Channel 4 commissions documentary on families' fight for justice after fatal Nottingham attacks
Grace O'Malley-Kumar, 19, her friend Barnaby Webber, 19, and 65-year-old Ian Coates were killed in fatal knife attacks carried out on June 13 two years ago.
Ms O'Malley-Kumar— whose mother Sinead O'Malley is an Irish-born consultant anaesthetist based in London — was a first-year medical student at the University of Nottingham studying to become a doctor.
Valdo Calocane was quickly arrested after the attacks but for the grieving families, this would turn out to be just the beginning of a terrible journey of discovery. Fight for justice
Channel 4 says the powerful new film, with the working title of The Nottingham Attacks, will follow the families' campaign for justice, looking at multiple failings across the agencies tasked with protecting the public.
With access to all three families, their legal team and others closely connected to the case, the documentary will tell the story of three ordinary families taking on the most powerful agencies of the state to get justice for their loved ones.
With the public inquiry into the attacks looming next year, the film will follow the families as they look at missed opportunities to prevent the deaths. 'Shocking discoveries'
Bafta-winning documentary maker Graeme McAulay, who serves as Executive Producer, said the documentary will 'take viewers far beyond the headlines of this terrible crime'.
"Following three brave families searching for the truth, the documentary will reveal shocking discoveries about the people entrusted to protect us and lay bare uncomfortable truths about a system in crisis, endangering us all," he added.
Anna Miralis, Senior Commissioning Editor, said: "This is a vital and timely piece of storytelling of an appalling crime and will highlight the unimaginable impact it had on these remarkable families and show their unwavering desire to expose the truth."
See More: Channel 4, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, Nottingham Attacks
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The Journal
an hour ago
- The Journal
How to spot a scam if you see an ad for discount clothes on social media
AS PART OF a new investigation, The Journal Investigates has uncovered almost 100 websites that have falsely presented themselves as legitimate Irish stores, as well as hundreds more targeting users in at least 14 other countries. These pages masquerading as Irish shops have posted more than 50,000 ads on Facebook between them, potentially targeting millions of social media users. The websites use the same methods to trick customers around the world into buying what they think are high-end goods that are actually much flimsier items that tend to come from Asia – if they arrive at all. There are five things you can ask yourself to make sure the shop you're buying from is legitimate. Although the methods that are outlined here can be enough to tell a scam website on their own, we recommend using a few of them in combination to be absolutely sure. — Investigations like this don't happen without your support… Impactful investigative reporting is powered by people like you. Support The Journal Investigates 1. What does the company's website tell you? Scam fashion websites are taking increasing steps to mimic real businesses, right down to including information like opening hours, physical addresses and contact details. Some even go to the trouble of writing touching backstories on the 'About Us' section of their websites, and claim that they're decades-old companies or much-loved family businesses. But these are the kinds of details that can sometimes reveal the website isn't what it claims to be. If a website lists a specific, real-world address, you can use Google Maps to see if the company really exists where it claims to be located; even if it only names a street, you can check along the street to see if there are any businesses with that name based there. Google Street View can also help with this: if you can't find a shop at the address using Google Maps, you can double-check using the street view function to make sure it's not there – sometimes legitimate businesses don't actually appear on Google Maps. If a shop doesn't appear on Google Maps, and the street view function shows something like a house or an office where the company listed its address, it's a sign that it's a scam or fraudulent drop-shipping business. Another tool you can use is government-run company registration databases. Irish-based businesses will usually register with the Companies Registration Office (CRO), which incorporates companies in Ireland and is where they file their annual returns. The CRO helpfully has a search function called Core that allows people to look up companies that are registered in Ireland. If the company you're buying from claims to be Irish – like a supposed family-run business or a high street store – but you can't find it on the CRO, then it's best to treat it with caution. Companies House, the UK equivalent to the CRO, has a similar function that allows people to search for businesses that are registered in the North or across the water. So if the shop you're looking at claims to be based in the UK, but you can't find any mention of it on the Companies House website, you should also be careful about ordering from it. Advertisement And some drop-shopping websites and social media pages will occasionally include landline phone numbers. If you've taken the steps above and you're still unsure about whether a business is real or fake, you can always give them a ring and see what happens. Products listed on fraudulent drop-shipping websites can likewise provide clues that the page is a scam. One thing we've noticed about these websites is that the sale prices on almost all items tend to end in the same two digits (though never .99 or .00); for example, items that sell for €25.95, €44.95 and €71.95. This would be unusual for a legitimate business to do, even if it's selling items as part of a wider sale event, so if you see this happening (particularly if the sale price doesn't end in .99 or .00) then watch out. Items for sale on a website called Vellor Dublin - the price format includes a comma, which is not standard for Irish retailers 2. Can social media pages provide any clues? In a lot of cases, shoppers will come across these websites on social media, particularly in the form of sponsored posts (AKA ads) on Facebook or Instagram that announce discounts or closing down sales. These posts usually link to third-party websites that look like they belong to normal shops, and might show examples of the products they're selling. They often convey a sense of urgency to make people want to click into them and leave social media without checking out the page that's running the ad. But even just a 30-second look at some of these pages can be enough to show they're not genuine. If you click into a Facebook page that's running ads, and it has just a handful of followers and only one or two posts, that's a big indication that it's a fake profile. The 'About' tab can also be helpful: if you click on it, you might find some contact and other basic information (like a location or phone number) about the business that isn't on its website, and you can repeat the steps from the section above. It's not uncommon for scammers to leave major clues here by accident; for example, the Facebook page might be for a shop that says it's in Dublin, but the 'About' tab actually shows a map that says it's in Vietnam or provides a phone number that clearly isn't Irish. But even bigger indications that a page is a scam can be found under the 'Page Transparency' section, which you'll also find in the 'About' tab. Here's where to find the 'Page Transparency' tab on Facebook If you go there and click the 'See All' button, it will tell you if a page has recently been set up and (often, but not always) if it's changed names before and where its administrators are based. It's probably safe to say that if a page has recently been set up or changed names – especially if it used to be called something completely different – or if it has admins in a country that isn't where it says it's based, it doesn't belong to a legitimate business. You can also find similar information about Instagram pages – just look for the 'About this account' button, and it'll tell you where a profile is based, how long ago it was set up, and how many times it's changed names. 3. Are the same images being used elsewhere? It won't seem obvious to anyone browsing just one website, but a lot of scam websites tend to sell similar products that use the same images. It's actually one of the biggest giveaways that these websites are fraudulent. High street retailers and smaller businesses will generally use their own photographers and/or design agencies for the pictures of products they're selling online; if a business is legitimate, you almost certainly wouldn't see photos of its products being used elsewhere. Thankfully, there are a number of free online tools that you can use to check this. Related Reads 'Never order off this site': Massive web of fake shops targeting Irish Facebook users uncovered Google has its own reverse image search function that allows you to upload an image to see where else it might appear on the internet. To use it, screenshot or save the photo of the product; then go to Google, click the camera symbol that's to the right of the search bar, upload a photo, and check by 'exact matches'. You can also use Google Lens, which is a version of the same tool, if you're browsing via Chrome on a desktop or using an Android phone; again, just screenshot or save the image and search via this tool (or you can right-click and use it like that if you're on a desktop). The same image of a woman in a coat on two seemingly unconnected websites, Ruby & Maeve Kerry and Oliver Harrison London A similar tool called TinEye also allows you to search via an image you've saved, and also via the URL (the link beginning to see if an image will show up elsewhere; to do the latter hold (if on mobile) or right-click (if on desktop) the image you want to search, and copy the link address, then paste it into TinEye. We advise that you try both of these tools if you want to see if an image has been used on multiple websites – sometimes you'll get results on one tool that you won't get on the other one. The more unconnected websites that a product image features on, the more likely it is that all is not as it seems with the online stores that are selling it. And if that happens, it's also possible to compare the websites that use the image to see if some or all of them are fraudulent. If the pages are structured in the same way (e.g. their logos and details like their opening hours are located on the same part of their home page, they have similar 'About Us' info, or they're all selling discounted products for similar prices), then it's likely they aren't legitimate and may be connected in some way. 4. Do the website and its social media ads use artificial intelligence? Artificial intelligence technologies are frequently used by scammers, both on the scam websites themselves and on ads for them. Creating a unique website with a backstory and descriptions for hundreds of products is a time-consuming exercise, but programs like ChatGPT or Google Gemini can speed this up for scammers who want to make money with minimal effort. It's not always easy to tell at first glance when a website is relying on AI programs like these, but there are a couple of tools you can use to get a sense. GPTZero allows users to paste text from anywhere – including a website – to assess the likelihood that it was written by an AI chatbot or a human. As a test, we used the text from a product description on the website of a confirmed dodgy store, which the tool said was 100% likely to have been generated by AI. We also ran sections of this article through the tool, and were given a 92% certainty that the text was written by a human (though of course all of it was). It's important to note that these tools are imperfect; although the two examples given are clear-cut, it's not always going to be the case, particularly because many AI models have been trained by humans. As a result, it's better to use this tool in conjunction with other methods outlined in this article. Scam websites also occasionally use AI images to create fabricated images of shops, people supposedly involved in the business, or crisis events that have led them to sell off stock at a 'discounted' rate. The fake images of people usually don't look like real photos of people but appear more cartoonish; if you're finding it hard to tell if it's an AI image, check for unnatural patterns in textures like a person's hair, skin, or clothes, as well as background parts of the image. If an ad or website shows what looks like a physical shop, do a reverse image search using the method outlined above to see if it appears on Google (as a legitimate business would). Sign up The Journal Investigates is dedicated to lifting the lid on how Ireland works. Our newsletter gives you an inside look at how we do this. Sign up here... Sign up .spinner{transform-origin:center;animation:spinner .75s infinite linear}@keyframes spinner{100%{transform:rotate(360deg)}} You are now signed up You can also do this if an ad or social media page describes a crisis event like a fire or break-in that causes damage – it'll likely have been reported on the news or elsewhere on social media. An AI image of the 'owners' of Ruby & Maeve Kerry 5. Have people complained about the company? The unfortunate reality is that dodgy websites have scammed a lot of people around the world over the past two years. The result is that scammers have been emboldened to keep going – but the silver lining is that those who've been duped are increasingly warning others. There are a few different ways you can check whether a website is trustworthy, as well as some valuable clues that suggest it's not in the absence of other information. As mentioned above, most drop-shopping stores will have an accompanying Facebook page. If you click on the 'About' section on a website's Facebook page, you can see any reviews at the bottom; many of the scam websites we found had a stream of negative Facebook reviews from people calling them out and describing how they'd been scammed. Of course, this won't be the case for all pages: some will have few if any reviews, while people may also complain about legitimate businesses. We'd suggest that if a page seems suspicious and has only one or two positive reviews, do some further research as outlined above to see if it could be fraudulent. And if the majority of a page's reviews are negative and calling it out as a scam, you're probably best avoiding it. The home page of the websites themselves may also contain images showing five-star testimonials from Trustpilot, a worldwide online review platform . In a lot of cases these reviews are fake: if you search by the website's URL on Trustpilot, you won't find them – a clear sign that the site is run by scammers. In fact, many of the Trustpilot pages for these website will have more negative reviews that also call out the page as a scam. Although some legitimate websites tend to link to their Trustpilot profiles so that users can assess reviews for themselves, scam websites don't do this (presumably to avoid directing people to negative reviews that identify it as a scam website). If you click on a Trustpilot review on a scam page, you'll see that it's just an image rather than a link – never trust a website that does this, and double-check to see what its reviews are actually like for yourself on Trustpilot. Some websites may also have a small number of positive reviews on Trustpilot. If you spot this, check to see if people who left reviews left other reviews for different websites: if they didn't, or if they left a small number of similar reviews for the same type of websites, it's an indication that the reviewer may be fake. The Journal Investigates Reporter: Stephen McDermott • Investigation Editor: Christine Bohan • The Journal Investigates Editor: Maria Delaney Investigations like this don't happen without your support... Impactful investigative reporting is powered by people like you. Over 5,000 readers have already supported our mission with a monthly or one-off payment. Join them here: Support The Journal
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Heartbreaking first picture of ‘great character', 22, who died in horror crash on way to work as GAA club pay tribute
'Billy was more than just a player' TRAGIC CRASH Heartbreaking first picture of 'great character', 22, who died in horror crash on way to work as GAA club pay tribute A MAN in his 20s who died following a single vehicle crash in Glanmire, Co Cork yesterday morning has been named locally as Billy O'Grady. Billy was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he was pronounced dead yesterday afternoon. 2 Shanballymore GAA is among those who have paid tribute to the deceased Credit: Shanballymore GAA/Facebook 2 Billy was pronounced dead yesterday afternoon Credit: Shanballymore GAA/Facebook Advertisement The incident occurred at around 6.50am yesterday on the M8 Southbound at J18 in Upper Riverstown. It's understood the 22-year-old was on his way to work when his vehicle was in collision with a bollard at a slip road. The single-vehicle accident led to traffic chaos, with the motorway closed while Garda forensic collision investigators carried out a full examination of the scene. Shanballymore GAA is among those who have paid tribute to Billy. Advertisement In a statement on social media they said that it was with 'deep sadness and sorrow' that they learned of the untimely passing of club player and friend Billy. They added: 'A young man of great character and presence who was a credit to his family and our club. "Our condolences go to his parents John and Caroline, siblings Jordon, Kelly and Ollie, girlfriend Chloe, extended family members, friends and all those in the Shanballymore community. "Our focus remains on remembering Billy as a player, friend, and clubmate and supporting his family over this most difficult time in their lives. Advertisement "As a mark of respect to the O Grady & Butler families, all activities in Shanballymore GAA grounds are paused and the walkway will remain closed until further notice.' Five people killed in 48 hours on Irish roads as Gardai issue safety appeal after telling 'dreaded news' to families St Dominic's GAA club, which consists of players from Glanworth and Shanballymore GAA, said that the death of their former player had shocked the whole community. They continued: 'Billy was more than just a player, he was a friend and a vital part of our club family. We will truly miss his presence and his dedication. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this difficult time." 'VERY HARD' Such was the fondness for Billy that even his former pre school in Shanballymore posted a message about his passing. Advertisement Cleverkids said that Billy was one of their first students eighteen years ago. They said: 'Heartbreaking day yesterday as the news of the passing of Billy O' Grady had to be shared in our community "He was one of our first students in Cleverkids 18 years ago. This is very hard to write as Billy is our next door neighbour and also a cousin of ours.' Gardai are continuing to appeal for information about the crash and are asking anyone with camera footage including dash cam and were travelling in the area between 6.40am and 7.15am on Wednesday morning to contact them. A spokesperson said: "Anyone with information is asked to contact Mayfield Garda Station on 021 4558510 the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station."
Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Boxer vents fury over five-year ban for rival who ended his unbeaten record
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