Hillsborough: Commander Denies Police Cover-Up

By Becky Johnson, Sky News Correspondent

The match commander on the day of the Hillsborough disaster has denied being part of a conspiracy to cover up the police's role.

Giving evidence for a seventh day to the inquests into the deaths of the 96 Liverpool fans, David Duckenfield admitted "very serious professional failings", but denied telling other officers to lie about what happened.

He was asked by his own barrister, John Beggs QC: "If there was a conspiracy to interfere with a fair collection of the evidence, did you have any part in that?"

Mr Duckenfield replied: "None at all, sir."

Mr Beggs continued: "Did you tell other officers how they should record their evidence in relation to this tragedy?"

Mr Duckenfield stated: "No, sir."

The barrister went on: "Did you at any stage ever encourage any other police officer or police civilian to change his or her statement?"

Mr Duckenfield responded: "No, sir."

The former chief superintendent has already admitted lying in the aftermath of the disaster by not revealing that he had given the command for an exit gate to be opened, allowing around 2,000 fans to surge into the already crowded stadium shortly before kick-off.

He also admitted that his failure to close a tunnel through which the fans entered packed pens where the fatal crush happened "was the direct cause of the deaths of 96 people".

He admits that his "preoccupation" ahead of the match was segregating fans to avoid public disorder and fighting.

Even as fans began to emerge onto the pitch as they tried to escape the crush at the front of the pens, Mr Duckenfield admits that from his position in the police control box, his initial reaction was that it was a pitch invasion.

He told the inquest jury it was not until eight minutes past three when he heard a radio message calling for a "fleet of ambulances" that it became obvious it was not primarily a public order matter.

Mr Duckenfield was asked if he was able to sleep the night of the disaster.

"I don't think so, sir" he replied.

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Tories And Labour Neck And Neck: Sky Analysis

By Sophy Ridge, Political Correspondent

A single seat is set to separate Labour and the Conservatives at the election, a Sky News projection has indicated.

The results suggest a hung parliament with the two parties virtually neck and neck.

With just 50 days to go until the election, Sky News has analysed the latest polls to project how many House of Commons seats each party is currently expected to gain - and the results could not be closer.

The SNP would be the big winners, Sky's analysis shows

According to the analysis, Labour would gain 280 seats with the Conservatives on 279.

The Liberal Democrats would take 14, UKIP 2, the SNP 52, Plaid Cymru 3, the Greens 1 and others 19.

Video: How Will Osborne's Budget Stack Up?

The results suggest the election is on a knife edge - and the SNP could hold the balance of power in a hung parliament.

Ed Miliband has ruled out a formal coalition with the SNP but left the door open for a looser deal such as confidence and supply on a vote by vote basis.

However, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has ruled out working with the Conservatives.

The calculation is based on data from Sky's election analyst Professor Michael Thrasher, Director of The Elections Centre at Plymouth University.

Any party needs 326 seats in the House of Commons to win the election outright and form a majority Government.

Video: What Two Georges Want From George

The projection is not a prediction or forecast of what will happen at the General Election on 7 May.

It uses the most recent polls from a series of polling companies including opinion in Scotland.

The polls seem to be narrowing in favour of the Conservatives.

A Sky News House of Commons projection on 27 January, to mark 100 days to go until the General Election, suggested a hung parliament with Labour the largest party and 12 seats ahead of the Conservatives, but 44 seats off an overall majority.

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Tails You Win: Teen Designs New £1 Coin Image

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In with the old for the new £1 coin

A 15-year-old's design for the new £1 coin has been chosen ahead of more than 6,000 entries.

David Pearce's drawing will feature on the new currency that will be released in 2017.

He was told the news by George Osborne.

"Designing the new £1 coin was a brilliant opportunity to leave a lasting legacy on what will be the most secure coin in circulation anywhere," the Chancellor said.

"The competition captured the imagination of thousands of people and David Pearce's winning design will be recognised by millions in the years ahead."

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1. Gallery: In With The Old For New £1 Coin

   A new-look £1 coin is among the announcements the Chancellor is expected to make in his annual Budget statement.

The familiar round shape will be replaced with a 12-sided design, with the first of the new coins expected to enter circulation in 2017.

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The new £1 coin resembles the 'threepenny bit', which was introduced back in 1937.

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The new coin is designed to be more difficult to forge than the existing one.

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An estimated 3% of all £1 coins - around 45 million in total - are counterfeits, according to the Royal Mint.

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David's design, which features national emblems of the UK - a rose, leek, thistle and shamrock - emerging from a Royal Coronet, has been slightly refined with the support of renowned coin artist David Lawrence and lettering expert Stephen Raw.

The teenager, from Walsall, said: "I spent a lot of time researching what coin designs looked like and what sort of designs would represent all parts of the UK before submitting my idea and I honestly cannot believe I have won."

The £1 coin is being replaced for the first time in more than 30 years because of its vulnerability to counterfeiters.

Video: New Pound Coin To Foil Forgers

It will have the same shape as the old 12-sided three pence piece and is set to be the most secure coin in circulation in the world due to its bi-metallic construction and the Royal Mint's new state-of-the-art anti-counterfeiting technology.

Video: New Coin is "Completely Irrelevant"

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1. Breaking News: Osborne's 'Political' Pitch For Old And Young
2. Breaking News: Live Reaction: Chancellor's 2015 Budget
3. Breaking News: Budget 2015: The Key Points You Need To Know
4. Breaking News: Seventeen Tourists Killed In Tunisia Attack
5. Missing Claudia: Police Chasing New Leads

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Missing Claudia: Detectives Chasing New Leads

Police searching for missing chef Claudia Lawrence are "actively pursuing new leads" and may make further arrests shortly.

Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn of North Yorkshire Police was speaking on the sixth anniversary of her disappearance.

He said his team had made "significant progress" since the force began reviewing the case in 2013.

Police search the alleyway at the back of Miss Lawrence's home

Miss Lawrence was last seen on Wednesday 18 March 2009 and was reported missing by her father two days later.

He contacted police after she failed to turn up for her 6am shift at York University.

Video: People 'Lying' To Claudia Police

Officers believe the 35-year-old was murdered.

A number of fresh searches have been carried out since 2013, including a detailed re-examination of her house in the Heworth area of York and the alleyway at the rear.

A 60-year-old man, arrested last year in connection with her disappearance, was released without charge, while a 47-year-old man remains on bail on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

Video: May 2014: York House Searched

Det Supt Malyn said: "In the months since we started our review, we have made very significant progress.

"In the coming weeks and months we may make additional arrests as we continue to develop our lines of inquiry.

"In the light of information that has only recently come to the fore, we are actively pursuing what are rightly described as new leads."

Video: March 2014: Father Makes Appeal

Mr Malyn warned anyone withholding information about their relationship with Miss Lawrence or events in the days before her disappearance to come forward or risk being arrested.

He added: "Six years have passed since Claudia disappeared. For her loved ones, the pain caused by her absence and the circumstances of her disappearance has not faded.

"Ultimately, we may not be able to prove what happened to Claudia, or be able to find her. But that will not be for lack of determination, tenacity and meticulous detective work."

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Claudia Lawrence Mystery Has Dark Undercurrents

The question of what happened to York University cook Claudia Lawrence is simultaneously a family tragedy, a thorn in the side of North Yorkshire Police, and one of the country's most intriguing unsolved crimes.

Claudia, 35 and apparently single, is assumed to have been murdered after failing to turn up to work in March 2009, leaving no obvious clues about what had happened to her.

In the six years she has been missing there have been just two arrests and no charges.

It is little wonder that people are asking if the police have run out of ideas.

So is the recent renewed police activity around her former home, and the claim that more arrests could be imminent, just an attempt to silence the critics, or are the police on to something?

And why are there so many undercurrents to the mystery, with some people still unwilling to talk to journalists, and others issuing warnings or threats?

To find the answers you have to look at the history of the investigation and at the police team trying to move it forward.

There were undoubtedly mistakes made in the spring of 2009. For months after Claudia vanished the entire publicity effort of Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway's investigation showed her with the wrong colour hair, while detectives allowed the misleading narrative that Claudia was an unassuming young woman to run away with them and never really recovered from the belated attempt to correct it.

The truth - that her relationships involved what Mr Galloway eventually described as "complexity and mystery" - was not made public until three months after she disappeared, many weeks after they had built up what one described to me as a "rogues' gallery" of some of the men she had been involved with.

With a continued insistence from Claudia's family and friends, from whom it seems she hid much of her private life, that the police were wrong, and with many locals knowing differently all along, it set the tone for mistrust and conflict.

To be fair the police did not know what they were walking into: Claudia apparently lived a significant part of her life in secret and her parents had endured such a bitter divorce that to this day they have never made a joint appeal over their daughter's disappearance.

Meanwhile, journalists were finding the story hard to tell. For a privately-educated daughter of a country solicitor Claudia had some unusual acquaintances and this remains the only missing person case where I've been warned off or threatened - not once, but twice.

Journalists and the police alike have found it hard to break the silence surrounding some of her relationships.

Fast forward five years and following the retirement of Ray Galloway a new police team has relaunched the investigation.

Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn, the senior investigating officer, has described the investigation as engrossing and quickly said he had "spotted things" to work on. 

Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Mason, the force's head of crime, knows the Police and Crime Commissioner wants a result.

Neither give the impression of police officers who would spin lines for publicity or conduct stunts to make themselves look busy.

So far they've arrested two men, with one released without charge and the other still on bail on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

They have re-examined Claudia's house, carried out a much-publicised fingertip search outside and re-interviewed key individuals and in doing so they have created a buzz which might yet solve the crime.

Det Supt Malyn is now talking about new leads, continuing obstruction, cover-ups and lies by some people and the possibility of more arrests soon.

But he's a realist too: "Ultimately we may not be able to prove what happened to Claudia, or be able to find her," he admitted this week.

There is a feeling among Claudia's family and the reporters who have covered this case from the start that if North Yorkshire Police fail to solve this crime it will not be for the want of trying.

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Man Due In Court Over Buckingham Palace Drone

A Nottingham man is to appear in court on suspicion of flying a drone over several famous UK sights, police say.

Nigel Wilson, 42, has been accused of 17 breaches of the Air Navigation Order, Scotland Yard said.

He is suspected of failing to maintain direct, unaided and visual contact with a drone which was flown over the Palace of Westminster, the Shard and the Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace. 

He is also accused of flying a "small unmanned surveillance aircraft" over packed football stadiums without permission from the Civil Aviation Authority.

Over a period of just 3 months he's charged with flying the drone at eight football grounds including Liverpool's Anfield, and Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

He has been summoned to appear before Westminster Magistrates Court on 16th April.

The allegations follow a string of unexplained drone sightings over sensitive locations in France, including top tourist spots and nuclear facilities.

Two weeks ago, a dozen more drones were spotted in Paris, bringing the total number of suspicious incidents to 60.

The sightings were made near the River Seine, the Place de la Concorde, the Invalides military museum and the Paris ring road.

It is unclear whether the spate of French drone flights is the work of pranksters, tourists or something more malicious.

Last December the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) warned that due to the vast increase in drone use, it was only a matter of time  before a major accident with a passenger jet in the skies above Britain.

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Video: Spanish Tourists Saved From Thames

Footage has emerged of the moment two Spanish tourists were saved from drowning by a lifeboat crew along with a bar worker who jumped in to try and rescue them.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said a lifeboat was launched after reports people were in the River Thames near Temple Pier in central London.

As the crew neared the scene they found three people, aged in their 20s, clinging to the river wall as a crowd of people was unable to get to them from the Embankment.

Kevin Maynard, lifeboat station manager, said: "We could hear shouting as we arrived and someone in the crowd was flashing a light into the water to guide us to the casualties.

One of the men can be seen clinging to the river bank. Pic: RNLI

"There were three men in the river who were trying to cling on to a bit of wall but the tide was sweeping them along.

"As the boat arrived on scene, one of the men lost his grip on the wall and sank below the water.

"In a panic, he then grabbed one of the other men and pulled him from the wall, with both men now struggling to stay afloat.

"We arrived just in time and got all three safely aboard the lifeboat."

Mr Maynard said one of the men was suffering from hypothermia. All three had swallowed a lot of water.

The rescue took place in the early hours of Tuesday. Pic: RNLI

He added: "They were lucky lads and could all too easily have died. We've chalked this up as three lives saved."

One of the tourists is believed to have been sitting on the river wall after a night out and fell into the water.

His friend then went in to rescue him, but they were unable to get out.

A Spanish-speaking worker at a nearby bar heard their cries for help, stripped to the waist and managed to keep the exhausted tourists above water, before he himself got into difficulties.

Mr Maynard said: "The bar worker helped these men by keeping them afloat but then found his own life in danger.

"His intentions were good, but our advice is never go into the River Thames to rescue someone."

The men were taken to Tower lifeboat station and given into the care of the London Ambulance Service.

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Budget 2015: The Key Points You Need To Know

Chancellor George Osborne has delivered his pre-election budget. Here are the key points.

Taxes

:: Personal tax-free allowance will be increased to £10,800 in April 2016, and to £11,000 in April 2017.

:: Fuel duty increase scheduled for September is cancelled.

:: Class 2 National Insurance contributions for the self-employed to be abolished entirely in the next parliament.

Video: 'Banks Must Support Whole Country'

:: Annual tax return to be abolished altogether.

:: Review on the use of deeds of variation to avoid inheritance tax to report by the autumn.

:: "More generous" tax credits for TV and film, expanded support for video games industry and new tax credit for orchestras, and a consultation on tax support for local newspapers.

:: Farmers will be allowed to average their incomes for tax purposes over five years.

Savings

:: A "Help to buy ISA" will be launched for first-time buyers. For every £200 saved for a deposit, the Government will top it up with £50.

:: A personal savings allowance to be launched, taking 95% of Britons out of savings tax altogether.

Pensions

:: Pension pot lifetime allowance to be reduced from £1.25m to £1m from next year.

Jobs

:: National Minimum Wage will rise by 20p an hour to £6.70 from October.

Business

Video: Osborne Plans To Hit Tax Evaders

:: Corporation tax to be cut to 20% in two weeks' time.

:: Legislation next week on diverted profits tax aimed at multinationals shifting profits offshore, with policy to take effect at the start of April.

:: Employers' National Insurance contributions for under-21s to be abolished from this April, and for young apprentices from April 2016.

:: Bank levy increased to 0.21%, raising an additional £900m a year.

Alcohol

:: Beer duty to be cut for the third year running, with 1p off the price of a pint. Cider duty to be cut by 2%. Duty on scotch whisky and other spirits to be cut by 2%. Wine duty to be frozen.

Spending and Welfare

:: Trebling in £15m fund for church roof appeals, and extension to £8,000 in automatic gift aid to benefit 6,500 small charities.

:: Charities for British servicemen and women to receive £75m, funded by Libor fines.

:: Up to £600m to clear new spectrum bands for further auctions, improving mobile phone coverage nationwide, including in remote communities.

:: Funding for wifi in public libraries and new national plan for ultra-fast broadband to nearly all homes in the country.

:: New investment in transport and regeneration across London, and funding to address acute housing shortages in the capital.

Video: Trade Deficit 'Still Far Too High'

:: Automotive industry to receive £100m in investment in the race to driverless technology.

:: South West to receive £7bn in transport investment.

:: Eight new enterprise zones across Britain – including Blackpool and Plymouth.

:: North Sea oil industry to receive £1.3bn in support through four new measures.

:: £1m to buy defibrillators for public places, including schools.

:: Sale of £13bn of mortgage assets held by the Government after the bailout of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley to be launched. This will be used to pay down the national debt.

Growth

:: The Office for Budget Responsibility says Britain's economy grew by 2.6% last year.

:: Growth forecast for 2015 revised up by 0.1% to 2.5%, with unemployment set to fall by 0.1% from 5.4% to 5.3%.

:: OBR revises 2015 inflation forecast down to 0.2%.

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Osborne's 'Political' Pitch For Old And Young

The Chancellor has delivered an "intensely political" Budget with broad appeal, cutting tax for savers and offering more help for first-time buyers.

At the heart of his last Budget before the General Election, Mr Osborne put a Help To Buy ISA, which would see the Government contribute £50 for every £200 saved towards a deposit on a first home - a 25% top-up.

And he announced savers would not have to pay tax on the first £1,000 of their savings.

He also announced the level at which workers start paying the 40p tax rate would increase above inflation from £42,385 to £43,300 and raised the level at which people start to pay income tax on earnings to £11,000.

He promised that the changes on the 40p tax showed the Conservatives' commitment to raising that threshold to £50,000 by 2020, as pledged at the party's autumn conference.

Video: Budget 2015: Video Highlights

However, the Chancellor tried to dodge any allegations of an electioneering Budget by insisting that his plans for the economy were responsible.

Announcing a £9bn windfall from bank sales, falling welfare bils and lower debt interest he said the extra money would be used to pay down the national debt and not splashed on giveaways.

As he opened his sixth Budget with just 50 days until the election, Mr Osborne confirmed the UK has grown faster than "any other major advanced economy in the world" and Britain was "walking tall again".

Video: Miliband's Response To The Budget

He said: "The hard work and sacrifice of the British people has paid off. The original debt target I set out in my first Budget has been met.

"We will end this Parliament with Britain's national debt share falling. The sun is starting to shine – and we are fixing the roof."

Sky's Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge said: "With just 50 days until the election, George Osborne's Budget was always going to be intensely political.

Video: Analysis: Your Budget Need-To-Know

"Much of it was spent shooting down Labour attack lines – specifically on the claim that the Tories would reduce spending to 1930s levels. By some clever number crunching, the Conservatives can now claim that spending will be at the level seen in 2000."

However, she added: "But there was no big ticket policy announcement pulled out of the hat that could swing the election.

"In other words: George Osborne and David Cameron are keeping their real rabbits for the manifesto."

Video: Osborne Announces Help-to-Buy ISA

:: Updates and analysis with the Sky News team

Other measures contained in the Budget included a so-called "Google tax" of 25% for those multinationals which move their profits abroad and a increase of the bank levy to 0.21%, raising £900m a year.

There will also be investment in the regions, including the "northern powerhouse" and a tidal lagoon in Swansea.

Video: Osborne Reveals Fully Flexible ISA

:: Full list of the key measures in the 2015 Budget. 

Labour leader Ed Miliband said Mr Osborne continued to deliver for the rich and was sharply critical of the lack of investment contained in the Budget for the NHS or public services.

He said: "Britain needs a better plan, a plan for working families. Britain needs a Labour government."

Video: 'Banks Must Support Whole Country'

And added: "This is a Budget people won't believe from a Government that is not on their side - because of their record, because of their instinct, because of their plans for the future."

Mr Osborne delivered his plans for the recovery of the nation's economy against a backdrop of the most unpredictable election for a generation.

A Sky News projection, following analysis of the latest polls, suggests a hung parliament with the two parties virtually neck and neck.

Video: Trade Deficit 'Still Far Too High'

It also comes after new figures showed the number of unemployed falling by more than 100,000 to 1.86m, which is the lowest since 2008.

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Rugby Star Cohen's Mum-In-Law In Court

The mother-in-law of Rugby World Cup winner and Strictly Come Dancing star Ben Cohen is to go on trial accused of harassment.

Felicity Bassouls is accused of persistently emailing and phoning Cohen between September and October last year.

Cohen with Strictly partner Kristina Rihanoff

The 67-year-old appeared in person at Northampton Magistrates Court, although she had not been called to attend.

Her defence lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service agreed a three-day trial at Corby Magistrates Court, to start on 12 August.  

Bassouls, who lives in the Highlands, is also accused of harassing her son, Austen Blaney, through emails and phone calls, at the same time last year.

Ben Cohen and wife Abby in happier times

After she left the court, Bassouls told reporters: "I have nothing to say at this time."

Cohen, 36, spent most of his rugby career at Northampton, though later had spells at French club Brive and then at Sale Sharks.

He won 57 caps for England.

The father-of-two retired from rugby in 2011 and appeared on Strictly Come Dancing's eleventh series in 2013, where his partner was professional dancer Kristina Rihanoff.

In 2011 he set up the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, which seeks to combat bullying and homophobia.

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