Tag: News Story

STORY

A Bradford man who used his wife’s identity to secure £100,000 of Bounce Back Loan funds he wasn’t entitled to has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment after admitting a string of Covid-era fraud offences. Shohid Ahmed, 40, applied for three maximum-value loans on behalf of Red Square Restaurants Limited, trading as Ruby’s Lounge, using his wife’s name because she had a stronger credit history. Although one application was refused, he received £100,000 in May and June 2020 despite the business having already applied to strike off its Companies House registration and not trading.

To conceal his actions, Ahmed created a false director by filing companies house paperwork naming an unwitting tenant of his father’s as the restaurant’s new manager. He then fabricated invoices, including one for a £15,000 interior redesign, to suggest the borrowed cash had been spent legitimately, when in fact it was not used for the company’s benefit. Ahmed pleaded guilty earlier this year to offences under the Fraud Act 2006, Companies Act 2006 and Insolvency Act 1986. At Bradford Crown Court on 27 May, Judge Jonathan Rose QC described his conduct as “highly deceptive” noting he had implicated an innocent member of the public in the deception.

Ahmed has so far repaid just £5,000 of the stolen funds. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Insolvency Service is now pursuing the recovery of the remaining £95,000. In addition to his custodial term, Ahmed was disqualified from acting as a company director for 11 years following earlier misconduct at Red Square Restaurants.

STORY

Ofwat, the regulator for England and Wales’s water industry, has imposed its largest-ever penalty on Thames Water, fining the company a total of £122.7 million after finding systemic failures in its wastewater management and improper payments to shareholders. The fine is split into two parts, firstly, £104.5 million for breaching wastewater rules, Ofwat’s investigation uncovered that Thames Water allowed raw sewage to flow into rivers and streams on hundreds of occasions in 2024, with storm overflows spilling “routinely and not in exceptional circumstances” causing extensive environmental damage. Secondly, £18.2 million for paying dividends to investors despite record pollution and poor customer service performance, marking the first time Ofwat has penalised a water company for dividend rule breaches.

David Black, Chief Executive of Ofwat, said the penalties reflected a “clear-cut case where Thames Water has let down its customers and failed to protect the environment” adding that the regulator would not hesitate to act again if similar failings recur. Thames Water serves around 16 million customers in London and the Thames Valley but has been grappling with nearly £20 billion of debt. Earlier this year, it secured a £3 billion emergency loan to stave off collapse and is in advanced talks with private equity firm KKR over a potential takeover and restructuring plan.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed welcomed the fines as evidence that “the era of profiting from failure is over” while environmental groups and opposition politicians renewed calls for the company to be placed into a special administration regime or brought back into public ownership to safeguard Britain’s waterways. Ofwat confirmed that customers would not bear the cost of the fines; instead, the penalties will be met by the company and its investors.

STORY

A husband-and-wife team who ran the wedding entertainment company Solfan1 Limited—trading as The Best Singing Waiters—have been disqualified as company directors for eight years after continuing to take customer payments when they knew the business was on the brink of collapse.

Frederick Reeves, 49 (also known as Jamie Reeves), and his wife Claire Reeves, 41, of Dickens Place, Wigan, ran the surprise ‘singing waiter’ service, in which performers blended in as catering staff before bursting into song. Despite mounting debts and a winding-up petition from HM Revenue & Customs for more than £200,000, the couple carried on accepting deposits and full payments from 43 customers across the UK between 28 March and the company’s liquidation on 1 May 2024, receiving some £43,590 in total.

Solfan1 Limited was incorporated in November 2015 and went into liquidation with liabilities exceeding £700,000 and assets of just over £168,000. Although Frederick Reeves was never formally appointed a director, he acknowledged acting in that capacity when accepting his disqualification.

Rob Clarke, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said the Reeveses’ actions “fell well short of the standards we expect of company directors” and left many couples “heartbroken” when the promised performers failed to appear at their weddings.

The bans prevent both Frederick and Claire Reeves from promoting, forming or managing any company without the court’s permission until May 2033.

STORY

The Government today announced a sweeping set of reforms and financial measures designed to turbocharge smaller housebuilders and accelerate the delivery of thousands of new homes across England. Unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, the package simplifies planning rules, eases regulatory burdens and unlocks fresh funding for small and medium-sized enterprises, aiming to deliver 1.5 million homes under the Government’s Plan for Change milestone.

Under the new framework, developments of up to nine homes will benefit from faster, officer-led decisions and streamlined Biodiversity Net Gain requirements, removing the need for many small-scale schemes to return to full planning committees. Meanwhile, sites of 10–49 homes will enter a newly created “medium site” category, exempt from the Building Safety Levy and subject to simplified environmental rules, cutting costs and speeding up delivery.

To bolster land supply and financing, Homes England will reserve more of its estates exclusively for SMEs, and a forthcoming National Housing Delivery Fund will offer long-term credit facilities and lending alliances tailored to smaller builders. Additionally, a pilot “Small Sites Aggregator” will launch in Bristol, Sheffield and Lewisham to bundle hard-to-develop plots and attract private investment, with a focus on creating new social rent homes in underused urban areas.

The announcement is backed by a further £100 million in SME Accelerator Loans from an expanded Home Building Fund, £10 million for local authorities to recruit environmental specialists, and a £1.2 million PropTech Innovation Fund to spur digital solutions for site delivery. Together, officials say, these steps will restore SMEs’ share of the market—once 40% in the 1980s—and support the training of the next generation of construction apprentices.

Angela Rayner said, “For decades, smaller housebuilders have been hamstrung by red tape and high costs. Today, we’re levelling the playing field so they can deliver the homes our communities desperately need and get working people onto the housing ladder.”

STORY

A Stoke-on-Trent man who subjected his former partner to a sustained campaign of violence and coercive control has had his originally suspended sentence overturned by the Court of Appeal and replaced with a two-year and four-month prison term.

Philip Humphreys, 39, was first sentenced on 7 March 2025 to 18 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, alongside 200 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation days, after pleading guilty to one count of controlling and coercive behaviour. Following a referral by the Attorney General under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, the Court of Appeal ruled that the initial term failed to reflect the seriousness of his offences and imposed an immediate custodial sentence of 28 months on 23 May 2025.

The court heard that Humphreys’ abuse began soon after he moved in with his partner in April 2022. He routinely accused her of infidelity, monitored her whereabouts, dictated her clothing choices and stole approximately £6,000 from her—most of which was spent on drugs. His violence escalated during a holiday when he strangled the victim and dragged her backwards in a hotel corridor, only stopping when interrupted by a receptionist. Even after their relationship ended, Humphreys continued to terrorise her by driving past her home in a sustained pattern of intimidation.

Lord Hermer KC, speaking on behalf of the Attorney General, condemned Humphreys’ “sustained physical and psychological campaign of abuse” and praised the victim’s bravery in coming forward. “Philip Humphreys is a violent man,” he said. “I welcome the court’s decision to increase his sentence, and hope it serves as a strong warning to domestic abusers that we will use the full force of the law to keep violent offenders off our streets.”

STORY

The disgraced Michelle Mone has refused to take part in the BBC documentary ‘The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone’ which has made a further series of allegations about the scandal hit politician. Mone refused to quit the House of Lords despite admitting that she had lied about her involvement and links with PPE contacts. Mone defended herself by saying that “lying to the press is not a crime”, rejecting the potential damage to the integrity of the political process. Despite threats made against them by Mone, David Conn and other journalists from the Guardian newspaper continued to seek the truth over her personal conduct.

Stripped of the Conservative whip and subject to a National Crime Agency investigation, she refused to respond to allegations made by former advisers and legal experts that were made on the programme.

The documentary asks, “How did one of the UK’s most lauded entrepreneurs become its most notorious Covid profiteer?” and the programme will be available on BBC iPlayer.

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In a keynote address at the Education World Forum 2025, Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson spotlighted the Department for Education’s Open Innovation Team (OIT) and unveiled fresh investments to trial cutting-edge educational technologies, including artificial intelligence tools, across England’s schools. Phillipson told delegates that harnessing robust evidence must underpin every step of EdTech adoption. “Working with the Open Innovation Team, we’ll be engaging the sector to understand what works. We’ll look at how tools, including AI, can improve things like staff workload, pupil outcomes and inclusivity. Evidence must be at the heart of all we do, on EdTech and right across education” she said.

The Secretary of State announced a new funding package, to be administered by the OIT, which will support schools, colleges and technology partners in piloting AI-driven platforms for lesson planning, marking automation and personalised learning. Early trials are set to focus on easing teacher administrative burdens and tailoring support for pupils with additional needs. Since its launch, the OIT has built collaborative partnerships with universities, start-ups and multi-academy trusts to evaluate a range of digital innovations. This latest commitment aims to scale successful pilots into mainstream practice, ensuring that promising tools proven to boost attainment and engagement can be deployed more widely.

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The Court of Appeal has boosted the prison term of former carer Jamil Talukder to eight years, more than doubling his original sentence, after he was found to have sexually abused a severely disabled child in his care. The increase follows a referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme by Solicitor General Lucy Rigby KC MP. Talukder, 23, of Sheffield, arrived in the UK from Bangladesh in October 2022 to study marketing and began working as a paid carer in October 2023. Evidence presented to the court included covert recordings made by the child’s mother, which showed Talukder committing multiple offences against the vulnerable youngster. Victim statements revealed that the primary victim now distrusts all male carers as a result of Talukder’s actions.

During the appeal hearing, it also emerged that Talukder had abused a second child and had the indecency recorded on his own phone. On 27 February 2025, Sheffield Crown Court had sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment for six counts of sexual abuse. The Court of Appeal, agreeing that the initial term was unduly lenient, imposed an eight-year custodial sentence on 22 May 2025. Solicitor General Lucy Rigby KC MP said the revised sentence “reflects the gravity of Talukder’s betrayal of trust and the lasting harm caused to his victims.” She extended her sympathies to the children and their families, emphasising the government’s commitment to ensure that protectors of the vulnerable face appropriate punishment when they offend.

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The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has announced the appointment of Helena Owen as His Majesty’s next Ambassador to the Republic of Chad. Ms Owen will succeed Ross Matthews and is due to take up her post in N’Djamena in August 2025, where she will lead the UK’s diplomatic mission during a pivotal period for regional stability and development.

A career diplomat with over 20 years’ service, Ms Owen most recently served as Deputy Head of Unit for Sudan in the Sahel, Sudan and South Sudan Department at the FCDO. In that role she coordinated complex humanitarian and development programmes across some of Africa’s most challenging environments. Before that, she was Development Counsellor in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where she drove initiatives to strengthen UK–West African trade and investment ties.

STORY

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has launched a formal inquiry following a dangerous near miss involving a South Western Railway passenger train and a team of three track workers inside Bookham Tunnel, Surrey, on 29 April 2025.

At approximately 11:44 am, a southbound service passed through Bookham Tunnel at around 30 mph (48 km/h) as the workers were returning to Bookham station after maintaining tunnel-end telephones. Two of the workers sought safety in purpose-built refuges, while the third worker leant against the tunnel wall as the train swept past. Fortunately, there were no injuries and no damage to infrastructure or rolling stock.

Initial findings indicate that a line blockage had been requested from the signalling centre but, due to an administrative error, the protection applied to nearby Mickleham Tunnel instead of Bookham Tunnel. The RAIB investigation will:

Reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the incorrect line blockage

Examine planning and risk-management procedures for on-track work

Review the roles, responsibilities and working patterns of the staff involved

Identify any underlying management or organisational factors

Stephen Wilkinson, RAIB Chief Inspector, said:

“Although no one was harmed on this occasion, the proximity of moving trains to track-side workers represents a significant safety risk. Our independent investigation will aim to uncover how the procedural breakdown occurred and recommend measures to prevent a recurrence.”