News

Four people accused of damaging two RAF Voyager planes - in a demonstration allegedly carried out by members of Palestine Action - could have to wait until 2027 for their trial.They are alleged to have ridden scooters onto RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed the planes with red paint on 20 June. About £7 million worth of damage was caused to the aircraft, the Old Bailey heard.Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, Lewie Chiaramello, 22, Daniel George Jeronymides-Norie, 36, and Jony Cink,…

The number of most serious water pollution incidents rose by 60% last year, according to data covering England, with three companies responsible for the bulk of them.The Environment Agency (EA) - under fire for its own oversight of water firms' pollution performance - said that more than 80% of the 75 instances were the responsibility of Thames Water (33), Southern Water (15) and Yorkshire Water (13). But the body added it had found "consistently poor performance" across all nine water…

The first Post Office Capture conviction is to be sent to the Court of Appeal, Sky News understands, in a "breakthrough" moment in the IT scandal.The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has decided to refer the case of sub-postmistress Patricia Owen, who was convicted in 1998 of theft.Mrs Owen was found guilty by a jury based on evidence from the faulty IT software Capture, which was used in 2,500 branches between 1992 and 1999, before the Horizon Post Office scandal…

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle knew about Afghan data leak and should have made ministers tell MPs, Dame Harriet Harman has claimed.Speaking to Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer said the Speaker - whose job she ran for in 2019 - should have asked for a key select committee to be made aware. A spokesperson for the Speaker said he was "himself under a super injunction" and so "would have been under severe legal restrictions".A massive…

By the time Hannah Hampton appeared in the news conference, the England goalkeeper was relieved, ecstatic and wanting to share this night far and wide.So when her phone started ringing with a FaceTime call, she broke off speaking to the media about reaching the Euros semi-finals to answer it. And then share the call with the room in Zurich.After such a nerve-shredding night, this was the moment to relax and just savour it all.Savour how close they came to throwing…

Maria's treatment by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was so shocking the chief constable described it as "undefendable" and yet a year after a high-profile inquiry found she had been "unlawfully" arrested and strip-searched, Maria now has a criminal conviction for the crime the inquiry said she should never have been arrested for.The Baird Inquiry - named after its lead Dame Vera Baird - into GMP, published a year ago, found that the force made numerous unlawful arrests and unlawful strip…

Protesters have clashed with police outside an Essex hotel believed to be housing asylum seekers.Footage appeared to show people approaching and throwing objects at a police van which was parked outside the Bell Hotel in Epping on Thursday evening. As the vehicle was driven away, one person climbed onto the front and held their hands in the air. Images showed an individual kicking the windscreen of the vehicle, completely smashing it in the process, while a crowd watched on.Eggs were…

Chronic teacher shortages and increased sickness absences have pushed schools to rely heavily on supply agencies, costing the education system nearly £1.4bn in the last year alone.The majority of the £1.4bn was made up by academy schools which spent £847m on agency supply staff in the 2023-24 academic year, new analysis by Sky News using Department for Education data shows. That's nearly double the amount (in real terms) compared to 2014-15.One headteacher told Sky News it can cost schools upwards…

Victims of the loan charge received advice from professional accountants who were being paid to place them into tax avoidance schemes. Sky News has seen evidence of chartered accountants advising their clients to enter loan arrangements, run by companies that were paying them a commission.These schemes were later targeted by HMRC, and workers were hit with giant tax bills, sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds.Money blog: Value of a million homes rose 50% since COVIDIn some cases, the tax demands have…