UK

Not all schools impacted by concrete safety fears have been contacted and it is not clear how many will have to shut fully, a minister has admitted. Schools minister Nick Gibb said in most cases “just a few buildings” or rooms within the affected schools will have to shut but “in some cases it will

Police have arrested a man after an 11-year-old boy suffered potentially life-changing injuries during a shoot in Sussex. The boy suffered the injury when a shotgun was discharged in woodland near the village of Catsfield, East Sussex, on Thursday morning. He was with a party of adults who were rough shooting at the time of

School buildings in England made with a certain type of concrete that is prone to collapse will be immediately closed over safety fears, the government has announced. Around 104 schools or “settings” will be disrupted on top of 50 that have already been affected this year. The Department for Education (DfE) said the “vast majority

A new law will force criminals to attend their sentencings in court, with the offenders facing longer behind bars if they still refuse to sit in the dock. The government confirmed its plans to introduce the reform on Wednesday, promising to create a new power for judges to make the order. The change will also

The chief executive of National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has said he cannot reveal the cause of the glitch which has affected thousands of passengers but is “not ruling out anything at this stage”. Martin Rolfe said on Tuesday evening that an initial investigation had found that the air traffic control failure was caused by

Sara Sharif’s cause of death is yet to be determined – but an inquest has heard it is “likely to be unnatural”. The 10-year-old was found dead at her home in Woking on 10 August, with Surrey County Council confirming she was previously known to authorities. Earlier this month, a post-mortem revealed Sara had “suffered

Heathrow Airport has said its services will “remain significantly disrupted” on Tuesday after air traffic controllers across the UK experienced a technical fault. In a statement about the “technical issues” that affected the National Air Traffic Services (NATS), Britain’s busiest airport urged passengers to contact their airline before travelling to the airport. “The issue has

Passengers have been told to expect “significant delays” of up to 12 hours as air traffic controllers across the UK are experiencing a technical fault. One airline reported a “network-wide failure” but NATS, the national air traffic controllers, said UK airspace was not closed but restrictions were in place on one of the busiest travel

Jolene Russell was 15 years old when a boy in her class sat next to her and took photographs under her skirt. She had become suspicious when the boy started fidgeting with his phone in a lesson, even though they were banned at the school. Then he made a bizarre request. Image: Jolene waived her

Two people have died after a car was driven into a flooded area in Merseyside. Officers were called following safety concerns for a man and a woman inside a black Mercedes in Mossley Hill at 9.20pm on Saturday. The vehicle had driven into a flooded area in Queens Drive, between North Mossley Hill Road and

The grandfather of Sara Sharif has urged his son to hand himself over to police as part of the investigation into the 10-year-old’s death. Pakistani police are seeking to arrest Urfan Sharif, who travelled from the UK to Islamabad the day before Sara was found dead on 10 August. Urfan Sharif along with his partner

Whole-life prison sentences will become the “default” punishment for “sexual or sadistic” murders, the prime minister has said. Former NHS neo-natal nurse Lucy Letby was told she will never be released on Monday after being convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six others on 18 August. She is only the fourth woman

A man has been charged with murder after police in Bury found a body while responding to reports of a white labradoodle being stolen. Ian Gary Connell, 39, of Duke Street, Bolton, was due to appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court today. Donald ‘Prentice’ Patience, 45, was discovered by officers at a house on Ainsworth

A police officer is in a serious condition after being hit by a train while saving a “distressed man” who was on the tracks. Nottinghamshire Police said they were called to a residential area in Balderton, near Newark-on-Trent, over concerns for a man’s safety just before 7pm on Thursday. The officer was taken to Queen’s

A man has been charged with murder following the fatal shooting of council worker Ashley Dale in Liverpool. Ms Dale, 28, was found with a gunshot wound in her garden in the Old Swan area on 21 August last year. Ian Fitzgibbon, also 28, has been charged with murder after being arrested by the Spanish

A former teacher has been found not guilty of animal cruelty after video footage showed her kicking and slapping a horse. Sarah Moulds, 39, had been accused of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal – a grey pony she owned called Bruce Almighty. The 39-year-old, who said she lost her job as a teacher

The former boss of the hospital where Lucy Letby killed seven babies says she fears it is “more likely than not” that failures of management to deal with complaints about the nurse led to lives being lost needlessly. Dr Susan Gilby joined the Countess of Chester Hospital as medical director and deputy chief executive in

Routine hospital care is expected to come to a standstill as consultants in England strike for 48 hours in the bitter row over pay between medics and the government. As the latest strike began today, the British Medical Association (BMA) announced plans for a three-day walkout later in the year. Medics will strike on 2,

The first-ever womb transplant in the UK has been hailed as the “dawn of a new era” in fertility treatment. A 40-year-old woman, who already had two children, decided to help her 34-year-old sister, who had been born without a uterus. Now, six months on, the recipient is having periods and is preparing to eventually

The brother of a man wanted over the death of his 10-year-old daughter told officers Sara Sharif “fell down the stairs and broke her neck”, according to police in Pakistan. Sara’s uncle, Imran Sharif, is currently held in police custody for questioning, Jhelum police have exclusively told Sky News. He has not been charged and