Met Police Officer Sacked Over Plebgate Affair

Police officer Susan Johnson has been sacked from the Met Police for gross misconduct because of her role in the Plebgate affair.

The officer, who serves on the diplomatic protection squad, was dismissed following a misconduct hearing which found she had "breached standards of professional behaviour".

The investigation into the altercation between the former Conservative Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell and a police officer at the gates of Downing Street found Pc Johnson had been involved in the leaking of information about the incident to The Sun newspaper.

Pc Johnson, who was not on duty at the time of the argument over cycling along Downing Street, was found to have been exchanging text messages and a phone call with someone who had then contacted the newspaper.

Andrew Mitchell at the gates of Downing Street

Mr Mitchell resigned after details of his altercation with Pc Toby Rowland on September 19, 2012 emerged in which he was accused of using the phrase "f***ing pleb", a claim he has always denied.

The Conservative MP has always claimed the Police Federation used the incident to take revenge for police cuts and had orchestrated a "stitch-up".

Deborah Glass, of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said earlier this year: "The patchwork of evidence from emails, text messages and telephone calls does not suggest an organised conspiracy to bring down a cabinet minister.

"But there was clearly collusion between certain officers to, as they saw it, blow the whistle on bad behaviour toward one of their own, which ultimately had the same effect."

Pc Keith Wallis was jailed for lying about the Plebgate affair

Pc Keith Wallis, another diplomatic protection officer, was jailed in February for lying about witnessing the heated exchange.

Pc Gillian Weatherley, who was on duty on the day of the incident, was sacked last month for leaking information to the press. She sent a picture of an email sent by Pc Rowland to his bosses to The Sun.

Following the jailing of Pc Wallis, Met Police chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe apologised to Mr Mitchell and to the public for the officer's behaviour.

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Missing Yachtsmen: Coastguard Steps Up Search

The sister of one of the four sailors missing after their yacht capsized in the Atlantic Ocean believes there is every chance he will be found alive.

Kay Coombes, the sister of Steve Warren, also spoke of her relief that the search for the crew of the Cheeki Rafiki, which was returning to the UK from a regatta in Antigua, had resumed after a public campaign.

She was speaking as the US Coast Guard stepped up the hunt, which now involves four ships and three planes.

A further three vessels and an aircraft are en route to the search area, about 1,000 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

An RAF Hercules is also on its way to join the hunt.

Air crews on the scene have scoured a total of 2,878 square miles since the search resumed.

Speaking from Somerset, Ms Coombes told Sky News: "We are all sticking together at this point. We are amazed by the public support we have had.

"We are very thankful to the US Coast Guard that they have started searching again.

"We are being realistic about what's happening but we are still hopeful at this point.

The US Coast Guard in Boston is coordinating the hunt. Pic: US Coast Guard

"Knowing my brother like I do - he's very very strong, physically strong, mentally strong - there's every chance he's still alive.

"We also are realistic. All we can do is hope and pray, and keep everything crossed that we can that we have a positive outcome.

"People are out there now looking for them, so if they are out there there's a good chance they are going to be found now."

The overturned hull of a yacht spotted by a cargo ship

Mr Warren's daughter Laura Carpenter said: "Obviously we are so pleased the search is back on again now."

The RAF Hercules plane will begin combing the ocean on Thursday and will be able to search for up to four hours at a time.

Mr Warren, 52, Andrew Bridge, 22, James Male, 23, and Paul Goslin, 56, were on board the 40ft yacht when it ran into difficulties.

The US Coast Guard called off the search for them last weekend after two days, but the decision was reversed after more than 150,000 people signed an online petition.

Rear Admiral Dan Abel discusses the search operation. Pic: US Coast Guard

A sailor who survived for five days after being shipwrecked in the mid-Atlantic told Sky News he believes the crew are still alive.

Rory Nugent told US Correspondent Amanda Walker: "I was declared dead twice by the US Coast Guard and the US Navy and eventually got apology letters from both.

"I think human nature and these guys' desire to live will keep them alive and keep them going."

The Cheeki Rafiki's crew had sent out locator beacons 1,000 miles east of Massachusetts and the Coast Guard estimated the survival time for the Britons was 20 hours after "the time of distress".

Rory Nugent was declared dead twice

The capsized hull of a yacht was spotted by the crew of cargo ship Maersk Kure, which was assisting in the search.

But they did not attempt to climb down to the stricken vessel and insisted there were no signs of life on board and no life raft.

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'Legal Aid' Fraud Trial Ruling Is Overturned

By Mark White, Home Affairs Correspondent, Court of Appeal

A legal move by the Prime Minister's barrister brother to halt a multimillion-pound fraud trial because of legal aid cuts has been overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Three Appeal Court judges quashed the order, made earlier this month at London's Southwark Crown Court, to throw out the case because the defendants could not find sufficiently experienced barristers to take on their defence.

David Cameron's older brother, Alexander Cameron QC, successfully argued that the accused men would be unable to get a fair trial because of the failure to find barristers of "sufficient competence" to fight for them.

The case is at the centre of a furious row between the Ministry of Justice and the legal profession over deep cuts to the legal aid budget.

Many barristers in England and Wales are refusing to take on complex and long-running court cases because of 30% cuts to their fees.

Delivering their ruling at the Court of Appeal, judge Sir Brian Leveson said the row was standing in the way of justice and he urged Justice Secretary Chris Grayling to work with the legal profession to try to resolve the current stand-off.

Alexander Cameron QC took on the case for free

The trial, which involves the alleged mis-selling of land to members of the public, is classed as a very high-cost case, because of the length of time barristers and their legal teams would have to spend preparing for the case and the expected length of the trial.

The fraud case, known as operation Cotton, included 46,030 pages of evidence and 864,000 lines of spreadsheet data.

Defence solicitors had contacted 69 barrister chambers in their efforts to find suitable representation.

By January 15 just one QC had indicated their willingness to take on the case, but then withdrew the next day.

The trial judge at Southwark Crown Court, Anthony Leonard, halted the case on May 1 and ruled there was no reason to think the defendants would be able to find suitably-qualified barristers to represent them if the case was adjourned,

Judge Leonard's ruling meant other major trials were also at risk of collapsing, including the biggest insider dealing case ever seen in the UK.

The Court of Appeal reversed Judge Leonard's ruling and ordered that "the proceedings on this indictment be resumed in the Crown Court at Southwark".

Sir Brian Leveson said:  "We are not saying that there could not come a time when it may be appropriate to order that this indictment be stayed: that time, however,

remains very much in the future and problems about representation will have to have developed considerably before such an exceptional order could be justified."

After the ruling, a spokesman for the Financial Conduct Authority, which mounted the appeal, said he welcomed the court's decision.

In a statement, he said: "The FCA is committed to pursuing criminal action in appropriate cases and is pleased that this case can now proceed towards trial."

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Royal Mail Launches Sunday Parcel Deliveries

Royal Mail is to start delivering parcels and opening delivery offices on Sundays, in response to the rapid growth of online shopping.

The recently-privatised firm says parcels will be delivered on Sundays later this summer to addresses within the M25. 

Around 100 of the busiest delivery offices will open on Sunday afternoons as part of the pilot.

The group's express parcels business, Parcelforce Worldwide, will also launch a Sunday delivery service in June for online shoppers through participating e-retailers.

Parcelforce Worldwide will make the service available to contract customers across the UK.

Shoppers who choose the Sunday service through registered retailers will receive a text message between 30 and 90 minutes before delivery.

Royal Mail said the changes were being introduced under an agreement with the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

Chief executive Moya Greene said: "Through these new Sunday services we are exploring ways to improve our flexibility and provide more options for people to receive items they have ordered online."

Union support for the move had enabled the company to "respond quickly to a changing market", she added.

CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward said: "Royal Mail's announcement about expanding delivery and collection services to seven days a week is an exciting innovation which we welcome.

"We appreciate that in order to stay competitive in a broadly unregulated sector, Royal Mail has to expand its services to its customers.

"We believe that offering Sunday delivery and collection services is the right response from the company.

"With ever-increasing numbers of people opting to shop online, Sunday services are necessary to deal with the growing demand in parcel delivery.

"The union is negotiating with Royal Mail nationally to ensure that postal workers who are affected by these changes receive good terms and conditions and, where appropriate, that work is performed on a voluntary basis."

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UK Retail Sales Growth Hits 10-Year High

A late Easter helped boost UK retail sales to a 7.7% growth rate year-on-year, officially relased figures have revealed.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales volumes jumped by 1.3% on the March figure, and 6.9% on the year - the highest since May 2004.

A consensus among economists had forecast the rise to be around 0.5% on the month and 5.2% on the year.

The ONS said food sales jumped 3.6% in April compared to March, and 6.3% on the year, taking the rate to its highest level for more than 12 years.

It said the spike in food sales was due to better weather and promotions in-store.

Non-food store sales rose 6.5% year-on-year but were down 0.4% on the month.

The increase in consumer spending has become a key driver of Britain's modest recovery from the financial crisis more than five years ago.

A trend in easing inflation and gentle wage growth, along with record low mortgage rates, has helped boost spending.

However ONS figures released on Tuesday showed inflation rising 0.2% month-on-month, eating into the wage recovery.

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), also released on Wednesday, showed gross mortgage lending was an estimated £16.6bn in April - 8% higher than March's total.

The CML added that it was 36% higher than April last year and the highest total for an April since 2008 when it was £25.7bn.

Click and collect, and smartphone usage to research prices, is increasingly seen as a driver for high street purchases.

Meanwhile, the sector known as non-store/repair saw the biggest jump out of eight retail areas classified by the ONS.

It said year-on-year that sector grew by 25.1%, and 5.9% month-on-month.

But spending on fuel dropped both on the month and compared to last year, due to price suppression.

Figures showed motorists spent 3.7% less on fuel in April compared to March, and 0.7% down on the April 2013 figure.

Deloitte UK head of retail Ian Geddes said: "It is encouraging to finally see some strong figures in the food sector, as this remains a challenging market for the large grocers who are vigorously responding to consumers' changing retail habits and, are currently implementing significant structural reorganisation.

"This is clearly a long race and the large grocers are repositioning themselves to win over customers in the new, more complex era of multichannel retailing."

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Prince Charles 'Compares Putin To Hitler'

Prince Charles has reportedly compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler over his actions in Ukraine.

The Prince of Wales' alleged remark about Mr Putin came during a four-day tour of Canada when he spoke to a woman who fled the Nazis and lost family members in the Holocaust.

A spokesman for Clarence House said: "We do not comment on private conversations.

"But we would like to stress that the Prince of Wales would not seek to make a public political statement during a private conversation."

Charles was being shown around the Museum of Immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia, along with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

The royal couple paid tribute to World War Two veterans and their families, and during the course of the visit they spoke to museum volunteer Marianne Ferguson.

Ms Ferguson told the Prince she fled to Canada with her family in 1939, not long before Hitler annexed the Baltic coastal Free City of Gdansk.

Prince Charles and Camilla in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island

After meeting Charles, the 78-year-old told the Daily Mail: "The Prince said 'And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler'.

"I must say that I agree with him and am sure a lot of people do.

"But I was very surprised that he made the comment as I know they [members of the Royal Family] aren't meant to say these things.

"I told the Prince that while my family and I were lucky to get a permit to travel, many members of my relatives had permits but were unable to get out before the war broke out on September 1.

"They were sent to the concentration camps and died."

The Mail reported that the Prince made his comments while surrounded by media and they were heard by several witnesses.

Mr Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Sky News: "I don't know anything about it. I can't really trust the Daily Mail as a source."

Protesters in Kiev have also compared Putin to Hitler

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg backed Prince Charles on his LBC Radio phone-in, saying: "Prince Charles should be perfectly entitled to express views in the confidence that he's expressing them privately."

But Labour (Co-op) MP Mike Gapes, who represents Ilford South, said the Prince "should abdicate" if he wants to make controversial statements.

He said on Twitter: "If Prince Charles wants to make controversial statements on national or international issues he should abdicate and stand for election.

"In constitutional monarchy, policy and diplomacy should be conducted by parliament and government. Monarchy should be seen and not heard."

UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who has backed Mr Putin's anti-EU stance in the past, said: "Prince Charles has made those comments - I know some people feel that way about Putin.

"I think there's a difference. The difference is right from the very start Hitler was expansionist, and we haven't see very much evidence of that until now from Putin and arguably, what's happened in the Ukraine is because he's been poked with a stick by the rest of the world."

Mr Putin is in Shanghai meeting with Xi Jinping and other world leaders

Charles and the Russian leader are due to meet next month when they attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6.

Mr Putin has faced international anger over Russia's actions in neighbouring Ukraine, including the controversial annexation of Crimea.

In March, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly said Mr Putin's claim to be be defending ethnic Russians in Crimea was "what Hitler did back in the '30s".

She later backtracked, claiming she was not making a direct comparison but that Russia's behaviour was "reminiscent" of Germany in the build-up to the Second World War.

Prince Charles has been known for speaking his mind on issues such as architecture and the environment, but he rarely makes his feelings known on diplomatic matters.

There is an ongoing legal battle over the publication of letters he has sent to politicians, with the attorney general concerned their release could compromise the Prince's neutrality and create constitutional problems.

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Is Charles Right To Say Putin's Like Hitler?

It's an opportunity for a brief snigger, a moment of international schadenfreude, the moment of guilty pleasure at someone else's misfortune - and it came all in one sentence.

In reaction to Prince Charles' comparison of Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler the Russian president's spokesman said: "I don't know anything about it. I can't really trust the Daily Mail as a source."

This offhand dismissal signals both that the heir to the British throne is irrelevant to Russia - and that the Kremlin is not to be moved, as British politicians very often are, by headlines in the UK's most powerful tabloid.

Charles' comment was made in private. It was controversial only because he said it.

His father, Prince Philip, has form for making off-the-cuff comments about foreigners that have been intended as jokes but taken too seriously.

"And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler," the Prince of Wales is reported to have said.

Hillary Clinton said much the same not long ago.

The former US Secretary of State told an audience: "The claims by president Putin and other Russians that they had to go into Crimea and maybe further into Ukraine because they had to protect Russian minorities is reminiscent of claims made back in the 1930s when Germany under the Nazis kept talking about how they had to protect German minorities in Poland, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere throughout Europe."

The Russian president has reportedly signed a deal to supply gas to China

Prince Charles and Clinton are simply showing that they know their history.

Hitler's unopposed annexation of the Sudetenland, a German speaking part of Czechoslovakia, happened on the pretext of protecting ethnic Germans there after deliberately fomenting unrest, riots, and violent secessionist movements.

Putin has done exactly the same thing in Ukraine.

The issue is whether Russia wants to annex the vast central European country.

He needs to work out whether he has gone far enough or wants to go for broke - and he risks just that, going broke.

So his main focus this week has been on a state visit to China where he had hoped to sign a 30-year, $456bn, deal to export gas and other petrochemicals to China.

He needed this deal to offset the inevitable strategic shift by European national consumers of Russian gas to alternative supplies because Russia is no longer trusted following the annexation of the Crimea.

And Putin got it.

He landed the deal, according to the Chinese state news agency, on Wednesday.

Some 88% of Russia's total oil exports, 70% of its gas exports and 50% of its coal exports go to Europe.

They all face sanctions if Russia keeps the pressure on Ukraine with more of the destabilising tactics used by Hitler.

The Chinese deal is roughly the equivalent of Russia's current oil exports to Germany.

But he'll still be feeling smug.

Russia's play for Ukrainian territory has been as much about a land grab as it has been about weakening the European Union and the bloc's flirtation with Kiev.

He has designs on greater influence over 'Eurasia' and will be watching the EU-wide elections with great interest.

He'll be rooting for the anti-European right - for UKIP, the National Front in France, Austria's Freedom Party - all determined to leave the European Union.

A weakened EU is what Putin wants, so if anti-Europeans do well then Russia's president will enjoy yet another moment of shadenfreude - taking pleasure at the EU's misfortune.

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Rolf Harris 'Victim' Gets Timeline Wrong

By Nick Pisa, Sky News Reporter

A woman who claims she was indecently assaulted by entertainer Rolf Harris in a pub has told a court she got her "timeline wrong".

Tonya Lee, 43, had said the veteran entertainer molested her twice just hours after she arrived in Britain on a youth theatre tour from Australia.

She claimed the incident happened in a London pub in 1986 on her first day in the country when she was 15, but defence barrister Sonia Woodley QC produced an itinerary that suggested she was wrong.

Ms Woodley read out to Southwark Crown Court details of the tour which started in London and went on to Birmingham, Liverpool and Scotland.

She added that at the end of the tour there was a "celebration" dinner with Harris in a Greenwich pub just before the party returned to Australia.

Ms Woodley said the itinerary proved Ms Lee was wrong in saying she had been assaulted by him in the pub at the start of her six-week visit.

The alleged victim, a mother of three, responded: "I know the incident happened. This happened almost 28 years ago. There is fault about my timeline but what happened, happened.

"My dates are wrong but I know what happened."

She added the incidents remained "clear" in her mind.

A photo of Tonya Lee released by the Metropolitan Police

Ms Woodley asked her how she could have said in her evidence the tour was "tainted" by what she claimed took place and that she "threw up for the rest of the trip".

After a long pause Ms Lee, 43, said: "I don't know, maybe I was nervous about being away from home."

Ms Woodley suggested that she was ill and lost weight because she "didn't like English food".

The witness also admitted that at the time she sold her story to the Australian media for $60,000 (£33,000), she owed $10,000 (£5,500) to the tax authorities.

But she insisted "money was not the motivating factor", adding she just wanted to tell police what she claimed happened to her with Harris.

She denied prosecution suggestions that she "spiced up" her story in order to secure a more lucrative deal with Australian media.

Finally, Ms Lee was asked why she had given evidence and said she was "forever grateful for the opportunity" to speak.

In tears, she added: "It takes people like myself to speak out, to help others that have suffered, to give strength to others.

"What I do know is that nobody has a right, no matter who they are, to subject something to somebody that is unlawful, wrong. There is an age of consent for a reason."

Harris, 84, is accused of three indecent assault charges against Ms Lee and nine other allegations, all of which he denies.

As she gave evidence Harris, who lives in Bray, Berkshire, listened and occasionally passed notes to his defence team.

Harris has had a 50-year career in entertainment and was again supported in the public gallery by his wife Alwen and other family and friends.

The trial continues.

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Home Secretary Cuts Police Federation Funding

The Home Secretary has said the public can no longer continue to fund the Police Federation when it has vast reserves of its own.

Theresa May told the Police Federation annual conference that funding would be cut from August because it was "not acceptable" for it to continue when the organisation had tens of millions of pounds in its reserves.

Mrs May had already said spending would be reduced from £320,000 to £190,000 each year but has now said it will be cut completely.

In a bruising speech, Mrs May listed a string of controversies faced by the police, including the Plebgate row, involving misconduct over the investigation into the Downing Street incident involving the former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell, and the Hillsborough report.

She said: "If there's anybody in this hall who doubts that our model of policing is at risk, if there is anybody who underestimates the damage recent events and revelations have done to the relationship between the public and the police, if anybody here questions the need for the police to change, I am here to tell you that it's time to face up to reality."

The Plebgate affair has damaged the police, said Mrs May

Mrs May said that if the Police Federation did not accept reforms recommended by Sir David Normington then "we will impose change on you."

Her speech was greeted by silence from officers.

During a question and answer session that followed one officer, who had served for 21 years, told the Home Secretary: "I've never had such an attack and a personal kicking from what you said there.

"You're threatening to bully us."

Mrs May told the Federation a third of the public no longer trusted officers to tell the truth as a result of a number of high-profile scandals.

She added that it was "not enough to mouth platitudes about a few bad apples".

In January, a report commissioned by the former chief civil servant at the Home Office, Sir David Normington, found the organisation was riven by deep divisions between leaders.

It also found there was "a culture of secrecy" over finances with £64.5m held in reserve and a number of local branches refusing to give details of accounts where funds were held.

Police Federation chairman Steve Williams

The report warned that the organisation, which represents 124,000 rank and file officers, must reform.

As well as cutting funding, Mrs May said officers would no longer automatically become members of the Police Federation but would now have to actively opt in.

Outgoing chairman of the Police Federation Steve Williams blamed the media for the increasing hostility to the Police Federation, saying there had been "negative story after negative story".

He told officers: "And while the good deeds of our members are occasionally rightly reflected in the local media, a focus on your efforts and the efforts of Fed reps across the country has become difficult in the haze of negativity and media furore."

Mr Williams also called for a guarantee that police killers would be given whole-life sentences.

He also warned about the falling number of officers next to the increasing number of those employed by police watchdogs and added: "If this trend continues we will have more people watching those policing, than those actually doing it."

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Hunt For Two More On-The-Run Prisoners

Police are hunting two inmates, including a convicted robber, who have fled from an open jail in Warrington, Cheshire.

It is the latest in a series of embarrassing incidents in recent days where prisoners have absconded from custody.

In the latest case, Anthony Peloe and John Arnold, both from the Liverpool area, were reported missing around 10.30am on Tuesday by staff at Thorn Cross prison.

Police are warning the public not to approach the pair.

Arnold, 30, was convicted of robbery in May 2006 and jailed for two years. He is described as a white, around 5ft 11in tall and slimly built.

He has brown hair and brown eyes and may be wearing prison issue green trousers.

Peloe, 43, was convicted of possession of firearms with intent to commit harm in December 2005 and was sentenced to three years in jail.

Dean Jackson (L) and Damien Burns also absconded this week

He is described as white, 5ft 8in and of proportionate build. He has brown hair and blue eyes and may also be wearing green prison issue trousers.

Superintendent Martin Cleworth of Warrington Police said: "Cheshire Police are making every effort to locate these two men including liaising with colleagues in other forces.

"They may be travelling together or separately."

If anyone sees them, they are urged to call police using the non-emergency number 101 and quoting incident 306 of 20 May 2014.

On Tuesday, it emerged an armed robber had absconded from an open prison in Doncaster along with another inmate.

Both Michael Wheatley (L) and Thomas Moffett are back in custody

Police are also warning the public not to approach Damien Burns or Dean Jackson, who went missing from Hatfield Prison in South Yorkshire on Monday evening.

Burns, 39, originally from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, was serving an indeterminate sentence handed to him in 2007 for a knifepoint robbery.

Jackson, 27, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was on remand awaiting sentencing for what police described as "a theft-related matter".

Their escape came a day after a murderer who stabbed a blind man to death was arrested after going on the run from prison.

Arnold Pickering, who was jailed for life in 1991 for killing a man he wrongly thought to be a paedophile, was tracked down to an address in Oldham.

Arnold Pickering has also been arrested after going on the run

The 44-year-old had failed to return to HMP Kennet in Merseyside after leaving the Category C jail on day release on Saturday.

Another inmate, swastika-tattooed Thomas Moffett, 51, who is serving an indeterminate sentence for a number of robberies, also failed to return from day release on Saturday but was arrested on Monday night.

The series of escapes comes weeks after notorious armed robber Michael Wheatley - known as the Skullcracker - absconded from Standford Hill open prison on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, while on temporary release.

Sky News Home Affairs Correspondent Mark White said: "Things are just going from bad to worse for the Ministry of Justice. Peloe and Arnold are the seventh prisoners in less than three weeks to go missing from open prison environments."

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