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Irish language rap group Kneecap have won their discrimination case against the UK government after former business secretary Kemi Badenoch refused them funding.

The trio – who have been criticised by former Tory government members for some of their lyrics – launched legal action, claiming the decision to withhold the grant discriminated against them on grounds of nationalist and political opinion.

After a brief hearing at Belfast High Court on Friday, it was agreed the government would pay the band £14,250 – the same amount the grant was for.

The group’s application to the Music Export Growth Scheme, which supports UK-registered artists in global markets, was initially accepted by the British Phonographic Industry.

But it was later refused by Mrs Badenoch – now Conservative leader – when she was business secretary, as the grant is overseen by the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

At the time, a government spokesperson said it fully supported freedom of speech, but that it was “hardly surprising” it did not want to hand out UK taxpayers’ money to those opposed to the United Kingdom.

The band said on Friday it would donate the money to two youth organisations in Belfast – one from a nationalist and one from a unionist area.

JJ O'Dochartaigh, also known as DJ Provai, of the Belfast-based rap group Kneecap, outside Belfast High Court, with lawyers Darragh Mackin (left) and Gavin Booth (right), after the Irish language rap-trio won its legal challenge over a decision by former business secretary Kemi Badenoch to refuse them a £14,250 funding award after the UK Government conceded at Belfast High Court it was "unlawful". Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024.
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DJ Provai outside Belfast High Court, with the band’s lawyers. Pic: PA

‘They have tried to silence us’

Band member DJ Provai arrived at court in an old Land Rover styled to look like a police vehicle, which was bearing the Irish and Palestinian flags and blaring loud music.

He was wearing his usual Irish tricolour balaclava, which he removed to enter the court building.

Speaking after the hearing, DJ Provai, whose real name is JJ O’Dochartaigh, said the band’s motivation was “equality”.

“For us, this action was never about £14,250; it could have been 50p,” he said.

“This was an attack on artistic culture, an attack on the Good Friday Agreement itself and an attack on Kneecap and our way of expressing ourselves.”

JJ O'Dochartaigh, also known as DJ Provai, of the Belfast-based rap group Kneecap, arrives at Belfast High Court where the Irish language rap-trio has won its legal challenge over a decision by former business secretary Kemi Badenoch to refuse them a £14,250 funding award after the UK Government conceded at Belfast High Court it was "unlawful". Picture date: Friday November 29, 2024.
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Pic: PA

He added: “The former secretary of state Kemi Badenoch and her department acted unlawfully; this is now a fact.

“They have tried to silence us and they have failed.”

A statement from the Department for Business and Trade said the government’s priority is to “try and reduce costs and help protect the taxpayer from further expense”.

It said the government will not contest Kneecap’s challenge as it does not believe it is in the public interest.

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Who are Kneecap?

Formed in 2017 in west Belfast, Kneecap consists of three friends who perform under the stage names Mo Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai.

The group have previously voiced views in favour of Irish unity and a particularly provocative poster for their 2019 “Farewell to the Union” tour angered the Conservative Party.

Their song Brits Out (which they told Sky News earlier this year is a tongue-in-cheek poke at government rule) also caused controversy, while their references to drug-taking led to them being banned from Irish public service broadcaster RTE.

But the band has enjoyed huge success both on stage and screen.

Earlier this year they released a biopic film, also called Kneecap, starring Irish-German actor and Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender.

The film was likened to Trainspotting, 8 Mile and 24 Hour Party People by critics and in January, it won the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival, an internationally recognised showcase for independent cinema.

It has also been named as Ireland’s official submission for the best international feature film shortlist at the 2025 Oscars.

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Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail

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Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail

A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.

Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.

“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.

The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.

Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.

He also set up social media accounts in his name.

Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.

Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.

The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”

Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.

Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA
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Kyle Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA

In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”

Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”

Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”

The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.

‘I know where you live’

On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.

The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.

Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”

Man accused of stalking Shirley Ballas
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Ballas has been head judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017. Pic: PA

Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.

The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.

“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.

“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”

Kyle Shaw leaves Liverpool Crown Court, where he is charged with stalking Strictly judge Shirley Ballas.
Pic: PA
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Shaw pictured at court in February. Pic: PA

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Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.

He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”

Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.

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Gary Glitter made bankrupt after failing to pay £500k compensation to victim

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Gary Glitter made bankrupt after failing to pay £500k compensation to victim

Gary Glitter has been made bankrupt after failing to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a woman he abused when she was 12 years old.

She sued the disgraced singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, after he was found guilty of attacking her and two other schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980.

Glitter, 80, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 and released in 2023 but was recalled to prison less than six weeks later after breaching his parole conditions.

A judge awarded the woman £508,800, including £381,000 in lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment, saying she was subjected to abuse “of the most serious kind”.

The court heard she had not worked for decades due to the trauma of being repeatedly raped and “humiliated” by the singer.

Gary Glitter has lost a parole board bid to be freed from jail.
Pic:Met Police/PA
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Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015. Pic: Met Police/PA

Glitter was made bankrupt last month at the County Court at Torquay and Newton Abbot, in Devon – the county where he is reportedly serving his sentence in Channings Wood prison, in Newton Abbot.

Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon, the law firm representing the woman, said: “We confirm that Gadd has been made bankrupt following our client’s application.

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“As he has done throughout, Gadd has refused to cooperate with the process and continues to treat his victims with contempt.

“We hope and trust that the parole board will take his behaviour into account in any future parole applications, as it clearly demonstrates that he has never changed, shows no remorse and remains a serious risk to the public.”

Glitter was first jailed for four months in 1999 after he admitted possessing around 4,000 indecent images of children.

He was expelled from Cambodia in 2002, and in March 2006 was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam where he spent two-and-a-half years in prison.

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His sentence for the 2016 convictions expires in February 2031.

Glitter was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February 2023 after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.

But he was back behind bars weeks later after reportedly trying to access the dark web and images of children.

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Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan revealed in line-up for Sam Mendes’ four Beatles films

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Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan revealed in line-up for Sam Mendes' four Beatles films

Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan will play Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in the upcoming Beatles films – with a Stranger Things star also portraying one of the Fab Four.

The two Irish actors will be joined by London-born performers Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.

The cast for the Sam Mendes project was revealed at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, with all four appearing on stage and taking a bow together in Beatles style.

Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, Barry Keoghan and Harris Dickinson stand onstage to promote the upcoming "The Beatles" movies during a Sony Pictures presentation.
Pic: Reuters
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(L-R) Mescal, Quinn, Keoghan and Dickinson appeared together at the announcement. Pic: Reuters

Mendes is making four interconnected films – one from the perspective of each of the band members – and they are all set to be released “in proximity” to each other in April 2028.

It marks the first time The Beatles and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.

Playing McCartney is another big role for 29-year-old Mescal, who recently starred in the Gladiator sequel and was nominated for an Oscar in 2023 for Aftersun.

Barry Keoghan – who also got an Oscar nod for The Banshees of Inisherin – will portray the other surviving Beatles member, Ringo Starr.

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The Beatles
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Pic: PA

Meanwhile, Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn, who appeared with long hair as Eddie Munson in the fourth series, takes up the role of George Harrison.

Harris Dickinson has the challenge of stepping into the shoes of perhaps the most famous Beatle, John Lennon.

The 28-year-old recently starred in erotic thriller Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and also appeared in satire Triangle of Sadness.

Mendes told the industry audience at CinemaCon there is “still plenty to explore” despite the Beatles’ rise having being well chronicled.

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The Oscar-winning British director is known for films including American Beauty, First World War movie 1917, and Bond outings Skyfall and Spectre.

Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman said the close release of all four films in three years’ time will be “the first bingeable theatrical experience”.

“We are going to dominate the culture that month,” he added.

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