David Carrick has been found guilty of sexual offences against a 12-year-old girl and a former partner.

Carrick, 50, was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault, two counts of rape, one of sexual assault and one of controlling or coercive behaviour.

Carrick, who is one of the UK’s worst sex offenders, is already serving a life sentence after admitting crimes against 12 women over 17 years.

He was further accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl in the late 1980s and raping a woman during the course of a toxic relationship more than 20 years later.

Carrick pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape, one of sexual assault and coercive and controlling behaviour towards the woman between 2014 and 2019, and five counts of sexual assault relating to the girl in the late 1980s.

He didn’t give evidence at his Old Bailey trial, but denied the allegations, claiming sex with the woman was consensual and the child accuser had lied.

The court heard the latest allegations were made after Carrick pleaded guilty to 71 instances of sexual violence against 12 different women over a period spanning 17 years.

He was sentenced to a minimum term of 30 years in prison in 2023 in a case that caused widespread public anger after it emerged repeated opportunities to stop his offending had been missed while he was serving as a police officer.

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

Please refresh the page for the latest 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.

The UK lacks a national plan to defend itself from attack and is moving at a “glacial” pace to fix the problem despite threats from Russia and China, a report by MPs has warned.

With the whole country needing to understand what it means to be ready for war, the Defence Select Committee also said it had seen no sign of a promised “national conversation on defence and security” that was launched by Sir Keir Starmer in June.

Sky News and other journalists were even blocked on Monday from interviewing sailors aboard HMS Prince of Wales, the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, in direct contrast to the prime minister’s stated aim of greater engagement.

Public needs to know ‘what to expect’ from war

“We have repeatedly heard concerns about the UK’s ability to defend itself from attack,” said Labour MP Tan Dhesi, chair of the committee.

“Government must be willing to grasp the nettle and prioritise homeland defence and resilience.

“In achieving this, government cannot shy away from direct engagement with the public.

“Wars aren’t won just by generals, but by the whole of the population getting behind the Armed Forces and playing our part.

“There needs to be a co-ordinated effort to communicate with the public on the level of threat we face and what to expect in the event of conflict.”

‘The Wargame’ made real?

The findings of the report support a podcast series by Sky News and Tortoise Media called The Wargame – released in June.

It simulated a Russian attack on the UK and played out what the impact might be for the country in the absence of a credible, resourced and rehearsed national defence plan – something Britain maintained rigorously during the Cold War.

Sky News first revealed in April 2024 that the previous government no longer had such a plan, though work was under way to develop one.

Report’s assessment of war-readiness

The Defence Select Committee report – based on a nearly year-long inquiry – found: “The UK lacks a plan for defending the homeland and overseas territories with little progress on the Home Defence Programme.”

It said this meant the government was failing to meet a fundamental commitment to the NATO alliance – the Article 3 requirement to maintain the “capacity to resist armed attack”.

The report quoted Luke Pollard, a defence minister, acknowledging that “we have been very clear that we are not satisfied with Article 3 in the UK”.

Read more: Is the Ajax any good?

Yet the MPs’ report added: “Despite this recognition from government… measures to remediate seem to be moving at a glacial pace.”

It said: “Cross-government working on homeland defence and resilience is nowhere near where it needs to be. The government has said repeatedly that we are in an era of new threat, yet decision-making is slow and opaque.”

Read more from Sky News:
HMS Prince of Wales ‘ready for war’, says defence sec
Cooper plays down reports UK halted intel sharing with US

The rebuke from the MPs was published as John Healey, the defence secretary, prepares to announce that 13 sites across the UK have been identified as possible locations for at least six new weapons factories.

“This is a new era of threat,” he will say at a speech in Westminster later.

“We are making defence an engine for growth, unambiguously backing British jobs and British skills as we make the UK better ready to fight and better able to deter future conflicts.

“This is the path that delivers national and economic security.”

Industry will be invited to submit proposals to produce ammunition and explosives, with the Ministry of Defence saying it hopes work on the first factory will begin next year.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are a leading cause of a “chronic disease pandemic” linked to worsening diets, experts have warned.

UPFs include items such as processed meats, some ready meals and cereals, ice cream, crisps, biscuits, mass-produced bread and fizzy drinks.

They often contain a high level of saturated fat, salt and sugar – as well as additives such as sweeteners and preservatives.

UPFs leave less room for more nutritious foods and are also believed to negatively affect gut health.

Forty-three scientists and researchers have now sounded the alarm and accused food companies of putting “profitability above all else”.

Writing in The Lancet, they said the firms’ economic and political power is growing and “the global public health response is still nascent, akin to where the tobacco control movement was decades ago”.

They warned that while some countries have brought in controls on UPFs, policy is lagging due to “co-ordinated efforts of the industry to skew decision-making, frame policy debates in their interest, and manufacture the appearance of scientific doubt”.

Professor Chris Van Tulleken, from University College London, one of the authors, said obesity and diet-related disease had increased in line with a “three-decade history of reformulation by the food industry”.

“This is not a product level discussion. The entire diet is being ultra-processed,” he warned.

Read more from Sky News:
Bill to release Epstein files gets all-clear
Best and worst parcel delivery companies revealed

However, several experts not involved with the article urged more research, cautioning that existing studies had shown a link with poor health and UPFs but not established causation.

Kate Halliwell, chief scientific officer at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), which represents the industry, said companies had made a “series of changes over many years to make the food and drink we all buy healthier, in line with government guidelines”.

She said FDF-member products now contained a third less salt and sugar and a quarter fewer calories than in 2015.

Previous studies cited by the British Heart Foundation have linked UPFs to a greater risk of heart disease, stroke, and early death.

A 2023 meta analysis in the PubMed journal said evidence suggested an association between UPF intake “and the risk of overall and several cancers, including colorectal, breast and pancreatic cancer”.

Get cancer symptoms checked, charity urges

It comes as Cancer Research UK warned too many Britons are putting off getting potential symptoms checked.

A poll for the charity suggested the top reasons people delay getting potential signs of cancer checked is because of a lack of GP appointments, or thinking their symptoms might not be serious.

More than half (53%) of the 6,844 surveyed said they were put off as they believed getting seen would be difficult, while 47% said they actually had found it difficult to get an appointment.

Some 44% put it off as they though the symptom wasn’t serious, 41% believed they could manage things themselves, and 40% didn’t want to be seen as making a fuss.

Cancer Research UK said it had now trained Tesco pharmacists to spot possible cancer signs – and that people can speak to them in private if they needed.

The pharmacists will be able to give advice on next steps and whether a GP appointment is recommended.