without their client's authority."Sadly today anyone can call themselves a tax agent and file a tax return - and you're responsible if they get it wrong, even badly wrong.""So I would advise only using an agent that's regulated by one of the accounting or tax bodies - the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), The Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) or the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)". A police inquiry into the scandal has now entered its third year. In 2024, officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) carried out searches of a commercial unit and two residential homes in Stowmarket as well as an office in a new statement, a spokesman for ERSOU said: "Our enquiries remain ongoing in relation to allegations of fraud involving a business in Stowmarket, Suffolk, and investigators are working closely with partner agencies to establish what offences may have been committed."Anyone who believes they have been defrauded is encouraged to report it by contacting Action Fraud online at or by calling 0300 123 2040."HMRC said it does not comment on individuals or companies. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Sun
30 minutes ago
- The Sun
Coked up driver killed my kids in UK's drug-driving epidemic… my little girl begged brother to stay with her as she died
WORN out by the excitement of a Disney Frozen-themed party, four-year-old Gracie-Ann Lucas and her three-year-old brother Jayden-Lee slept peacefully in their car seats. Belted in tightly by their mum Rhiannon - a stickler for safety - the youngsters were about to be violently robbed of their lives by a cocaine-fuelled driver swerving down the motorway. 17 17 17 Van menace Martin Newman had the Class A drug in his system when he hit the family's car, which had pulled over on the hard shoulder after Gracie-Ann awoke with a bad stomach. The horror crash three years ago killed both siblings - who became two of the youngest victims of Britain's drug-driving epidemic, which has claimed more than 120 lives in a year. Shockingly, road deaths related to drug driving have soared by 164 per cent in less than a decade, amid 'cheaper-than-ever' super-strength coke and a lethal new 'hippy crack' trend. Experts tell The Sun that driving under the influence of drugs has become the 'new drink driving', with business-savvy Albanian gangs pumping the UK with illicit substances. While the nation's £4billion cocaine trade now offers cheaper, more potent, and more accessible highs than ever before, discarded canisters of 'hippy crack' line our roads. Young Brits can buy containers of nitrous oxide, also known as 'laughing gas', for under £10 online - with adverts for vape-style candy flavours only fuelling their addiction. Such substances in themselves can prove deadly to those taking them. But, when combined with driving, they can have devastating consequences for innocent strangers, too. 'He's the one who should have been dead, not my children,' says Rhiannon, who suffered life-changing injuries in the crash that killed her kids in South Wales in February 2022. 'They were so little, and they were so bright, as well.' Frozen fan Gracie-Ann, who died first, was always with her brother. And Rhiannon, from Tredegar, Monmouthshire, tells us: 'Jayden-Lee fought for so long [but] his sister was literally calling for him to go with her because they have never been apart.' Hidden drug-driving epidemic on UK's roads uncovered as victim whose entire family was wiped out demands life sentences 17 Tragic young victims It comes as another three-year-old recently became a victim of the epidemic after being mowed down and killed by a van driver who had binged on 'at least 20 lines of cocaine'. Louisa 'Lulu' Palmisano - described as the 'sweetest, kindest and most generous little girl' - was struck by the van in Manchester city centre in February while walking with her parents. Driver Rawal Rehman - a convicted gang leader who had taken coke and visited two massage parlours in the hours before the crash - cowardly fled the scene in a taxi. The 36-year-old was jailed for 12 years last month for causing death by dangerous driving. 17 While cocaine was previously known as a drug for 'yuppies' - young, urban professionals with deep pockets - it is now the indulgence of Brits of every age, background and class. 'Cocaine is much more accessible than it ever used to be,' says Professor Ian Hamilton, a top narcotics expert and an associate professor in addiction at the University of York. 'In many ways, I'd say it's nearly as accessible as alcohol. 'The price has come down, but the purity has gone up. If you forget the fact that it's an illegal drug, it actually represents really good value for money.' Gangsters' dangerous new tactics Albanian gangsters - around 1,700 of whom are thought to be at large in the UK - are using the same business tactics as major retailers to flog their hauls of cocaine. 'That has been a very deliberate strategy,' Prof Hamilton explains. 'Their point of view, like many legal retailers, is that they'd rather sell a lot and make a little bit of money than sell a little and make a lot of money [on that]. 'They're very aware of what's going on in the market, of who the demographic is, how to increase sales, and how to ensure continuity of supply.' He adds: 'The gangs are interested in their business model. 'I don't think they deliberately go out to kill people, but they don't care whether you're 18 or 80, or whether you're vulnerable in any way.' Crimelords from Albania have previously used TikTok to advertise £100,000-a-year drug-dealing jobs, with the roles involving the delivery of cocaine across the UK. And there are more Albanians in Britain's jails than any other foreign nationality, despite the country in south-eastern Europe having a population of just 2.8million. According to Prof Hamilton, a 'bumper harvest of coca over the last few years from South America' has contributed to both the availability and low price of cocaine. 'When you've got a surplus of something, the price tends to come down,' he says. And, contrary to past years, the drug is now being taken by as many British women as men. 'Women have caught up with men over the past decade,' says Prof Hamilton. 17 In January last year, Casualty star Amanda Mealing seriously injured nurse Mark Le Sage in a three-car morning collision after she drove her Mini while under the influence of cocaine. And last November, a mum from Kent was found to be so high on the drug during the school run that other parents had to take her car keys and walk her kids to class. A magistrate later told Hayley Berry, who had stopped her car in the middle of the street, that her behaviour was "one of the worst examples of drug driving" he'd ever seen. 'Cocaine makes you feel more confident, but it also clouds your judgement,' explains Prof Hamilton. 'You feel as though you're the best driver there's ever been.' This reckless confidence can cost other, safe drivers - and pedestrians - their lives. In Lulu's case, a court heard the toddler was holding her mum's hand and wearing a baby harness when the drugged-up Rehman ricocheted off a tram and ploughed into her. Mum's heartbreak Like Lulu's mother, Rhiannon, 28, was protective of her 'inseparable' children, Gracie-Ann and Jayden-Lee, telling us: 'I wouldn't leave the house if my kids weren't safe. 'I'd make sure the seatbelts were tightly on them.' Rhiannon - who suffered a fractured sternum, internal bleeding, slashes to her kidneys, and other injuries in the crash - has gone on to have another child, Summer-Gracie. 'When I found out I was pregnant, I was like, 'How can I be pregnant with all of the injuries I've got?',' says the mum, whose daughter, now two, was named after her big sister. 'When I had Summer-Gracie, I had to go into theatre. I wore the kids' ashes on a necklace, and I could see the two kids either side of me [as I gave birth].' 17 17 In January, a notorious gangster who flooded the UK with cocaine was finally caught and extradited back to Albania after a staggering 27 years on the run. Dritan Rexhepi, dubbed the 'King of Cocaine', had previously appeared on Scotland Yard's most-wanted list. And as well as cocaine, Albanian gangsters are enjoying a hefty slice of Britain's cannabis trade - with the Class B drug remaining the nation's most popular illicit substance. 'As I walked home today, I could smell it coming out of all sorts of places,' blasts Michaela Groves MBE, whose niece, Lillian Groves, 14, was killed by a cannabis-fuelled driver. 'It absolutely infuriates me.' Taking down the gangs The National Crime Agency recently signed an agreement with Albanian police to tackle the ruthless criminals involved in Britain's cannabis and cocaine markets. Law enforcement teams launched an operation to disrupt what the NCA called 'Albanian criminality in the UK' in 2023, seizing almost 200,000 cannabis plants across the nation. The plants had a jaw-dropping street value of between £115million and £130million. Lillian, a 'homely' girl with a dry sense of humour, was retrieving her brother's football from the road outside her Surrey home when she was hit by speeding motorist John Page. Though the teenager had checked the road was clear, Michaela, 58, tells us: 'She wasn't aware that someone was going to be speeding and under the influence of drugs. 'The two, hand in hand, are a disaster for anybody.' Lillian's younger brother, Oliver, later recalled how his sister 'stood and screamed' before being flung into the air by Page, who then ditched the car and made off to a bus stop. The schoolgirl was pronounced dead in hospital in the early hours of the next day, June 27, 2010 - a date which was, heartbreakingly, her mother Natasha Groves's birthday. It wasn't until three months later that Lillian's loved ones were told of Page's drug driving. 'We had never contemplated that he might have been on drugs,' says Michaela. 'None of my family have ever taken drugs. 'The first thing we thought was, 'He was probably on his phone so he wasn't looking'.' It's like me walking out of my house today with a gun in my pocket and saying, 'Well, I'm not going to kill anyone, but I'll take it anyway' Michaela GrovesAuntie of tragic Lillian Page, a landscape gardener, was freed from prison after just eight weeks. He hadn't been charged with a drug offence; instead, he'd admitted causing death by careless driving. In the years that followed, Lillian's grief-stricken family campaigned tirelessly for changes to UK law - something that resulted in drug driving being made a specific offence in 2015. Police were also given 'drugalysers' to test for cocaine and cannabis at the roadside. But as the family prepares to mark 15 years without JLS-loving Lillian, the teen's aunt, from Biggin Hill, London, says she's 'frustrated' that so many lives are still being lost. Drug driving, Michaela says, is the equivalent of 'if I walked out of my house today with a gun in my pocket and said, 'Well, I'm not going to kill anyone, but I'll take it anyway'.' Road deaths linked to drug driving increased from 47 in 2014 to a massive 124 in 2023, according to an analysis of government data by Direct Line motor insurance. 'Some of Lillian's friends are married now, with children,' adds Michaela, who works as a casual road safety officer, delivering workshops on drink and drug-driving awareness. 'It's nice that they still keep in touch - not because they feel they have to, but because they were friends of hers. What happened to her has impacted them as well.' Wrecked lives Former traffic cop John Scruby, now 65, has witnessed first-hand the far-reaching impact that every drug-driving death has - from neighbours, colleagues and extended family members to the paramedics, doctors and nurses who work to save the victim's life. During his 25 years as an officer, John had to walk up to the homes of drug-driving victims, knowing he was about to 'absolutely wreck' the lives of their unsuspecting loved ones. 'It's the worst feeling in the world,' he tells The Sun. 'But it's a job that has to be done.' John, a trustee of the UK charity, Campaign Against Drink Driving (CADD), recalls one case where a drug driver smashed into a tree, killing a young mother in the back of the car. The victim's own mother was at her home with her granddaughter, less than 200 yards away. The mother, John says, 'had heard the sirens, knew something had happened, but obviously had no idea that her daughter was in the back of the car, battered to pieces and dead.' He adds: '[Drug driving] has become the new drink driving. 'On the M1, there's not half a mile that I can travel without thinking, 'That happened here, that happened here'. It stays with you forever, it really does.' 17 17 For trainee teacher Summer Mace, the deaths of her mum, sister and stepdad in a horrific head-on crash with a speeding drug driver in 2023 sent her 'whole life tumbling down'. The victims - Lisa Carter, 49, her husband Paul, 41, and her daughter Jade Mace, 25 - died after their car was struck by a high-powered BMW on the A47, near King's Lynn, Norfolk. Driver Aurelijus Cielevicius, who had been travelling at 96mph and running red lights, was found to have a cocktail of narcotics, including cannabis and party drug MCAT, in his system. The 39-year-old Lithuanian was 15 times over the drug-drive limit. Yet he was jailed for just ten and a half years - a sentence Summer, 26, has deemed 'unacceptable'. 'He is a killer, a criminal, he is the person who has destroyed every part of my life,' she says. 'My mum, stepdad and sister meant the world to me. 'The world is such a dull place without them.' 'A car can become a dangerous weapon' Summer, who now finds every good moment in her life 'bittersweet', adds: 'A car is a weapon and, if you're not in a fit state to handle it, it becomes a dangerous weapon.' 'No one should be allowed to take people's lives away just for a small time of being high.' In recent years, the punishment for causing death by dangerous driving while under the influence of drugs has risen from a maximum of 14 years in custody to life imprisonment. Yet John says: 'These sentences need to be dished out. We're still seeing cases where people get three or four months in prison for taking another life through pure selfishness.' New legislation has also banned the possession of 'hippy crack' to get high. But John, from a market town in Nottinghamshire, warns nitrous oxide is alarmingly easy to obtain, saying: 'You can have it delivered to your door - £6 to £8, for ten capsules.' The former officer, who pulled over at the side of the road to speak to us, adds: 'I've just driven six miles this morning… [and I've seen] six canisters at the side of the road. 'I'm talking the big, one-and-a-half-litre canisters of this stuff.' According to Greater Manchester Police, nitrous oxide - often taken to induce feelings of euphoria or laughing fits - has been 'shown to have a deleterious effect on reaction time'. The Class C drug can impair drivers' performance, especially when they're faced with the unexpected, such as a child skipping across the road or a vehicle slowing in front of them. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to trace the substance - because it gives such a short high. 'It's non-traceable,' says John, adding: 'It's out of the system in minutes.' Last December, a teen driver who inhaled laughing gas behind the wheel of his BMW just seconds before killing his three friends in a 100mph smash was jailed for nine years. 17 17 Thomas Johnson, 19, branded a 'cocky teenage boy' by his victims' families, was filmed sucking in the drug from a balloon before he ploughed into a tree in Marcham, Oxfordshire. And last month, a teenage girl was jailed after she was caught on CCTV inhaling nitrous oxide while driving, moments before she mowed down a 51-year-old pedestrian. Louisa Tunstall, 19, left her victim with life-changing injuries after ploughing into her in Wigan, East Lancashire, on May 24, 2024, in a collision that flipped Tunstall's car. The teen was jailed for 20 months and banned from driving for two years. And it's not just illegal drugs that can land motorists in trouble. 'If you are found to be misusing prescription drugs and driving, you'll be treated exactly the same as if you woke up that morning and pumped an armful of heroin,' says John. Nichola Lyes, IAM RoadSmart's Director of Policy and Standards, warns that medicines like benzodiazepines, or 'benzos', and opioids can cause drowsiness and dizziness. 'When getting behind the wheel, remember that you're in charge of handling a two-tonne metal object travelling at speed,' Nicola adds. Crucial next steps So, what can be done about the rise in drug-related deaths on Britain's roads? While some grieving families want offenders' driving licences revoked at the roadside, others have called for a UK-wide road safety strategy - something the Government is working on. And, though our police forces are conducting roadside tests in 'magnificent' numbers, Michaela claims delays in forensic test results are causing drug-driving cases to be dropped. 'The Crown Prosecution Service has just six months to put the case together,' she says, adding that drug drivers, free to terrorise our roads again, are becoming 'repeat offenders'. For John, the education of teenagers, of pre-driving age, is a must. 'It needs to be pointed out to them that it's not acceptable, it's not fun, and what the consequences are if you get it wrong,' the ex-traffic cop tells us. Such consequences take - and destroy - lives. 'I will never be the same,' says Summer, who wants harsher - and consecutive - sentences handed to offenders, driving licences withdrawn for life, and a crackdown on druglords. 'I push myself to get out of bed every day and make my family proud. 'But the pain never stops, it is always there.' It's an ever-present agony felt by Lillian's mum, Natasha. 'When people say to me, 'How's your sister, [Natasha]?,' I've now got to a point where I don't say, 'Oh yeah, she's wonderful,'' says Michaela. 'Because she's not wonderful, of course she's not. She'll never be wonderful. 'She's got grandchildren now, and they fill her life with something different. 'But she's not wonderful because she pines for the one that she doesn't have.' If you have been affected by drug or drink driving and would like to speak to someone, call Campaign Against Drink Driving (CADD) at 01924 562 252.
BBC News
38 minutes ago
- BBC News
'The stranger who raped me shouldn't be deported early'
On a summer's night in July 2019, Kate was out with one of her best friends. They had cocktails and went dancing. That evening, she was taken to a stranger's flat and man responsible, Albanian national Miridon Bera, was convicted and jailed in March 2023, but may now be transferred to prison in his home country after serving a little over two years of his eight-and-a-half-year sentence in the - who has waived her anonymity, but whose name we have changed - was told at the point of conviction that Bera would be deported at the end of his she has since been shocked to discover he could be deported even Home Office has told the BBC "foreign national offenders who commit serious sexual crimes face deportation at the earliest opportunity".However, Kate feels strongly that Bera should serve the rest of his sentence in the UK before being Readers may find some details in this story distressing It had all started as a typical twentysomething night out for the two close friends in their home town of Colchester: drinks at Wetherspoon's and Turtle Bay, followed by was at the final bar, Walkabout, that Kate's memory "went dark"."I then remember having a few lightning flashes of what I then came to realise quite quickly was being raped," she says."I couldn't hold myself up at the time, and I had to have people carry me out of his flat."It was the next morning when I had that sinking feeling. The pain between my thighs confirmed what I already knew. I took my blood- and vomit-stained clothes home and told my parents I had been raped."After going to police, and being examined by officers at a specialist facility, Kate was given a multitude of treatments to protect her from sexually-transmitted diseases, as well as the morning-after pill. Police quickly arrested Bera. In September 2020, more than a year after the attack, he was charged with rape, which he denied, and Kate, the wait for a trial was crushing."It took more than three years - through multiple jobs, through moving house, through multiple other milestones," she says."I had therapy, medication - which I'm still on to this day - and turned to suicide support services to help. I've had depression, night terrors, symptoms of PTSD and flashbacks."At one point they said in September the trial would be in January - and I thought, 'That's only a few months', but it was the January after that."At that point, being told it's completely out of my control, and I have to sit and wait - that broke me again."I became suicidal again and I realised there was nothing I could do - he was just out there."The BBC asked the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for a response to Kate's experience of court said it was trying to address the wider issue through funding extra Crown Court sessions, increasing magistrates' powers, commissioning an independent review and recruiting more staff. The trial eventually took place in February 2023, and Kate describes her "huge sense of closure" when Bera was convicted of raping her."It then felt like, 'I can live my life now,' and all of that time and effort that I'd put in - watching back the CCTV of that night, watching back the interview I did the day after the rape - it all made it worth it in the end, getting that result."Bera was jailed for eight and a half years, and Kate was told he would serve his sentence in the UK before being deported to in April, Kate received an email "out of the blue" from the victim services arm of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), asking how she would feel about her attacker's potential deportation. "My heart dropped reading the emails, and getting the responses and lack of clarity that I did," she says."I did say I wanted to be contacted if there was a huge update around him being released, but I think receiving an email with one or two lines without any context around what this means was misleading."Further email exchanges brought little clarity, and it was not until Kate's MP Pam Cox (Labour, Colchester) managed to get an update that she started to understand what was likely to happen has yet to receive official confirmation said: "It's clear from the way [Kate] feels about this that it's not been handled well."She's immensely brave now to speak out about this latest development."The challenge for the government is that there are many thousands of foreign national offenders in our overcrowded prisons, but, of course, for every foreign offender removed, there is a victim with questions."My job, as her MP, is to support her as best I can to get the answers that she needs." The Home Office says it has Prison Transfer Agreements (PTAs) in place with 110 countries - meaning offenders serving sentences in UK jails can be transferred back to their home nations to continue serving their terms MoJ confirmed the UK did have a PTA with Albania, meaning if the justice system there agrees his transfer, Bera will continue his sentence in an Albanian BBC understands an application has been made for Bera's repatriation through a PTA - something Kate has you are affected by any of the issues in this story, details of help and support are available at BBC Action LineThe MoJ says PTAs are used for prisoners serving longer sentences; and for those on shorter fixed terms, an early removal scheme is in place for the sole purpose of removal or deportation from the BBC asked both the Home Office and the MoJ if the decision to transfer Bera two years into his sentence, rather than at its conclusion, was related to prison overcrowding, but neither addressed this in their both pointed out 4,436 foreign national offenders were returned to their countries between July 2024 and May 2025, an increase of 14% on the previous 12-month government also says the deportation of foreign national offenders is a priority. Kate still feels strongly that Bera should remain in the UK until the conclusion of his sentence."Other countries don't necessarily take sexual violence as seriously in the justice system as we do in the UK, rightfully," she says."He committed the crime here, a jury found him guilty here, a judge sentenced him here - he should have to serve that sentence here."Put simply, it's been retraumatising. It's hugely emotionally draining, and physically as well, to be put into a position to have to relive and re-think through not just the rape and what happened to me that night, but all of the subsequent trial and conviction."It's a huge demand for victims to even go through a trial, let alone have months and years of delays with this hanging over my head to then have it brought up again, with the potential to undo that moment of certainty we had in 2023." In a statement to the BBC, the Home Office said sexual violence was "a devastating crime"."We recognise the immense bravery shown by victims throughout their pursuit of justice," a spokesperson said."Protecting victims remains central to our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade."Foreign national offenders who commit serious sexual crimes face deportation at the earliest opportunity." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
