Latest news with #Hailsham
The Independent
4 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Repeated failings at migrant hotel where asylum seeker killed himself exposed
Staff at an asylum hotel where a resident killed himself were 'not appropriately' trained to deal with vulnerable people, a coroner has ruled. Home Office officials in charge of the hotel contract were also unaware that these crucial workers had been subcontracted out. Colombian migrant Victor Hugo Pereira Vargas, 63, was found dead in his room at Boships Lions Farm hotel in Hailsham, Sussex, on 13 October 2023. He had made a desperate attempt to leave the UK just a few weeks earlier, turning up at Gatwick airport and asking immigration officers to put him on a plane. In the weeks before his death, he had told his son several times that he was afraid of being moved to the Bibby Stockholm barge – describing it as a 'maritime prison' – after fellow hotel residents were allegedly sent there. An inquest into his death heard that senior Home Office officials in charge of asylum accommodation, and the person in charge of managing the relevant hotels contract, had no knowledge about who was actually staffing the hotel. Clearsprings Ready Homes, the private firm that holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the south of England, had subcontracted the running of Mr Pereira Vargas's hotel to another company – Crown Lodge Accommodation Limited. This overall contract is valued at £700 million and is expected to rise to £7bn for the decade up to 2029. Clearsprings make a seven percent profit margin on managing asylum accommodation in the south of England, the spending watchdog recently found. Graham King, founder of Clearsprings Ready Homes, has recently debuted on The Sunday Times Rich List with a fortune of £1.015 billion. Crown Lodge then outsourced the staffing of the hotel to a third company, Becker Hoffman Facilities Management Limited, without the knowledge of government officials responsible for overseeing Clearsprings' contract. Mr Pereira Vargas came to the UK by plane from Spain on 4 August 2023 and claimed asylum on arrival. He was taken to the Sussex hotel on the same day and had spent a little over nine weeks there before he inflicted fatal wounds on himself. Former residents of the hotel told the inquest they noticed Mr Pereira Vargas becoming increasingly erratic and paranoid during his time there, reporting he would regularly block his door and express concerns about microphones in his clothing. His former roommate was moved to another room after becoming alarmed by Mr Pereira Vargas's behaviour. But these signs were missed by the inadequately trained staff who were tasked with carrying out welfare checks of migrants, the inquest heard. Under its contract with the Home Office, Clearsprings is required to ensure all staff who interact with asylum seekers are trained in areas including safeguarding and suicide awareness. Steven Lakey, Clearsprings' managing director, told the court the company came to rely on subcontractors as an emergency measure to cope with an unforeseen rapid increase in small boat arrivals shortly before the coronavirus pandemic. The court heard that the Home Office and Clearsprings relied on assurances from Crown Lodge that staff were trained. Crown Lodge told the inquest they relied on similar assurances from Becker Hoffman – but did not seek further verification such as copies of certificates. Becker Hoffman's onsite staff – responsible for checking on resident's welfare once a week – were 'not appropriately trained,' the coroner concluded. One staff member, who conducted the final two welfare checks prior to Mr Pereira Vargas's death, had received no formal training whatsoever. This staff member variously recorded that Mr Pereira Vargas had 'no issues' and was 'in good condition,' which contrasted with testimonies from several fellow residents alarmed by his increasing paranoia. Assistant Coroner Michael Spencer expressed doubt as to whether staff really carried out all their checks as described. One welfare check was recorded to have taken place 'face-to-face' with Mr Pereira Vargas on 25 September, despite records showing he left the hotel the previous day in an attempt to flee the UK, and did not return until the 26th. The court was also told hotel staff did not book a mental health GP appointment requested for Mr Pereira Vargas on 11 September, after he told them he had not slept for three days, until two weeks later – although incorrectly logged that they had done so right away. When Mr Pereira Vargas eventually received a text from the GP to arrange an appointment, he responded in Spanish saying he had no mental health issues. The coroner said that 'it is possible these factors cumulatively contributed to [Mr Pereira Vargas's] decline and death', in addition to his experience of trauma in his home country, his sense of isolation at the hotel, and desperation to leave the UK. Had there been better welfare checks and assistance accessing a GP, it is possible Mr Pereira Vargas may have engaged and been given treatment, the coroner said, although this could not be certain. He concluded that Mr Pereira Vargas had died from self-inflicted injuries whilst suffering from extreme anxiety and distress, but that it was not possible to conclude whether he had intended to take his own life. Becky Hart of Bhatt Murphy who acted for Mr Pereira Vargas's family said: 'The Home Office has failed to put in place proactive systems to ensure frontline staff in asylum accommodation have been trained in safeguarding and suicide awareness', adding that this remains 'a real and obvious risk to life.' Dame Karen Bradley, chair of the home affairs select committee, a group of MPs who are currently holding an inquiry into asylum contracts, said: 'We are deeply concerned about what the circumstances of this tragic death reveal around the operation of asylum accommodation contracts. 'These contracts come at great cost to the taxpayer. With that comes an expectation of high standards of support and proper oversight to ensure facilities are run correctly. This applies whether services are subcontracted or not.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'This was a tragic incident and our thoughts are with Mr Vargas' family and friends. The health and safety of asylum seekers is a priority and our providers maintain high standards and follow established standard procedures to manage the safety, security and wellbeing of those we accommodate.' A spokesperson for Crown Lodge said: 'We are deeply saddened by the incident that occurred. Out of respect for the individual and their loved ones, we will not be commenting further.' Becker Hoffman has ceased trading and no longer provides Home Office accommodation. A solicitor who acted for them during the inquest said that Mr Pereira Vargas had been seen by GPs who did not detect any cause of concern about his mental health, and Mr Pereira Vargas had also declined help from mental health services. Clearsprings declined to comment. Reporting contributed by Liberty Investigates. If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@ or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.
The Age
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
For 20 years this novel has reduced the most hardened critics to tears
For more than a decade, Kazuo Ishiguro had a box file in his study marked 'Students Novel'. In it were notes, diagrams and some pages of a story he'd tried to write in 1990, then again in 1995. Each time he'd abandoned the attempt and had written a completely different novel. He knew his students would share a strange destiny that would shorten their lives but also make them feel special. But what would that destiny be? Here was where he got stuck. He'd played around with ideas such as a virus or radioactive poisoning, but it all seemed too melodramatic. In 2001, he returned to his project with fresh ideas. They were inspired partly by new developments in science, and partly by the contact he'd had with a new generation of British writers such as Alex Garland and David Mitchell. While Ishiguro had come of age in an era when literary fiction avoided any whiff of 'popular' genres, the younger writers had no such qualms. They blithely incorporated all sorts of influences from science fiction, fantasy and horror into their work. 'My growing familiarity with these younger colleagues excited and liberated me', Ishiguro writes. 'They opened windows for me I'd not thought to open before. They not only educated me into a wider, vibrant culture, they brought to my own imagination new horizons.' He writes this in his introduction to the 20th anniversary edition of Never Let Me Go, the extraordinary novel that gradually emerged from those early notes. It's the Nobel Prize winner's most-read novel, has sold in millions, is widely studied and has been translated into 50 languages. It's been adapted into a film, two stage plays and a Japanese TV series. Like many fans, I remember vividly my first reading. It starts so quietly, narrated in simple and artless prose by Kathy, a student at Hailsham, a mysterious boarding school in the English countryside with kind teachers and a nostalgic Enid-Blyton feel. We follow the everyday lives of Kathy and her two schoolfriends, Ruth and Tommy, as they grow into young adults. Gradually the purpose of the school is revealed. I won't give it away except to say there's a dark future for these idealistic, hopeful kids and their tender feelings for one another. Talking of tender feelings, this is a novel that reduces the most hardened critics to tears. 'No matter how many times I read it … it breaks my heart all over again,' writes Alix Ohlin in the Los Angeles Review of Books. 'I was nothing less than stunned by it,' David Sexton writes in the New Statesman. He reread it on a day ferry when he was a judge for the 2005 Booker Prize (it nearly won, but the casting vote went to John Banville's The Sea) and was glad he was in a windowless cabin, 'so tearful it made me'.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
For 20 years this novel has reduced the most hardened critics to tears
For more than a decade, Kazuo Ishiguro had a box file in his study marked 'Students Novel'. In it were notes, diagrams and some pages of a story he'd tried to write in 1990, then again in 1995. Each time he'd abandoned the attempt and had written a completely different novel. He knew his students would share a strange destiny that would shorten their lives but also make them feel special. But what would that destiny be? Here was where he got stuck. He'd played around with ideas such as a virus or radioactive poisoning, but it all seemed too melodramatic. In 2001, he returned to his project with fresh ideas. They were inspired partly by new developments in science, and partly by the contact he'd had with a new generation of British writers such as Alex Garland and David Mitchell. While Ishiguro had come of age in an era when literary fiction avoided any whiff of 'popular' genres, the younger writers had no such qualms. They blithely incorporated all sorts of influences from science fiction, fantasy and horror into their work. 'My growing familiarity with these younger colleagues excited and liberated me', Ishiguro writes. 'They opened windows for me I'd not thought to open before. They not only educated me into a wider, vibrant culture, they brought to my own imagination new horizons.' He writes this in his introduction to the 20th anniversary edition of Never Let Me Go, the extraordinary novel that gradually emerged from those early notes. It's the Nobel Prize winner's most-read novel, has sold in millions, is widely studied and has been translated into 50 languages. It's been adapted into a film, two stage plays and a Japanese TV series. Like many fans, I remember vividly my first reading. It starts so quietly, narrated in simple and artless prose by Kathy, a student at Hailsham, a mysterious boarding school in the English countryside with kind teachers and a nostalgic Enid-Blyton feel. We follow the everyday lives of Kathy and her two schoolfriends, Ruth and Tommy, as they grow into young adults. Gradually the purpose of the school is revealed. I won't give it away except to say there's a dark future for these idealistic, hopeful kids and their tender feelings for one another. Talking of tender feelings, this is a novel that reduces the most hardened critics to tears. 'No matter how many times I read it … it breaks my heart all over again,' writes Alix Ohlin in the Los Angeles Review of Books. 'I was nothing less than stunned by it,' David Sexton writes in the New Statesman. He reread it on a day ferry when he was a judge for the 2005 Booker Prize (it nearly won, but the casting vote went to John Banville's The Sea) and was glad he was in a windowless cabin, 'so tearful it made me'.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- BBC News
Teen sentenced to eight years for Hailsham stabbing of Billy Ripley
A 17-year-old has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stabbing a man with a blow that "penetrated his heart" in an East Sussex town teenager can now be named as Rhys Hedges, who turns 18 in three days' time, after reporting restrictions were lifted by the judge.A jury at Lewes Crown Court previously cleared him of murder but found him guilty of manslaughter after he said he stabbed 20-year-old Billy Ripley in self-defence in were called to the Vicarage Field area at about 18:20 BST on 29 August 2024 to reports that a man had been stabbed following an altercation. Mr Ripley was treated by paramedics but died at the scene from a single stab Honour Judge Christine Laing said the sentencing could not "begin to quantify the immeasurable loss and void" Hedges had left for those who loved Billy Ripley, and was not intended to. She told Hedges: "It is to punish you for your actions on that day."Billy was also regularly carrying a knife. "And knife is frankly an understatement, these were weapons of substantial size, machetes and zombie killer knives, fearsome weapons that will inevitably do dreadful damage if used against someone's body, even if that was not your intention."You could easily have got on your bike and cycled away if you were in fear of him as you claimed. "Rather, you ensured you attracted his attention by at the very least standing in his view on the edge of the road or by calling to him."The two of you then both came together in the entrance to the graveyard to have a knife fight, plain and simple." She added that there was no evidence that any more than one blow from his weapon struck Mr Ripley, but that blow had "penetrated his heart and caused him an un-survivable injury".The judge said "something drastic" had to be done to stop young men from having these weapons and carrying them in public. "No matter what your intention - or lack of one - when you use a blade of that size against someone, really serious harm or death is the almost inevitable outcome," she the trial the jury heard Mr Ripley had stabbed the boy twice in the arm, and the boy said he "moved back" and "tried to defend himself".
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lord Etherton, Master of the Rolls and former Olympic fencer who clashed with the government over Brexit
Lord Etherton, who has died aged 73, was Master of the Rolls, the second most senior judge in England and Wales, from 2016 to 2021, and the first openly gay man to hold such a senior judicial post. Previously one of the most sought-after Silks at the Chancery Bar, Terence Etherton had long been drawn to the idea of serving on the bench, but always assumed that he would be barred on account of his sexuality. Lord Hailsham, who was Lord Chancellor for much of the 1970s and 1980s, had a supposedly secret (but widely known) policy of not appointing gay men to the bench on the outdated grounds that they were at risk of blackmail – even though the Sexual Offences Act had legalised homosexual acts in 1967. This policy was eventually revoked in the late 1980s by Hailsham's successor Lord Mackay, although the change was never publicised and Etherton did not know when he applied to become a High Court judge – such applications having been encouraged after the election of the Blair government in 1997 and the arrival of Lord Irvine as Lord Chancellor. Thinking, 'I'll jolly well show them up,' Etherton was very surprised to be accepted, and he subsequently took his long-term partner (later husband) Andrew Stone along with him to the official reception to meet the Lord Chancellor. As Etherton recalled, Irvine shook both their hands warmly 'and afterwards would always ask how Andrew was'. By nature a private person, Etherton did not regard himself as a trailblazer or campaigner, but he felt a responsibility to act as a role model and help to normalise the idea of gay senior judges and same-sex couples within the legal profession. He therefore resolved that in future he 'would not budge a centimetre from being open about myself'. Terence Michael Elkan Barnet Etherton was born in Essex on June 21 1951 into a Jewish family whose ancestors had emigrated from Russia in the late 19th century and settled in the East End of London, where his paternal grandfather, Solle Borrenstein, was born in 1891. To counter the prevailing anti-Semitism, the family changed their name to Etherton in 1910, and Solle became Stanley. His brother Schliama had a more striking make-over, becoming Seddon Llewellyn Delroy Etherton. Etherton, right, as Master of the Rolls with David Gauke (Lord Chancellor), left, and Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd (Lord Chief Justice) - Eddie Mulholland Terence's family were less assiduous than their cousins in shedding their Jewish trappings, and although no Yiddish was spoken at home, Terence grew up with a deep-seated Jewish faith and powerful sense of Jewish history – albeit later acknowledging that his sexuality and not always strictly kosher lifestyle made him an 'enforced outsider to orthodoxy even though my spiritual inclination is traditional'. Aged eight he was sent to Holmewood House, a prep school near Tunbridge Wells, his arrival coinciding with that of a 24-year-old new headmaster called Robert Bairamian, a flamboyant character whose later charges included the BBC's Jeremy Vine, the former president of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo, and the lead singer of the Pogues, Shane MacGowan. Terence continued his education as a scholar at St Paul's, where he won the public schoolboys' foil championship (previously won by Winston Churchill when at Harrow) and then as an exhibitioner at Corpus Christi, Cambridge, where he read history and law and captained the university fencing team. He later competed for Great Britain at three world championships, and won a gold medal as part of the Sabre team at the Commonwealth fencing championships in 1978. He was selected for the Moscow Olympics in 1980 but missed the games as part of the international boycott following the invasion of Afghanistan. Called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1974, Etherton joined what eventually became Wilberforce Chambers and began specialising in landlord and tenant and property law, quickly establishing an outstanding reputation. He took Silk in 1990, and by 1998 he was numbered by Chambers' Guide to the Legal Profession among the 15 QCs said to be earning more than £1 million a year at the Bar. At the same time he threw himself into a variety of voluntary positions, many of them in the field of mental health, serving as a director of the Riverside Mental Health NHS Trust and chairman of Broadmoor Hospital Authority and of the West London Mental Health NHS Trust. After his appointment as a Judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court in 2001, he helped bring clarity to the case law across a range of subjects from proprietary estoppel to pensions; his written judgments invariably repaid rereading. He was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2008, and succeeded Lord Dyson as Master of the Rolls in 2016, at what proved to be a tumultuous time. Etherton: keen to ensure that the law was as fair, modern, accessible and cost-effective as possible - Gary Lee/Photoshot That autumn Etherton presided at the first of the high-profile Gina Miller cases concerning Brexit, ruling with his two fellow divisional court judges that the British government could not use the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 to leave the European Union but instead needed the consent of Parliament. The government's more vehement supporters included the Daily Mail, which ran front-page mugshots of the three judges beneath the headline: 'Enemies of the People'. Etherton was described as an 'openly gay ex-Olympic fencer', to which J K Rowling tweeted: 'If the worst they can say about you is you're an OPENLY GAY EX-OLYMPIC FENCER TOP JUDGE, you've basically won life'. Etherton reflected that this 'baptism of fire' highlighted the need for greater transparency in the judicial system, for the public to see that 'we haven't got an independent private or political agenda'. With this in mind, as head of the civil justice system he set about introducing the live-streaming of Court of Appeal cases on YouTube, so that anyone who wanted to could watch online. In the second Miller case in 2019, Etherton and two other judges decided in favour of the government that the prorogation of Parliament was not justiciable in English courts, although this judgment was soon overturned by the Supreme Court. In January 2021 he was succeeded as Master of the Rolls by Sir Geoffrey Vos. Etherton's other posts included a stint (2006-09) as chairman of the Law Commission, the independent law reform watchdog charged with keeping the laws of England and Wales under review, where he set up a web forum allowing the public to put their views on laws on the website and respond to the views of others. In seeking to ensure that the law was as fair, modern, accessible and cost-effective as possible, he criticised civil servants for 'regularly disregarding' the need to respond quickly to proposals for law reform. Always interested in education, he was a visiting professor at Birkbeck, University of London, and an honorary professor at Kent University. He was knighted in 2001, created a life peer in 2020 and appointed GBE in 2024 for services to LGBT veterans. Terence Etherton entered a civil partnership with Andrew Stone in 2006, and in 2014, as soon as it became legal to do so, they were married in a Jewish wedding ceremony at West London Synagogue, with many senior judges and lawyers in attendance. Lord Etherton, born June 21 1951, died May 6 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
