
Ex-Met officer pleads not guilty to upskirting offence
It is claimed he took the images between March and July 2024.He was suspended from his job when he was arrested and resigned on 1 March.Herd was granted conditional bail, which stipulated he could not delete any pictures without consent from police, not to record anyone in a public place and not travel in public transport alone.
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Daily Mail
4 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Shock details emerge after man sent Sunshine Coast childcare centre into lockdown and staff and children hid in a room while tense standoff unfolded with cops
A young man who took his own life at a Sunshine Coast childcare centre was an OnlyFans creator with a long history of crime that included drug trafficking. Reubhan Mickeal Gary Ralph, 29, was Tasered by police several times before using a sharp implement to take his life at Habitat Peregian Springs at 6pm on Monday. Five staff members and six children were forced to lock themselves in a room while the terrifying incident played out. Ralph was a fly-in, fly-out worker and OnlyFans content creator who was involved in a local drug syndicate and had a string of serious convictions, court records show. He was previously charged with stalking two women, one of whom was an employee at Maroochydore Police Station. In October 2023, Ralph applied for bail in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court, where police prosecutor Senior Constable Mark Burrell told the court the case against him was 'strong'. 'They are serious offences, there are two separate victims, which is more than normal, and the second victim is an employee of Queensland Police,' he said. Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin described the allegations as 'quite chilling' and highlighted the disturbing pattern of behaviour. 'The second complainant involves another woman who is a civilian working at a police station, and it seems the defendant has now taken an interest in this female, who he could only know through seeing his required visits to the police station,' Mr McLaughlin said. He said Ralph was a 'menace' whose actions left women fearing for their safety. 'It's said he has been loitering around the police station, photographing this woman and making lewd comments towards her, to the extent that she is now worried about even attending work,' the magistrate said. 'In all my years as a magistrate I have never seen a person simultaneously charged with stalking two different women, one of whom he barely knows, it's bizarre, it speaks of a man who has real problems. 'In the very least before I could feel comfortable letting him back into the community I'd need some sort of psychiatric report.' Ralph also played a role in a cocaine syndicate between November 2021 and May 2022, conducting drug deliveries and debt collections stretching from the Sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast. He later pleaded guilty to trafficking and drug possession. In July last year, Ralph made headlines for stealing a truck from a Gold Coast construction site and going on a destructive rampage, smashing into cars and even an ambulance while recording the chaos on his phone. Ralph had armed himself with a sharp object and began smashing a glass door at the childcare centre on Monday. A police officer, working covertly inside the building, quietly guided the children and staff out to safety after the group had locked themselves inside a room. Police attempted to negotiate with Ralph before trying to remove him, which included the deployment of Tasers several times. Police say Ralph began to self-harm and consequently sustained serious injuries. Attending police rendered first aid before other emergency services arrived; however, he was declared dead a short time later. The incident is being treated as mental health-related. No one else was injured in the incident.


BBC News
4 minutes ago
- BBC News
Councils consider legal action over asylum hotels
Councils across England are considering taking legal action to remove asylum seekers from hotels in their areas. It follows the High Court granting a district council a temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from lodging at The Bell Hotel in Epping, 12 councils controlled by Reform UK will "do everything in their power to follow Epping's lead", the party's leader Nigel Farage said. A Conservative-run council in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, also said it is considering taking similar action. Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle said the government will "continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns". Writing in the Telegraph, Farage urged people "concerned about the threat posed by young undocumented males living in local hotels" to "follow the example of the town in Essex" in peaceful protest. Tory-run Borough of Broxbourne Council has since become the first to declare it is seeking legal advice "as a matter of urgency about whether it could take a similar action" over a hotel in the leader of South Norfolk District Council, also run by the Conservatives, said it will not go down the same route over a hotel housing asylum seekers in Diss which has been the subject of protest. Daniel Elmer said the council was using planning rules to ensure it was families being housed in the area rather than single adult ministers say they are braced for other councils to follow Epping's Angela added: "Our work continues to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament." Epping saw thousands of people protest against the hotel after an asylum seeker living there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Hadush Kebatu, 41, denies the charges against him while several other residents have been charged for disorder outside the hotel. The protests were also attended by those in support of asylum seekers. Conservative-run Epping Forest District Council was eventually granted an injunction to block migrants staying at the hotel after an eleventh-hour effort from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to have the council's case dismissed was ignored. Similar cases in recent years have seen judges refuse to intervene but Epping Forest told the court its case was different as the hotel had become a safety risk, as well as a breach of planning the case, the government's lawyer said any injunction granted could act as "an impetus for further violent protests" and could "substantially interfere" with the statutory duty of the Home Office to avoid a breach of the asylum seekers' human seekers staying at the hotel will be removed from The Bell Hotel by 12 September.


Powys County Times
22 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Kneecap rapper to appear in court for alleged support of terrorist group
A member of rap group Kneecap is due to appear in court for allegedly supporting a proscribed terror organisation. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in November last year. Demonstrations in support of the rapper have been organised outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in London where he is due to appear on Wednesday, as well as in Dublin. The Metropolitan Police has imposed conditions limiting where the demonstration outside the court can take place on Wednesday, saying they were needed to 'prevent serious disruption'. In response the rap group described this move as a 'calculated political decision' that was 'designed to try and portray support for Kneecap as somehow troublesome' and 'asked supporters to go out of your way to be compliant with all instructions issued, irrespective of how pitiful'. O hAnnaidh received a rockstar welcome when he appeared at the same court in June, supported by fellow bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and J J O Dochartaigh. He was greeted by a festival-like atmosphere for his first court appearance, with dozens of fans waving flags, playing drums and one supporter setting off a smoke canister. The court previously heard the 27-year-old defendant is 'well within his rights' to voice his opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, was a 'wholly different thing'. O hAnnaidh is yet to enter a plea to the charge.