REVIEW AFTER PUNCH SENTENCE UPHELD
A review of the way criminals who kill with a single punch are sentenced has been ordered by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.
Mr Grayling stepped in after the Court of Appeal ruled a four-year sentence for manslaughter given to a man who hit an Asperger’s sufferer in an unprovoked attack was not unduly lenient.
Andrew Young, 40, died after being punched once by Lewis Gill in Bournemouth on November 6 last year.
1.4M FAMILIES HIT BY ’PROBLEM’ DEBT
More than a million families are struggling with “problem” debt with nearly three million extra households containing dependent children on the brink of sliding into financial difficulties, according to a report.
Many families are in an “extremely precarious” financial position, leading them to take out loans to pay for necessities, the Children’s Society and StepChange debt charity said.
The stress of keeping up with repayments leads to rows, emotional distress to children and cutbacks on essentials, the charities said.
BOYS’ CLUB SET FOR BANKSY WINDFALL
A youth club that was facing closure is celebrating a potential multimillion-pound windfall after mysterious street artist Banksy said it could have a painting he created nearby.
Dennis Stinchcombe, who has worked at Bristol’s Broad Plain Boys’ Club for the past 39 years, said Banksy’s Mobile Lovers painting could pump more than £2 million into its coffers.
The “elated” 58-year-old said: “Banksy has become the saviour of this club that I have volunteered at for years. I think the man deserves a medal, if somehow he could come out of his secrecy.
BANK TO ANNOUNCE INTEREST RATES
Bank of England rate-setters will today announce their latest decision amid growing pressure for action to cool a rising housing market.
Policymakers are regarded as certain to leave the cost of borrowing on hold for now and have said they would rather use other tools to cool any property bubble before hiking rates.
But signs of an accelerating recovery have added to speculation that they might have to rise earlier than expected to cool inflationary pressures.
MET POLICE TO WEAR VIDEO CAMERAS
Landmark changes to operational policing will be trialled from today in an attempt to boost transparency and accelerate convictions.
Officers with the Metropolitan Police will be begin wearing tiny cameras on their uniform, designed to capture evidence at scenes of crime and help support prosecution cases.
The trial, thought to be the largest in the world, will see 500 cameras distributed to 10 London boroughs. Firearms officers will also be testing the cameras in their training environment with a view to wearing them if the pilot is successful.
MUSEUM RECEIVES £5M DONATION
The Natural History Museum is receiving a £5 million donation - the largest from an individual in its 133-year history.
The unprecedented sum of money is being given to the museum, which attracted 5.3 million visitors last year, by asset management firm founder and chief executive Sir Michael Hintze and his wife Lady Hintze.
The donation will be used to maintain collections and for scientific research behind the scenes at the London museum, which became the third most popular UK visitor attraction last year.
HOUSE PRICES ’TO CONTINUE UPWARD’
House sales have risen to their strongest levels in six years as expectations that property prices are set to lift higher broaden out across the country, surveyors have reported.
But there are also signs that the pace of strong house price growth seen in London could cool in the second half of the year, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (Rics) housing market report for April found.
Some 23 homes were sold per surveyor on average in the three months to April, the highest figure seen since February 2008.
SHALE INDUSTRY ’AN URGENT PRIORITY’
Developing the UK’s shale resources should be “an urgent national priority” to deliver energy security and jobs and help cut emissions, a committee of peers has said.
The Lords Economic Affairs Committee backed the Government’s decision to go “all out for shale” but said it needed to do far more to sell the benefits of fracking to the public.
Ministers also needed to do more to drive forward exploratory drilling and appraisal of shale resources to see how much could be developed economically, a report by the Lords said.
DEAD TEACHER TWEET MAN SENTENCED
A man who posted an offensive message on Twitter about tragic teacher Ann Maguire will learn his punishment today.
Robert Riley, of Dan Y Coed, Cwmavon, Port Talbot, South Wales, appeared in court in Leeds earlier this week, where he admitted one count of sending a message of a grossly offensive, abusive or malicious character.
The 42-year-old will reappear at Swansea Magistrates’ Court for sentencing.
MADELEINE OFFICERS ’IN PORTUGAL’
Detectives from Scotland Yard are understood to have arrived in Portugal to help with the excavation of a number of sites as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Specialist officers are expected to examine several sites in Praia da Luz after permission to dig was granted by Portuguese authorities.
Madeleine went missing from the area while on a family holiday on May 3, 2007, when she was three.
BRITONS ’EXPECT LESS FROM CHILDREN’
UK parents are less likely to push their children to succeed at school than those in east Asian nations, an education expert has said.
Sir Michael Barber said some British parents tend to assume that a child’s academic success is down to whether they are born “bright” and do not expect effort to be rewarded with good grades.
His comments came as education firm Pearson published a new Learning Curve Index, which ranks 39 countries on their educational performance.
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