Police ‘immensely brave’ but forces were unprepared for summer riots, says report
Police forces need to be better prepared for serious violence and disorder, according to a review of the response to this summer’s riots.
The report also found police failed to realise the significance of a number of events leading up to the riots, leaving gaps in intelligence linked to social media and the dark web.
Violence flared across the country following the deaths of three schoolgirls in a knife attack in Southport in Merseyside in July.
The unrest and disorder continued for several days.
In September, the home secretary asked His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services to carry out a rapid review into the policing response to the disorder.
The first part of the report, which is published today, said that officers had showed “immense bravery and personal sacrifice” throughout the disorder but that forces were unprepared for the scale of the rioting.
It said the decision by the National Police Chiefs’ Council to implement a national mobilisation plan on 6 August was made too late and should have been activated four days earlier.
The inspectorate said a number of events in 2023 and 2024 were indicators of potential future disorder but this had not been reflected in police intelligence reviews.
“Our assessment of these incidents suggests that the risks of disorder were greater than the police believed them to be,” it said. “They involved extreme nationalist sentiment, aggravated activism or serious disorder.”
The incidents included demonstrations organised by Tommy Robinson, unrest in Leeds and Cardiff and violence on Armistice Day in London.
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Two months on, Sky’s Shingi Mararike revisits the scene of one of the summer riots
The report also concluded that the dress code initially handed down by commanders could have left officers vulnerable to injury.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Andy Cooke, told Sky News: “Officers shouldn’t have to stand there and be subjected to that level of barrage that we saw.
“Policing needs to look again at how quickly it mobilises more resources in these instances to actually ensure that those officers aren’t stood in these lines for so long, that different tactics can be used. To do different tactics you need more resources.
“Getting officers to these locations where there are problems quickly is a critical part of that.”
The report praised the dedication and bravery of police. Pic: PA
He praised the dedication and bravery of officers who had protected the public. Some 302 officers were injured in the violence, with more than 50 needing hospital treatment.
He said some of the most sustained violence was faced by officers who came under siege while protecting hotels housing migrants.
Female officers and those from minority backgrounds bore the brunt of the attacks.
The quick identification of suspects helped end the disorder, says the report Pic: PA/CPS
‘A complex situation’
The inspectorate found the speedy identification and prosecution of hundreds of people involved in the riots helped to bring an end to the violence.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for public disorder, Chief Constable BJ Harrington said it was encouraging the report acknowledged “the immense bravery and professionalism” of officers.
He said the finding that the national mobilisation plan should have been made earlier was a “helpful recommendation”.
He added: “Hindsight can be useful, and these learnings are important, but we are pleased that the Inspectorate also recognise how complex of a situation this was for policing to respond to, and that on the whole, the service did so well.”
In Walton on Merseyside, where rioters burned down a community library, there was broad support for the efforts of police to control to the summer’s disorder.
The Spellow Community Hub and Library reopened last week and the city council’s head of libraries Alicia Smith said: “Our emergency services were amazing.”
A second report from the inspectorate, which will look at social media misinformation among other things, is due to be published in the spring.
Mr Cooke said the focus should be on being prepared: “I doubt it will be another 14 years before we see serious disorder. I hope it is, but I doubt it.”
A man has been found guilty of the murder of an 86-year-old woman after DNA which matched his profile was found on her nail clippings.
Una Crown, a retired postmistress, was found dead at her home in the Wisbech area of Cambridgeshire on 13 January 2013.
She had sustained stab wounds to her chest, her throat was cut and her clothes set on fire.
Initially, her death was not considered suspicious by police, which prosecutor John Price described as a “grave error of judgement”.
David Newton, 70, was charged with Mrs Crown’s murder last year but he denied the offence.
On Thursday at Cambridge Crown Court, he appeared open-mouthed as the foreman returned the jury’s guilty verdict.
Newton was found guilty by a majority of 10 jurors to two after deliberating for 29 hours and 13 minutes.
David Newton has been found guilty at Cambridge Crown Court. Pic: PA
John Payne, the husband of Mrs Crown’s niece, found her in her hallway on 13 January 2013.
He had driven to her address to collect her for Sunday lunch at their house.
Prosecuting, Mr Price told the jury that Mrs Crown was killed the day before and that male DNA matching David Newton’s profile was discovered by scientists in 2023.
The prosecution said the reason why Newton went to Mrs Crown’s home and killed her were “not matters that the prosecution need prove”.
But the trial heard the defendant was on state benefits in 2013 – his only source of regular income – and that he was “spending freely” on 13 January.
The prosecution also said money was missing from Mrs Crown’s handbag.
Una Crown with her husband Jack. Pic: PA
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Detective Superintendent Iain Moor from Cambridgeshire Police said the force had apologised to Mrs Crown’s family for “mistakes” during the initial investigation in 2013.
Using a DNA testing technique that was not available then, police were able to “cast doubt on David Newton’s claims that he hadn’t seen [Mrs Crown] on the day, or days, before her death”.
“For more than a decade he thought he had gotten away with this most horrendous crime, but today’s result shows you cannot hide forever,” Mr Moor added.
Newton is due to be sentenced at the same court on February 14.
The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is exploring launching private criminal proceedings against NatWest Group over the debanking scandal which resulted in the lender’s former chief losing her job.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Farage has instructed Chris Daw KC of Lincoln House Chambers to examine whether there are grounds for bringing a criminal case against the high street banking giant.
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The move appears to be deliberately timed to coincide with the publication of NatWest’s annual results on Friday morning, which will come just weeks before the government is expected to sell its last-remaining shares in the company, nearly 17 years after its £45.5bn taxpayer bailout.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on Wednesday. Pic: PA
Mr Farage confirmed to Sky News on Thursday evening that Grosvenor Law, which is acting for him in separate civil proceedings against the bank, had instructed Mr Daw KC to explore a private criminal prosecution, adding: “This is unfinished business.”
Dan Morrison, a partner at Grosvenor Law, said in a separate statement: “Mr Farage is concerned about possible criminal issues arising out of the bank’s conduct.
“We do not wish to provide further details.
“We have therefore decided to instruct leading criminal counsel.”
The debanking furore which claimed the scalp of Dame Alison Rose, NatWest’s former chief executive, in the summer of 2023 centred on whether the bank’s Coutts subsidiary decided to close Mr Farage’s accounts for commercial or political reasons.
Dame Alison Rose. Pic: PA
NatWest initially claimed the motivation was commercial before Mr Farage obtained internal evidence from the bank suggesting that his politics had been a pivotal factor in the decision.
It sparked a firestorm under the then Conservative government, with Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, the then prime minister and chancellor respectively, indicating to NatWest’s board that they had lost faith in Dame Alison’s ability to lead the bank.
Since then, the City watchdog has instructed banks and other financial firms to do more to ensure that parliamentarians, senior public servants and their families – known as politically exposed persons, or PEPs – are not treated unfairly.
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Mr Farage’s decision to hire Mr Daw KC threatens a fresh escalation against one of Britain’s biggest banks at a time when some argue that he has become the country’s most influential politician.
He led Reform to a handful of seats at last year’s general election, while his party finished in second place in scores of other constituencies.
The Reform leader’s close ties to Donald Trump, inaugurated last month for the second time as US President, have fuelled the sense that he may play an even more crucial role in shaping the identity of Britain’s next government when the country goes to the polls in 2029.
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A recent opinion poll for Sky News by YouGov put Reform ahead of both Labour and the Tories for the first time.
Since the summer of 2023, tentative discussions between Mr Farage’s legal representatives and NatWest about a possible settlement have failed to result in any financial agreement.
Mr Farage was expected to seek millions of pounds from the company, alleging that the debanking row had damaged his reputation.
Despite the threat of a fresh legal barrage from Mr Farage, NatWest – now run by Paul Thwaite – is in its most robust financial health for decades.
The government’s stake in the bank is now below 8%, and a full exit is expected during the spring.
A NatWest spokesperson said it did not comment on individual customers.
NHS dentists are “very weak” and “not fit for purpose”, England’s chief medical officer has warned.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty has told MPs that a lack of NHS dentistry access for children will set them up for “lifelong poor dental health”.
Speaking at the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament, Sir Chris said: “The NHS dental system is very weak and has got weaker over time.
“I think we would all say this is a problem, particularly for those who find it difficult to get dental services when they need them in states of emergency.
“So I think everyone should agree that the NHS dentistry is in a much weaker state than most other areas of the NHS.”
Sir Chris Whitty giving evidence to the Public Accounts Committee. Pic: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire
Sir Chris added: “The last time I think most people in the country would consider that NHS dentistry was operating as they would anticipate it should do was probably in the early 1990s and the changes since then have all tended to either do nothing or make things worse.”
Sir Chris, who is also the interim permanent secretary at the Department for Health and Social Care, stressed that early prevention “is absolutely critical”.
However, he added the “very sad reality” was the opposite.
Amanda Pritchard and Professor Sir Chris Whitty. Pic: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire
The professor also warned that a “common procedure” among children in hospital is the “destruction of teeth” due to tooth decay – which sets them up “for lifelong poor dental health”.
Data shows as many as six in 10 children have rotting teeth by the age of five – with stark differences between the poorer regions of England, and the more affluent.
For example, the number of five-year-olds with poor dental hygiene was on the rise in London, the North East and the South West.
Sir Chris, and other NHS leaders, criticised the NHS ‘recovery plan’ put in place by the previous Conservative government for failing to deliver new dentists or more appointments.
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The Dental Recovery Plan was first introduced by Conservative health ministers in February 2024 – an attempt to tackle England’s NHS dentistry crisis. It promised to introduce 1.5 million new treatments for patients.
But when asked if the plan was on track, Sir Chris said: “The very short answer is no.”
The committee also heard that while the number of dentists has risen, the number providing discounted NHS care has decreased.
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