Latest news with #HuwEdwards
The Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
UK's £2billion ‘super station' reveals huge step forward with new train platforms & plans for 250k passengers a day
A HUGE step forward for a £2 billion 'super station' has been announced. Work has begun at the site as part of the Government's plans to build a station which will serve 250,000 passengers a day. 5 5 5 Engineers have started installing the concrete slabs that passengers will use when boarding at the HS2 station Old Oak Common. Six platforms at the London station are being constructed to serve the high-speed trains which measure a staggering 400m long. As work continues, the delivery director for stations at HS2 said the station will benefit 'generations to come'. Huw Edwards said: 'The installation of the first passenger platforms represents a real step forward in taking HS2 from purely a construction project to the future of Britain's railways. 'Whilst there is still much more to work to do, standing where passengers will alight HS2 services is a reminder of what this railway will achieve – creating connections between people and places, that will benefit generations to come.' Old Oak Common will be the launching point for HS2 services, while development continues at Euston station. The Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last year that her government would be funding a pair of 4.5 mile tunnels between the two stations to make travelling even easier for commuters. It is not yet known when the widely-criticised Euston station will reopen in its new form, after development was halted under Rishi Sunak's government. The then-Prime Minister had hoped to pay for the station's refurbishment using private funding. Old Oak Common will also have platforms for eight other train lines, including the Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth Line. Labour Govt will invest in job training under Rachel Reeves The Elizabeth Line will be the first train route to use the station when it opens. A massive public parkland will be opened outside, along with pop up events such as markets, to make commuting easy. Peter Gow, the HS2 project director for Old Oak Common, said: "We will open between 2029 to 2033 [and] will aim for the front end of that but there are lots of things still to do. 'It's going to make a massive difference to Londoners and nationally." 5 5
The Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
First platform for HS2 revealed at Old Oak Common
HS2 has revealed the first platform section on the high-speed railway. Engineers have started installing the concrete slabs passengers will use when boarding or alighting high-speed trains at Old Oak Common station, west London. Six platforms are being built at the site to serve HS2's fleet of 400-metre trains. Huw Edwards, delivery director for stations and placemaking at HS2 Ltd, said: 'The installation of the first passenger platforms represents a real step forward in taking HS2 from purely a construction project to the future of Britain's railways. 'Whilst there is still much more to work to do, standing where passengers will alight HS2 services is a reminder of what this railway will achieve – creating connections between people and places, that will benefit generations to come.' Steve O'Sullivan, project director for the Balfour Beatty Vinci Systra joint venture, which is constructing the station, described the installation of platforms as 'a defining moment in the delivery of HS2'. He went on: 'It's a powerful symbol of progress, not just in terms of engineering, but also highlights the change in project focus from the current civil phase of the works to the building, fit out and the mechanical, electrical and public health phase of the works.' Old Oak Common will be the London terminus for HS2 services when they launch because of delays in developing Euston station in central London. Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in October last year that the Government will fund the building of a pair of tunnels stretching 4.5 miles between Old Oak Common and Euston. But uncertainty remains over the development of Euston. In October 2023, then prime minister Rishi Sunak announced that the project would be reliant on private investment. This was aimed at saving £6.5 billion of taxpayers' money. Major HS2 construction work at a site alongside the existing Euston station has been halted since March 2023 because of funding doubts. The entire high-speed railway project is undergoing a reset led by Mark Wild, who became HS2 Ltd chief executive in December amid rising costs and delays.
Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The rapists, paedophiles and terror offender given shorter sentences than Lucy Connolly
'It is more jail time than some paedophiles and domestic abusers get,' Ray Connolly said on Tuesday after his wife, Lucy, lost her sentence appeal. Significantly more, and all for a tweet. 'The court had the opportunity to reduce her cruelly long and disproportionate sentence, but they refused,' he said, lamenting the lack of mercy they had shown a woman who had no previous convictions and who admitted to having made a mistake. Connolly was arrested in the wake of the Southport attack after calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire. Now, her husband has said, she is being forced to pay 'a very high price'. That price is 31 months in jail. Boris Johnson has branded the ruling a clear example of how Sir Keir Starmer's Britain is 'losing its reputation for free speech and turning into a police state'. When you look at the cases where far more egregious offences have been met with shorter or suspended sentences, Connolly's treatment in the courts begins to look unduly harsh. Here are some of the most striking examples. Huw Edwards avoided an immediate jail sentence in September 2024. The BBC newsreader admitted accessing indecent images of children. It was found he had paid a paedophile, from whom he received 41 illegal images of child sex abuse, and asked for them to be sent to him even after he was told the people in the pictures 'looked young'. Deeming that Edwards did not need to be jailed in order to protect the public, the chief magistrate accepted that he understood the gravity of his offence and was responding to therapy. He handed him a six-month sentence, suspended for two years. The paedophile who argued he should get same treatment as Edwards A man who received child abuse images from the same source as Edwards was given a suspended sentence after arguing he should get the same treatment as the BBC star. In December, Jac Davies was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to the possession of class A drugs and indecent images of children. The images were sent to him by the same man who sent pictures to Edwards. The child rapist handed a suspended sentence A convicted child rapist avoided jail due to the prison overcrowding crisis in 2023. Rees Newman was jailed for just two years after being convicted of the historic rape of a child under the age of 14. A judge agreed to suspend his sentence for two years. When, months later, he breached the terms of his sentence by flying to Egypt without notifying officers and was hauled back in front of the court, he avoided jail a second time. The judge said: 'The only reason you have escaped immediate custody today is because of the prison overcrowding crisis.' The domestic abuser given less than two years A man who was found to have been mentally, physically and emotionally abusive to a woman over a three-year period was given 21 months in prison suspended for two years. Daniel Ashbrook pleaded guilty to controlling and coercive behaviour in November 2024. He was also handed a 10-year restraining order. In a statement, the woman said she had been so badly affected by his appalling behaviour she doubted she would 'even be here today' without her family's support. The doctor found with child abuse images Mansoor Khan was a top NHS consultant, a father of four, and was deemed a 'pillar of society' before he was found with more than 100 'abhorrent and perverted' images of children on his phone. Khan was spared jail at his sentencing in 2023. He was handed eight months, suspended for two years. The rapist jailed for 18 months A man who pleaded guilty to sexual assault and indecent exposure was given an 18-month sentence, suspended for two years. Nikhil Chopra was arrested after police were alerted to the assault in Swindon in September 2023 by members of the public who were concerned for a woman's safety. Chopra escaped immediate jail and was told to complete 55 days of rehabilitation, 43 days in a sex offending programme and ordered to pay a £187 victim surcharge. The lab technician convicted of terror offences – who avoided a prison sentence A man who was convicted of seven charges of possessing terrorist information was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, in February 2024 – six months before the disorder that followed the Southport killings. Charles Cannon, who was described as having 'a dangerous mindset', collected documents on how to make homemade explosives and weapons. He spoke 'enthusiastically of the stabbing of asylum seekers'. A court heard how he 'repeated on many occasions anti-Semitic tropes ' and 'said he would kill, when speaking about people of colour'. A guide to making explosives was found on his mobile phone.
Scottish Sun
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Huw Edwards' victim slams BBC ‘cover up' after it emerged bosses were warned about sick paedo presenter back in 2012
A VICTIM of disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards has lashed out at the BBC after it emerged bosses were warned of his behaviour as far back as 2012. Heavily redacted emails have shown they received a complaint about the ex- News at Ten host, 63, amid the fallout over the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal. 3 A Huw Edwards victim has slammed the BBC after claims bosses were warned about him in 2012 Credit: PA 3 The BBC had labelled the 2012 complaint against Edwards as 'non-high-risk actions' Credit: Getty It also emerged execs were forced to keep a spreadsheet on their scandal-hit stars as they were so deluged by grievances. Edwards was sentenced last year to six months' jail, suspended for two years, for three charges of making indecent images of children. But emails show that an hour before his sentencing, a message was sent to BBC director-general Tim Davie from an ex-Beeb employee revealing a complaint had been made about Edwards' conduct in 2012. The author warned it was 'an area of potential risk to the corporation' but 'not necessarily a criminal allegation'. They wrote the complaint was 'most likely listed under the so-called 'C-List' if it's anywhere'. That is a reference to a spreadsheet of claims against BBC presenters created after Savile's crimes were exposed a year after his death. The C category was for 'non-high-risk actions' — cases which are not necessarily criminal, but included allegations of bullying and harassment. Davie replied three minutes later saying his team was 'looking into all the past allegations'. A TV producer who was harassed by Edwards urged BBC bosses to finally 'come clean' on the scandal. Edwards begged to meet him during lockdown and even invited him to his BBC-funded Windsor hotel at Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021. BBC failed to tackle 'unacceptable' stars' behaviour - as Huw Edwards victim's family called report 'too little too late' He told The Sun: 'These emails show the BBC has been mounting a full-scale covert operation to keep the details under wraps. 'The BBC has never wanted the truth to come out and people have had to push very hard for it to do so. But now BBC bosses should just come clean about the whole thing. 'For an organisation that constantly puts itself on a moral pedestal of truth, the lengths the BBC goes to in order to cover things up are staggering. 'The fact there were details of his unacceptable behaviour in 2012 is shocking — the BBC acted all along as if no one knew.' The emails were released after a Freedom of Information battle by The Sunday Times. The producer gave evidence to the corporation's internal investigation into its star in 2023 after The Sun revealed a presenter — later named as Edwards — paid a vulnerable teen £35,000 for sex snaps. He has had no feedback from the BBC, which has also never published its internal review.
The Sun
18-05-2025
- The Sun
Huw Edwards' victim slams BBC ‘cover up' after it emerged bosses were warned about sick paedo presenter back in 2012
A VICTIM of disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards has lashed out at the BBC after it emerged bosses were warned of his behaviour as far back as 2012. Heavily redacted emails have shown they received a complaint about the ex- News at Ten host, 63, amid the fallout over the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal. 3 It also emerged execs were forced to keep a spreadsheet on their scandal-hit stars as they were so deluged by grievances. Edwards was sentenced last year to six months' jail, suspended for two years, for three charges of making indecent images of children. But emails show that an hour before his sentencing, a message was sent to BBC director-general Tim Davie from an ex-Beeb employee revealing a complaint had been made about Edwards' conduct in 2012. The author warned it was 'an area of potential risk to the corporation' but 'not necessarily a criminal allegation'. They wrote the complaint was 'most likely listed under the so-called 'C-List' if it's anywhere'. That is a reference to a spreadsheet of claims against BBC presenters created after Savile's crimes were exposed a year after his death. The C category was for 'non-high-risk actions' — cases which are not necessarily criminal, but included allegations of bullying and harassment. Davie replied three minutes later saying his team was 'looking into all the past allegations'. A TV producer who was harassed by Edwards urged BBC bosses to finally 'come clean' on the scandal. Edwards begged to meet him during lockdown and even invited him to his BBC-funded Windsor hotel at Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021. BBC failed to tackle 'unacceptable' stars' behaviour - as Huw Edwards victim's family called report 'too little too late' He told The Sun: 'These emails show the BBC has been mounting a full-scale covert operation to keep the details under wraps. 'The BBC has never wanted the truth to come out and people have had to push very hard for it to do so. But now BBC bosses should just come clean about the whole thing. 'For an organisation that constantly puts itself on a moral pedestal of truth, the lengths the BBC goes to in order to cover things up are staggering. 'The fact there were details of his unacceptable behaviour in 2012 is shocking — the BBC acted all along as if no one knew.' The emails were released after a Freedom of Information battle by The Sunday Times. The producer gave evidence to the corporation's internal investigation into its star in 2023 after The Sun revealed a presenter — later named as Edwards — paid a vulnerable teen £35,000 for sex snaps. He has had no feedback from the BBC, which has also never published its internal review. 3
