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A convicted sex offender who used TikTok to groom young girls has admitted more than 40 further offences after additional victims were identified. Dominic Woodcock, 23, pleaded guilty to offences including causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, distributing indecent images and engaging in sexual communication with a child. He was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on 14 August and will remain in prison until he is sentenced in December.

Woodcock had previously been jailed for four years and eight months in 2024 after an investigation found that he had used the social media platform to target children. West Midlands Police said he operated a fake gymnastics promotion account and initially contacted young girls asking them to send videos of themselves performing gymnastics routines. After establishing contact, he would seek indecent images and threaten to expose victims online if they refused his requests.

Further children targeted by Woodcock were subsequently identified, allowing officers from West Midlands Police’s Child Abuse Investigation team to bring the additional charges. The force said officers continue to work to identify and prosecute people who target children online and urged parents and carers to discuss internet use with young people, establish appropriate boundaries and ensure children understand the risks associated with sharing images online.

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Sue Gray has described her period as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff in Downing Street as “unbearable”, saying repeated internal briefings and leaks created an atmosphere in which she feared conversations could be recorded and passed to journalists. Speaking publicly in detail about her departure for the first time, Gray said the situation had become extremely difficult and had begun to affect her personal life.

Gray said she raised her concerns with Starmer on several occasions but was disappointed that more action was not taken. She also disputed reports from the period suggesting she had attempted to move senior adviser Morgan McSweeney away from the Prime Minister, saying discussions about office arrangements had been misrepresented. Some former Downing Street advisers have challenged Gray’s account, with one telling the Guardian that they did not recognise claims of a culture of briefings against her.

The Labour peer also questioned the clarity of Starmer’s political direction during his period in office, arguing that leadership required a clear vision and agenda. She contrasted his approach with that of his successor Andy Burnham, whom she said had entered Downing Street with a clearer idea of what he wanted to achieve. Gray resigned as Starmer’s chief of staff in October 2024 after only a few months in Government, saying at the time that controversy surrounding her position risked becoming a distraction.

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Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has accused Reform UK leader Nigel Farage of using references to Britain’s Christian heritage as a means of channelling anti-Muslim sentiment. Williams, who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 until 2012, made the comments in an interview with New Humanist magazine in which he discussed the growth of Christian nationalism and the role of religion in contemporary politics.

Williams said anxiety about migration and hostility towards Islam were among the factors driving Christian nationalism in Britain and argued that presenting the UK as a Christian society could provide political support for anti-Muslim arguments. Farage has repeatedly emphasised what he describes as Britain’s Christian or Judeo-Christian inheritance, including saying at Easter that the Christian values on which the country was built should be a source of pride. Earlier this year, he criticised an iftar event in Trafalgar Square, describing it as an attempt to dominate British culture.

Williams also questioned whether Farage’s interest in Christianity reflected a deep theological commitment and raised similar concerns about activist Tommy Robinson’s public identification with the faith. Reform has increasingly incorporated Christianity into its political messaging, with theologian James Orr taking a senior role in the party and arguing that a Reform government would be more supportive of Christians than its rivals. Farage has described himself as a member of the Church of England, although he has acknowledged that he is not a regular churchgoer.

STORY

Unite the union failed to establish and maintain a satisfactory system of financial controls during 2021, according to the final report of an independent investigation commissioned by the Certification Officer. The investigation was commissioned in June 2025 following allegations of financial irregularities dating from 2019 and the final report was received by the Certification Officer this month.

The investigator found that during the year ending 31 December 2021 Unite did not maintain satisfactory controls over its accounting records, cash holdings, receipts and remittances, contrary to requirements in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The report did not find that the breach arose from refusal or wilful neglect.

The Certification Officer said Unite has since taken substantial steps to address the control failures, including significant strengthening of its finance functions. Following the investigation, the office will review statutory requirements governing annual returns and issue new guidance. It will also recommend financial awareness and compliance training for executive committees and boards of trade unions and employer associations.

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A £28 million Government backed programme has been launched to develop technologies capable of storing clean energy for more than 100 hours. The Ultra Long Duration Energy Storage Challenge will provide grants for projects including advanced battery technologies and underground hydrogen storage, with the aim of allowing renewable electricity to be stored when supply exceeds demand and released when it is needed.

UK Research and Innovation will administer the funding, with applicants expected to develop systems capable of supplying electricity for at least 100 hours, equivalent to more than four days. The programme will focus on new electrochemical storage technologies which are not yet commercialised at scale and on systems which can store hydrogen underground before releasing it for use when required. An initial competition will make up to £3 million available for project development studies.

The Government said improved storage could reduce reliance on gas fired generation during periods when wind and solar output is low. It estimates that underground hydrogen storage has the potential to reduce total energy system costs by between £14 billion and £50 billion between 2035 and 2050. The announcement completes the rollout of £102 million of Clean Energy Challenges, which also include a £74 million programme focused on making electricity demand more flexible.

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More than one million students have received GCSE results across England, with Ofqual recording 5,720,045 results issued on Thursday 20 August. A total of 1,047,750 students at 6,040 schools and colleges received GCSE results. Across students of all ages, the average number of GCSEs taken was five, while 16 year old students took an average of eight.

Among GCSE results issued to 16 year olds, 23.1% were at grade 7 or above and 70.7% were at grade 4 or above. London recorded the highest regional proportions, with 30.2% of results at grade 7 or above and 75.5% at grade 4 or above. In the West Midlands, the corresponding figures were 19.7% and 66.6%. Ofqual said its figures are provisional and results can change following reviews or appeals.

Mathematics was the GCSE subject taken by the largest number of students, with 851,250 receiving a result, followed by English language with 819,260 and English literature with 613,550. Ofqual also recorded 363,210 technical award results and 11,185 technical certificate results at level 1/2 and level 2, alongside the GCSE results issued this summer.

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A Doncaster bar has faced calls for a boycott after publishing a Facebook post which pictured a female traffic warden and criticised her appearance during a dispute over parking enforcement. The post was made by The Harewood, a bar and restaurant on Waterdale in Doncaster city centre, and subsequently attracted criticism from people who accused the venue of bullying and making a personal attack on a worker carrying out her job.

The Doncaster Free Press reported that the photograph of the civil enforcement officer was shared as part of a complaint about parking enforcement but that much of the subsequent reaction focused on the decision to comment on the woman’s appearance. Some social media users described the post as “vile” and “bullying”, while others said any disagreement over parking restrictions or enforcement should have been directed at the council rather than an individual member of staff.

The Harewood is based at 28 Waterdale in Doncaster’s Civil and Cultural Quarter. City of Doncaster Council is responsible for parking enforcement in the city and operates a process through which motorists can challenge penalty charge notices where they believe a ticket has been issued incorrectly. The controversy has prompted significant discussion locally, including calls from some residents for customers to boycott the venue following the Facebook post.

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Nine people have been arrested after Greater Manchester Police carried out 12 simultaneous warrants across Bolton and Tameside as part of an investigation into suspected Class A drug supply. Officers from the force’s Serious and Organised Crime Group, supported by the Tactical Aid Unit, carried out the raids from around 6am on Wednesday 19 August. The investigation began in September 2025 and police said nearly a year of intelligence gathering had led to the operation.

Two men in their 20s were arrested at addresses on Hurst Street and Rishton Lane on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Officers said they found what was believed to be around two kilograms of cocaine at one property. A shipping container at a self storage site on Folds Road in Bolton was also searched, where police seized a safe containing about £2,000, a cash counting machine and four bags each containing more than one kilogram of white powder which was subsequently identified as cocaine.

Police also seized £50,000 in cash from one of the addresses. In total, eight men and one woman aged between 20 and 56 were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Detective Sergeant Richard McCorry said the operation was intended to disrupt suspected organised crime activity across Greater Manchester and confirmed that the investigation remains ongoing, with further arrests expected.

STORY

A murder investigation has been launched after a 52-year-old woman was fatally stabbed at an address in Shepherd’s Bush. Metropolitan Police officers were called to Askew Road at 8.19am on Tuesday 18 August following reports of a stabbing and attended alongside the London Ambulance Service. Two women, aged 52 and 32, were found suffering from stab wounds.

The 52-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene despite attempts by medical professionals to save her. Her next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specially trained officers. The 32-year-old woman was taken to hospital, where her injuries were being assessed. A 48-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. He was taken to hospital as a precaution before being discharged into police custody, where he remained.

Detective Inspector Richard MacKenzie said officers were working to establish the full circumstances of the incident and currently believed it to have been an isolated incident within a residential address. Police officers were remaining in the area to provide reassurance and investigators have appealed for anyone with information, CCTV or doorbell footage which could assist the inquiry to contact the Metropolitan Police.

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Russian opposition politician Lev Shlosberg has been sentenced to 11 years and one month in a penal colony after being convicted over statements and social media activity opposing the war in Ukraine. The Pskov City Court sentenced the 63-year-old deputy chairman of the liberal Yabloko party on 17 August after finding him guilty of repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian armed forces and disseminating what authorities described as deliberately false information about the military.

The charges related to Shlosberg’s participation in an online discussion about the war and his sharing of a social media post featuring a Daily Mirror front page showing Vladimir Putin and an injured Ukrainian woman. Shlosberg denied wrongdoing and described the proceedings as a political trial, while continuing to call for an immediate ceasefire. Amnesty International condemned the prosecution as retaliation for peaceful expression and called on the Russian authorities to release him immediately and overturn his conviction.

The sentence came amid wider pressure on Yabloko, which is the only registered Russian political party openly calling for an end to the war. Russia’s Supreme Court barred the party from taking part in September’s State Duma election on 10 August and rejected its appeal against that decision a week later. Amnesty has also called for an end to the prosecution of Yabloko members and supporters and for Russian legislation criminalising peaceful anti-war expression to be repealed.