‘Titanic' flood disrupts Old Bailey courtrooms
One witness said: 'It was like the Titanic – you could hear the water lapping in the corridor.'
FW Pomeroy's Statue of Justice stands atop the Central Criminal Court building (Jonathan Brady/PA)
Judges at the Grade II listed Central Criminal Court, in London, hear some of the most serious and complex cases in England and Wales, including murder and terrorism trials.
With foundations dating back to the Roman era, the building is constructed atop the underground River Fleet, a tributary of the Thames.
The Old Bailey, which houses 18 courtrooms, has been affected by floods in the past, as well as plumbing issues dubbed 'the Great Stink'.
Last February, around 1,500 people were evacuated from the Old Bailey and surrounding offices after a fire broke out in an electrical substation at the rear of the building.
Multiple explosions were heard and courtrooms were plunged into darkness before fire alarms sounded.
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Scottish Sun
11 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Tiny sum Hatton Garden heist crooks have paid back from their £14MILLION ill-gotten gains in past 3 years revealed
PRICE OF THE HEIST Tiny sum Hatton Garden heist crooks have paid back from their £14MILLION ill-gotten gains in past 3 years revealed Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FIVE villains from the 'Diamond Wheezers' Hatton Garden heist gang have paid back just £8k each of their £14 million ill-gotten gains over the last three years. Six robbers were filmed removing wheelie bins full of gold and jewels over the 2015 Easter weekend in what became one of the biggest raids of the 21st century. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Crooks from left: Daniel Jones, Terry Perkins and Brian Reader Credit: PA:Press Association Now new Freedom of Information figures released to The Sun on Sunday show five of the robbers - two of whom have since died - have made repayments of just £8,000 each. That's the equivalent of a paltry £40,000 in total over the last three years with the CPS confirming 'hidden assets' remain outstanding in the case with the court deeming the defendants know where they are. Previously, lookout John 'Kenny Collins, 84, returned £1,347,436.43 (or £1.35million) of the £7.6 million he trousered from the raid. But since 2022 progress has been slow with only £8,000 extra being handed over. After being freed in late 2018 having served less than half of a seven-year sentence he was sent back to jail in 2019 for a further seven years for refusing to hand back his share of the heist. While alarm expert Michael Seed, 65, has coughed up just £55,222 from a whopping £5.6 million he pocketed from the robbery. Again, an increase of just £8k since 2022. He was originally jailed for ten years in March 2019 but was handed a further six-and-a-half year jail term in 2023 for failing to pay back his loot. Ringleader Danny Jones, 70, played by Ray Winstone and Phil Daniels in two films, has paid back just £646,788.61 of the near £6.2 million he owes. He has also returned an additional £8,000 over the last three years – but nothing more. Hatton Garden raider blames 'mastermind' for the gang getting caught and claims he 'abandoned them' when heist didn't go to plan Originally sentenced to seven years he was given an extra six years and 287 days for failing to pay back the millions he made from the raid but was released in February 2022. Fellow raiders, Brian Reader and Terry Perkins, who have both since died, also made derisory £8k payments each over the last three years. Mastermind Reader, played by Michael Caine in one of several movies about the burglary, succumbed to cancer in 2023, aged 83. He had paid back £513,766.99 of a £6.1 million proceeds of crime demand. Perkins died of heart failure in his jail cell at Belmarsh in February 2018. He paid back just £387, 772.31 of his almost £6.5 million criminal benefit from the raid. A Crown Prosecution Service spokeswoman, said: 'No convicted criminal should profit from their crimes and the Hatton Garden burglars have paid back more than £3 million of what they stole. 'We have taken four of the burglars back to court after they failed to pay their full orders, resulting in three of them receiving significant additional jail time. 'While all UK assets have now been realised, we continue our work with partner agencies to trace the proceeds of this crime and go after any remaining hidden assets.' 7 Hatton Garden heist gang lookout John 'Kenny' Collins Credit: PA:Press Association 7 The robbery at Hatton Garden Safety Deposit vault Credit: Ray Collins - The Sun 7 Inside the vault in Hatton Garden Credit: Dan Jones - The Sun 7 The huge hole drilled by the gang to ransack the safe deposit Credit: EPA 7 The vault door at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Credit: PA:Press Association
The Herald Scotland
13 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
More than 100 Palestine Action protesters arrested across UK
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Scottish Sun
17 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Ghislaine Maxwell's brother fears she will be KILLED in jail ‘like Epstein'… as he vows to free sex trafficker sister
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) GHISLAINE Maxwell's brother is afraid she will be killed in prison "like Jeffrey Epstein". Ian Maxwell, 68, is hoping to get his convicted sex trafficker sister out of jail using new evidence. 6 Ghislaine Maxwell (in black) pictured with her brother Ian (right) and her parents Robert and Elisabeth in 1990 Credit: Bridgeman Images 6 Ian Maxwell fears his sister will be killed in prison Credit: AP 6 The disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell posing with husband Jeffrey Epstein Credit: PA Ian said he fears for her life behind bars in Tallahassee's federal prison, and warned she's no longer safe inside the overcrowded facility. Worried about her every day, he told the Daily Mail: 'There's such overcrowding in Tallahassee that higher-category prisoners are being placed there and it's becoming a facility that is more dangerous – we've got to get her out of there. 'Normally she spends a lot of time in the prison library helping other prisoners with things like form filling, but she has to go from A to B and isn't always surrounded by guards. 'It's a possibility someone might get to her. I don't want to be dramatic but you can't discount it. Look what happened to Epstein.' Maxwell, 63, is currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein lure underage girls into a web of abuse stretching back to the 1990s. During her three-week trial in 2021, jurors heard prosecutors describe Maxwell as "dangerous". While her legal appeals have been thrown out by multiple courts, Ian insists the fight is far from over to get the disgraced British socialite out. The brother revealed her legal team is plotting a last-ditch effort involving new evidence and an explosive habeas corpus filing. He admitted hopes that the US Supreme Court will hear her case are slim. Trump blasts 'are we still talking about this creep-' over Epstein as mystery swirls around 'missing CCTV & client list' 'It's not a done deal,' he said. 'About 10,000 petitions are lodged each year and they only hear 200 to 250 cases.' But if that fails, the family says they'll take another legal route. 'If they don't hear Ghislaine's case… we will go another route and file a writ of habeas corpus which allows a prisoner to challenge their imprisonment on the basis of new evidence, such as government misconduct.' The family have long argued Maxwell was made a scapegoat for Epstein's crimes and treated harshly to satisfy public outrage after the convicted paedophile died in his cell in 2019. 'I fully believe my sister is innocent and that she will be released some day in the future,' Ian said. The Maxwell family has consistently claimed she was denied a fair trial. And now they're reportedly banking on a controversial 2007 agreement Epstein struck with the Department of Justice to shield his co-conspirators from prosecution. In a recent statement, the family said: 'Our sister Ghislaine did not receive a fair trial. 'Her legal team continues to fight her case in the courts and will file its reply in short order to the government's opposition in the US Supreme Court. 'If necessary, in due course they will also file a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court, SDNY. 'This allows her to challenge her imprisonment based on new evidence, such as government misconduct that would have likely changed the trial's outcome.' 6 Maxwell, 63, was convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein lure underage girls into a web of abuse Credit: AFP 6 Convicted paedophile Epstein died in prison in 2019 Credit: Rex Judges have already rejected the defence team's claim that she "should never have been prosecuted" because of the "weird" 2007 plea deal, but the family appears undeterred. It also comes amid reports that Maxwell is pursuing a pardon from Donald Trump, following the closure of the US probe into Epstein's death and financial dealings. A source close to Maxwell exclusively told The Sun on Sunday there's a 'window of momentum' in her favor. The insider said: 'Those close to her believe it's unfair that she alone is paying for Epstein's crimes and call into question much of the evidence against her. 'Now her legal team feel as if they have a rare window of momentum so they are set to take up her case with the President.' Meanwhile, renewed political pressure is mounting over the unresolved mysteries surrounding Epstein's sick empire. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has claimed a 'big' Epstein file 'full of actionable information' is gathering dust in the Treasury Department — information that could shine more light on the financier's global sex trafficking network. 'Somewhere in the Treasury Department… locked away in a cabinet drawer, is a big Epstein file that's full of actionable information,' Wyden said on the Senate floor. He has urged federal authorities to investigate nearly $1.1 billion in suspicious wire transfers linked to Epstein, as well as his connections to Russian banks and the trafficking of women from Eastern Europe. Although the Biden administration has dismissed claims of hidden records as 'fantasies' and 'political theatre,' calls for transparency around Epstein's finances and ties to powerful individuals continue to grow.
