Police make three terror arrests over fatal car explosion outside hospital
Three people have been arrested by counter-terror police following a fatal car explosion outside a Liverpool hospital.
The men are aged 29, 26, and 21 according to police and were detained in the Kensington area of Liverpool before being arrested under the Terrorism Act, in connection with the explosion.
“Detectives from Counter Terrorism Police North West continue to keep an open mind about the cause of the explosion and are working closely with colleagues at Merseyside Police as the investigation continues at pace,” the police statement added.
One person died and another was injured in the fire outside of the hospital
Merseyside Police said officers were called to Liverpool Women’s Hospital at 10.59am on Sunday. Images shared online showed a car on fire and later burnt out, with smoke billowing over the building.
Armed police were pictured outside a house in the city following the explosion.
“Unfortunately, we can confirm that one person has died and another has been taken to hospital where he is being treated for his injuries, which thankfully are not life-threatening,” the force said.
A later statement confirmed that the deceased was a passenger in the car, and that the driver was injured and remains in hospital in a stable condition.
Armed police were seen at an address in Liverpool
“So we far we understand that the car involved was a taxi which pulled up at the hospital shortly before the explosion occurred,” the statement added.
Counter-terrorism officers are leading the investigation “out of caution” but detectives said they are keeping an “open mind” over the cause.
There was a heavy police presence outside the hospital
The hospital said visiting was being restricted until further notice, with patients diverted to other hospitals where possible.
A statement said ambulances were still arriving and that staff could leave and enter “under the supervision of the police”.
Phil Garrigan, chief fire officer of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, said the blaze was “fully developed” when his crews arrived and that the injured person had escaped before it took hold.
He told reporters: “The operational crews extinguished the fire rapidly but as has been reiterated by the police chief constable, there was one fatality.
“Another individual had left the vehicle prior to the fire developing to the extent that it did.”
Merseyside’s chief fire officer Phil Garrigan said one person managed to leave the car before the fire developed
Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson described the incident as “unsettling and upsetting”.
“My thoughts are with those affected,” she tweeted. “I’d like to thank the emergency services for their swift response and for bringing calm to the situation.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel posted to say she was being “regularly updated” on the “awful incident”.
Smoke billowed over the hospital after the blast
“Our police and emergency services are working hard to establish what happened and it is right they are given the time and space to do so,” she added.
A cordon and road closures have been put in place while police examine the scene.
No arrests have been made.
A judo Olympian has said her family is “devastated” after the discovery of body in the search for her missing brother.
Lubjana Piovesana, 28, appealed for help to find her younger sibling, Luis, 26, on Saturday. He had not been seen since the early hours of Friday morning.
A body was found in the River Frome near Napier Road in Eastville, Bristol, at around 6pm today, Avon and Somerset Police said.
Formal identification is yet to take place, the force added.
In a post on Instagram, Ms Piovesana wrote: “Hello everyone, Luis has been found.
“We are completely devastated but he has passed away.
“I am grateful for everyone’s support. And I am so sorry this happened.
“Luis was my little brother and loved by everyone. I wish he could have seen the love from everyone. He will be remembered by us all.”
The post was signed off with a dove emoji.
Luis Piovesana did not have any money or his mobile phone with him when he went missing, police said. Pics: Avon & Somerset Police
Mr Piovesana was last seen at around 3am on Friday at the Eastgate retail park, which is less than a 10-minute walk away from where the body was found.
He had travelled there by taxi from a venue in Little Ann Street, St Jude’s, a 10-minute drive away.
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The 26-year-old’s family spent the weekend searching for him, and asked people to check their sheds and gardens.
His partner, Laurin Bohler, said loved ones had travelled from Birmingham to help.
Mounted officers and police drones were also involved in the investigation.
Ms Piovesana competed for Team GB before switching to the Austrian team, and defeated British competitor Lucy Renshall in the women’s -63kg judo event at the Paris Olympics last year.
A man has been jailed for life for murdering his son’s girlfriend after she returned home from the school run.
Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police were called to an address on Bigyn Road in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, on 5 July last year.
Sophie Evans, 30, had sustained 72 separate injuries on the outside of the body, “all but three of them new injuries”.
Richard Jones, who is now 50, believed he was “being taken advantage of financially” by Ms Evans and his son, with whom she was in a relationship.
While the purpose of Jones’s visit was “purely normal”, he confronted her on that morning about his suspicions and Ms Evans’s reaction was such that Jones “lost [his] temper”.
He subjected Ms Evans to “gross violence” before ultimately strangling her and leaving the property to run errands, including ordering a new bank card and buying pastries from a bakery.
Richard Jones. Pic: Dyfed-Powys Police
‘Last time on their school run’
During sentencing on Monday, the defendant kept his head bowed for most of the hearing.
He will have to serve at least 20 years behind bars before he can be considered for release by the parole board.
Swansea Crown Court heard Ms Evans was the mother of two young children.
Passing his sentence, Judge Geraint Walters said Ms Evans “had just taken her two children for the last time on their school run” prior to the attack.
“She wasn’t to know that when she parted company with them that morning,” he added.
The court heard the Jones believed he was being defrauded by Ms Evans and his son.
“There is clear evidence, that in the days leading up to this, that you had begun harbouring thoughts that Sophie Evans and your own son were in fact financially scamming you,” he said.
“What precisely brought about that view is difficult to determine.”
Judge Walters said Jones “lost [his] temper when [he] didn’t get the answer that [he] thought [he] deserved”.
He added that, having lost his temper, the defendant “subjected [Ms Evans] to gross violence over a period of time, before you ultimately extinguished her life by strangulation”.
The court was told in evidence that at the time of the attack, Ms Evans was wearing only a bath towel.
‘The rock of our family’
In a victim personal statement, Ms Evans’s sister Kerry Quinlan told the court she was “the rock of our family”.
She said Ms Evans was taken from them in a “senseless and cruel act”.
“Words cannot express fully how much of a loss this has been to her children,” she added.
“When they cry themselves to sleep wanting their mum, she isn’t there and never will be.”
Ms Quinlan added that Jones had “taken everything from us, all in the most despicable way possible”.
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Ms Evans’s partner at the time, and the defendant’s son, Jamie Davies, said in a victim personal statement, read on his behalf, that they had both “trusted” Jones, and that Ms Evans had even been planning the defendant’s 50th birthday.
“The thought of having to live my life without Sophie causes me extreme pain and heartache,” he added.
Prosecuting, Michael Jones KC said the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s previous convictions and the fact Ms Evans was murdered in her home.
In mitigation, David Elias KC said there was a “lack of premeditation”.
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