Plebgate Trio Win Legal Bid To Challenge Probe

An investigation by the police watchdog into three police officers over their conduct in the so-called Plebgate scandal has been put on hold.

Inspector Ken MacKaill of West Mercia Police, Detective Sergeant Stuart Hinton, of Warwickshire Police, and Sergeant Chris Jones, of West Midlands Police - all Police Federation representatives - have won permission from the High Court to challenge the legality of the probe.

On Wednesday, Judge Mr Justice Hamblen ruled the case was arguable and should go to a full hearing - a date for which has not yet been set.

The trio, who were initially told they would face no action for misconduct for press interviews they gave following talks with Andrew Mitchell last year, are accused of giving misleading accounts of the October 12 meeting.

Mr Mitchell met Insp MacKaill, Det Sgt Hinton and Sgt Jones at his Sutton Coldfield constituency office to "clear the air" after his row with Downing Street officers who refused him permission to cycle through the main gates.

The MP apologised for swearing at police officers but denied using the word "plebs", while in comments made after the meeting the trio claimed the former Tory chief whip refused to provide an account of the incident.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) found that in interviews after the trio's meeting with the MP there was "evidence to suggest" that officers gave a "false account" of the meeting - a meeting Mr Mitchell had recorded.

Mr Mitchell was prevented from riding out the main gates of Downing Street

The IPCC probe will now await the outcome of the pending legal action. The Police Federation is supporting the officers in their application for judicial review.

Mr Mitchell quit the role of chief whip because of the scandal.

While he has admitted arguing with the officers on September 19, 2012, he has always denied using the word "plebs", which was the politically charged element of the phrase that led for calls for him to resign.

Last month, Pc Keith Wallis and Pc James Glanville were sacked from the Metropolitan Police for gross misconduct over their role in the affair.

On February 6, Wallis, 53, was sentenced to 12 months in prison after lying about witnessing the Plebgate row.

Mr Glanville was arrested in January 2013 on suspicion of the unauthorised disclosure of information to the media.

Although no criminal action was taken, the team tasked with investigating the disclosure of information to the press found evidence Mr Glanville gave details to The Sun.

No criminal charges were brought but he also faced a misconduct hearing.

During the hearing, the Met's Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne found the pair had breached standards of professional behaviour relating to honesty and integrity, confidentiality, orders and instructions and discreditable conduct.

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Student's Family Lose Deportation Battle

By Joe Tidy, Sky News Reporter

A mother who has campaigned to stop the removal of her 19-year-old daughter from the country has been told she too has to leave Britain.

Student Yashika Bageerathi was due to be flown back to Maritius on Tuesday afternoon without her mother, sister and brother.

She was given a last-minute reprieve after a high-profile campaign from London school friends and teachers which apparently led British Airways to not accept her on a flight from Gatwick Airport.

However, celebrations were cancelled on Tuesday night as Yashika's mother's solicitors received a letter from the Home Office stating that her application for asylum had also been rejected and she would have to leave the country with her two other children.

Yashika's school principal, Lynne Dawes, has been a figurehead in the campaign since her pupil was taken into an immigration detention centre. She was with Mrs Bageerathi when she received the letter.

Yashika's mother has been told she must leave the UK

"I thought she was going to faint," she said. "We've been confused about why they made a U-turn on their decision to remove Yashika and now this. We will be appealing."

Yashika came to the UK from Mauritius in 2011 on a tourist visa to escape domestic violence.

Since applying for asylum, her application has been treated separately from her mother, brother and sister as she is considered an adult.

On Sunday, a protest march to the Home Office was staged by dozens of school friends, teachers and neighbours.

An online petition by the students calling on Immigration Minister James Brokenshire and Home Secretary Theresa May to stop the deportation and allow the student to complete her A-levels collected nearly 23,000 signatures.

Yashika came to the UK in 2011

Model Cara Delevingne also made a plea on Twitter for Mrs May not to send the aspiring maths teacher back.

On Monday, barristers took an injunction to the High Court asking for her to be allowed to at least finish her A-Levels and be with her family, but the case was rejected.

A Home Office spokesman said: "The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need it and we consider every application on its individual merits.

"We do not routinely comment on individual cases."

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Clegg And Farage Gear Up For Live Europe Debate

Clegg v Farage: Who Will Be Knocked Out?

Updated: 9:11am UK, Wednesday 26 March 2014

By Kay Burley, Sky News Presenter

Not since the 2010 Leaders' Debates has the Westminster village so highly anticipated the broadcasting battle of two political middleweights.

The venue's booked, the studio's built and the contenders are ready.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the yellow corner, the undisputed champion of ham acting, LBC Radio phone-ins and leader of the "let's stay in" club, Lib Dem leader Mr Nick Clegg.

In the red, white and blue corner, the bruiser from the boozer, Mr UKIP Union Flag himself, Mr "let's come out" Nigel Farage.

The clash at a central London hotel is already being billed by Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander - and himself a future contender - as the rumble in the broadcasting jungle.

He's referring of course to the debate on Britain's European future. 

A golden gauntlet thrust dramatically down by the Deputy PM on his radio show and grabbed before it even hit the carpeted studio floor by Farage.

And so tonight at 7pm the leaders of the Lib Dems and UKIP are hoping to make British broadcasting box office history as they slug it out on LBC radio - also screened on Sky News.

Ensuring a fair fight will be the indomitable Nick Ferrari. A former Fleet Street hack and now award-winning LBC breakfast host, he's not one to suffer fools - though he may well turn a blind eye to the odd low blow.

In front of an invited audience, who unlike the 2010 Leaders' Debates will be allowed to cheer, jeer and sneer, Clegg and Farage will have one hour - 60 golden minutes - to make their case in the IN/OUT hokey cokey debate.

Policies will be central: Cleggie in his genial, geography school teacher way will run through his pre-exam tick list for anxious students.  Staying IN is better for Britain. We're stronger united. The jobs market, the green issue, trade ... and don't forget to check your ballot paper again if you have time at the end class.

Meanwhile, fag-ash, mine's a pint Farage will remind waverers of the amount of money Europe wastes and the undeserved power it wields over us.

Plenty for the audience to digest there.

But, as with the 2010 Cleggmania effect, it will no doubt be personalities not policies that have the biggest impact on some voters ahead of the European elections in May. 

Remember how leading up to the last election Clegg was such an unknown as the leader of the Lib Dems that his battle bus was also emblazoned with the image of his better known party colleague Vince Cable?

Then during the first Leaders' Debate in Manchester Clegg turned to look down the camera lens, spoke directly to the audience and immediately his popularity was heading in One Direction.

Suddenly, Brown and Cameron were falling over themselves to say "I agree with Nick". Those were the days.

Well, that's unlikely to happen tonight. Farage is on record as calling Clegg a hypocrite.

Farage is chomping at the bit for the chance to finally debate Britain's membership of the European Union, in his words: "The most important issue this country has faced for hundreds of years."

Farage says he's spent 20 years being laughed at, ridiculed and attacked.

Now, unlike Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront, he has his chance to be a contender after Ofcom ruled that UKIP is a major party in the May elections.

Labour and Conservatives have so far kept a sneery distance from bloodying their boxing gloves with UKIP claret, but don't for a moment be fooled that they are disinterested in the outcome. They'll definitely be watching from behind their fingers.

Meantime, ringside tonight will be Westminster and European political journalists. Pens poised they'll be keenly marking every round before announcing a winner shortly after 8pm.

Could it be a draw? Unlikely, and the bookmakers Ladbrokes already has Nick Clegg as a narrow favourite.

Tune in to LBC 97.3 and Sky News at 7pm and decide for yourselves.

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Teacher Strike Disrupts Thousands Of Schools

By David Crabtree, Midlands Correspondent

Thousands of state schools have been closed or partially closed by a one-day strike involving members of the National Union of Teachers.

Schools are being disrupted across England and Wales as the NUT launches its first national strike in almost three years.

NUT members joined rallies and marches across the country as union leaders said strike action was well supported.

But the Department of Education said fewer than a quarter of schools are fully closed, considerably less than the 60% closure rate seen during nationwide strikes in 2011.

The figures do not include schools which have been partially closed. 

The walkout is the latest in a series of strikes in an ongoing row over pensions, performance-related pay and workloads.

NUT Deputy General Secretary Kevin Courtney told Sky News: "The reason that we are on strike today, which we very much regret, is that (Secretary of State for Education) Michael Gove simply won't listen.

"We think Michael Gove's policies are exhausting and demoralising teachers, and children deserve enthusiastic and energetic teachers."

He said: "Thousands of good teachers are leaving the profession. That is very damaging to education."

Teachers staged a strike in Bristol last year

The NUT is the only union taking part in Wednesday's strike.

The NASUWT union, which has been involved in previous stoppages, has been encouraged by ongoing talks over the disputed issues.

However, Mr Courtney said neither Mr Gove nor schools minister David Laws had personally attended the negotiations so far.

When Sky News put the allegations to Mr Laws, he said claims the Government was not listening to teachers' concerns were "nonsense".

He said he had no heard no previous complaints from the NUT over the way talks were structured, saying they were "detailed and serious," and attended by some of the most senior members in the department of education.

He added: "It is bizarre and ridiculous to be taking industrial action and disturbing the education of young people and the work patterns of parents when there are talks under way."

However, he did not refute claims he had been absent from meetings.

Marching teachers in Brighton in October

Ahead of the strike, the Department for Education said: "Parents will struggle to understand why the NUT is pressing ahead with strikes over the Government's measures to let heads pay good teachers more.

"They called for talks to avoid industrial action, we agreed to their request, and talks have been taking place weekly.

"Despite this constructive engagement with their concerns, the NUT is taking action that will disrupt parents' lives, hold back children's education and damage the reputation of the profession."

The Government maintains that less than a quarter of teachers voted for strike action. But NUT officials say the Government's own figures back up their argument.

Coventry physics teacher and NUT official Chris Denson said: "Since this Government has come to power we have seen a continual deterioration of teachers' working conditions.

"You see the Department For Education's own survey shows that working time has gone up massively in secondary and primary schools.

"But also, since this Government has come to power, a teacher's take-home pay has come down by 17%. Our pensions, we have to pay more to get less at the end and have to work until 69. So there are a huge number of issues."

A recent survey suggested primary school teachers work nearly 60 hours a week, with secondary school teachers chalking up 56 hours.

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Weather: Mother's Day Temperatures May Hit 20C

The arrival of British Summer Time at the weekend is set to coincide with a period of warmer weather for many parts of the UK.

Clocks go forward at 1am on Mother's Day this Sunday, meaning we lose an hour's sleep but get longer, lighter evenings.

Temperatures are set to climb to around 13 to 17C (55 to 62F) on Saturday.

And they could reach as high as 15 to 20C (59 to 68F) on Sunday, when we lose an hour's sleep as British Summer Time arrives.

However before that, it is expected to feel quite cold in the UK due to a chilly wind coming from the east.

Plenty of showers are also expected, some of which will bring snow to high ground.

Then, by the weekend, the wind is set to change to a more southerly direction which will bring in warmer air.

Sky News weather forecaster Isobel Lang said: "This week, our weather pattern will switch from the usual prevailing wind direction to an easterly wind bringing in air which has travelled over a chilly North Sea.

"Although not exceptionally cold there will be a chill to the wind and it'll feed in plenty of showers - some of which will bring snow to high ground, especially overnight.

"This easterly will last until the weekend before turning more southerly. It'll draw in warmer air across us and and the warmth will be very welcome."

However Lang cautioned: "Not everyone will enjoy some sunshine, though, with the east coast of Scotland looking cooler and duller and southwestern parts of Britain set for some showers."

Meanwhile, in the decades to come there are expected to be sharp contrasts in seasonal weather for the UK as climate change sends summer temperatures soaring.

Scientists expect powerful heatwaves such as the one that hit continental Europe in 2003 to be commonplace by the 2040s.

But there is no evidence that winters will become generally milder, say the experts. Despite the summer heat, people will still have to plan for the occasional very cold winter, as happened in 2011.

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Max Clifford 'Had Slap And Tickle In Office'

By Nick Pisa, Sky News Reporter

Publicist Max Clifford told police he had "slap and tickle" in his office but never sexual intercourse, a court has heard.

Clifford, who is accused of indecently assaulting several women, said the atmosphere in his office was fun but no-one was "ever forced to do anything they didn't want".

He told police he had "never paid a woman for sex" although he knew "plenty of famous people who use hookers and escorts".

He said it was a "matter of personal pride" and not his style and anything else was "not me".

The prosecution at Southwark Crown Court has described the atmosphere in his central London office as "sexually charged" but Clifford insisted nothing sinister ever took place.

He told police: "There was slap and tickle, kissing and cuddling and I may have had oral sex but never sexual intercourse."

Clifford said the "floor was too hard" but insisted when he had carried out sex acts in his office, it would have been with "someone very willing, able and old enough to know what they were doing".

He added: "It happened on occasions, it did happen but very, very occasionally."

He insisted to police that he "only had sex with people who fancied me and I fancied them," adding he had never forced anyone, saying of the allegations: "It didn't happen, I know it didn't happen".

Clifford told police: "To me sex is natural" and "more enjoyable" if both people were willing.

He admitted to police that "there were girls out there" who he had had affairs with while married but he was "not some grubby little whatsit".

Clifford, dressed in a suit and open necked white shirt, listened to the proceedings via an earpiece and followed the interviews on a paper copy he had.

Clifford's defence barrister Richard Horwell QC opened his case by telling the jury they had "heard only one side of the story."

He added: "The evidence is not as straight forward as suggested," as he explained how the size of his client's penis was crucial to the case.

Mr Horwell said some prosecution witnesses had described it as small while others had said it was large.

He told the jury: "Mr Clifford has an average size penis," explaining that his doctor had "carefully measured it recently and it was five and a quarter inches long flaccid".

Mr Horwell went on: "Certainly not freakishly small and certainly not enormous. The witnesses cannot be relied upon. It must be very perplexing."

He also rebuked the prosecution's claim that Clifford's office was his own "sexual fiefdom" describing it as "errant nonsense".

Defence witnesses for Clifford would number more than 40 and besides friends and family include "friends from the showbusiness world who have not abandoned him".

Although it is not yet clear who, the publicist does represent X Factor judge Simon Cowell.

However Mr Horwell told the jury the defence would not be a "celebrity extravaganza" and asked the jury to "keep an open mind".

He then called Clifford to give evidence and their initial exchanges were about his early life and schooling in Merton, south west london.

Clifford described how he then got work at EMI press office representing an "unknown group from Liverpool called The Beatles".

He told Mr Horwell his work then would have made it impossible to visit a Morden Wimpy bar in 1966 as he would have been too busy.

One of the alleged victims says she was indecently assaulted after Clifford met her in the fast good restaurant in 1966.

The 70-year-old from Hersham, Surrey, denies 11 counts of indecent assault between 1966 and 1984 on seven girls and women.

The trial continues.

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Energy Firm SSE To Freeze Household Bills

'Big Six' energy firm SSE is to freeeze household bills until January 2016, it has been confirmed.

The announcement comes amid the ongoing controversy over energy bill price hikes for consumers and businesses.

SSE chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies said: "We're setting out a positive agenda for customers, including our price freeze to 2016.

"We're making sure our own house is in order for the future by streamlining and simplifying our business.

"And we're making clear we wish to work with people to find more ways of taking costs out of energy bills."

In conjunction with the tariff freezing, SSE announced a swathe of measures to keep its overheads down.

It said "further operational efficiencies" will see it reduce costs by £100m in the coming two years, including a staff reduction of 500.

SSE said it would also legally separate its retail and wholesale segments by March next year.

The big energy providers have come under sustained fire over profits, with critics saying although retail earnings may be modest the firms' wholesale and distributions margins are too high.

The company also said it would limit the size of its deepwater Project Beatrice wind farm, located 12 miles off Scotland's Moray Firth, north-east of Inverness.

It also plans to scale back and exit some other projects to concentrate on Beatrice.

Further cost savings are expected to come from reducing the amount of capital and investment expenditure in the coming years.

It said although investment outlay would be around £1.6bn in 2014/15, this figure would drop by nearly 20% for the following three years.

SSE said it expects to report a full-year annual pre-tax profit of around 9% when it releases its results on May 21.

It expects operating profit to be 10% higher from its network distribution sector and 20% higher from its wholesale division, primarily due to greater gas production.

However, as householders become more aware of reducing energy consumption, SSE expects to see a retail profit reduction of about 25%.

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Russian Tycoon 'Depressed' Before Death

What We Know About Berezovsky

Updated: 1:09pm UK, Monday 25 March 2013

The suspicious deaths of a number of Russian exiles who had fallen foul of the regime meant that rumours swirled almost instantly that Boris Berezovsky had been killed. But so far the police have been unable to find any evidence of foul play.

Here's what we do know about Boris Berezovsky:

:: Political Exile

Mr Berezovsky was a key figure in former president Boris Yeltsin's inner circle and was also close to current president Vladimir Putin during his early years in power.

He left Russia in 2000 after a falling out with Mr Putin and became a vocal critic of the Kremlin from London, where he sought political asylum.

But in recent weeks, he is said to have written to Mr Putin suggesting that he could return to Russia, which had frequently sought his extradition on a variety of charges.

On the eve of his death, Mr Berezovsky was quoted as teling a journalist from Forbes Russia: "There is nothing I would like more than to return to Russia. I did not realise Russia meant so much to me I could not live as an emigrant."

He apparently added that he now believed he should never have left Russia and said he no longer wanted to be involved in politics.

The oligarch is believed to have survived a number of assassination attempts, including a bomb attack on his car that decapitated a chauffeur.

However, a radiation scare at his home after his body was found turned out to be a false alarm and the bodyguard who discovered him was the only person at home at the time.

:: Financial Problems

It is thought the former billionaire was facing serious financial difficulties.

He had fought a number of expensive legal battles since 2011 and reports suggest that defeat in a High Court battle with Chelsea FC owner and former business associate Roman Abramovich alone cost him tens of millions of pounds.

After losing the case, Mr Berezovsky told the widow of murdered Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko that he could no longer afford to pay her legal fees ahead of an inquest into her husband's death from radiation poisoning.

Mr Berezovsky also paid out Britain's largest divorce settlement, worth more than £100m, to ex-wife Galina Besharova last July.

Then in January, former partner Elena Gorbunova reportedly won a court order freezing £200m of assets following their split.

In recent days, The Daily Telegraph reported he would attempt to sell Red Lenin, an Andy Warhol screen print valued at between £30,000 and £50,000 by Christie's.

The artwork sold on Wednesday for £133,875 including the buyer's premium, according to the auction house's website.

Friends have been quoted as saying the oligarch was depressed by his financial troubles.

Aleksei Venediktov, the editor of Ekho Moskvy and a friend and colleague of Berezovsky, was quoted as saying: "After losing in court to Roman Abramovich he was in a serious depression. He was undergoing treatment."

:: Ill Health

Mr Venediktov is also quoted as saying Mr Berezovsky had been suffering heart problems.

"It was a heart attack," he was reported as saying late on Saturday. "For the last two weeks, he had had several."

Other reports have suggested he had been undergoing treatment in Israel.

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MP Nigel Evans: Accuser Is 'Machiavellian' Liar

By Mike McCarthy, North of England Correspondent

Former deputy speaker Nigel Evans has described a man who he is accused of sexually assaulting as a "Machiavellian" liar.

The MP told police that the man was "flirtatious, moody, Tory, Labour, gay, straight...a real mess."

Evans, independent MP for Ribble Valley, is accused of putting his hand inside the alleged victim's boxer shorts while the man slept on a sofa at his constituency home in Pendleton, Lancashire.

In an interview with police after being arrested last year, the politician was asked why the man would lie about such a thing.

Evans replied: "Because that's what he does. He wants to be the centre of attention, the centre of attraction."

Transcripts of the police interview were read out to the jury in Evans' trial at Preston Crown Court. 

During police questioning, the MP was asked about a call made by the alleged victim to his girlfriend following the incident.

The police officer suggested that the man had been "fiery, upset, hyped-up, angry".

Evans responded: "He lied, she lied."

The MP said that another man, who he is accused of raping, had been a "willing participant" who had later regretted what had happened.

Asked why he thought alleged victims might be making up their stories he said that one of them would have been prepared to affect his ambition to become speaker of the House of Commons.

He said that the man knew Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle - a fellow deputy speaker.

Evans went on to say that he also knew Mr Hoyle and did not think for one minute that he would put the man up to it.

Later one of Evans' alleged victims was recalled to the witness box.

He was asked if he could remember conversations in which he'd made light of the alleged sexual assault upon him.

He told the court:  "It was one of those situations you either laughed or cried about."

Defence barrister Peter Wright QC asked: "If then your circle of friends made the suggestion that you may have been leading Nigel on you make a sort of response "Ooops" or "naughty me". (Did you) make light of it in that way."

The alleged victim replied: "Certainly not."

Evans denies one charge of rape, six of sexual assault and two of indecent assault.

The charges relate to a total of seven alleged victims. The trial continues.

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Terror Charges For UK Soldier Ryan McGee

British soldier Ryan McGee is to be charged with explosives and terrorism offences over claims he made an improvised bomb.

The 19-year-old, from 5th Battalion the Rifles, is also alleged to have had a copy of bomb-making manual The Anarchist Cookbook.

He will face two charges and is due to appear in court next week, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

McGee was detained at an Army base in Paderborn, Germany, late last year, after the discovery of the suspicious device at a terraced home in Salford.

Jane Stansfield, of the Crown Prosecution Service Counter Terrorism Division, said: "Following an investigation by police of the North West Counter Terrorism Command, we have today authorised charges against Ryan Adam McGee, a serving Rifleman with 5th Battalion the Rifles at the time of his arrest.

"It is alleged that between May 31 2012 and November 29 2013, Ryan Adam McGee had possession of a document or record for terrorist purposes, namely a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook.

"He has been charged with one offence contrary to Section 58(1)(b) of the Terrorism Act 2000.

"It is also alleged that Ryan Adam McGee, between September 1 and 30 2013 made an improvised explosive and has therefore also been charged with one offence contrary to Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883."

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court next Wednesday.

The Anarchist Cookbook, first published in 1971, contains instructions for the manufacture of explosives and for home manufacturing of illicit drugs.

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