
Drone spotted over Long Lartin prison dropping contraband
The force added that a drone was recovered and seized, along with the car, and both are being forensically examined.A package of suspected contraband was recovered at Long Lartin and was also seized.The two men remain in police custody.
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The Sun
14 minutes ago
- The Sun
Body tragically found in search for missing man, 35, after his mum issued desperate appeal
A BODY has been found in the search for a missing County Durham man. Police were searching for 35-year-old Dean from Chester-le-Street when they recovered the body Wednesday afternoon. 2 2 While formal identification is yet to take place, the body is believed to be Dean. Durham Constabulary issued an appeal to help find the missing man early on Wednesday. His mum also posted an appeal on Facebook, writing: "Has anyone seen my son Dean he left home yesterday at 11am to go to the gym at Chester le Street and he hasn't come home." She posted another photo of Dean this evening without a caption. He had last been seen crossing the road to the cycle path near the Pelton Buffs Social Club just before 11am on Monday. The body was recovered from the Pelton area. Police thanked Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue for their help during the search. A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary said: "We're very sorry to report that a body has been found in the search for Dean. Sadly, the body of a man was recovered from the Pelton area this afternoon. "Formal identification has yet to take place, but we believe it to be that of the 35-year-old, from Chester-le-Street. Dean's family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers. "We're very sorry to report that a body has been found in the search for Dean. Sadly, the body of a man was recovered from the Pelton area this afternoon (August 20). "Formal identification has yet to take place, but we believe it to be that of the 35-year-old, from Chester-le-Street. Dean's family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers." His family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.


Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Mudtown: Let off a pet killer? This soft-touch magistrate will live to regret it...
Mudtown (U&Alibi) Are you an easy touch, a bleeding-heart liberal? Take this simple quiz to find out, based on a courtroom scene in the South Wales crime drama Mudtown. Imagine you're a magistrate. A young man, Sonny Higgins (Lloyd Meredith), is brought before the bench. A glance at his psychiatric report tells you he suffered a tough childhood — brought up in council care, when he was seven years old his foster mother killed herself. He discovered her body. It's a shocking story. But Higgins is in court for animal cruelty: he threw his ex-girlfriend's chihuahua off an eighth floor balcony. Asked why he did it, he tells the court with a smirk: 'Dog barking, ex shouting, just wanted peace and quiet. It worked.' That, to me, is genuinely unforgivable. I'd sentence him to transportation for life, if it was still possible. Magistrate Claire (Erin Richards) takes a different view. Higgins has 'turned over a new leaf'. He's let off with a fine. By the end of the first episode in this six-part thriller, we realised karma has some cosmic retribution planned for Claire. Higgins's new girlfriend is her own daughter, A-level student Beca (Lauren Morais). And whatever he's got in store for her, it won't involve the Oxbridge entrance exams. The show is filmed in Newport, along the coast from Cardiff, with the city's distinctive magistrates' court featured prominently. There's a romantic sheen cast over the docks, a sort of soft focus shimmer, though that might be drizzle. Co-writers Georgia Lee (herself a magistrate) and Hannah Daniel (who played lawyer Cerys in another Welsh drama, Keeping Faith) did part of their research by sitting in the court's public gallery, watching real cases. Fans of Keeping Faith will lap up Mudtown. Both dramas are centred on strong-minded, competent women, haunted by their past mistakes, juggling jobs and family while married to fairly useless men. Claire's husband is played by Matthew Gravelle, who made such a strong impression in Broadchurch that I wouldn't trust him if he was playing St Francis of Assisi. But the most dangerous man in her life is former childhood sweetheart Pete (Tom Cullen), now a small-town Mr Big. He turns up in the ladies' toilets at court, trying to intimidate Claire into jailing a defendant who could cause trouble for him. 'Don't let him out,' Pete warns menacingly. 'He's gonna be safer inside.' Instead, she lets the youth walk free on bail. Sure enough, he gets two bullets in the stomach as he goes to fetch fish and chips. He'd have been better off if Claire was the lock-'em-up-and-throw-away-the-key type. But she grew up in poverty on a housing estate, and likes to think she's 'one of the people' — spending her coffee breaks chatting to tramps, that sort of thing. Oh, and don't call them tramps, says Claire. They're 'human beings'. Yes, your Worship.


Sky News
26 minutes ago
- Sky News
Police watchdog closes investigations over decision to charge Caroline Flack
The police watchdog has closed its investigations into the circumstances leading up to the decision to charge TV presenter Caroline Flack with assaulting her boyfriend. Flack died in February 2020, with a coroner ruling that she took her own life after discovering she was definitely going to face a trial. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) initially recommended a caution after the alleged assault in December 2019 - but London's Metropolitan Police appealed and the Love Island host was charged with assault by beating. Various reviews into the way the case was handled have been carried out by the CPS, the Met, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) since Flack's death. In April 2024, the star's mother told Sky News she believes her daughter's celebrity status likely contributed towards the decision to charge her. It has now emerged that the IOPC closed its latest investigation, relating to the actions of officers in appealing to the CPS, in January 2025 - finding the outcome was "reasonable and proportionate". An IOPC spokesperson said it received a complaint referral from the Met, which contained "a number of allegations about the force's investigation" into the alleged assault, in March 2024. The majority of the allegations had already been investigated by the force and reviewed by the IOPC, the watchdog said, so it found no further action was required. However, the Met was directed to investigate one aspect of the complaint "on the basis there may be new witness evidence available". This related to the actions of officers in appealing the initial CPS decision, and five allegations were returned to the force's Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) to "resolve in a proportionate manner", the IOPC spokesperson told Sky News. In June 2024, the Met found there was "no new evidence that would alter any previous outcomes", the spokesperson added, and the complainant asked the IOPC to review once again. "Following that review, in January 2025 we found that outcome to be reasonable and proportionate." A Met Police spokesperson said DPS officers made further enquiries and examined the evidence last year. "It did not change the original outcome that the service provided by officers was acceptable," the spokesperson said. "The family were advised of the outcome in June [2024] and then appealed that outcome to the IOPC. The IOPC carried out a review and, in January 2025, found no new evidence that would alter any of the previous outcomes." Both the Met and the IOPC have closed their investigations. The IOPC said another review could be considered in light of any new evidence. At the end of Flack's inquest, coroner Mary Hassell said the alleged assault had "played out in the national press" following her arrest and had a serious impact on her mental health. In April 2024, her mother Christine Flack told Sky News: "This wasn't domestic violence. This was an accident. But she was portrayed in the court and in the newspapers as a domestic abuser, and that's what hurts. That's what I want got rid of - because she wasn't." She said she believed her daughter was treated differently due to her celebrity status. "And that's not on. She shouldn't be treated better, but she shouldn't be treated worse." This was not the first investigation into the handling of Flack's case, with the Met initially referring itself to the watchdog just a few days after her death. The DPS found there was no misconduct, prompting another complaint from Flack's family to the IOPC. In 2023, the IOPC ordered the force to apologise for not recording its reason for appealing against the caution, but said it had not identified any misconduct. In the days after the TV presenter's death, the CPS also reviewed its handling of the case. Flack's boyfriend, Lewis Burton, had said he did not support the prosecution, and following her death her management released a statement criticising the decision. At the time, a CPS spokesperson said it was normal practice for prosecutors to hold a debriefing after complex or sensitive cases have ended. "This has taken place and found that the case was handled appropriately and in line with our published legal guidance," they said. Flack, 40, presented shows including spin-offs I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! NOW! and The Xtra Factor, as well as one season of the main X Factor show with former contestant Olly Murs, before becoming best known as the host of Love Island. She also won Strictly Come Dancing in 2014. Sky News has contacted Flack's family for comment.