Boy, 13, among six people arrested over murder of 14-year-old in Birmingham

Published

3 years ago

June 1, 2021

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Six people, including a 13-year-old boy, have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 14-year-old was chased and stabbed to death in Birmingham.

Police said a post-mortem examination confirmed the male victim died from a stab wound to the chest.

A 33-year-old man was arrested from an address in Kingstanding, Birmingham, on Tuesday afternoon.

A 13-year-old boy was later detained in the Walsall area.

Police said another man aged 38 and a 14-year-old boy were arrested from a vehicle in Cheshire while two men, aged 36 and 35, surrendered to separate police stations in the West Midlands.

All six suspects remain in custody, police said.

The young victim is thought to have been chased into College Road in the Kingstanding area of Birmingham at around 7.30pm on Monday before being stabbed.

An ambulance arrived at 7.35pm but the boy was confirmed dead at the scene a short time later.

The arrests come after West Midlands Police said there is “nothing to suggest” the stabbing was racially-motivated.

Officers later added they are “keeping an open mind” about the motive for the attack.

The force has voluntarily referred the case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after “looking at previous incidents involving the victim”.

Two groups of youths clashed in front of police near to the scene around an hour after the stabbing.

Sky correspondent Frazer Maude has said police quickly dealt with the incident and the two groups were separated.

Some were placed in handcuffs but police have said no arrests were made.

Detective Chief Inspector Stu Mobberley, leading the investigation, said: “We’ve made rapid progress on the investigation so far and these arrests are a significant step forward.

“Our officers have executed a series of warrants in the region and we’ve worked with police forces outside the area to apprehend suspects.

“We’re still speaking to witnesses and really need to hear from anyone who has seen or heard something, even if they think we may already know or they’re not sure how important it is.

“We are aware of many different rumours circulating about the motive for the murder but we are keeping an open mind and pursuing all lines of enquiry. We ask people not to speculate on social media.”

Labour MP Jack Dromey, whose Erdington constituency includes the area where the stabbing happened, said: “Truly shocking that a 14-year-old teenage boy in Kingstanding was stabbed to death this evening.”

Anyone who can help the investigation is asked to contact police by Live Chat on the force’s website, calling 101 quoting log 3313 of 31/5, or calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111

UK

Dagenham fire: Residents’ fury at ‘woeful’ response to blaze that nearly killed them

Published

13 mins ago

October 4, 2024

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Dagenham fire: Residents' fury at 'woeful' response to blaze that nearly killed them

Residents who escaped a fire in a “deathtrap” block of flats have told Sky News they feel abandoned after both the management firm and owner of the building have failed to meet them.

The response has been branded “woeful” by the local council – who have had to pay £500,000 to support residents who have lost everything.

It’s been five weeks since people ran for their lives in the early hours after fire ripped through the privately owned Spectrum Building in east London during works to remove dangerous cladding.

Residents said fire alarms failed to sound and an escape route was padlocked, which meant some had to climb fences to flee.

“They don’t care… we are nothing to them,” said Kasia Stantke as we sat in her budget hotel room next to a busy dual carriageway where she’s been living for most of the past five weeks.

“We are worthless [to them], why would they not meet us?” she asked.

The 43-year-old management accountant describes the building that she, and 80 other residents, called home as a “death trap”.

She was horrified to learn various works to address fire safety problems had been ongoing for the past four years.

“The people responsible should be prosecuted, if guilty they should go to jail,” said Kasia.

Other residents have told Sky News they too feel abandoned.

Some are tenants who were renting their flats, others own the leases of their properties.

The freeholder – who owns the building – employed a firm called Block Management to manage the communal areas.

One woman described the response since the fire as “an insult” that has compounded the trauma of that night.

A children’s nursery on the ground floor has also had to move to a new temporary home.

Sky News tracked down the director of Block Management, who reluctantly agreed to speak to us near their headquarters in Suffolk.

David Collinson acknowledged the situation residents have been left in is “absolutely awful”.

However, he rejects the council’s claim that his company should have led on support for residents.

“I’m very sorry we don’t have that legal obligation,” he said.

“We are employed as a block manager to manage the common parts of the property, not the leasehold flats and not the tenants.

“We don’t have a contract with them. Obviously, we’re massively sympathetic. And if I could wave a magic wand to help them out, I promise you, you know, that’s exactly what we would do.”

“I would love to go meet with the residents, but I haven’t,” he added. “We physically haven’t got anything tangible to say to the residents.”

We asked if he was aware of the history of fire safety problems in the block.

He said: “There’s been various projects over probably the last 48 months of fire remediation works. And to the best of our knowledge, everything was done as it should be.”

“The freeholder has the ultimate responsibility. It’s his building,” Mr Collinson added.

‘Attitude needs to change’

Sky News has tried repeatedly to reach Brijesh Patel, the director of Arinium, the listed freeholder, but he has not responded to calls or messages.

The local authority has had to step in with emergency help and accommodation for residents and has so far spent over £500,000.

The leader of the council told Sky News the management company’s remote communications have been unacceptable given the circumstances.

“Contacting remotely from an office? It’s woeful, isn’t it?” Councillor Dominic Twomey told Sky News.

“If Block Management are symptomatic, and I’m hopeful they’re not, of management companies, then I think that attitude needs to change.”

“Just go and talk to people,” he pleaded.

After the fire, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner visited the Spectrum building and promised to make sure residents were supported.

She also vowed to accelerate the remediation works to remove dangerous cladding on residential blocks around the country.

Cllr Twomey added: “It has to be a national change… more teeth for local authorities like us.

“Because if we had more powers to speak to and tackle freeholders or block management companies, if we could actually make them come to the table and engage, that would just be a step in the right direction.”

The fire, which broke out on 26 August, is still under investigation by the Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade and the Health and Safety Executive.

More immediately for Kasia, the erection of scaffolding outside her budget hotel room has brought the memories of that night flooding back.

“I’m scared now again, I’m really hoping it will be a week or so and I will be able to move on,” she said.

“But for now, another scaffolding outside my window.”

“Am I again trapped? What’s going to happen now? I can’t believe it, it’s a living nightmare, absolutely,” she added.

UK

World’s first ovarian cancer vaccine being developed in UK ‘could wipe out the disease’

Published

13 mins ago

October 4, 2024

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World's first ovarian cancer vaccine being developed in UK 'could wipe out the disease'

The world’s first ovarian cancer vaccine could wipe the disease out, researchers have said.

OvarianVax is a vaccine that teaches the immune system to recognise and attack the earliest stages of ovarian cancer.

It’s being developed by scientists at the University of Oxford.

The hope is that women could receive the jab preventatively on the NHS with the goal of eradicating the disease.

Experts have suggested it could work in a similar way to the human papillomavirus (HPV) jab, which is on track to stamp out cervical cancer.

Professor Ahmed Ahmed and his team at the ovarian cancer cell laboratory at MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the university are working to identify cellular targets for the vaccine.

They will establish which proteins on the surface of early-stage ovarian cancer cells are best recognised by the immune system and how effectively the vaccine kills models of the disease in a lab.

Then they can take it to human clinical trials with people who have BRCA gene mutations – which massively increase the risk of ovarian cancer – and healthy women too.

Cancer Research UK is funding the study with up to £600,000 over the next three years.

Asked if ovarian cancer could be wiped out with the new jab, Professor Ahmed said: “Absolutely – that would be the aim.

“We still have a long way to go but it is a really exciting time. I’m very optimistic myself.”

Presently, there is no screening test for ovarian cancer, which is often diagnosed late because symptoms like bloating and no appetite can be vague.

Women with BRCA mutations, such as actress Angelina Jolie, are known to be at high risk.

Almost 45% of people with an altered BRCA1 gene and almost 20% with an altered BRCA2 gene will develop ovarian cancer by the age of 80, compared with just 2% in the general population.

Currently, women with BRCA1/2 mutations are recommended to have their ovaries removed by the age of 35, which means they go through early menopause and cannot have children in the future.

There are around 7,500 new ovarian cancer cases every year in the UK, with BRCA mutations accounting for around 5-15% of these.

Professor Ahmed said BRCA mutation carriers could benefit greatly from the new vaccine because “they wouldn’t then have to have their ovaries removed”.

He added: “I am optimistic because we are talking about preventing the very first few cancer cells that develop – and not trying to cure or treat or prevent the tumour coming back.

“I’m hoping that, because the number of cells that we will be targeting is quite small, we will have success.

“We’ve seen success with the HPV vaccine – it’s really, really incredibly effective.”

While the “full-blown timeline” for the vaccine being approved “might be many years away” the visible impact could be sooner.

Professor Ahmed added that, through clinical trials, he would hope to start seeing the vaccine’s impact “in four or five years on the healthy population”.

UK

Laura Kuenssberg reveals more about axed BBC Boris Johnson interview – and the ‘brighter side’ of blunder

Published

13 mins ago

October 4, 2024

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Laura Kuenssberg reveals more about axed BBC Boris Johnson interview - and the 'brighter side' of blunder

Laura Kuenssberg has explained more about why a planned BBC interview with Boris Johnson could not go ahead – and revealed the “brighter side” after she said she accidentally sent the former prime minister her briefing notes.

In her weekly newsletter, Kuenssberg, who presents the broadcaster’s Sunday politics show, addressed her recent “embarrassing mistake”, saying it was sad and frustrating that the sit-down chat with Mr Johnson – who she referred to as “one of the most consequential politicians of our time” – could not happen.

She said when preparing for an interview, she works with a “tiny group” of producers to figure out what the most important subjects of the conversation might be and then imagines how an interviewee might reply.

Politics latest: PM warned of motives behind freebies

“Doing the homework is vital, even if it’s a subject you already know a lot about – especially with a politician like Johnson, who is not always fond of answering questions,” Kuenssberg wrote.

She added that she regularly bins a lot of prepped questions but would “never, ever, tell the politician or any guest” them ahead of time.

Watch Sky News interview with Boris Johnson throughout the day on Tuesday 8 October

“If they knew what was coming, they could prepare all their answers, and it would be a totally artificial exercise,” she said.

“Nor could we have changed our question subjects. If I hadn’t asked about Brexit, COVID, partygate, his resignation or his relationship with the truth, we simply wouldn’t have been doing our job.

“So, sadly and frustratingly, we just couldn’t go ahead.”

The interview by the BBC was set to be the first of a media round for the former prime minister to publicise his new book, Unleashed, which is released on 10 October.

It had been heavily promoted by the broadcaster for the past fortnight, but the BBC’s press team said sharing of the notes now makes the conversation “untenable”.

Finding the “brighter side” in what Kuenssberg referred to on Wednesday as an “embarrassing” error, she said other people had been in touch to share their own gaffes.

Kuenssberg said in one example, “a former government adviser messaged what she thought was her colleague, complaining that the cabinet minister she worked for was in ‘a right grump’. Except, unfortunately, she sent it to, yes, the actual cabinet minister”.

Another example Kuenssberg gave is said to have included a former prime minister of another country accidentally being sent an email in which they were called a “very bad word”. The parliamentary staffer in question said the prime minister then read the email during PMQs.