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Viral GH TikTok couple, Empress Lupita and Godpapa The Greatest have been nabbed by the police for their alleged involvement in the death of their two children.
A video from the arrest that has surfaced on the internet captures the moment the police stormed the viral couple’s house to drag Godpapa The Greatest to the police station to assist the security force in investigations.
In the video, Empress Lupita alleged in the background that the current IGP is behind her husband’s arrest.
Godpapa The Greatest on the other hand calmly agreed to go to the police station to assist in the launched investigations.
Reportedly, the arrest of Godpapa The Greatest follows after his second child named El Saa alleged in an interview with Kofi Adoma two days ago that his parents murdered his elder brother called El Waa.
According to the 8-year-old boy, his parents poisoned gari soakings for his late elder brother to eat and when he ‘refused to die’ – They decided to bury him alive in their backyard.
He also made other shocking revelations as to how his mother and father will sometimes defecate inside a bucket and later blend it to prepare soup for them to eat with banku.
Meanwhile, Empress Lupita ‘admitted’ to killing one of her sons during an interview with Kofi Adoma just three days ago because he was possessed by evil spirits.
She claimed that her husband, Pastor Dan, aka Godpapa The Greatest saw the future of the boy and said if they allowed the boy to live, he would give birth to more demons who would torment Ghana so they ended up killing him and used him as a sacrifice.
Empress Lupita added that the action they took was right for Ghana because their son would have caused real trouble in the country.
At least 49 Nigerians have been arrested for alleged human trafficking syndicate and cyber-crime related activities in Accra.
The exercise was organised by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service.
The suspects who were made up of 47 males and two females are aged between 18 and 34 years.
About 70 laptop computers, two saloon cars, 51 mobile phones, nine internet modems and other gadgets were recovered from their hideout during the operation.
The head of Public Relations of EOCO, Ms FaustinaLartey, disclosed this in a press release issued and sighted by the Ghanaian Times yesterday.
She said the suspects who were arrested in the first week of this month had been involved in human trafficking and cyber-crime related activities.
Ms Larteysaid following the arrest and subsequent screening of the suspects, it came to light that 45 of the individuals were victims of human trafficking while four were the traffickers.
The rescued victims havebbeen repatriated to Nigeria to be reunited with their families while the four traffickers namely; Godstine Omoruyi, Junior Nosa Omoruyi, Marvelous Omoruyi and EvbuomwanIdowu have been arraigned.
Their arrest followed intelligence obtained by the Office to the effect that some young Nigerians had been trafficked into the country.
“The said victims were lured into the country with the promise of securing jobs but were subsequently forced to engage in cyber-crime activities upon their arrival in the country,” she added.
The traffickers also resorted to various forms of physical torture and abuse to coerce their victims into subjection.
Source:ghanaiantimes.com.gh
The Vice President,Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, yesterday launched the Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre (FICSOC) to protect the industry from cyber attacks.
The objective of the FICSOC project initiated by the BoG as part of the requirements in the 2018 Cyber and Information Security Directive, and implemented by Virtual InfoSec Africa, local information communication technology company, is to promote a safer digital financial industry.
FICSOC is established as a threat intelligence sharing platform, fully funded by the BoG to coordinate cyber security efforts within the banking and financial industry.
Specifically, FICSOC is to support financial sector players to build cyber security resilience against cyber and information security threats.
Speaking at the launch of the FICSOC Centre, located at the BoG General Service Complex, at Spintex in Accra, the Vice President Bawumia said the facility was to enhance cyber resilience in the Ghanaian banking and financial industry.
He said the edifice and its infrastructure was one of the first funded and owned by a Central Bank in Africa, and that was a remarkable feat by the BoG, indicating that very soon other Central Banks in Africa would come to the BoG to understudy its approach to cyber security defence of the financial sector.
Dr Bawumia said it formed part of BoG’s efforts at strengthening the cybesecurity landscape to build a robust banking and financial industry and commended the BoG for establishing the FICSOC.
He said that over the years the BoG had invested heavily to ensure that the digital financial industry remained safe, and the launch of the FICSOC marked another milestone to firm up information security controls in reducing the impact of cyber threats on the financial and banking sector.
“What we are launching today is massive and ground-breaking and state-of-the –art infrastructure. The facility will become one of the top national security facilities in the country and contribute to improving cyber security issues among financial sector institutions,” DrBawumia stated.
He said the use of digital technologies continued to transform business models of financial institutions, with new revenue and value producing opportunities.
“While these digital technologies support banking and financial services, the underlying security vulnerabilities imposed key cyber risks among those institutions. Cyber security risks may impair operational capabilities and threatened the viability of financial institutions and the contagion of cyber risks in the financial system is heightened by the extent of the interconnectedness and any serious cyber-attack could threaten the stability of the financial system,” he stressed.
The Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Addison, said the project was to create a cyber security environment for banks and financial institutions, adding that the facility would help combat the increasing cyber security threat and risks to the country.
He said all the 23 regulated banks had been connected with the FICSOC and through the facility BoG could send reports/alerts in the form of threat intelligence to the banks to improve their incident response mechanisms.
Dr Addison further said the project would help provide real-time visibility into cyber threats and attacks targeting the banking sector.
Credit: Ghanaiantimes.com.gh
The head teacher of Benkum Senior High School (SHS) in the Eastern Region, Emmanuel Nyarko has been interdicted by the Ghana Education Service (GES) over allegations of sexual misconduct.
Mr. Emmanuel Nyarko was directed to step aside for investigations following allegations of his sexual involvement with about 15 female students of the school.
Some teachers in the school who were reported to have engaged in a similar act cited his sexual misconduct after he attempted to facilitate their transfers to different schools.
Teachers who were queried as part of the probe mentioned the head teacher, leading to his interdiction.
The incident is reported to have happened last year [2022] and has been under investigation since.
A deputy spokesperson for the Education Ministry, Yaw Opoku Mensah, said the Ministry would keenly monitor the progress of the investigations.
“The investigation has started and the regional education outfit is in charge and the school has paved the way for investigations to start for the headmaster to give out the space or step aside for the committee to have the atmosphere to carry on with the investigations as per the code of conduct of GES.
“The Ministry is monitoring the development, and we urge the public to stay calm and help with the investigative process. And eventually, a report of the outcome of the investigations will be communicated to the GES in headquarters for other actions to be taken,” Yaw Opoku Mensah, deputy spokesperson for the Education Ministry noted.
24-year-old Ibrahim, a resident of Asamankam in Offinso, one of the popular towns in the Ashanti Region sadly ended his life on Tuesday evening around 11 pm.
The deceased, popularly known as Pablo at Offinso is said to have slashed his throat to death in his mother’s room after he visited them on the said day.
According to a report by Richard Amankwaa Boateng who detailed the sad event to Newsmen, the 24-year-old Pablo prior to the suicide was seen in the company of his friends.
Per the report, he was motivating his friends whom he was seen with, urging them that life will soon be smooth and Okay with him.
On the day of the incident, Pablo had visited his mother at Offinso upon his return from Kumasi.
After a short family moment outside, he silently went into the room, took a knife and slashed his throat.
Surprisingly, Pablo, according to the details gathered slit his throat amid tapping the blood in a bucket.
Following this, he came out of the room with his hand around the neck with the blood still oozing.
After some time when he had come out, he fell unconscious and gave up the ghost even before he was rushed to St Patrick’s Hospital for urgent medical attention by people who saw him bleeding.
A businessman who allegedly stole 16 different brands of cars, totalling $115,850 (GH¢1,621,900) from Auto Plaza, has been granted bail by an Accra Circuit Court.
The accused is also accused of unlawfully entering the compound and warehouse of Fafia Auto Plaza Limited and threatening Jihad Hijazi with a pistol by firing two rounds of ammunition.
During the unlawful entry, the accused also stole workshop items and furniture, including diagnosing machines, tool boxes, a pressing machine, car jacks, and various other items, amounting to $41,033.19 (GH¢574,464.66).
In addition, he took a sofa set, tables, cabinets, office desks, chairs, and other office furniture, totalling GH¢ 44,745.00.
The accused, Abdullatif Ghamrawi Azzam, pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful entry, threat of death, and three counts of stealing.
The defence counsel requested bail for the accused, and the prosecution did not oppose bail but asked the court to consider factors such as the accused's nationality, the amount of money involved, and the gravity of the offences.
Considering the circumstances, the Court presided over by Mr Jojo Amoah Hagan, granted the accused bail in the sum of GH¢2.5 million with two sureties.
The sureties were required to provide a landed property with a stamped and registered title deed, and they were also instructed to deposit their passport pictures at the registry.
The accused person was ordered to submit his original passport to the registrar.
The case has been adjourned to May 27, 2023.
According to Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Emmanuel Haligah, the complainant, Madam Mavis Opoku Kani, is the Credit Control Manager of Auto Plaza.
The accused person used to work as an errand boy for the late Mohammed Hijazi, Chairman of Auto Plaza and Managing Director of Fafia Auto Limited.
After the death of Mohammed Hijazi, the accused forcefully took over the premises of Fafia Auto Limited and drove away with some of the vehicles parked in the yard.
The accused person also broke into shops and stole workshop items and furniture.
Management of Auto Plaza became aware of the unlawful takeover and CEO Mr Jihad Hijazi, along with other workers, went to investigate.
During the confrontation, the accused person fired two shots with a pistol but fortunately, no one was harmed.
The complainant and witnesses collected two expended ammunition shells from the scene and handed them over to the police.
The accused person was subsequently arrested after the complainant filed a petition with the Director General of CID.
During a search of the accused person's office, a 380 ACP CAL TALON Pistol was found and seized.
The pistol and empty shells have been sent to the Police Forensic Laboratory for ballistic examination.
Source: Ghana Standard
Two men shed tears in an Adentan Circuit Court as they were each sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for attempted robbery, after brandishing a kitchen knife and demanding the victim's phone and money.
The victim, Yaw Richard Essel, managed to escape the ordeal, but his friends apprehended the accused individuals the following day.
Agoro Sheriff, 20, and Richard Kwame Kusi, 18, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and attempted robbery before Judge Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah, convicted and sentenced them to 10 years of hard labour.
While awaiting the necessary documentation to begin their jail terms, the convicted individuals shed tears in the courtroom, with Sheriff reminding Kusi that their weeping would not change their fate.
Kusi, amidst tears, claimed innocence and stated that he had no knowledge of the crime, while Sheriff, seeking consolation, explained that he resorted to robbing someone's phone after being a victim of robbery himself.
Inspector Eric Ransford Abban, leading the prosecution, revealed that the complainant was Yaw Richard Essel, a trader residing in Legon, while the accused individuals were unemployed and lived in Madina.
According to the prosecution, on May 7, 2023, around 10:30 pm, the complainant was walking from Atomic Junction towards Legon Mall when Sheriff, accompanied by Kusi, shouted at him to stop.
Armed with a kitchen knife, Sheriff and Kusi demanded the victim's phone and money, but the complainant managed to escape narrowly.
The complainant's friends were informed of the incident and successfully apprehended the accused individuals the next day at Atomic Junction Bus Stop.
Formal charges were filed by the complainant, and investigations revealed that the day before the incident, Sheriff and Kusi had discussed their plans for a robbery operation in the area.
Kusi obtained a kitchen knife from his mother's kitchen and handed it to Sheriff for their intended robbery.
Source: Ghana Standard
The Awutu Breku District Police Command has arrested 47-year-old Nicolas Cudjoe for allegedly inflicting cutlass wounds on his friend.
The victim, Efo Kokuvi, 63 was attacked when Nicolas sneaked into his room on Monday night at Kwashie-Amabo in the Awutu Senya West District of the Central Region.
According to sources, a friend of the assailant gave two packets of roofing sheets to Efo, however, Nicolas went to his house for the goods without his knowledge.
Aggravated by Nicolas’s behaviour, Efo confronted his friend which led to a heated argument.
According to reports, later that night, Nicolas Cudjoe sneaked into Efo’s room and inflict cutlass wounds on him.
The victim Efo Kokuvi has been rushed to Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital for treatment.
A man has been remanded in custody after a converted handgun and ammunition was seized from a car.
Evan Girdlestone, 47, who lives in Colliers Wood, appeared before magistrates in Croydon on Saturday morning charged with offenses under the Firearms Act.
He was arrested in Croydon on Thursday morning and officers from the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) Armed Operations Unit recovered what was believed to be a functioning converted weapon and magazines filled with 9mm ammunition from a car.
Girdlestone has been charged with possession of a firearm, namely a handgun contrary to Section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968 and possession of ammunition contrary to Section 1 of the Act.
The defendant, wearing a Napapijri fleece, appeared in the dock for five minutes to confirm his name, date of birth and address
No pleas were entered and he was remanded in custody to appear at Croydon Crown Court on June 16.
A drug dealer has been jailed for six years after being caught red-handed by quick-thinking officers who were able to link him to Class A drug supply in Southend.
Shawn Lally was snared when a plain clothes officer was patrolling in Southend High Street Wednesday 29 March.
The officer was patrolling when he heard a phone conversation going on ahead of him which mentioned the phrase “three for £20” – a well-known phrase used in drug dealing – and began following a man and a woman.
The pair then walked along Queens Road, and then towards a car park in Elmer Avenue.
The officer then spotted a man now known to be Lally at the entrance to the car park who was carrying a white draw-string JD Sports bag.
As the drug deal was about to be completed, the officer, along with a colleague who had been called to assist, began approaching the man and let him know they were police officers. As they did so, the man was seen to put a blue wrap into his mouth.
As he was detained, officers were able to safely remove the wrap from the man’s mouth and he was arrested.
During a thorough search of his home, officers found significant amounts of white powder and brown powder in parcels and in pre-prepared wraps.
Tests showed those powders were heroin and crack cocaine worth thousands of pounds.
Lally, 29, of South Road, Erdington, Birmingham, was charged with two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
He admitted the charges and was sentenced at Southend Crown Court on 10 May to a total of six years in prison.
A proceeds of crime hearing will take place in due course, during which our financial investigators will outline exactly how much criminal benefit Lally made. We will then make an application to seize that money back either in cash or through his assets.
Are police finally cracking down on TikTok 'prankster'? Cops swoop on teenager's flat that he shares with his mum as outrage grows over clips of him storming homes at random, harassing women, stealing dogs, and jumping into strangers' cars
Police officers today swooped on the flat of a teenager behind a series of vile TikTok 'pranks' that have included stealing a woman's dog, ripping up library books, and jumping into strangers' cars.
Bacari Ogarro, an 18-year-old from Stoke Newington, north London, who goes by the name 'Mizzy', has prompted disgust after he stormed in the home of a random family with a group of other young men.
It is just one of a number of disturbing videos in which he harasses people. In his latest sick #prank, he films himself stealing an elderly woman's dog and is seen running away while laughing. He later returns the animal to its owner, who is visibly distressed.
Further videos show him harassing women on a train and in a park; walking into a library and destroying books; and riding an e-bike through Sainsbury's while security guards try to stop him.
This afternoon at around 3 pm two police officers arrived at the flat the teenager shares with his single mother Donna in Stoke Newington as outrage grew over his TikTok videos, which have gone viral.
He said: 'There's enough evidence now for the Met Police to arrest the vile & idiotic TikTok/YouTuber 'Mizzy'(Bacari Ogarro) for at least criminal damage & assault. He has documented all his crimes as well so that will help with a prosecution.'
Mr Ogarro's TikTok/YouTube account has been taken down.
The 18-year-old previously filmed himself picking up a dog belonging to an elderly woman and running away with it.
Another video showed him walking into a library and tearing pages out of books in front of staff.
In another clip, he gets into the back of a man's car while saying 'It's my Uber' before becoming aggressive when he is asked to leave.
'We are keen to speak to anyone with any information that could assist. Please contact police on 101 or via @MetCC and quote CAD4160/16 May.'
A man has been found guilty of the murder of a father-of-three who was stabbed to death in the food hall of an #Essex shopping centre.
Michael Ugwa, 29, ( 2pic) was killed at #Lakeside Shopping Centre in #Thurrock on April 28 last year after complimenting a woman, a trial at #Basildon Crown Court was told.
On Monday, 23-year-old Muhammad Khan ( 1st pic ) was found guilty of Mr Ugwa’s murder and of affray, #Essex Police said.
The force said jurors cleared a second man, Brandon Lutchmunsing, 20, of murder.
Lutchmunsing was found guilty of manslaughter and of affray, police said.
Karim Khalil KC, prosecuting, said Khan and Lutchmunsing had cornered Mr Ugwa before Khan stabbed him in the chest.
Mr Ugwa, from #Rainham, east London, died of “catastrophic” blood loss at the scene as the two men fled.
Khan, of #Ilford, east London, and Lutchmunsing, of #Dagenham, east London, had denied the charges against them.
Jurors were told how an argument broke out after Mr Ugwa made comments towards Lutchmunsing’s girlfriend, Shannon Weston.
Khan is said to have brandished a knife before he and Lutchmunsing stalked Mr Ugwa through the shopping centre food hall.
Mr Khalil described the “brutal attack of two on one” in which the men trapped Mr Ugwa in a “pincer movement”.
Footage played at court showed Mr Ugwa holding up a chair in a bid to defend himself before throwing it at Lutchmunsing.
Khan then stabbed Mr Ugwa in a “single and deadly” blow before fleeing with Lutchmunsing in Weston’s red Audi, Mr Khalil said.
Weston was accused of driving Khan and Lutchmunsing away from the shopping centre, and of helping her then-boyfriend to evade police between April 28 and May 4.
The 21-year-old, of Canewdon, Essex, was found guilty of three counts of assisting an offender, which she had denied, police said.
Some 29 Civil Society Organisations are demanding the immediate removal of GNPC’s Chief Executive Officer, Opoku Ahweneeh Danquah, and Board Chairman, Freddie Blay.
The CSOs made up of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC), Imani Centre for Policy and Education and 25 others accuse the two men of working against the interest of the state.
The demand for their removal comes in the wake of GNPC’s intention to sell a 50% stake in Jubilee Holdings Limited (JOHL) to PetroSA, despite the substantial revenue potential this interest holds for the state.
Addressing the press on Tuesday, May 23, the Coordinator for the coalition, Abdul Karim Mohammed said the continuous presence of these individuals, closely associated with petroleum operations, poses significant risks to Ghana’s interests.
Mr Mohammed explained that the Energy Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh is against a decision by the Board Chairman of GNPC, Mr Blay for offering interest in Ghana’s oil fields to a South African oil company, Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA).
Mr Blay in his capacity as the GNPC Board Chairman is said to have written to PetroSA offering it an equal split in the interest held by GNPC’s subsidiary Jubilee Oil Holdings Ltd.
“It is a viable field, and it is giving us a lot of money if we allow this to go forward. What it means is that PetroSa will be entitled to 50 percent of the earnings from the field, whereas they have not had any role in developing the field to the point where it is now viable.
“The information we have is that the Minister for Energy has objected to this transaction but the Chairman of GNPC Board is pushing this transaction to the extent that the Minister of Energy had written to the Jubilee House over this transaction.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched an investigation after it emerged that a man suspected of taking his ex-partner hostage and shooting her in the head was a known domestic abuse suspect who was on bail at the time of the attack.
Mother-of-two Hayley Burke, 36, was fatally injured at her home in Dartford during the coronation weekend and later died in hospital. Jacob Cloke, 29, is believed to have held her at gunpoint and pulled the trigger during a stand-off with police.
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It has now emerged that Cloke was facing several charges of violence against Burke and was on bail at the time of the attack. Court records show he had been charged with two counts of assault and one of causing actual bodily harm in three separate incidents between February 2022 and last month.
At a hearing on 26 April – less than two weeks before the fatal shooting – he pleaded not guilty to the charges at Medway magistrates court and was subsequently released on conditional bail with an order not to contact Burke or to enter Dartford, where she lived. Prosecutors also requested that he be fitted with a GPS-enabled electronic tag to allow police to monitor his whereabouts and keep him from entering the exclusion area, according to court records seen by the Observer. His next court appearance would have been in June.
But on 6 May, Cloke is understood to have broken the terms of the order and gone to Dartford. It is not known whether Kent police were alerted to the breach via tag monitoring processes, or when they became aware that he was in the exclusion zone. A statement released by the force after the shooting said armed police and a trained negotiator were deployed at around 12.40 pm to a house on Priory Road following reports of a disturbance and “attempted to engage with a man inside the address”.
An inquest on Thursday heard Burke suffered a gunshot wound to the head on 6 May. She died two days later in hospital. Cloke also had gunshot wounds and died five days later in hospital. Police said they fired no weapons and were treating Burke’s death as murder. The case has prompted an investigation by the IOPC to examine whether any police inaction could have contributed to Burke’s death and whether there were missed opportunities to safeguard her.
An IOPC spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with Hayley Burke’s family and friends following their loss. We can confirm we are independently investigating the contact Kent police had with Ms. Burke prior to her death on 8 May. Our investigation, which is at a very early stage, will examine whether any police action or inaction may have caused or contributed to her death, including whether there were any missed opportunities to safeguard her. We will be in touch with Ms. Burke’s family to express our condolences and explain our role.”
It is also looking into what happened during the actual shooting. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Kent police made a mandatory referral to the IOPC because officers were at the scene at the time of the injuries. The force said it could not comment while the IOPC investigation was ongoing.
The Crown Prosecution Service said: “At the first appearance of Jacob Cloke on 26 April 2023, we requested an electronic tag to keep him out of Dartford.” It added that the CPS did not monitor bail conditions and that any breaches were a “matter for the police”.
The inquest into Burke’s death was adjourned ahead of a full hearing scheduled for October. A separate inquest will be held into Cloke’s death at a later date.
In the days after the shooting, flowers and cards were left on the road outside Burke’s home. Her family requested space to grieve. In tributes reported by KentOnline, friends described the victim as “caring and outgoing”, and “the loudest friend in the group,” who “never failed to have everyone laughing”. “Hayley loved her children with every inch of her heart,” they added. “Everything she did was for her boys – they were her life.”
In all the domestic abuse cases where the CPS took no further action, it had made the right decision, says chief inspector Andrew T Cayley, while Duncan Woodhead of the FDA union also rejects claims of ‘cherrypicking’
Sun 21 May 2023 17.30 BST
I have read with interest the views expressed by Sir Mark Rowley about the Crown Prosecution Service “cherrypicking” cases (CPS ‘cherrypicking’ cases to prosecute, say senior police chiefs, 18 May). However, evidence from my organisation, His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, suggests a different set of conclusions.
Between 2021 and 2022 my inspectors inspected a sample of 1,260 cases across all 14 CPS areas. We found that the CPS made the correct charging decision in 94% of those cases. In our recent inspection of the CPS’s handling of domestic abuse cases, we found 97.3% of the cases complied with the Code for Crown Prosecutors. In all of those cases where the CPS did not take further action, it had made the right decision
Sir Mark clearly does appreciate the need for us to identify and examine the best ways for the police and the CPS to collaborate to bring about fair and just outcomes in the courts. Together with the chief inspector of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire & Rescue Services, I have commissioned an inspection to examine communication and collaboration between the CPS and police service.
The future of our criminal justice system demands we come together now and find the solutions to those challenges we have expressed dissatisfaction with for many years.
Andrew T Cayley
His Majesty’s chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service
The FDA, the union for managers and professionals in public service, echoes the statement from the director of public prosecutions – included in your article – in which he rejected the claims by the commissioner of the Metropolitan police that the Crown Prosecution Service “cherrypicks” cases.
Hard-working FDA members and their colleagues in the CPS are often working through the night from home to provide charging advice and decisions, fulfilling their obligations under the Code for Crown Prosecutors to assess whether there is a reasonable prospect of conviction for each case sent to them by the police. Poor file quality, including a paucity of evidence, means that some of the cases presented to the CPS simply cannot be successfully prosecuted, and police should be working with prosecutors to avoid this. If evidence becomes available later, the police can also seek to have the case reviewed.
It is a waste of taxpayers’ money, and justice is not served, if we are prosecuting cases where the evidence is not there – raising the expectations of victims and witnesses, and holding defendants in custody who are subsequently acquitted. Or worse still, a judge throws out a case before it’s put before a jury due to a lack of evidence, with the defendant having spent months on remand, and victims and witnesses having prepared themselves for a trial that doesn’t take place.
Duncan Woodhead
National officer for the CPS, FDA
Lyn Rigby, the mother of the murdered soldier Lee Rigby, says she speaks to her son every morning and can still feel his presence a decade after he was killed.
Fusilier Rigby, 25, was killed on 22 May 2013 by terrorists near his barracks in Woolwich, south London. His attackers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale were found guilty of his murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Lyn Rigby told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that her son would never be forgotten and that she wanted to use his legacy to do more for bereaved families.
“I still speak to Lee, usually at the nighttime when I get time to myself when everybody has gone to bed,” Rigby said. “I’ll sit and light a candle, and look at Lee’s picture and just talk away to him. Sometimes I’ll laugh, sometimes I’ll cry and sometimes I’m angry. I just do it every single morning when I open my eyes. I have a picture of Lee in the bedroom and I’ll speak to him every morning. That gives me a focus to get up and to carry out what I’ve got to do that day.”
Rigby said she believed her son was able to hear what she was saying. “Things happen in the house, things can fly off the windowsill or the mantlepiece and there’s nothing to explain why this has happened. I do feel warmth in the nighttime and feel that Lee is there, sat next to me, giving me a hug and telling me that he loves me,” she said. “For the table, when we have family occasions and all get together for a celebration there’s always an empty chair there for Lee at the dining table.”
After his death, the Lee Rigby Foundation was set up as a support network for bereaved military families, and has fundraised to provide caravans for the families to use. “Lee was a very gentle soul,” Rigby said. “He wasn’t perfect – he had his awkward and stubborn sides – but he had a heart of gold and would help anybody. He would want me to do this, and to carry on in Lee’s name for the bereaved families. I think Lee would be proud of what we are doing.”
Rigby said her most treasured memory of Lee was him throwing Coco Pops cereal down the stairs when he was a toddler. “It just sticks in my mind – as I said, he wasn’t perfect, he had his days when he was very difficult at times,” she said.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said: “My thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues of Fusilier Lee Rigby on the 10th anniversary of his senseless murder. We will never forget the appalling events of that day and on behalf of all Londoners, I want to extend deepest sympathies to his loved ones and all those impacted by his death.
“London will never be cowed by terrorism and Londoners will always stand together in the face of hate and division and those who wish to harm our way of life.”
Coronation of King Charles III
The police had to make "tough choices" while handling protests during the Coronation, a minister has said, following criticism over arrests.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer told BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg the police were right to factor in the scale and global-nature of the event.
MPs, human rights groups and a former chief constable have criticised the police's tactics.
Police said on Sunday that 64 people were arrested during the Coronation.
The Metropolitan Police had previously said 52 arrests were made on Saturday. In its latest update, it said four people had been charged, while another person arrested remains in custody for non-payment of fines.
Fifty-seven people have been released on bail while two others will face no further police action.
Among those held on Saturday was the head of the anti-monarchy group Republic, Graham Smith. He was released after 16 hours in custody and said there was "no longer a right to peaceful protest in the UK".
Other concerns have been raised over reports three volunteers with a Westminster-based women's safety programme had been arrested while handing out rape alarms.
The Met said it received intelligence protesters were planning to use rape alarms to disrupt coronation proceedings.
Ms Frazer said the right to protest was "really important" and people should be heard but there had been a recent change in protesters' tactics.
Protesters have been stopping people going about their day-to-day lives, she said, and there was a need to redress that balance.
Officers would have made operational decisions on a case-by-case basis, she said, taking into account the scale of the Coronation celebrations.
"We were on the global stage, there were 200 foreign dignitaries in the UK, in London at an event, millions of people watching and hundreds of thousands of people at the scene," she added.
Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC he was reassured the Met were aware of a gap in public confidence over policing and the force was "explaining and justifying" why they made some of the arrests.
He said Labour would "wait and see" whether the force got the balance right, adding "accountability" over policing decisions was important.
Mr Streeting said if they did not get it right, it was important to "hold your hands up".
The King and Queen went past some protesters on their way to Westminster Abbey for the Coronation ceremonyMetropolitan Police Commander Karen Findlay defended her officers' response, saying they had a duty to intervene "when protest becomes criminal and may cause serious disruption".
She added the Coronation was a "once-in-a-generation event" which was a key consideration in their assessment.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in the rain in central London on Saturday, with chants including "down with the Crown", "don't talk to the police" and "get a real job".
But Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said some of the arrests "raise questions" over the Met's actions, adding he has "sought urgent clarity" whilst investigations are ongoing.
Other protests were organised in Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh. No arrests were reported outside London.
While campaigners insisted their protests were peaceful, the police said they had intelligence that groups were "determined to disrupt" the occasion.
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey said he was not sure about the exact circumstances of the arrest, and called for more detail from the police.
Speaking to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, he criticised the government for "passing legislation to clamp down on protest that breached British traditions of civil liberties".
Several Labour MPs have also been critical of the Met's response. Senior backbencher Sir Chris Bryant said on Twitter that "freedom of speech is the silver thread that runs through a parliamentary constitutional monarchy".
In a statement on Sunday, Republic chief Mr Smith said the arrests had "destroyed whatever trust might have existed between peaceful protesters and the Metropolitan police".
"What is the point in being open and candid with the police, working with their liaison officers and meeting senior commanders, if all their promises and undertakings turn out to be a lie?"
Mr Smith was arrested early on Saturday - before the Coronation began - at a protest in Trafalgar Square
The Met said it had confiscated "lock-on devices" which protesters can use to secure themselves to things like railings.
It has now become illegal to prepare to lock-on following changes to the law passed this week.
But Matt Turnbull, another member of Republic who was arrested, said the straps were being used to hold the placards and had been "misconstrued" as lock-on devices.
A former police chief has said she is "very disappointed" by the arrest of protesters and strongly criticised the new powers.
Sue Sim, a former chief constable with Northumbria Police and a specialist in public order policing, said she was "very disappointed" by the arrest of protesters and called the new powers "draconian".
"I think when you're talking about terrorism, where people's lives are at risk that's a very different thing. But where you are talking about peaceful protest the whole thing for me is, what type of society do we want? We do not want a totalitarian police state," she told BBC Radio 4's World This Weekend.
Concerns about the police's approach were also raised by Westminster City Council over reports that volunteers with its Night Star women's safety programme had been detained and questioned after being stopped by officers while handing out rape alarms.
Councillor Aicha Less said the authority was working with the Met to establish what happened and was in touch with volunteers to make sure they were being supported.
The Met said it had received intelligence about plans to use rape alarms to disrupt the Coronation procession by scaring military horses, causing "significant risk to the safety of the public and the riders".
The force said three people were arrested in the Soho area of London over suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance.
One man was also further arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods. All three have since been released.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said the force were "aware of and understand there is public concern over these arrests" and added the matter was still under investigation.
A psychologist at the Child Care Board (CCB) believes corporal punishment is outdated.
Yesterday, clinical psychologist Josette Sam led the CCB’s workshop for foster parents to discuss alternatives to corporal punishment as part of Child Month celebrations.
She said people needed to change their mindset and find healthier ways to address children’s behaviour.
The state is conducting a special investigation into what led to two teens being away from home for about three weeks, says Minister of People Empowerment Kirk Humphrey.
Additionally, the girls are out of police custody and receiving special medical and psychological care in a private setting.
