UK weather: Report of woman swept into River Don as widespread flooding hits Scotland
A woman has been reportedly swept into the River Don in Aberdeenshire as widespread flooding hit Scotland, police have said.
Police and emergency crews are on the scene where it is believed the person may have been trying to rescue a dog.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 3.05pm on Friday, 18 November, police were called to the River Don near to Monymusk following a report of concern for a woman in the water.
“Police and Emergency Services attended and searches were carried out. Following assessments of the river conditions, the search has been stood down for the evening. Police inquiries are ongoing.”
Scotland has been battered with rain and flooding, with rest centres opening in some parts of Aberdeenshire after flood warnings were escalated to severe on Friday.
The northeast of the country has been hammered by the bad weather with the local council warning residents to take steps to protect their properties.
Road maps of closures due to floods have been circulated and rest centres will open in Ballater, Aboyne, Inverurie and Kemnay for those needing help and who are unable to stay in their homes.
Aberdeenshire Council warned that river levels will peak later on Friday, with sandbag points set up in the region to protect from floodwaters.
Power cuts are also affecting Inverurie, Kintore, Stonehaven, Portlethen and Hatton of Fintray, with reports of broadband also being down.
There was also localised flooding in some parts of Edinburgh, with pictures showing the Crewe Toll roundabout in the west of the city completely submerged.
The Met Office has said more than a month’s worth of rain had fallen in Charr, Aberdeenshire overnight with the total recorded as 140mm.
Train journeys across much of eastern Scotland have also been disrupted.
Forecasters have issued an amber rain warning for an area of northeast Scotland stretching from just north of Dundee up past Aberdeen until 9pm on Friday.
Meanwhile a yellow rain warning is also in place along the Scottish east coast from the English border up to Peterhead until 6pm on Friday.
It comes after a band of rain hit the coast of southwest England on Wednesday evening before travelling northeast over two days, causing flooding in many areas of the UK.
As of Friday morning, the Environment Agency has 11 flood warnings and 81 flood alerts in place and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued 26 warnings and nine alerts.
South of the border in northeast England, hundreds of people were left stranded at Newcastle rail station due to the cancelled services heading north to Scotland.
Huge queues for replacement buses were seen and passengers had been told they may have to wait up to five hours to board.
Queues for the bus services stretched hundreds of metres down the street outside the city centre station and spiralled around the concourse inside.
Hundreds of rail passengers queue outside Newcastle train station for replacement buses
Queues stretched hundreds of metres down the street outside the station and spiralled around the concourse inside
One woman heading for Edinburgh said: “This just can’t be happening. I’ve got a health condition and I can’t wait outside like this.”
James Brownhill, from London, said: “It’s just chaos. But there’s nothing you can do. If it’s flooded, it’s flooded.
“I think I’m just going to have to stay in Newcastle tonight.”
Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon warned that areas of Scotland could see homes and businesses flooding even as the rain eases later on Friday, while gusts could blow in excess of 50 knots.
He said: “Rain should ease later in the day but because of the delayed reaction of rivers to rain, some flooding events could still happen.
“There will be persistent and widespread rain for most of Scotland today as well.”
Yesterday flooding was seen further south with motorists warned to stay off the roads in Leicestershire
He also said temperatures are expected to drop, going as low as -4C in Northern Ireland, adding: “Fairly widespread frost is possible for much of the UK.”
While Saturday will be clear, Sunday sees another front of rain and heavy wind moving in from the west bringing the chance of thunder and lightning, Mr Dixon said.
“That sets up what is really the theme of the next week which is continued wet and windy weather for much of the UK,” he added.
Dozens of people around the world have been arrested after police disrupted a UK-founded website scamming victims on an industrial scale.
LabHost, a site set up in 2021, tricked as many as 70,000 UK victims, obtaining 480,000 card numbers and 64,000 PINs worldwide, the Metropolitan Police said.
It was created by a criminal network and enabled more than 2,000 users to set up phishing websites designed to steal personal information such as email addresses, passwords and bank details.
Criminal subscribers could log on and choose from existing sites or request bespoke pages replicating those of trusted brands such as banks, healthcare agencies and postal services.
Person arrested in connection with the investigation. Pic: Met Police
The website even provided a tutorial to cater for wannabe fraudsters with limited IT knowledge, with a robotic voice saying at the end: “Stay safe and good spamming”.
Those subscribing to worldwide membership – meaning they could target victims all around the world – paid between £200 and £300 a month.
Since it began, the site has received just under £1m in payments from criminal users.
But just after it was seized and disrupted, its 800 customers got a message telling them that police knew who they were and what they were doing.
Thirty-seven people were arrested around the world, including some at Manchester and Luton airports, as well as in Essex and London.
Detectives have also contacted up to 25,000 UK-based victims to tell them their data has been compromised.
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Items seized by the Metropolitan Police. Pic: Met Police
Police began investigating LabHost in June 2022 after they were tipped off by the Cyber Defence Alliance – a group of British-based banks and law enforcement agencies which share intelligence.
Dame Lynne Owens, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, said: “Online fraudsters think they can act with impunity. They believe they can hide behind digital identities and platforms such as LabHost and have absolute confidence these sites are impenetrable by policing.
“But this operation and others over the last year show how law enforcement worldwide can, and will, come together with one another and private sector partners to dismantle international fraud networks at source.”
Adrian Searle, director of the National Economic Crime Centre in the NCA, said: “This operation again demonstrates that UK law enforcement has the capability and intent to identify, disrupt and completely compromise criminal services that are targeting the UK on an industrial scale.”
Calls made to an anti-slavery helpline have reached a record high, with the number of potential victims in the care sector rising by almost a third.
According to anti-slavery charity Unseen, the number of calls to the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline in 2023 increased by more than 19%, up from 9,779 in 2022 to 11,700 last year.
Labour abuse remained the main form of exploitation up by 11% from 464 cases in 2022 to 516 in 2023.
Potential victims indicated in the care sector went up by 30% from 708 in 2022 to 918.
There was also a 21% increase in potential victims of criminal exploitation to 385 in 2023.
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Justine Carter, director of Unseen and co-author of the report, said: “Modern slavery and exploitation are heinous crimes that have no place in a modern, progressive UK that cares about human rights.
“It is encouraging that we are continuing to see rising numbers of calls and contacts to the Helpline, indicating that we are succeeding in raising awareness of the issue and mobilising more people to act.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Forced surrogacy was reported for the first time last year, with three potential victims indicated.
Following a case in 2022, four cases of organ harvesting were also reported.
The figures are part of the Helpline’s Annual Assessment, which covers potential victims from 106 different countries, up from 99 in 2022.
Nationals of India, Albania, Romania, Vietnam and China were the most commonly reported.
The number of potential victims was 5,876, down 10% on 2022 (6,516), while the number of modern slavery cases raised was 2,185, down 16% on 2022.
Ms Carter added: “We remain concerned that the ever-increasing hostile environment in the UK towards migrants and foreign workers means that fewer people feel able to raise concerns and seek the help and support that they desperately need.
“More needs to be done to encourage victims to come forward and to properly resource efforts to stamp out modern slavery and exploitation for good.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Modern slavery is a barbaric crime and we are committed to ensuring that needs-based support is available to victims to help them rebuild their lives, and to working with first responders to ensure victims understand the support and protection available.”
An MP has lost the Conservative Party whip while newspaper claims about alleged misuse of campaign funds are investigated.
Mark Menzies, the MP for Fylde, disputes the allegations reported by The Times but the Conservative Party is looking into the claims.
A spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart said: “Following a call with the Chief Whip, Mark Menzies has agreed to relinquish the Conservative whip, pending the outcome of an investigation.”
Losing the whip means Mr Menzies is no longer a member of the Conservative parliamentary party and will sit as an independent MP, rather than a Tory MP, in the House of Commons chamber.
In a statement to The Times, Mr Menzies said: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party is investigating allegations made regarding a Member of Parliament. This process is rightfully confidential.
“The party takes all allegations seriously and will always investigate any matters put to them.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said earlier on Wednesday that it was “frankly appalling” that the Conservative Party had allegedly been aware of the allegations for more than three months.
“Rishi Sunak must suspend the whip for Mark Menzies immediately, while all the relevant authorities investigate the matter,” she said.
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Mr Menzies has served as the MP for Fylde in Lancashire since May 2010.
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Last week William Wragg, MP for Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester, also gave up the whip after he admitted to The Times that he had given his colleagues’ phone numbers to someone he met on a dating app.
Scotland Yard said it is investigating reports of the so-called “honeytrap” scam after it was suggested at least 12 men in political circles received unsolicited messages, raising security concerns.
Mr Wragg also resigned as vice-chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers and stepped down from his role heading the Commons’ public administration and constitutional affairs committee.
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