More disclosure of suspects' immigration status needed, Cooper says

12 minutes ago Share Save Amy Walker BBC News Share Save

Yvette Cooper calls for 'more transparency' over the background of suspects charged with crimes

Guidance for police on sharing the immigration status and ethnicity of crime suspects "needs to change", the home secretary has said, following calls for details to be released of two men arrested over the alleged rape of a 12-year-old in Warwickshire. Yvette Cooper said guidance for police forces on disclosing personal information "needs to change". Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had previously called the police's decision not to publish it a "cover-up". The men under suspicion of rape are reportedly Afghan. Warwickshire County Council's Reform UK leader alleges they are asylum seekers. Police have not confirmed this.

Asked if she believed such information should be in the public domain, Yvette Cooper told the BBC: "We do want to see more transparency in cases, we think local people do need to have more information." On Monday, Farage said he "absolutely" believed that such details should be released. Warwickshire Police has previously said once someone is charged with an offence, the force follows national guidance that does not include sharing ethnicity or immigration status. Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, Cooper said: "It is an operational decision about how much information can be revealed in the middle of a live investigation but we do want to see greater transparency." She later told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We do think the guidance needs to change". She said the government had asked the Law Commission - an independent body which reviews laws in England and Wales - to speed up a review into "what the rules are" around what information can be released and when during a legal case. "We're also working with the College of Policing on strengthening and changing their guidance," she said. The two men accused of the offence in Warwickshire are: Ahmad Mulakhil, who has been charged with two counts of rape; Mohammad Kabir, who has been accused of kidnap, strangulation and aiding and abetting the rape of a girl aged under 13. Mr Mulakhil, 23, appeared before magistrates in Coventry on 28 July, and Mr Kabir, also 23, appeared in court on Saturday. Both were remanded in custody.

'Tighter gun restrictions make me feel hopeful'

11 hours ago Share Save Ben Sidwell BBC Midlands Today Share Save

BBC Emma Ambler has been campaigning for stricter laws since the death of her twin sister in 2020

A Birmingham woman whose twin sister and two nieces were shot dead with a legally held weapon has said she believes "voices have been heard", as tighter control on firearms licensing come into law. Emma Ambler has campaigned for stricter laws around gun licensing since her sister, Kelly Fitzgibbons, and her two nieces, Ava and Lexi Needham, were murdered at their West Sussex home in 2020 by Kelly's partner. The changes include an increase in the number of references needed for shotgun certificate applications. "It's the first time I've seen some changes that mean something," said Ms Ambler.

"This has taken over a lot of my life for a long time," she said. "But to know that, actually, this hasn't all been wasted time and people are listening now, that the policy and the guidance isn't strong enough... it does need to be strengthened, and they're working that direction, was quite a moment actually." Robert Needham, Ms Fitzgibbons' partner and father of Ava and Lexi, shot dead the three of them along with the family dog, at their home in Woodmancote, before turning the gun on himself. A domestic homicide review found he had lied on his shotgun application to police about previous convictions and treatment for depression. From 5 August, people applying for shotgun certificate applications will need two referees instead of one. Referees need to have known the applicant well for at least two years and will need to vouch for them - which the Home Office said would ensure there was greater opportunity for concerns to be raised or identified.

Emma Ambler Kelly (left) was killed by her partner in 2020, along with their two daughters

"I don't want any other family to go though what we've been through ever, but particularly if it can be preventable in some way," said Ms Ambler. "It's become a real mission for me to make sure that what happened to Kelly doesn't happen to anyone else." She told the BBC that she was hopeful, and the changes had made her emotional.

What is changing?

The rule change over the number of referees was a direct response to concerns raised by the senior coroner who held the inquests following the fatal shootings in Plymouth in 2021, the Home Office said. Jake Davison shot his mother and four others before killing himself. Under the new rules, police must now speak to partners and members of households to identify signs of domestic abuse, as well as other factors that could indicate the applicant is not suitable to have a licence. Additional checks must be carried out to ensure people with a record of violence are not allowed to access firearms. Evidence of dishonesty, as well as questions about their integrity will also have an effect - if someone lies on their application or does not disclose medical conditions, it will bring their suitability to hold a gun into question. Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said: "Only those who meet the highest standards of safety and responsibility should be permitted to use shotguns or firearms, and it is crucial that police have full information about the suitability of all applicants for these lethal weapons."

Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding, has worked closely with Ms Ambler

"The first thing Emma did for me, was she educated me on what the gun licensing laws were currently," said Jess Phillips, safeguarding minister and Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley. "She told me that there was nothing about the issue of dishonesty... it had been proven in her sister's case that he [Robert Needham] had lied – that is another thing that we've updated in the guidance. "Where there has been dishonesty in the form-filling, that should stand against you having a licence, which I think is basic." She said the updates to the guidance were a product of listening to people like Ms Ambler, and learning from the outcomes in cases like the Plymouth shootings and a series of shootings in the Scottish Highlands.

Government to strengthen guidance further

"Previously, even if it had been found that somebody had lied on a form, even about what their address is... that wouldn't stand against you, and now the guidance is clear in that," said Phillips. "It is impossible to prove, one way or another, that he [Needham] wouldn't have gone out and found other means. "But certainly, if these changes had been in place, he wouldn't have been able to hold a gun licence and he wouldn't have been able to kill so quickly and at will so many people. Of that I am sure," she said. The Home Office said it planned to strengthen guidance further, in light of weaknesses exposed by the shootings of Juliana Falcon and two of her children in Luton in September 2024. Juliana's son, Nicholas, had bought the gun fraudulently online. It said the government would be consulting on measures to strengthen existing controls on shotguns and seeking views on ways to improve controls on the private sales of firearms.

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Adoption support charity shreds 'irreplaceable' files to save space

5 hours ago Share Save David Cowan BBC Scotland home affairs correspondent Share Save

Getty Images

A charity has apologised for the "inexcusable" destruction of around 4,800 personal records linked to adoptions in Scotland, including irreplaceable photographs and handwritten letters from birth parents. Edinburgh-based Birthlink has been fined £18,000 after shredding the files to free up space in its filing cabinets four years ago. The Information Commissioners' Office (ICO), which imposed the fine, described the lost material as "deeply personal pieces in the jigsaw of a person's history, some now lost for eternity". The charity's board said it was "deeply sorry" and that it was impossible to say how many people were affected.

A statement added: "We want to assure everyone who's interacted with Birthlink that we will do everything in our power to ensure this does not happen again." A spokesperson for the Movement for Adoption Apology Scotland campaign said: "These items weren't stored out of administrative duty, but held in the hope that one day, someone would come looking. "That hope has now been shredded, quite literally."

Files destroyed

Birthlink did not keep a log of what was destroyed but it believes only "a very small proportion" of the records included personal documents, which do not exist in any form elsewhere. Since 1984, the company has operated the Adoption Contact Register for Scotland. It enables adopted people, birth parents and others to register their details with a view to being "linked" and potentially reunited. If a connection was made, Birthlink retained what were called "linked records" - closed paper files stored in filing cabinets - in case they could be of further use in the future. But by January 2021, the charity was running out of space and reviewed whether it could destroy the files. Following a board meeting, it was agreed that only replaceable records could be disposed of.

PA Media In 2023, the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon apologised to people affected by forced adoption

A few months later, the contents of 24 filing cabinet drawers were bagged up and shredded. Birthlink has estimated that personal data from around 4,800 individuals was destroyed and that less than 10% of the lost files contained "cherished items". These include photographs, handwritten letters from birth mothers and fathers to their children and handwritten letters from birth families to siblings. Another 8,300 files survived the process unscathed. The culling of the records only came to light two years later, after the Care Inspectorate carried out a short-notice inspection at Birthlink in September 2023. An internal investigation, ordered by Birthlink's interim chief executive, found that a member of staff had expressed concern about shredding photographs and other records at the time. But they were told "it needed to be done". Birthlink reported itself to the ICO, who said the charity could have prevented the destruction with "cost effective and easy to implement" policies and procedures. The regulator imposed a £45,000 fine, later reduced to £18,000, to promote compliance with data protection and deter others from "making similar mistakes".

'Poor understanding'

Sally Anne Poole, the ICO's head of investigations, said: "The destroyed records had the potential to be an unknown memory, an identity, a sense of belonging, answers. "It is inconceivable to think, due to the very nature of its work, that Birthlink had such a poor understanding of both its data protection and records management process." The ICO welcomed the steps taken by Birthlink to ensure it does not happen again, including new policies and the appointment of a data protection officer.

First UK-based firm gets space launch licence

5 hours ago Share Save Share Save

Skyrora Skyrora hopes to launch from the Shetland spaceport up to 16 times a year by 2030

A Scottish company has become the first UK-based rocket firm to receive a space launch licence. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licence allows Skyrora to launch from the SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland. If a future launch is successful, the company could become the first British company to manufacture and launch a rocket into space from the UK. Skyrora welcomed the news. Both the Edinburgh-based company and the CAA described it as a "huge milestone".

The license will allow the firm to launch and operate its suborbital rocket Skylark L from the spaceport. It hopes to launch the rocket up to 16 times a year by 2030.

A number of companies hope to use SaxaVord in Unst, the northernmost point in the UK, as a launch site for commercial rockets. In January, German firm Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) was awarded the first launch operator licence allowing it to launch rockets from SaxaVord. Skyrora says Skylark L has the potential to be used for microgravity experiments at a lower cost than an orbital vehicle. The 11m (36ft) tall rocket was produced using components that were 3D-printed in the UK and it is capable of reaching 3.5 times the speed of sound. It is hoped that the rocket would reach an altitude of about 310 miles (500km) and then return to Earth, which would involve passing into and out of space.

Rob Bishton, the chief executive of the CAA, said: "Granting a home-grown company, Skyrora, its launch licence is a major milestone for our space sector and our nation. "Our work as the UK's space regulator is enabling the burgeoning launch industry to safely grow, bringing new jobs and investment with it." Skyrora chief executive Volodymyr Levykin said the journey to getting the license was a "long but ultimately rewarding one". He added: "Becoming the first homegrown company in the UK to receive a vertical launch operator licence is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone at Skyrora. "Safety is paramount to us, and so we are grateful to the CAA for its diligence in ensuring any launch activity is held to the highest of standards. "Skyrora is proud to be leading efforts that enable launch activity from the UK and we look forward to achieving a reliable commercial launch programme that benefits us all."