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James Gillingham has been sentenced to five years and six months in prison after admitting his role in an investment fraud which took approximately £1 million from more than 60 people. He pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Investors were cold called and promised monthly returns from apparently legitimate investments operated through companies claiming to have prestigious London offices. Police found that no money was invested and that payments made to earlier clients came from funds provided by other victims. The largest individual loss was £133,900.

Charges were authorised in 2020, but Gillingham left Britain and failed to attend court. He was subsequently deported from Singapore and arrested at Heathrow Airport in August 2025. The Crown Prosecution Service intends to pursue confiscation proceedings in an attempt to recover assets for compensation, although the amount available has not yet been established.

STORY

David Greenhalgh and Christos Farmakis have each been sentenced to 16 years in prison for operating an illegal international arms brokering business. The Crown Prosecution Service described the case as a landmark prosecution under British arms trafficking legislation.

Prosecutors said the pair attempted to arrange supplies of military equipment from former Soviet and eastern European countries between 2009 and 2016. The proposed transactions included assault rifles, ammunition, tanks, combat aircraft, missile launchers and surface to air missile systems intended for embargoed destinations including Libya, South Sudan, Iraq and Iran.

Greenhalgh and Farmakis were convicted following a trial at Southwark Crown Court. Evidence included correspondence discussing false certificates, disguised destinations and the use of third countries to avoid export controls. The Export Control Joint Unit said no licence applications had been submitted in connection with the proposed transactions.

STORY

Google could be required to offer British Android and Chrome users a choice of search provider when they first use their device or browser and again every year, under proposals published by the Competition and Markets Authority.

The available services could include artificial intelligence assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, provided they meet technical and security requirements. Services displayed on the selection screen would also be expected to identify publishers accurately and allow users to access the original material behind search results.

Google was designated as having strategic market status in search and search advertising during October 2025, allowing the regulator to impose targeted competition requirements. The CMA is consulting on the updated proposals until 9 October and expects to reach a final decision before the end of 2026.

STORY

The Government has proposed creating a national workplace health system intended to prevent employees leaving work because of illness or disability. Its Keep Britain Working review estimates that approximately 2.8 million people are economically inactive because of health conditions, an increase of around 800,000 since 2019.

The proposed system would combine more inclusive workplaces, accessible occupational health provision and improved information about sickness absence and employment retention. Employers would be encouraged to discuss health concerns earlier, make appropriate adjustments and prepare practical plans for employees remaining in or returning to work.

The review estimates that health related economic inactivity costs Britain approximately £212 billion each year through lost economic output, benefits, additional NHS costs and the effect upon unpaid carers. The proposed workplace standards and reporting arrangements are still being developed and tested, meaning their final form and effect upon employers have not yet been settled.

STORY

The Government has opened the second application window for the 2026 Sustainable Farming Incentive, making £233 million available to farmers and land managers in England. The scheme provides payments in return for measures intended to support sustainable food production, improve the environment and make farms more resilient to drought and changing weather conditions.

The funding includes the additional £50 million announced by the Prime Minister in August, alongside £3 million which was not allocated during the first application window. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the first window received 7,000 applications, with 3,100 agreements operational by 1 September and payments already reaching participating farms.

Farmers and land managers with at least three hectares of eligible agricultural land may apply. Around 21,000 farms with existing environmental land management agreements due to expire by the end of February 2027 will also be permitted to seek their next agreement early, before their current funding ends. Farming Minister Stephen Morgan said domestic food production was a matter of national security and that the funding would help businesses respond to climate related risks.

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Police are making inquiries after footage livestreamed by far right activist Daniel Thomas appeared to show him repeatedly stabbing and slashing an inflatable dinghy in the English Channel while a rescue worker was standing inside it. Thomas, who uses the name Danny Tommo, had followed boats carrying asylum seekers and filmed the incident after their occupants had been transferred to rescue vessels.

The footage reportedly shows Thomas warning the rescue worker to leave only after he had begun damaging the dinghy, before Thomas and his companions moved away. The livestream did not show what subsequently happened to the worker. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants condemned Thomas’s actions as violent and dangerous.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said inquiries into the incident were continuing. Six people were arrested during the wider protest operation for alleged offences including assaulting an emergency worker and aggravated trespass, although the report did not identify Thomas as one of those detained. The rescued asylum seekers were later transferred to a Border Force vessel following an exceptionally long and hazardous Channel crossing.

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Southern Water has been fined £2.4 million after admitting five environmental offences involving untreated sewage, diesel and other waste released around Faversham and Whitstable. The incidents occurred between 2019 and 2021 and affected Swalecliffe Brook, Faversham Creek and coastal waters near Whitstable Harbour.

The court heard that diesel from a leaking generator entered Swalecliffe Brook and the sea in July 2019, prompting warnings for people and their pets to avoid the water. Further incidents released untreated sewage into Faversham Creek and Swalecliffe Brook during 2020 and 2021. Around 70 dead fish, including eels, were discovered following one discharge, while warning signs advising against swimming remained at Tankerton and Herne Bay beaches for almost a week.

Southern Water pleaded guilty to all five charges at Medway Magistrates’ Court in April. District Judge Stephen Leake imposed the fine at Bromley Magistrates’ Court and ordered the company to pay £69,894 in costs and a £190 victim surcharge. The Environment Agency said it had undertaken 700 inspections of Southern Water sites during the past year and identified 400 required improvements. The company was separately fined £7.1 million earlier this year for pollution which closed beaches in Thanet.