Latest news with #BromleyMagistrates'Court
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- Daily Mail
Double-decker bus driver admits killing nine-year-old girl after ploughing into her while high on drugs
A bus driver has admitted to killing a nine-year-old girl in a horror crash while under the influence of drugs. Martin Asolo-Agogua, 23, had been up all night at a social event when he crashed the double-decker bus into Ada Bicakci and her five-year-old brother. The tragic crash occurred at around 9.05am on August 3, 2024, Watling Street in Bexleyheath, southeast London, a court heard. The siblings, who were with a family member at the time, were immediately taken to hospital where Ada, a Turkish and British national who was a 'keen gymnast and swimmer, died two days later. Asolo-Agogua, from Nunhead, London, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and driving whilst unfit through drugs (cannabis). During a brief hearing at Woolwich Crown Court today, Judge Ben Gumpert KC warned him that he faces the certainty of prison time. The judge said: 'Looking at the sentencing guidelines, whether this is in the highest or middle level of culpability, even if that decision went in favour of the defendant the starting point would be a sentence of six years in prison. 'And there are, it seems to me, considerable aggravating features because he was driving a bus, under the influence of cannabis, and that he hadn't slept the night before having been, as I understand it, at a social event.' Asolo-Agogua, who was arrested on the day of the incident, was granted bail until he is sentenced in June. Judge Gumpert added: 'You have pleaded guilty to a very serious offence which has resulted in a young child losing her life. The circumstances of this offence are such that in my view it is inevitable that you will be sent immediately to prison.' Following the tragedy, a GoFundMe page was launched to provide support to the police and ambulance service who had helped the nine-year-old, with more than £14,000 accumulated in donations. The family also donated her organs to other children, with her parents receiving a commendation from Anthony Clarkson, the Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation. A statement on behalf of the Bacakci family, shared on the fundraising page, read: 'We have been hit and shattered into pieces, one became six, living in new places. 'Thanks are not enough to show our gratitude. We'll honour Ada with acts of magnitude. 'The funds will support those who helped us through, from emergency services to our hospital too. We lost count of who soaked us in love.' In a previous statement made following a short hearing in March to set a plea date at Bromley Magistrates' Court, the family expressed their gratitude for the large sum of donations received. They said: 'Thanks are not enough to show our gratitude. 'The funds will support those who helped us through, from the emergency services to our hospital too.'
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Labour-run council is accused of 'destroying fun' after plans to ban ice cream vans in parts of popular London tourist hotspot
A Labour-run council has been accused of 'destroying fun' over its plans to ban ice cream vans from popular streets around London 's iconic Greenwich Park. The Royal Borough of Greenwich has sparked a backlash over the last two years after submitting plans to ban ice cream vans from trading in more than 30 roads in the area. The council has denied being 'anti-ice cream', insisting: 'We do love an ice cream, actually.' But one of the areas that it hopes to ban ice cream traders from is King William Walk, a popular tourist hotspot in the north-west of the park, near the Royal Observatory. The plans have faced opposition, including from Paul St Hilaire Snr who has been selling ice creams in Greenwich for three decades. He previously took the council to Bromley Magistrates' Court on the basis that the local authority's decision to prohibit traders from King William Walk was not legally sound. In a victory for Mr St Hilaire and the ice cream lovers of Greenwich, the council was ordered to re-run the public consultation process and review whether King William Walk should be among the roads banned from selling ice cream. It was previously revealed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Greenwich Council spent £52,000 of taxpayers' money in legal bills. However, many are bracing for the ban to be approved at a full council meeting after residents and 16 local organisations expressed support for the fresh proposal, with nine opposing. Councillor Pat Slattery, the council's cabinet member for neighbourhoods, told a recent meeting: 'I think it is important to say that the council is not anti-ice cream. There are ice cream vendors in a reasonable spit of where this ice cream van regularly parks up.' Meanwhile Councillor Anthony Okereke, leader of the council, said: 'We are not banning ice creams in Greenwich in any way, shape or form. We do love an ice cream, actually.' But Tory London Assembly member Susan Hall, told the Telegraph the plans were 'ludicrous', adding: 'The council should rethink this policy. Are they all hell-bent on destroying any fun in Sadiq Khan's London?'
BBC News
21-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Greenwich park ice cream van sparks legal battle with council
Plans to prohibit ice cream vans from trading on a street next to Greenwich Park have prompted a local councillor to state that the local authority is not "anti-ice cream".Greenwich Council's cabinet has recommended that King William Walk be designated as a prohibited street for itinerant ice cream included the thoroughfare at the north-west corner of the park on a list of streets where the trade of ice cream is ice cream van operator Paul St Hilaire Sr successfully challenged the decision in court on the basis that the council's decision was not legally sound. Bromley Magistrates' Court ordered the council to re-run the public consultation process and review whether King William Walk should be included in the list of prohibited Local Democracy Reporting Service previously revealed through a Freedom of Information request that Greenwich Council spent £52,000 of public money on legal costs for the council carried out their court-ordered consultation process earlier this a council cabinet meeting on 9 April, it was revealed that out of the 25 organisations and residents that responded to the consultation, 16 were in favour of the prohibition and nine were against Pat Slattery, a ward councillor for Greenwich Park, which includes King William Walk, supported the prohibition told the cabinet meeting: "I think it is important to say that the council is not anti-ice cream. "There are ice cream vendors in a reasonable spit of where this ice cream van regularly parks up." 'Not banning ice-creams' At the cabinet meeting councillor Jackie Smith said the only grounds on which the council can prevent itinerant ice cream trading on any of its streets "is the interest in preventing the obstruction to traffic or undue interference or inconvenience to persons using the street". She added: "We have had lots of complaints from lots of residents of King William Walk in the past."Interim director of legal services Azuka Onuorah told the council that if the ban was challenged again, the prohibition remains in place pending the outcome of the challenge, which entitles the council to take enforcement the cabinet approved the decision to recommend the King William Walk prohibition to full council, the council leader Anthony Okereke said: "We are not banning ice creams in Greenwich in any way shape or form. "We do love an ice cream, actually."
BBC News
11-03-2025
- BBC News
Boy, 17, arrested over Stockwell shooting
A second person has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a teenager who was shot dead in south boy, aged 17, remains in police custody following the shooting of Lathaniel Burrell, 16, on Paradise Road near Stockwell Tube station last Prempeh, 32, of Stanstead Road, Forest Hill, appeared at Bromley Magistrates' Court charged with murder on Monday and is due at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.A third person, a 40-year-old woman, has been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
BBC News
28-02-2025
- BBC News
MP Sir Edward Leigh fined for opening car door on police officer
An MP has been fined for injuring a police officer by opening his car Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to a charge of opening a vehicle door so as to injure or endanger a officer was riding a bike at the time of the incident in Horseferry Road, Westminster, on 6 August last Edward, 74, who is the Father of the House, was ordered to pay a fine of £120 by Bromley Magistrates' Court. He was also ordered to pay £110 to the Metropolitan Police and a surcharge of £ force confirmed the officer was injured in the collision. The BBC has contacted Sir Edward's office for to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
