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Laura Whitmore has shared the last text messages between her and Caroline Flack on the five-year anniversary of her death.

Flack, who was best known for presenting ITV’s Love Island, took her own life on 15 February 2020, aged 40.

The Irish TV presenter shared a photo of the pair together, along with a series of screenshots of their WhatsApp conversation, in which she told Flack she had been offered the Love Island presenting role.

In the messages, Flack said it was “perfect” that Whitmore would be doing the show alongside her husband Iain Stirling, who narrates the series, and followed up the message with a series of love hearts.

Flack hosted the reality dating show between 2015 and 2019. Whitmore took over in 2020. Maya Jama stepped into the role in 2023.

In her Instagram post, Whitmore, 39, said: “I got a new phone this month and as I was trying to download WhatsApp messages from my cloud loads of old messages came up.

“Ones I thought I lost a few years ago and no longer had. It really hit me hard.

“Looking at messages I’ve never publicly shared as they were private messages. Media outlets wrote a lot far from the actual truth.

“I think they show a side to Caroline which is nice to remember. Hence I’m sharing now.”

Caroline Flack attending the Virgin TV British Academy Television Awards 2018 held at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday May 13, 2018. See PA story SHOWBIZ Bafta. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire
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Pic: PA

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Whitmore said she had met Flack when she took over hosting duties for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! NOW!.

“She was as supportive of me doing that role back then as she was when she supported me doing Love Island in 2020,” she said.

“Both were great shows with hundreds of people working on them and relying on the show going ahead.

“I will always be so thankful of the last messages between me and Caroline.”

She continued: “Every time I’ve been asked to speak about the situation or be part of a documentary I decline.

“I’ve already said all I can say on the tragedy and don’t want words to be misconstrued and need to look after my own mental health.

“This was the last correspondence I ever had with her.”

“The last message from her to me were love hearts,” she said.

“I’d like to think wherever she is now, she’s at peace and somewhere lovely like I hoped.

“I’m sad when I see the press and social media be so divisive and that we still haven’t learned from Caroline’s treatment before her death when it comes to women in the spotlight.

“Today I choose to remember these messages and thank the cloud for giving them back to me.”

Caroline Flack pictured on Valentine's Day. Pic: @molliegroz
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Caroline Flack pictured on Valentine’s Day 2020. Pic: @molliegroz

Flack’s family previously released an unpublished Instagram post she had written describing the stress of her arrest for common assault, while her former boyfriend Danny Cipriani also shared their final messages.

A friend also shared her “final photo” taken just hours before her death.

After Flack’s death a coroner ruled she took her own life after learning prosecutors were going to press ahead with an assault charge over an incident involving her boyfriend, Lewis Burton.

Born in Enfield, Flack got her first TV break playing Bubbles on comedy sketch show Bo Selecta alongside Leigh Francis, before fronting the International Pepsi Chart Show and moving on to Channel 4’s E4 Music.

She later hosted Big Brother’s Little Brother, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here and X Factor, going on to win Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.

An upcoming Disney+ documentary follows Flack’s mother as she tries to understand events in the final months of her daughter’s life, while also celebrating her career.

Christine Flack unveiled a suicide prevention bench in north London last September in honour of her daughter.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

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Harvey Weinstein accuser says film mogul ‘took her soul’ during alleged sexual assault

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Harvey Weinstein accuser says film mogul 'took her soul' during alleged sexual assault

An ex-model has tearfully told a court that being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein when she was 16 was the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced” to that point.

Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault

Kaja Sokola told the film producer’s retrial that he ordered her to remove her blouse, put his hand in her underwear, and made her touch his genitals.

She said he’d stared at her in the mirror with “black and scary” eyes and told her to stay quiet about the alleged assault in a Manhattan hotel in 2002.

Ms Sokola told the New York court that Weinstein had dropped names such as Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow, and said he could help fulfil her Hollywood dream.

“I’d never been in a situation like this,” said Polish-born Ms Sokola. “I felt stupid and ashamed and like it’s my fault for putting myself in this position.”

Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone and is back in court for a retrial after his conviction was overturned last year.

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Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court during his rape and sexual assault re-trial in New York.
Pic Reuters
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Weinstein denies the allegations. Pic: Reuters

The 73-year-old is not charged over the alleged sexual assault because it happened too long ago to bring criminal charges.

However, he is facing charges over an incident four years later when he’s said to have forced Ms Sokola to perform oral sex on him.

Prosecutors claim it happened after Weinstein arranged for her to be an extra in a film.

“My soul was removed from me,” she told the court of the alleged 2006 assault, describing how she tried to push Weinstein away but that he held her down.

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Ms Sokola – who’s waived her right to anonymity – is the second of three women to testify and the only one who wasn’t part of the first trial in 2020.

Miriam Haley, an accuser testifying at Harvey Weinstein's rape trial, arrives to the courtroom after a break in New York, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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Miriam Haley testified previously in the retrial. Pic: AP

Miriam Haley last week told the court that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006. The other accuser, Jessica Mann, is yet to appear.

Claims against the film mogul were a major driver for the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and abuse in 2017.

Weinstein’s lawyers allege the women consented to sexual activity in the hope of getting film and TV work and that they stayed in contact with him for a while afterwards.

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Ochuko Ojiri: Bargain Hunt expert charged as part of police investigation into terrorist financing

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Ochuko Ojiri: Bargain Hunt expert charged as part of police investigation into terrorist financing

An antiques expert from the TV show Bargain Hunt has been charged by police following an investigation into terrorist financing.

Oghenochuko ‘Ochuko’ Ojiri, 53, is accused of eight counts of “failing to make a disclosure during the course of business within the regulated sector”, the Met Police said.

The force said he was the first person to be charged with that specific offence under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Mr Ojiri, from west London, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

It comes “following an investigation into terrorist financing” and relates to the period from October 2020 to December 2021, a police spokesperson said.

They added that the probe had been carried out in partnership with Treasury officials, HMRC and the Met’s Arts & Antiques Unit.

Mr Ojiri, who police described as an “art dealer”, has been on Bargain Hunt since 2019.

He has also appeared on the BBC‘s Antiques Road Trip programme.

In a statement, the BBC said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

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Man accused of harassing Jennifer Aniston for two years before crashing car through gates of her home

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Man accused of harassing Jennifer Aniston for two years before crashing car through gates of her home

A man has been charged after allegedly harassing Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston for two years before crashing his car through the front gate of her home, prosecutors have said.

Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, of New Albany, Mississippi, is accused of having repeatedly sent the Friends star unwanted voicemail, email and social media messages since 2023.

The 48-year-old is then alleged to have crashed his grey Chrysler PT Cruiser through the front gate of Aniston’s home in the wealthy Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles early on Monday afternoon.

Prosecutors said the collision caused major damage.

Police have said Aniston was at home at the time.

A security guard stopped Carwyle on her driveway before police arrived and arrested him.

There were no reports of anyone being injured.

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Carwyle has been charged with felony stalking and vandalism, prosecutors said on Thursday.

He also faces an aggravating circumstance of the threat of great bodily harm, Los Angeles County district attorney Nathan Hochman said.

Carwyle, who has been held in jail since his arrest on Monday, is set to appear in court on Thursday.

His bail has been set at $150,000 dollars (£112,742).

He is facing up to three years in prison if he is convicted as charged.

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“My office is committed to aggressively prosecuting those who stalk and terrorise others, ensuring they are held accountable,” Mr Hochman said in a statement.

Aniston bought her mid-century mansion in Bel Air on a 3.4-acre site for about 21 million dollars (£15.78m) in 2012, according to reporting by Architectural Digest.

She became one of the biggest stars on television in her 10 years on NBC’s Friends.

Aniston won an Emmy Award for best lead actress in a comedy for the role, and she has been nominated for nine more.

She has appeared in several Hollywood films and currently stars in The Morning Show on Apple TV+.

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