Connect with us

Published

on

Police officers shot and killed a “dangerously out of control” dog believed to be an XL bully after it injured four people in Battersea.

The dog began attacking people on Home Road at around 10pm on Monday evening, Met Police said, leading to four men being taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Witness footage of the incident shows one person throwing a blanket over the dog while another repeatedly hits it with what appears to be a helmet by the side of a car.

Armed officers arrived shortly after, police said, and “took the difficult decision” to shoot the dog.

A Met Police statement, which said the dog was “described as an XL bully”, added: “Officers subsequently arrested two people – a 22-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman – on suspicion of being the owner/person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control. Both remain in custody.

“Enquiries continue to establish the circumstances of the incident.”

The police added an examination of the dog will take place to confirm its breed.

Pic: PA
A blood stained blanket, which was used to subdue the dog, lies on a blood splattered pavement at the scene in York Road, Battersea, south London, where four people have been hurt in an attack by a suspected XL bully dog. Armed police were called out after reports that the animal was dangerously out of control and attacking people in Home Road, Battersea, just after 10pm on Monday. Four men were taken to hospital for treatment for injuries that were not life-threatening, and the dog was
Image:
A blanket that was used to subdue the dog. Pic: PA

Read more:
XL bully dogs seized with weapons and drugs
How the XL bully ban works

One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told Sky News: “There were four or five police cars and an ambulance.

“Someone was injured quite badly. It was very scary. It made us feel a bit unsafe as well.”

The resident said they later saw police officers covering the dog with what they thought was “aluminium foil”.

Another resident, who gave their name as Alex, said: “I heard genuinely the four loudest noises I’ve ever heard in my life.

“It’s really shaken me. It felt like someone was trying to get into my building at first and so I got really scared.

“I saw the dog on the floor covered in a blanket, and it was all quite shocking.”

Labour’s Marsha de Cordova, MP for Battersea, said in a tweet: “I am deeply concerned to hear about the XL bully dog attack that happened on Battersea Park Road yesterday evening.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims injured in the attack, and for their full recovery.

“I am in contact with the police and their enquiries are ongoing. New laws have come into force that make it illegal to own an American XL bully dog without an exemption certificate.

“It is vital that there is strong enforcement to make sure owners comply with the legislation.”

Anyone with information that could assist police is asked to call 101 or ‘X’ @MetCC and quote CAD7620/19Mar.

XL bullies were added to the Dangerous Dogs Act on 31 October last year when restrictions came into force dictating the dogs must be kept on a lead and muzzled in public.

Breeding, selling or abandoning the dogs also became illegal as of 31 December 2023 and as of February, it became a criminal offence to own an XL bully dog in England and Wales without an exemption certificate.

Continue Reading

UK

Police search for missing sisters last seen three days ago near Aberdeen river

Published

on

By

Police search for missing sisters last seen three days ago near Aberdeen river

Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.

Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.

The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.

Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Image:
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland

Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Image:
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland

Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.

Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”

Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.

The Huszti sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
Image:
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland

Read more from Sky News:
Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money
‘It’s an apocalypse’ – families return to homes reduced to ruins by wildfires

The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.

Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.

The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.

Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.

CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”

Continue Reading

UK

Britain’s gas storage levels ‘concerningly low’ after cold snap, says owner of British Gas

Published

on

By

Britain's gas storage levels 'concerningly low' after cold snap, says owner of British Gas

Britain’s gas storage levels are “concerningly low” with less than a week of demand in store, the operator of the country’s largest gas storage site said on Friday.

Plunging temperatures and high demand for gas-fired power stations are the main factors behind the low levels, Centrica said.

The UK is heavily reliant on gas for its home heating and also uses a significant amount for electricity generation.

As of the 9th of January 2025, UK storage sites are 26% lower than last year’s inventory at the same time, leaving them around half full,” Centrica said.

“This means the UK has less than a week of gas demand in store.”

The firm’s Rough gas storage site, a depleted field off England’s east coast, makes up around half of the country’s gas storage capacity.

Gas storage was already lower than usual heading into December as a result of the early onset of winter.

More from UK

Combined with stubbornly high gas prices, this has meant it has been more difficult to top up storage over Christmas.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Continue Reading

UK

UK’s first taxpayer-funded injection room to open in radical move to tackle drugs epidemic

Published

on

By

UK's first taxpayer-funded injection room to open in radical move to tackle drugs epidemic

Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics. 

We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.

“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.

It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.

Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.

But there is a new concept in town.

From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.

A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
Image:
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre

It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.

Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.

One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.

Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
Image:
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility

It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.

The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.

There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.

Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
Image:
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment

One of the eight bays users can inject in
Image:
There are eight bays users can inject in

We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.

The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.

The aftercare area
Image:
The aftercare area

Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’

Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.

The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.

One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.

The question is what does success look like?

The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.

It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.

Continue Reading

Trending