Latest news with #Appeal
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Prince William has 'quite a friendship' with A-lister who 'held private royal meeting'
Prince William is said to have developed quite a close bond with a popular Hollywood star over the years, due to their love for the same passion Prince William 's appearances with Tom Cruise go further than what the camera has shown, according to the Daily Mail's Richard Eden. The Top Gun star has been pictured with King Charles ' eldest son and his wife Kate Middleton on more than one occasion. Back in 2022, he mingled with the royals at the premiere of his film Top Gun: Maverick as they walked the red carpet. Other pictures showed the 63-year-old holding onto Kate's hand, and also having a laugh with the future King and Queen. In February 2024, Tom and William were seen joking together again, and posing for snaps together at London's Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner in London. According to Richard, the pair have "developed quite a friendship over the years" due to their shared love for aviation. Speaking on the Daily Mail Royals YouTube channel, he added: "Indeed, he and Catherine are said to be big fans of the Top Gun franchise, having attended the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick in 2022." According to My London, Tom said of his friendship with the royals at the event: "We have a lot in common. We both love England and we're both aviators, we both love flying." Richard also mentioned that the actor reportedly hosted a private screening of the film for the royal couple at Kensington Palace that same year. Speaking of their appearance at the gala together, he continued: "So with Tom Cruise by his side, William made his first public comments about the King's shock cancer diagnosis at the gala dinner for London's Air ambulance charity, of which he is the patron." Buckingham Palace announced that Charles had an undisclosed form of cancer in February 2024. Just weeks after this news was made public, Kate also revealed that she too was receiving treatment for cancer. Addressing the crowd at the event at the time, the Prince of Wales said: "I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you, also, for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially in recent days. It means a great deal to us all. "It's fair to say the past few weeks have had a rather medical focus. So I thought I'd come to an air ambulance function to get away from it all!". William went on to make a joke about Tom, who is known for his high-flying film stunts. He said: "Here in London, the current aircraft have served magnificently. But our capital city needs a new fleet. "And we are up against time. The clue really is in the Appeal's name. By September, we need the two new red birds - decked with the latest kit such as night vision - in our skies. "I should also take this opportunity to give a mention to my - our - fellow pilot, Tom Cruise. Tom, huge thanks for supporting us tonight." Tom's encounters with royals go all the way back to the early 1990s. Photos at the time show him meeting Princess Diana, and later attending her funeral in 1997. In 2017, he was also seen chatting to the now late Prince Philip at the 75th anniversary of the Outward Bound Trust at Buckingham Palace.
ITV News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Wrongly jailed man hits out at ‘insulting' compensation increase
A man who served 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of rape has hit out at an 'insulting' increase in compensation for victims of miscarriages of justice. The Ministry of Justice has announced that the compensation cap will rise by 30% for those who were convicted of a crime they did not commit. Those wrongfully imprisoned for more than 10 years will receive £1.3 million instead of £1 million, while those with sentences of less than 10 years will receive £650,000 rather than £500,000. It is the first increase to the payment since the scheme's introduction in 2008. But Andrew Malkinson, who has been campaigning with the law charity Appeal to get the compensation scheme overhauled, described the change as 'insulting'. He was wrongly convicted and jailed in 2004 for the rape of a 33-year-old woman in Salford, Greater Manchester, spending 17 years in prison. Mr Malkinson – who was released in 2020 after DNA evidence proved he was not the attacker – said: 'This change is an improvement but a below-inflation increase is insulting. 'The state stole years of my life and robbed me of my physical and mental health, yet it still wants to arbitrarily limit the compensation I receive to try to put myself back together. 'I'll keep fighting to abolish this cruel and arbitrary cap, along with the brutal rules currently denying compensation to the vast majority of wrongfully convicted people.' The compensation scheme is intended to help individuals restart and rebuild their lives. It is one route through which an individual can receive compensation for a wrongful conviction, with other options including suing public bodies. Those claiming after miscarriages of justice within the armed forces will also see the same rise in the cap. Toby Wilton, solicitor at Hickman & Rose who represent Mr Malkinson in his claims for compensation, said: 'While this proposal is welcome, it does not go nearly far enough. The current maximum cap on compensation of £1 million was introduced in 2008. 'Before that, compensation was not capped at all and applicants received compensation broadly in line with what they would receive in a court of law. 'The government should return to this system, removing the arbitrary cap which unfairly penalises those who, like Andrew Malkinson, have suffered the longest lasting and most serious miscarriages of justice. 'A 30% increase in the cap, whilst welcome, does not come close to addressing this unfairness. 'Increased by RPI inflation, the measure the courts use to uprate compensation amounts, £1 million in 2008 would be closer to £2 million today. Increased by CPI, it would be £1.65 million, more than double this proposed increase. 'The Government and Parliament should think again.' Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood believes the additional support will help victims of miscarriages of justice. She said: 'Fairness is the ideal that underpins our justice system. Where it has failed to meet that ideal, victims of devastating miscarriages of justice must be able to rebuild their lives. 'This uplift will ensure victims are compensated for the crimes they did not commit and the years they cannot get back.'
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Cap on payouts for miscarriage of justice victims to increase
The government has increased the cap on payouts to victims of miscarriages of justice to ensure they are compensated for "the years they cannot get back".The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the maximum amount will be raised in England and Wales for the first time since 2008, from £1m to £ Malkinson, who had his conviction quashed in 2023 after spending 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, previously described the cap as "ridiculous".Reacting to the uplift, legal charity Appeal, which represented Mr Malkinson in challenging his wrongful conviction, argued the increase "falls far short of matching inflation". On Tuesday, the government said that the cap would be raised by 30%. This would bring the limit on compensation for people who have been in jail for 10 years or more to £1.3m, and £650,000 for up to a a statement, the MoJ said the increase would create "a fairer and better justice system".Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "Fairness is the ideal that underpins our justice system. Where it has failed to meet that ideal, victims of devastating miscarriages of justice must be able to rebuild their lives."This uplift will ensure victims are compensated for the crimes they did not commit and the years they cannot get back."Once eligible, the level of compensation will be decided by an independent assessor. In a statement, investigator James Burley, who led Appeal's investigation into Mr Malkinson's case, said: "This is a step forward, but the increase falls far short of matching inflation since the cap's introduction in 2008."Wrongful conviction survivors like Andrew Malkinson have endured unimaginable pain. The compensation they receive to rebuild their lives should reflect that reality, not be limited by an arbitrary cap."
The Guardian
08-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
More trials with no jury will disadvantage people of colour, campaigners warn
Removing the right to a jury trial for more offences would disadvantage people of colour and other minorities and lead to more miscarriages of justice, reformers have warned. Sir Brian Leveson's independent review of the criminal courts in England and Wales is expected to be published this week and recommend the creation of intermediate courts, sitting without a jury, to try some offences. The rationale is that it would reduce the record backlog in crown courts, where juries hear the most serious cases. But justice reformers say it would mean that, instead of being tried by a jury of their peers, defendants would be put before magistrates and judges who often come from a narrow section of society. Matt Foot, the co-director of the charity Appeal, which successfully fought for Andrew Malkinson's murder conviction to be overturned, said: 'Reducing jury rights will inevitably increase the number of miscarriages of justice. 'We know that judges tend to be privately educated and white, which is a long way away from the makeup of juries. 'To reduce jury rights at the time when we know through the [Louise] Casey review that we have serious problems within the police of racism and homophobia and such is completely unjustified.' Foot said that while juries sometimes made the wrong decisions, they were usually due to them being presented with the wrong evidence or because of the directions of judges, and that juries were much more likely to bear a resemblance to the defendant. He also said trials without juries could increase the number of people going to jail at a time when prisons are overcrowded, and a lack of funding and lawyers rather than jury trials had caused the backlog to soar. His concerns were echoed by Tyrone Steele, the deputy legal director at Justice, who said: 'Everyone deserves a fair trial, free from discrimination. Jury trial is an important means of safeguarding this right and ensuring confidence in our criminal courts. 'Racialised defendants tried before a jury are convicted at very similar rates to their white counterparts. In contrast, worrying disparities exist in magistrates courts' convictions. Black women, for example, are 22% more likely to be found guilty at the magistrates court than white women. 'The government should be cautious about introducing an intermediate court, which could result in a worsening of public trust and confidence at a time when it is needed most.' The latest judicial diversity statistics show that ethnic minorities make up 12% of judges in England and Wales, while the representation of black judges has remained unchanged at 1% for a decade. While there has been a proposal that two lay magistrates sit with the judge in the intermediate court, in its submission to the Leveson review, Justice said: 'It should be noted that the magistracy has some way to go before it can be said to be sufficiently representative of society as a whole … the magistracy continues to disproportionately attract middle class applicants, aged 50 and above.' Among magistrates, 14% were from an ethnic minority, according to the judicial diversity statistics. The 2021 census showed that 19% of people in England and Wales were from an ethnic minority and 4.2% were black. In 2022, a study by the University of Manchester and the barrister Keir Monteith KC claimed the judiciary in England and Wales was 'institutionally racist'. It conducted a survey of 373 legal professionals, 56% of whom said they had witnessed at least one judge acting in a racially biased way towards a defendant, while 52% had witnessed discrimination in judicial decision-making. Justice has said that if intermediate courts were introduced it should be made explicit that they are an emergency measure, rather than a permanent change.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Today in history: 1911,H.W. Ross, before starting New Yorker magazine, is editor of the Marysville Appeal
On June 7, 1911, the name H.W. Ross appeared for just the second day in a row of a short stint as managing editor of the Marysville Appeal. Not only was one of the youngest editors of the Marysville Appeal. He was one of the most famous privates of World War I. And he created one of the world's most enduring magazines after convincing a poker buddy, whose family made a fortune in yeast, that it would be a good investment. Harold Ross, or H.W. Ross as he was known in his one and only byline story in Marysville, was the founder and first editor of The New Yorker magazine, a weekly periodical published continuously since 1925, and considered one of the top political and literary magazines in the world. Even today, it remains one of the rare magazines that earns more from subscriptions than advertising. A native of Aspen, Colorado, who left home at an early age, Harold Ross, then 18, convinced 62-year-old Marysville Appeal editor John H. Miller, to hire him in early 1911. Although Ross would later work for newspapers in San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Pasadena, Panama, New Orleans, Atlanta, Brooklyn, and Hoboken, New Jersey, one of his most significant assignments turned out to be his first, at the Marysville Appeal, according to Thomas Kunkel, author of "Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of The New Yorker." In his biography of Ross, Kunkel begins chapter 2, entitled "Tramp"—Ross was among the last of the tramp journalists who roamed from newspaper to newspaper and whose numbers included Mark Twain and Bret Harte—with this story: "On a clear Sunday morning in March 1911, some three dozen anxious people crowded onto a smallish gasoline-powered freighter, the Sioux, which was docked on the Feather River in tiny Nicolaus, California, just north of Sacramento. The short trip they were about to make, upriver to Marysville, would take only a few hours, but there was a great deal more at stake than a diverting excursion. The passengers were rivermen, engineers, business leaders, the merely curious, and a handful of newspaper reporters. Representing the Marysville Appeal was H.W. Ross, as his byline had it, a gangly, gawky man-child of eighteen. "Marysville had a problem: it was a river town whose river had silted up, useless, from years of unrestrained hydraulic mining. This had the effect of marooning Marysville from Sacramento (and therefore San Francisco), and put its future directly into the unwelcome hands of the railroads. With the mining finally shut down, there was new cause to think the Feather might again accommodate big steamers, but it all depended on whether the Sioux—which, though small, had a deep draft—could make it all the way upriver without getting stuck. As Ross summed it up in the Appeal two days later, 'The renavigating of the Feather is one of the most important moves in the history of Marysville—probably the most important…When boats are again running shippers will not be at the mercy of the railroads.' And beyond the obvious business ramifications, Ross reminded his readers, there were 'unbounded' social possibilities: 'The excursion of the future will not be made in a small launch with a dozen or so passengers, nor in a fifty-or sixty-foot pleasure craft—but it will be possible for excursion boats carrying hundreds of passengers to ply between this city and Sacramento—yes, even to {San Francisco] bay.' "The news that day, as duly reported by H.W. Ross, was good: the Sioux had been unimpeded. The Appeal signaled the importance of the story not only in big headlines and top-of-the-page treatment, but by attaching Ross's byline to it. At this time in American journalism, a byline—the writer's name at the beginning of a story—was rare, for the most part reserved for articles of real significance or distinction. This is just one of the reasons it is difficult to follow the zigzag, vaporous trajectory of Ross's newspaper career." Miller took a strong liking to his young reporter, and taught him the newspaper arts. "…Ross, for his part, was a quick study. He had to be, merely to survive the grueling regimen. The Appeal published six days a week, eight pages a day. Since it specialized in local news (said one headline: 'Beggars Have Come To Town') and competed with the evening paper for readers, exhausting hours were required to report and write enough material to mill that maw. "Five weeks after Ross wrote that story, Miller took ill. He was hospitalized in Sacramento but died on May 31. Out of respect (if not out of printer's inertia), Miller's name remained on the newspaper's masthead until June 3. Then, on June 6, it is replaced with this: 'H.W. Ross, Editor.' Still learning the finer points of eluding railroad Pinkertons and scarcely old enough to shave, Ross suddenly found himself in charge of a daily newspaper. Almost certainly he gave himself the battlefield promotion, but he had little choice: when Miller died, the Appeal's owner, Colonel E.A. Forbes, adjutant general of the state of California, was traveling on military business. At the time it all must have been a little terrifying, but two decades later Ross recalled the episode with the newspaperman's sangfroid: 'Someone had to edit the paper. The only part I couldn't do was write the editorials—we got a man for that and I did the rest.'" Two months later, Ross's name disappeared from the mast without explanation. Whether he was fired or just moved on, we'll never know. In 1917, Ross was in the military as World War I erupted. His newspaper skills landed him a position with a brand new adventure: the military wanted a publication that spoke to the soldiers. During his time as as a contributor, and ultimately an editor of the brand new Stars and Stripes newspaper, Ross passed up every opportunity for a promotion and met several of the writers, including his first wife, who would later be critical to the successful launch of The New Yorker. He was praised by the military brass and President Wilson for his contributions. In New York, he launched a magazine called Home Front modeled on Stars and Stripes, and was editor of two other magazines, before he convinced Raoul Flesichman, whose family had gotten reach selling yeast, to go in with him on creating a new magazine focuses on life in New York, in 1925. The magazine struggled, but survived, during the Depression, but it came of age during and after World War II. The magazine is known for its cartoonish covers and brilliant writing and editing, a tradition started by a man who cut his teeth writing about, and editing stories about, activities on, and around, the Feather River.
