Latest news with #TufnellPark
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Yahoo
‘Gangster granny' who oversaw £80m drugs operation foiled by police
A "gangster granny" crime gang boss has been sentenced for dealing drugs with a street value of £80 million across the UK. Deborah Mason, 65, of Crayford Road, Tufnell Park, dubbed 'Queen Bee', and seven other members of the gang, were sentenced to a total of 106 and a half years at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday (18 July) for their involvement in supplying nearly a tonne of cocaine over seven months. The group used the encrypted messaging site Signal to communicate. Officers found messages showing Mason was living an extravagant lifestyle with her profits, buying a £400 Gucci collar and lead for her cat. Mason, dubbed 'gangster granny' by the Metropolitan Police, directed other members of the gang and was in contact with an upstream supplier called Bugsy. She was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She took part in 20 trips, delivering 356kg of cocaine, and also made trips to deliver and collect cash.
The Independent
19-07-2025
- The Independent
‘Gangster granny' who oversaw £80m drugs operation foiled by police
A "gangster granny" crime gang boss has been sentenced for dealing drugs with a street value of £80 million across the UK. Deborah Mason, 65, of Crayford Road, Tufnell Park, dubbed 'Queen Bee', and seven other members of the gang, were sentenced to a total of 106 and a half years at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday (18 July) for their involvement in supplying the drugs. The group used the encrypted messaging site Signal to communicate. Officers found messages showing Mason was living an extravagant lifestyle with her profits, buying a £400 Gucci collar and lead for her cat. Mason, dubbed 'gangster granny' by the Metropolitan Police, directed other members of the gang and was in contact with an upstream supplier called Bugsy. She was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She took part in 20 trips, delivering 356kg of cocaine, and also made trips to deliver and collect cash.
Times
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Times
Keir Starmer: My sister-in-law is lucky to be alive after firebomb
Sir Keir Starmer has revealed that his sister-in-law could have died in the fire-bombing of his old London home, describing how 'shaken up' the attack has left his family. The prime minister told his biographer that his wife's sister and her partner had been in bed at his former home in Tufnell Park when it was attacked just after 1.30am. He said had she not still been awake at the time the consequences could have been much worse, and the incident had had a deep impact on his family. 'She happened to still be awake,' Starmer said. 'So she heard the noise and got the fire brigade. But it could have been a different story.' The attack last month took place the night before Starmer held a press conference on migration, in which he made his infamous remark that Britain had become an 'island of strangers'. The prime minister told Tom Baldwin in a piece for The Observer that he now 'deeply regrets' the comment, saying he had 'no idea' that the phrase had an association with Enoch Powell. While he did not blame being preoccupied with the attack for making the comment, he said he should have chosen his words more carefully. 'I wouldn't have used those words if I had known they were — or even would be interpreted as — an echo of Powell,' he said. 'I had no idea — and my speechwriters didn't know, either. But that particular phrase — no, it wasn't right. I'll give you the honest truth: I deeply regret using it.' He added that he had very nearly cancelled the press conference altogether. 'I was really, really worried. I almost said, 'I won't do the bloody press conference.' Vic [his wife, Victoria] was really shaken up; as, in truth, was I. It was just a case of reading the words out and getting through it somehow so I could get back to them.' Elsewhere in the interview, Starmer described how he had personally gone to clear out the house belonging to his brother, Nick, who died at the end of last year. 'The previous day I had been taking calls on the future of European security and there I was, on my hands and knees with a brush, scrubbing out the back of the bog,' he said. 'That's quite a good leveller.' Asked why he didn't get cleaners in he replied: 'I didn't want anyone else there. He was my brother — I didn't want to let him down.' Beyond his 'island of strangers' speech, Starmer used the interview to admit to a series of missteps since taking power. • Starmer faces Labour backlash over 'divisive language' on immigration He said his gloomy speech in the Downing Street garden last summer, where he warned 'things will get worse before they get better', was a mistake. It 'squeezed the hope out', he said. 'We were so determined to show how bad it was that we forgot people wanted something to look forward to as well.' He also admitted that he should never have hired Baroness Gray of Tottenham as his chief of staff. 'Not everyone thought it was a good idea when I appointed her,' he said. 'It was my call, my judgment, my decision, and I got that wrong. Sue wasn't the right person for this job.' He also acknowledged that accepting expensive clothes for the election campaign and tickets to watch Arsenal and a Taylor Swift concert with his family had been a mistake, even if no rules were broken. Starmer said that what affected him was not that his own integrity had been questioned, but that sections of the media started calling his wife 'Lady Victoria Sponger' because she had received about £5,000 worth of clothes. • Keir Starmer and his family 'met Taylor Swift at London concert' 'Part of the problem is that I got emotionally involved,' he said. 'One thing I'm reasonably good at usually is staying calm. But when they dragged Vic into it through no fault of her own, that made me angry.' Starmer also spoke about his life in Downing Street, saying he tried to preserve 'normality' for his life and children. He added that they had been hesitant to have friends around initially. 'They were a bit reluctant to start with because it's sort of weird to say, 'Come over for a sleepover, but you'll need your passport; a man with a gun will check your bag and X-ray your teddy,' ' he said. He also revealed that he had deliberately gone out of his way to embrace President Zelensky of Ukraine when he arrived in Downing Street after having been scolded at the White House by President Trump. 'Normally, I would wait on the step to greet him,' he said. 'But I was really conscious that he'd left the White House on his own. That's why I walked towards him and gave him a sort of hug. 'It's also why I walked him out to the car at the end; I wanted him to know that you don't leave my house on your own.'
Telegraph
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Third man arrested over Starmer firebombs
A third man has been arrested in connection with the alleged arson attacks targeting Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister. Scotland Yard arrested a 34-year-old man on Monday in Chelsea on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. The man was taken into custody after an investigation led by counter-terror police from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit. He is the third suspect to be arrested in connection with the suspected firebomb attacks between May 8 and 12 against two properties and a car linked to Sir Keir. The first incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning last week. A Toyota Rav 4 which used to belong to Sir Keir but had been sold to a neighbour following the general election was damaged by fire. Two days later, a flat in Islington that Sir Keir used to own in the 1990s was allegedly targeted. Then, in the early hours of Monday morning, the Prime Minister's family home in Tufnell Park, which is rented out to his sister-in-law, was set alight. While nobody was hurt at the property, the front door and entrance area were damaged. Counter-terror police began investigating a number of potential motives, including whether a hostile state was behind the attacks. First and second arrests A 26-year-old man was arrested around 1.45pm on Saturday at Luton Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. Separately, Roman Lavrynovych, 21, of Sydenham, south London, was arrested, charged and appeared in court earlier this week in connection with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life. Mr Lavrynovych was remanded in custody after a hearing at Westminster magistrates' court. The court was told he lived with his grandmother and was asleep at their property when police raided it in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Sir Keir told MPs that attacks against politicians were an attack on democracy. 'He really liked the UK' Mr Lavrynovych's father said that his son was a proud Ukrainian but had always admired the UK. Mykola Lavrynovych, 48, added: 'Roman came to London for the first time when he was 10 years old. He spent a year, as his mother was working there. 'He went to a British school and studied there for one year. When the invasion started, he left Ukraine for Germany, but after a year he moved to London, which he really liked and wanted to stay there.' His father went on: 'He has an uncle who is fighting on the front line against the Russians and he is 100 per cent pro-Ukrainian. He has never spoken Russian and doesn't allow his sister and brother or anybody else even to listen to Russian music.' Roman Lavrynovych was initially living with his mother and younger siblings but when his sister was unable to get a school place in London, she returned to Ukraine and he remained, living with his grandmother. He set up a building company but had also signed with a modelling agency and was a regular at a gym in Sydenham, south London. Photographs of Mr Lavrynovych on social media show him doing press-ups in his bedroom. His father said Mr Lavyronvych had been happy and settled in the UK and had a girlfriend who was also Ukrainian. He added that he had spoken to him on the telephone just hours before his arrest in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Appearing before magistrates in Westminster on Friday morning, he spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth via a Ukrainian interpreter, with his lawyer saying his English was 'very limited'.
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Ukrainian man charged over fires at homes linked to Keir Starmer
A Ukrainian national has been charged in connection with a series of arson attacks which appeared to target Sir Keir Starmer. Roman Lavrynovych, 21, is charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life. They relate to an attack on the Prime Minister's home on May 12, the entrance of a property linked to Sir Keir on May 11, and an electric vehicle fire on May 8, police said. He will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday. Counter-terror police have been leading the investigation. A suspicious blaze broke out at a property in Tufnell Park, north London, where the Prime Minister lived while in opposition, just after 1.30am on Monday. It followed a suspected arson attack at a second north London property linked to Sir Keir 24 hours earlier, and an electric car fire on May 8. Nobody was hurt in the blaze at Sir Keir's family home, which is being rented out to Lady Starmer's sister for a peppercorn rent. Neighbours in the quiet, tree-lined street described how they were woken by a loud bang in the early hours. Charles Grant, 66, who lives on the same road, said: 'I heard a loud noise at around midnight. I was half asleep. It was some sort of bang. I went back to sleep. I don't think the damage was too extensive as the house is still standing. 'The front door and the brickwork on either side is black and charred but the door is still standing. It smells of burnt stuff. The police said the damage is not extensive – just needs a bit of paintwork.'
