The pensioner was attacked after two children knocked on her door pretending they were looking for their missing pet rabbit.
They returned later with an older man who barged his way into the house and dragged the woman from room to room, demanding to know where she kept her valuables.
Even when told her handbag was in her bedroom, he attacked her again after not being able to find it despite it being plainly visible on a chair.
The woman was left with cuts and bruising to her head, ribs and arms which required hospital treatment.
Despite her ordeal, his sister-in-law was able to give an accurate account
of her attacker.
He was Asian, aged in his mid twenties and 5ft 10in tall.The two children were possibly Asian, aged around nine years old, 4ft 10in
tall, with stocky builds and round faces. They were wearing dark coloured
jackets.
1,500 square miles of English countryside needs to be built on, says planning minister Nick Boles
More than 1,500 square miles of open countryside - over twice the area covered
by greater London - needs to be built on to meet housing demand, the
Government’s planning minister has said.
UK Border Agency officials raided several homes in north and central London at dawn .
Four males and one female aged 23, 23, 29, 38 and 56 were detained in Mill Hill, a 44-year-old man was arrested in Edgware and another 46, was picked up in Kensington.
All were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to facilitate an asylum seeker for gain and are now being questioned at police stations in London.
This followed a joint investigation with the Spanish Guardia Civil into an alleged criminal network suspected of assisting Iranian migrants into the UK from Europe.
The network is alleged to have organised travel and provided false documents to their clients to facilitate their arrival at UK airports.
Co-ordinated action by the Guardia Civil saw eleven people arrested during raids in Madrid and Alicante in Spain.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was today calling for an end to religious hate crime during a visit to Manchester's Muslim community.
Mr Clegg told the M.E.N he wanted to see acts of hatred against Muslims wiped out – as he pledged to do all he could to put an end to 'abhorrent' prejudicial attacks.
The Liberal Democrat leader was visiting the British Muslim Heritage Centre, in Whalley Range, for a town hall-style summit with local community members and national Islamic organisations.
He was being joined by faith and communities minister Baroness Warsi and Lib Dem communities minister Don Foster.
The group was also visiting the Altrincham Muslim Cultural Centre, which has been the target of religiously-motivated vandalism.
Mr Clegg said: “The reason I'm doing this is because I have for sometime now been very worried about the prejudice, religious hatred and racially motivated violence directed at many Muslims in Manchester and elsewhere. There's absolutely no place for hate crime in modern society. Its an abhorrent thing.”
Mr Clegg was using his visit to announce an extra £214,000 funding for an initiative called Tell Mama (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) run by interfaith group Faith Matters.
The national organisation will help to inform a cross-government working group set up to tackle the problem and follows work in the Jewish community, by the Community Security Trust, to record anti-Semitic attacks and shape action to prevent them.
The government now wants to get a similar picture of prejudice experienced by Britain's Muslim community.
Mr Clegg said: “The Muslim community is incredibly important for the country.
“This is a national issue but I was very keen to do this in Manchester where its particularly relevant.”
He said interfaith work between the local Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities was particularly important in standing up against intolerance and added: “I will do everything in my power to make sure we take the necessary steps.”
Mr Clegg also spoke to the M.E.N. in support of his party's candidates in next week's Manchester Central by-election and Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
He said: “Clearly we have to fight very hard in every election. I've never denied the fact that we have to fight harder now than we used to because of the controversies now of being in government.”
He said he was an admirer of by-election candidate, former councillor Marc Ramsbottom, and praised his knowledge of Manchester and his dignity in defeat at the local elections in May, when the party suffered heavy losses.
He said: ”He certainly deserves to be the MP for Manchester Central.”
Baroness Warsi is to call on Mosques to encourage victims of anti-Muslim hate crime to come forward.
The Senior Minister for Faith at the Department for Communities and
Local Government is to write to all Imams to urge them to do more to
tackle the problem in their areas.
The sacking of a Yorkshire bus driver for being a member of the far-right BNP was a breach of his human rights, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.
The decision by judges in Strasbourg yesterday follows a long legal battle by Arthur Redfearn, 56, who was sacked in 2004 from his job in Bradford driving mainly Asian adults and children with disabilities.
The chamber of the court ruled the actions of Serco Ltd breached Article 11 – the Freedom of Assembly and Association – because he was sacked only because of his membership of a political party.
The seven judges came to this conclusion on a 4-3 majority.
In its decision, the court said: “The court was struck by the fact that he had been summarily dismissed following complaints about problems which had never actually occurred, without any apparent consideration being given to the possibility of transferring him to a non-customer facing role.
“In fact, prior to his political affiliation becoming public knowledge, neither service users nor colleagues had complained about Mr Redfearn, who was considered a ‘first-class employee’.”
The judgment also criticised the fact Mr Redfearn could not bring a case of unfair dismissal against Serco in 2004 because UK law said he had not worked long enough for the firm.
The driver was forced to claim race discrimination because no unfair dismissal claim was allowed within the first year of employment.
The court said the UK had to “take reasonable and appropriate measures to protect employees, including those with less than one year’s service, from dismissal on grounds of political opinion or affiliation, either through the creation of a further exception to the one-year qualifying period under the 1996 Act or through a freestanding claim for unlawful discrimination on grounds of political opinion or affiliation”.
The judgment added: “A legal system which allowed dismissal from employment solely on account of an employee’s membership of a political party carried with it the potential for abuse and was therefore deficient.”
The court heard how Mr Redfearn worked for Serco as a driver from December 2003 until his dismissal on June 30, 2004.
In its judgment, the court said there had been no problems with his work but other employees and union officials complained after his BNP membership was revealed in a newspaper.
He was summarily dismissed when he was elected as a local councillor for the BNP.
In August 2004 he lodged a claim of race discrimination which was dismissed by an employment tribunal which found that any discrimination against him had been on health and safety grounds.
The tribunal found his continued employment could cause considerable anxiety among Serco’s passengers and their carers and there was a risk vehicles could come under attack from opponents of the BNP.
In July 2005 Mr Redfearn successfully appealed against this decision after an appeal tribunal heard no consideration had been given to any alternatives to dismissal.
But, in May 2006, the Court of Appeal allowed Serco’s appeal, finding that Mr Redfearn’s complaint was of discrimination on political and not racial grounds, which fell outside anti-discrimination laws.
Last night BNP leader Nick Griffin tweeted: “HUGE VICTORY! Human Rights Court in Strasbourg rules sacking of BNP councillor as bus driver was illegal. Congrats to Arthur Redfearn.”
Mr Griffin added: “Way now clear for all others similarly treated to claim well-deserved compensation. Great day for true democracy!”
A Serco spokeswoman said: “We are aware of the initial ruling that has been made by the European Court of Human Rights concerning the case of Arthur Redfearn and we will now digest and review the findings.”
Young teenagers continue to be sexually exploited in Rochdale – months after the high profile prosecution of nine muslim men for the exploitation of young girls caused national outrage, a parliamentary committee has been told.
Police and social services failed to protect more than a 100 suspected child victims of sexual exploitation in Rochdale between 2005 and 2011, despite a specialist sexual health team “telling everybody” in children’s services, the Home Affairs Select Committee has been told.
The evidence was given by social worker Sara Rowbotham, team leader of Rochdale’s Crisis Intervention Team and sexual health improvement specialist, as part of the committee’s inquiry into localised children grooming trigged by the Rochdale scandal.
Ms Rowbotham said the failures in Rochdale went back much further than previously reported - to at least to 2004.
She said the failures were down to “the attitudes towards teenagers… these vulnerable young people did not have a voice… they were treated awfully by protective services.”
Committee chairman Keith Vaz said he was “very concerned” to hear that Ms Rowbotham’s team had been cut by half over the past three years. “If there are any repercussions as a result of coming to the committee, please tell us immediately,” said Mr Vaz.
The committee also heard evidence from the former chief executive of Rochdale Council, who insisted that neither he nor the head of children services were aware of any child sexual exploitation until 2010. He first learned about the scandal was when the nine men were arrested in 2010, Roger Ellis told an incredulous committee, but still did not commission any kind of internal inquiry.
Mr Ellis said: “As a chief executive I feel responsible for everything that goes on in my local authority, whether I know about it or not. I feel a deep sense of responsibility, regret and embarrassment but I do not feel personally culpable because…I do not think I could have done anything differently with the information I had.”
He would not disclose his final pay-out from the council this year because of a gagging clause, and when asked if he would consider returning it, he said: “No because I don’t feel any sense of personal responsibility.”
A dirty bomb attack on the UK is a “real threat” and every country
has to be vigilant against a nuclear strike, the Foreign Office has
warned.
Alistair Burt, who is in charge of counter-terrorism policy, admitted
there had been fears of a bomb during this summer’s Olympics.
The threat was considered to be strong enough for nuclear detectors
to be deployed for the Games, he said at the start of a two-day summit
in London.
The Foreign Office minister said the number of cases involving the
loss or theft of nuclear materials around the world was growing.
And he called for countries to show “utmost vigilance” and unite to combat the threat of a nuclear attack.
“Nuclear terrorism is a real and global threat. A successful attack,
no matter where in the world it came, would be catastrophic,” he said.
“Catastrophic for the immediate devastation and terrible loss of
life, and for the far-reaching consequences – psychological, economic,
political and environmental.
“Such an attack was unthinkable just a generation ago. But it is now a
possibility we need to confront with the utmost vigilance.”
Figures from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN watchdog,
for 1993-2011 show there have been 2,164 cases of nuclear material
being “outside state control”.
Of those, 147 occurred in 2011, with four involving the highly enriched uranium needed to build a nuclear bomb.
Mr Burt said the threat meant Britain’s Cyclamen system, used to
detect nuclear and radiological materials at ports and airports, was
deployed at the Olympics.
“At the Olympic Park, yes, absolutely, processes were deployed… that
would trigger the equipment so that we would know something was passing
through,” he said.
He also expressed concerns that some governments were helping
terrorists acquire nuclear materials or expertise – although he refused
to be drawn on the countries involved.
“It wouldn’t be right to identify individual nations who may be engaged in helping or assisting,” he said.
DENIS MacShane has resigned as an MP after a damning report by the
Commons expenses watchdog found he wrongly claimed thousands of pounds.
The former Europe minister said he wanted to take "responsibility for
my mistakes" after the Standards and Privileges Committee recommended
he be suspended without pay and pension for a year – the longest
suspension of an MP in living memory
The Labour MP who calls himself Denis MacShane, who I call Denis
MacShame, and whose real name is Denis Matyjaszek, has just had his
natural dishonesty exposed yet again.
Many people involved in resisting the European Genocide or simply the Islamic aspect of it have become aware of the NUJ [National Union of Journalists] Guidelines on Race Reporting. (You can read them here).
Since their introduction in the 1970s, these guidelines have stifled
honest reporting on anything immigration-related and infused radical
left-wing political purpose into what ought to have been an honourable
task of providing people with the accurate information needed to shape
their political decisions. These guidelines encourage journalists to
attack and "expose" anyone who questions the benefits of non-European
immigration and have led to the Sovietisation of the entire British
media landscape.
Not many people know that MacShame was the one who created the NUJ Guidelines on Race Reporting in the 1970s, when he was president of the NUJ.
It should also be borne in mind that MacShame was sacked by the BBC for
gross dishonesty when, while working as a reporter on a radio show, he
rang in to the show, pretending to be an ordinary member of the public,
to attack a Conservative minister. So MacShame had a track record of
dishonesty long before he became a Labour MP. Labour knew about his
dishonest background and were obviously comfortable with it, otherwise
they wouldn't allowed him to represent the party.
This is a man whose entire career has been based on systematic deceit.
Unfortunately for the British people, the consequences of his deceit
have been far graver than the few thousand quid he filched from the
public purse. The dishonest reporting his guidelines inspired have
warped democratic debate in the country, and continue to do so, with the
result that everything immigration-related has been shut off from
serious public scrutiny.
Two “cold-blooded” sexual predators from Plaistow who took turns raping a
student after plying her with booze have each been jailed for 10 years.
Ebrima Dampha, 33, and Amadou Bah, 34, targeted the 22-year-old after
spotting her drunkenly leaning against a shop front in Brick Lane,
Shoreditch.
The pair, both of Barking Road, Plaistow, offered to
accompany her in a taxi home but then stopped at an off-licence to buy
more alcohol.
They persuaded her to allow them into her flat
before encouraging her to continue drinking, then raped her while she
was barely conscious, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
The duo then stole the woman’s iPhone and cash after the attack on January 6.
The woman had suffered significant trauma as a result of her ordeal, the court was told.
Both men insisted she invited them home with the promise of sex and denied rape.
But a jury convicted them of rape following a trial.
Sentencing,
Judge John Lafferty told them: “This young woman unfortunately had far
too much to drink than she was able to cope with.
“She was quite clearly, when you saw her leaning against a shop front, not capable of looking after herself.”
“You
both formed a plan which you carried out to get this woman back to a
place where you could have sex with her against her will.
“You encouraged and persuaded her to take more alcohol when you could see she was far from capable of looking after herself.”
“When she took so much alcohol she was semi-conscious or unconscious, you both took turns to rape her.”
“Upon leaving the flat, you stole her property.
“You
acted together and took advantage of a young woman who by virtue of her
intoxication was extremely vulnerable, when any decent man would seek
to assist her.
“You put forward an entirely spurious account
suggesting this perfectly respectable young woman wanted to have sex
with both of you.
“At one point you said that was both at the same
time, a thoroughly outrageous suggestion which the jury had no
hesitation in rejecting.
“The young woman was vulnerable because of her extreme intoxication and you took shameless and coldblooded advantage of that.
“These
sentences are the shortest that mark the gravity of the offence you
committed, taking into account what little mitigation either of you
have.”
Dampha, a ‘‘small scale’’ drug dealer, was also handed a
further six months for possessing 11 bags of cannabis with intent to
supply, breaching a community order.
Both will have to sign the sex offenders register for life on their release from prison.
Andrew
Cohen, defending Dampha, said: “He was not the principal within this
particular offence. It was not him that approached the complainant or
engaged in conversation and got in the position of being invited back to
her flat.
“He followed on and appeared to take advantage of a situation that came into existence.”
The court was told Bah suffers from a long-term drink problem.
This is definitely happening and it's going to be big. Three of these
lads are from Plymouth and it has outraged the local community, there
will be a good local turnout for this. Some local military charities
and a few national ones have been in contact with us and offered their
assistance in organising the demo which we have gratefully accepted.
The
march will set off at 11am sharp from Devils point to Stonehouse
barracks up Royal Parade to the Guildhall then up to the Hoe past the
Citadel then finishing at the cenotaph where there will be speeches etc.
This is a family event so there will be absolutely no drinking
before the event, we are doing that after if anyone wishes to have have a
few, I will be.
This event welcomes all of the British people
but it is politely requested that no flags or clothing of political
organisations or street movements are worn.
The police have agreed our march route apart from 1 street
because it was one way but we are just going to take the next left
instead. We will be marching past Stonehouse Barracks which is the home
of 3 Commando where 3 of these lads are currently confined to camp.
Police have said they are expecting up to 2k
Almost a quarter of babies born in the UK are children of immigrants, data
shows.
There were 808,000 births in the UK last year, of which 196,000 were children
born to non-UK born women - or 24 per cent.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows there has been a
steady increase in the number of children born to mothers who were born
abroad since 2001, when the figure stood at 15.3 per cent
.
Polish women who live in the UK gave birth to around 23,000 children last
year.
Women from Pakistan had 19,200 babies in the same period and Indian women gave
birth to 15,500 children.
Four in 10 children born to immigrant mothers were born in London. Half were
born in other parts of England, and one in 10 were born in Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland combined.
The ONS said fertility rates for non-UK born women are higher than those born
in the UK. The total fertility rate for women born in the UK is 1.89
children each, while for those born outside the UK the figure is 2.28.
The figures show that in 2007, 14 per cent of women living in the UK aged 15
to 44 had been born outside the UK. This rose to 18 per cent last year.
Recent analysis suggested hundreds of thousands more female immigrants arrived
in Britain over the previous decade than has previously been thought and are
thought to be behind a mini baby boom.
It showed that a previous attempt to forecast immigration figures
underestimated the number of females coming to live in the country by
361,000 and overestimated the number of males by 94,000, when compared with
census data.
Female migration has been concentrated in the 20 to 44-year-old age bracket,
the prime years for child bearing, and may have contributed to a mini baby
boom, according the analysis by the Financial Times.
The official data from 2001-2010, released in July, showed net migration to
England and Wales increased the population by more than 2.1 million.
Figures also show that more than a quarter of all births are to non-UK born
women, boosting the number of children aged 0-8 years by nearly 300,000
since the last census in 2001.
Pakistani women have been overtaken by those from Poland as the single largest
group of foreign-born mothers in 2010 and 2011, making up more than one in
10 births within this group.
The analysis comes with immigration continuing to be a part of the political
agenda, after David Cameron announced a review into the freedom of EU
citizens to live and work in the UK - despite any limitation on this being
barred under EU agreements - amid job fears for young Britons.
Economists and population analysts point out the positive impact, because UK
fertility rates are too low to maintain the population at the same level,
which is likely to see the burden of paying for the nation's elderly falling
on fewer shoulders.
Data released by the ONS in August showed women born in the UK were having an
average of 1.9 children each, below the rate of 2.1 that is thought
necessary to keep a population level. But when non-UK born women are
included, the rate goes up to around 2.0.
Gordon Sharp, head of the Continuous Mortality Investigations unit, an
actuarial body, said it meant that the cost of supporting the nation's
elderly in 30 years would be spread among more workers.
He said: "It means the dependency ratio is not as severe as it might
otherwise be."
But he noted that the rise in births would result in some higher costs in the
short term including healthcare and education.
If the mass Muslim march takes place in London, will it finally
awaken our complacent compatriots, far removed from our centres of
Islamic population, to the fact that Islamic doctrine is not cuddly,
benign and tolerant, the message forever being trumpeted by the BBC, the
Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties? Islam is no
friend of freedom; it is one of its foes. These protests therefore must
not be pandered to, and it must be made clear to those with familial
roots overseas who participate in these demonstrations, that they should
reconsider their place of residence. Their presence here is not to the
public good. They are generating fear; fear which, sadly, is well
founded.
More than 31,500 people have joined a Facebook group set up to show
support for seven Royal Marines arrested on suspicion of murder
following an incident in Afghanistan last year.
The group, "Support the 7 Royal Marine Commandos arrested for murder
in afghanistan", was launched on Thursday, the day the Ministry of
Defence (MoD) announced the arrest of the personnel - believed to be
members of 3 Commando Brigade which served in the country between April
and October 2011.
The person who set up the page claims to be serving in the British
Armed Forces and deploying to Afghanistan "in the next few days",
although he says he is not a Royal Marine.
In the information section about the page, he wrote: "This page is
set up to show support for the seven Royal Marine Commandos arrested for
murder for an event which happened in afghanistan 2011 where no
civilians where injured and one gunman killed which shot at them FIRST"
(sic).
By Saturday afternoon the page had just over 31,600 "likes", with
people using the page to argue in support of the arrested troops but
also some criticising the role of troops in the war-torn country.
One member called Wendy Britton, wrote: "I am a mum of a serving
Royal (Marine) who served over in Afghanistan with these seven brave
Royals. I personally would like to pay my thanks to them and everyone
who has served for protecting us and allowing me to sleep easy in my
bed.
"This has shaken the core of our Royals, former Royals and all who
are associated with them. I cried for these seven poor your Royals for
being punished for doing their job. Give us back our seven heroes with
their pride and dignity intact. Do it sooner rather than later and then
let us celebrate their freedom as we celebrate ours."
The Royal Military Police (RMP) arrested the soldiers in connection
with an incident which occurred while they were based in Helmand last
year. The incident was described as "an engagement with an insurgent",
with no civilians involved, and an investigation has been launched by
the Service Justice System.
The rules of engagement, largely derived from the Geneva Convention,
dictate under what circumstances British troops are allowed to open
fire, whether that is to prevent an attack by the enemy or in direct
contact.
The MoD said that like civilian police the RMP has a maximum of 96
hours to question the men before either charging them or releasing them,
although as they are serving soldiers they can then be "confined to
barracks".
The son of a billionaire sheikh today claimed
that police handed back his confiscated £200,000 supercar, and said:
“Arab money talks.”
The car was displayed outside New Scotland Yard to highlight a
campaign against uninsured drivers ordered by Commissioner Bernard
Hogan-Howe.
The Met said it would be auctioned or crushed unless
its owner, 28, who was stopped in South Kensington, produced the correct
paperwork. But it has now been returned.
Sheikh Rashid, son of
the Emir of Ajman, which is nicknamed “little Dubai”, today posted
photos of the car on his Facebook page with a triumphant message and a
smiley face.
He boasted: “My Ferrari got seized in London, then
they found out who i was and gave it back,” and added: “Arab money talks
:D”. However, Scotland Yard said the car was returned after the owner
obtained insurance, produced a valid driving licence and paid a fine,
recovery fee and storage costs.
Concerns have been raised by the National Secular
Society that the UK's stance on free speech could be compromised by an
agreement signed at the United Nations between this country and the
Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC).
The
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Baroness Sayeeda Warsi –
the new "Minister for Faith" - and pledges that theUKand the OIC will
"work together on issues of peace, stability and religious freedom."
At
present, the OIC is agitating at the United Nations for a global
blasphemy law that would make criticising or satirising religion a
punishable offence.
Terry Sanderson, president of the
National Secular Society, said: "We are all for co-operation between
nations to try to foster peace and understanding, but the concept of
'religious freedom' is one that the OIC has distorted to mean
restrictions on free expression.
"We hope that by
signing this document the UK will not in any way compromise its
commitment to human rights – particularly the human right to free
speech. The British Government has been steadfast in its opposition to
the OIC's blasphemy proposals up until now. We hope that this document
will not change that in any way."
Baroness Warsi's
other remit – as well as being 'Minister for Faith' – is at the Foreign
Office and includes being the lead minister responsible for Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Central Asia, the UN, the International
Criminal Court and the OIC, which is the largest multi-lateral
organisation in the world after the UN.
She became
the first British minister to speak at the OIC's conference in June 2011
in Astana, Kazakstan. Previously she had hosted the secretary-general
of the OIC in London and visited its secretariat in Jeddah, while she
was in Saudi Arabia for performing Hajj. This led to the appointment of
Britain's first special representative to organisation and its 57
members. Baroness Warsi has visited Pakistan five times during the past
two and a half years in government, a country, which was so central to
the formation of the Islamic Conference.
In the
landmark agreement there is a particular emphasis on promoting the "key
role Muslims have played in shaping modern Britain" and encouraging
Muslim communities to play a key role at all levels in public life.
Lady
Warsi said: "When I addressed the OIC Conference in Kazakhstanin June
2011, I said we face the global challenges together. This agreement
formalises that establishing our many, many areas of co-operation, from
security to conflict prevention; from religious freedom to human rights.
One of the central aims of my new role will be to strengthen this
relationship further and I am looking forward to ensuring we continue to
work closely to achieve our mutual goals."
She also
praised the Framework Co-operation Agreement, signed with the OIC's
secretary-general, for its focus on promoting inter-religious
understanding and interfaith dialogue, especially as these are two vital
areas in the senior minister's new governmental role.
Terry
Sanderson commented: "There is certainly a need for some kind of
inter-religious understanding among OIC member states, a number of which
suppress Christianity and other religions in a brutal and merciless
fashion.
"The blasphemy law which is being proposed
by the OIC on behalf of its members would be an entirely dangerous and
regressive step if it were to be approved at the UN. It is quite clear
that it would be used to persecute and oppress non-Muslim minorities in
Muslim-majority countries, as the domestic blasphemy law in Pakistan
does at present.
Mr Sanderson continued: "In Egypt the blasphemy laws are also used to get rid of political opponents
and are sometimes used as a means of revenge by neighbours or
colleagues who are in dispute. We do not need this kind of primitive
legislation in our democracies and we need reassurance from our
Government that their resolve remains unaffected by the signing of this
agreement with the OIC."
Concerns have been raised by the National Secular
Society that the UK's stance on free speech could be compromised by an
agreement signed at the United Nations between this country and the
Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC).