The government has announced plans to review the way killers are sentenced in the wake of the Nottingham attacks.
Valdo Calocanestabbed Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates in June 2023 and was convicted of manslaughter, rather than murder, due to his paranoid schizophrenia.
In a written ministerial statement, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the way homicide is dealt with had not been reviewed since the early 2000s.
She said that in the wake of Calocane’s attack, there have been calls for a change in how “diminished responsibility should be reflected in the classification of homicide offences”.
In a written ministerial statement, she said: “Following the Nottingham attacks last year, the families of the victims have also called for homicide law reform, particularly with regard to how diminished responsibility should be reflected in the classification of homicide offences.
“Our current sentencing framework for murder was first introduced over 20 years ago, and multiple, piecemeal amendments have been made to it since then.
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“The Law Commission will review the law relating to homicide offences, including full and partial defences to those offences, and this time also the sentencing framework for murder.”
Ms Mahmood said there had also been concerns about “gendered disparities for murders committed in a domestic context”, including “the inadequate reflection of prior abuse in minimum terms for abusive men who kill their female victims, and disproportionately long tariffs for women who kill their male abusers”.
Image: Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood. File pic: PA
The justice secretary said that alongside the review, she would also bring forward legislation to implement two new statutory aggravating factors for murder sentencing, which will mean judges will have to consider tougher jail terms for murders involving strangulation or when the killing is connected to the end of a relationship.
A consultation into murder sentencing was first announced by Rishi Sunak’s government last year, as part of its strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
Ms Mahmood said nearly a third of the murder cases analysed by Clare Wade KC, who is carrying out a review into domestic homicide, involved strangulation.
She said that in over a third of cases, the murder occurred at the end, or perceived end, of the relationship, and that this appeared to be the catalyst for the murder.
Ms Mahmood added: “We anticipate that the Law Commission review will take several years to complete, and the government will then need to consider the recommendations and bring forward any necessary legislation.
“This is the right course of action for such a complex area of law, but it is not a quick one.”
All flights were halted at Edinburgh Airport this morning due to an IT issue affecting its air traffic control provider.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the airport later announced service had resumed.
Its post read: “Flights have now resumed following the IT issue with our air traffic provider.
“We thank passengers for their patience and understanding.”
But passengers continue to feel the effects.
A Delta Air Lines flight from New York to Edinburgh was diverted to Dublin after going into a holding pattern over the Scottish capital.
And a live arrivals board on the airport’s website showed multiple flights diverted, delayed and cancelled.
Image: Arrivals board at Edinburgh Airport. Pic: Edinburgh Airport
Morven McCall and Cody Stevenson, both 19, were due to fly easyJet from Edinburgh to Amsterdam on their first trip away together.
Morven told Sky News: “We literally just got into the airport and as soon as we walked through the door there was an announcement that it had been cancelled.
“I was ill over the summer and had to cancel two holidays already, this was our first time going away together. We are just gutted and stressed.”
Image: Arrivals at Edinburgh Airport. File pic: PA
One passenger was on a plane when they found out.
They said: “We boarded our flight and pushed back on time for an 8.45 (am) departure, then sat for a while before the pilot told us what was happening.
“He updated us a couple of times, cabin crew are brilliant at handing out water etc, and I’m surprised that everyone appears to be upbeat. But then you do wonder how long for, just been told we’re hoping to be in the air in 20 minutes.”
Another passenger told us: “The first news was from the airport announcement as we were halfway through boarding, saying the airfield was closed due to air traffic control down.
“No one knew what was going on. We’d already been delayed a bit before boarding, with no reason. I suspect problems started about 9am.”
It comes after an earlier announcement that all flights had been halted.
“No flights are currently operating from Edinburgh Airport,” the previous statement said.
“Teams are working on the issue and will resolve as soon as possible.”
There was no timeframe for recovery initially, Sky News learned.
It’s understood by PA that the issue was not linked to today’s Cloudflare outage.
Edinburgh Trams also posted on X, writing: “If you’re travelling with us to @EDI_Airport this morning, please be aware that flights are not currently operating.”
The airport urged passengers to contact their airline for the latest information on flights.
An average of 43,000 passengers per day use the airport, which is served by 37 airlines flying to 155 destinations.
The police watchdog says it is investigating after a teenager who was tasered by an officer on a motorway was fatally hit by a car.
Logan Smith, 18, was being taken to hospital in an ambulance at about 11pm on Sunday when the vehicle stopped on the hard shoulder of the M5 in Somerset.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the vehicle stopped on the northbound carriageway “due to the concerns of ambulance staff”.
Mr Smith got out of the ambulance near the junction for Weston-super-Mare and “entered the live lanes of the motorway”, the watchdog added.
Police were called and an officer arrived at the scene, with bodycam footage showing the officer discharging their Taser, causing the teenager to fall to the ground.
“Soon afterwards” Mr Smith was struck by a car travelling on the southbound carriageway, the IOPC said.
The watchdog said it was investigating the “actions and decisions taken by Avon and Somerset Police prior to the death of a teenager”.
IOPC Director Derrick Campbell said: “My thoughts and sympathies are with Logan’s family and friends and everyone affected by this shocking and tragic incident.
“We want to reassure everyone that we will independently investigate all the circumstances surrounding this incident, including the use of a Taser.
“After being notified by the force, we sent our investigators to the police post incident procedure to begin gathering evidence.
“We have taken initial accounts from the officer and ambulance staff involved.
“We met with Logan’s family on Tuesday, to give our condolences, explain our role and to provide some further detail about our investigation, including a Taser being discharged during the incident.
“We will continue to keep them updated and they request that their privacy be respected at such a difficult time.”
The coroner has been informed and formal identification and a post-mortem have taken place.
A former doctor has been charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients in his care.
Nathaniel Spencer, 38, has been charged with 15 counts of sexual assault, 17 counts of assault by penetration, nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, three counts of assault a child under 13 by penetration and one count of attempted assault by penetration.
It follows a police investigation into alleged sexual offences between 2017 and 2021.
Staffordshire Police said in a statement the charges come after a complex investigation by the Public Protection Unit into sexual offences at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, and Russells Hall Hospital, in Dudley.
Image: North Staffordshire Justice Centre
Ben Samples, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the West Midlands CPS Complex Casework Unit and Serious Violence, Organised Crime and Exploitation Unit, said: “We have decided to prosecute Nathaniel Spencer for a number of serious sexual offences allegedly carried out against patients while he was working as a doctor – including assault by penetration and sexual assault against a child.
“Our prosecutors have worked at length to support a detailed and complex investigation by Staffordshire Police, carefully reviewing the available evidence to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.”
Spencer, from Birmingham, will appear at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 20 January 2026.
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