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Gun licence applicants will be required to undergo medical checks as part of new measures introduced following the Plymouth shooting.

The home secretary announced that doctors will have to assess the mental health of those applying for a firearms licence and tell police whether candidates have “any relevant medical conditions”.

Priti Patel said police will have a “legal duty” to consider the new statutory guidance when it is published in the coming weeks.

“We must do all that we possibly can to avoid something like this happening again,” she said.

All forces in England and Wales have been asked to review their current firearm application processes and assess whether they need to revisit any existing licences after police came under criticism for allowing the Plymouth attacker to own a gun.

In a 12-minute rampage on Thursday evening, Jake Davison, 22, killed five people, including his mother and a three-year-old girl, with a shotgun before taking his own life.

The apprentice crane operator had used a local telephone helpline during the pandemic to request mental health support.

More on Jake Davison

Prospective gun owners will also have their social media activity reviewed amid concerns that Davison’s accounts suggested an obsession with “incel” culture.

The “involuntarily celibate” online movement involves men who express hostility and extreme resentment towards those who are sexually active, particularly women.

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Minute’s silence held for Plymouth shooting victims

The subculture has now been associated with at least six mass shootings and the murder of 46 people in the US.

Davison’s YouTube account also showed that he had liked several videos related to guns and had subscribed to channels with firearms content, including “God family and guns” and “The Gun Collective”.

The police watchdog is already investigating the Devon and Cornwall force over Davison’s possession of a shotgun and shotgun certificate, which were returned to him last month.

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Plymouth gunman speaks of ‘frustrations’ in YouTube video

They had been confiscated last December following an assault three months earlier.

In a written statement to Parliament, Ms Patel said the new rules draw on “previous lessons learned” and “will ensure better consistency and improved standards across police firearms licensing departments”.

“The UK has some of the strictest gun control legislation in the world and comparatively low levels of gun crime,” she said.

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Who is Jake Davison?

“Yet while tragedies like last Thursday’s are rare, their impact is profound.

“We constantly assess what sensible and proportionate steps we can take to help prevent such terrible loss of life.”

She said police continue to investigate whether Davison’s rampage was terrorism-related amid calls for it to be reclassified as a terror attack due to its links with the incel movement.

The home secretary said the legal definition is “sufficiently broad” to “capture modern causes of terrorism, including ‘incel’ violence” – but that the decision is for police, not the government.

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Prince Harry denies having ‘physical fight’ with Prince Andrew

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Prince Harry denies having 'physical fight' with Prince Andrew

Prince Harry has denied having a fight with Prince Andrew after it was claimed “punches were thrown” between the pair in 2013.

The allegations appeared in excerpts from a new book on the Duke of York being serialised in the Daily Mail.

It claims a row started after Prince Andrew said something behind Harry’s back, with Andrew “left with a bloody nose” and the pair needing to be broken up.

It also claimed the Duke of York once warned his nephew about marrying Meghan and suggested it wouldn’t last long.

However, a spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex strongly denied the claims.

“I can confirm Prince Harry and Prince Andrew have never had a physical fight, nor did Prince Andrew ever make the comments he is alleged to have made about the Duchess of Sussex to Prince Harry,” a statement said.

They said a legal letter had been sent to the Daily Mail due to “gross inaccuracies, damaging and defamatory remarks” in its reporting.

The book – Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York – is billed as the first joint biography of Prince Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.

It’s said to be based on interviews with “over a hundred people who have never spoken before”.

Prince Harry – in his own 2023 book Spare – made his own claims of an altercation with Prince William.

He said his brother once knocked him to the floor amid a confrontation over Meghan’s “rude” and “abrasive” behaviour.

“It all happened so fast. So very fast,” Harry wrote in the book.

“He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me.”

“I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out,” the prince added.

Harry claimed his brother wanted him to hit him back “but I chose not to”, and that William later returned and apologised.

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The Duke Of Sussex has described his relationship with his family as extremely strained after he quit as a working royal and took legal action against the media, and over the removal of his UK police protection.

He claimed earlier this year the King wouldn’t speak to him and there had “been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family”.

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Search for British woman who disappeared from Greek beach

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Search for British woman who disappeared from Greek beach

A search is under way for a British woman who went missing from a beach in Kavala, northern Greece.

The Hellenic Coastguard said the port authority received reports that Michele Ann Joy Bourda, 59, was missing on the evening of 1 August.

The woman went missing from the Ofrynio beach area.

The coastguard is investigating reports that her belongings were left on the beach.

On Sunday, three recreational craft, five fishing boats and two patrol boats were involved in the search.

According to local media, she lived with her husband, who is reportedly of Greek origin, in the Macedonian city of Serres.

She had gone to the beach with him and reportedly vanished while he was sleeping on a sunbed.

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The charity LifeLine Hellas, which put out an appeal to try and find Ms Bourda, said she went missing at noon on 1 August.

She has been described as having straight blonde hair up to her shoulders and being 1.73m tall.

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Martin Lewis reveals who is due for car finance compensation – and how much they’ll get

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Martin Lewis reveals who is due for car finance compensation - and how much they'll get

Martin Lewis says motorists who were mis-sold car finance are likely to receive “hundreds, not thousands of pounds” – with regulators launching a consultation on a new compensation scheme.

The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com believes it is “very likely” that about 40% of Britons who entered personal contact purchase or hire purchase agreements between 2007 and 2021 will be eligible for payouts.

“Discretionary commission arrangements” saw brokers and dealers charge higher levels of interest so they could receive more commission, without telling consumers.

Pics: PA
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Pics: PA

Speaking to Sky News Radio’s Faye Rowlands, Lewis said: “Very rarely will it be thousands of pounds unless you have more than one car finance deal.

“So up to about a maximum of £950 per car finance deal where you are due compensation.”

Lewis explained that consumers who believe they may have been affected should check whether they had a discretionary commission arrangement by writing to their car finance company.

However, the personal finance guru warned against using a claims firm.

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“They’re hardly going to do anything for you and you might get the money paid to you automatically anyway, in which case you’re giving them 30% for nothing,” he added.

Read more: How to tell if you’ve been mis-sold car finance

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Who’s eligible for payout after car finance scandal?

Yesterday, the Financial Conduct Authority said its review of the past use of motor finance “has shown that many firms were not complying with the law or our disclosure rules that were in force when they sold loans to consumers”.

The FCA’s statement added that those affected “should be appropriately compensated in an orderly, consistent and efficient way”.

Lewis told Sky News that the consultation will launch in October – and will take six weeks.

“We expect payouts to come in 2026, assuming this will happen and it’s very likely to happen,” he said.

“As for exactly how will work, it hasn’t decided yet. Firms will have to contact people, although there is an issue about them having destroyed some of the data for older claims.”

He believes claims will either be paid automatically – or affected consumers will need to opt in and apply to get compensation back.

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What motorists should do next

The FCA says you may be affected if you bought a car under a finance scheme, including hire purchase agreements, before 28 January 2021.

Anyone who has already complained does not need to do anything.

The authority added: “Consumers concerned that they were not told about commission, and who think they may have paid too much for the finance, should complain now”.

Its website advises drivers to complain to their finance provider first.

If you’re unhappy with the response, you can then contact the Financial Ombudsman.

Any compensation scheme will be easy to participate in, without drivers needing to use a claims management company or law firm.

The FCA has warned motorists that doing so could end up costing you 30% of any compensation in fees.

The FCA estimates the cost of any scheme – including compensation and administrative costs – to be no lower than £9bn.

But in a video on X, Lewis said that millions of people are likely to be due a share of up to £18bn.

The regulator’s announcement comes after the Supreme Court ruled on a separate, but similar, case on Friday.

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