The proposal was being discussed at a time when forces face 20 per cent spending cuts. The biggest-ever police privatisation programme ran into difficulties yesterday when two forces at the centre of the £1.5bn scheme delayed the project in the face of stiff opposition. The private sector had been given carte blanche to come up [...]
18
May 2012
Police forces put £1.5bn privatisation plan on hold
16
May 2012
Potato suppliers scammed Sainsbury’s out of millions
A director of a major potato firm who bribed a supermarket buyer with millions of pounds to secure huge overcharged contracts has been found guilty of corruption. Andrew Behagg, a 60-year-old finance director at food supplier Greenvale, faces a heavy prison sentence for passing on brown envelopes full of cash to a buyer who spent [...]
11
May 2012
Former Sun and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks is expected to lift the lid on her close relationship with the Prime Minister in evidence to the Leveson Inquiry today. David Cameron is said to have texted Mrs Brooks, telling her to “keep her head up” after she resigned from News International last July. It has also been [...]
08
May 2012
Kate and Gerry McCann said yesterday that they were more confident than ever that their daughter Madeleine would be found. As the couple prepared to mark the fifth anniversary of the little girl’s disappearance, they appealed once again for the public’s help, expressing fears that the “burden” of the search would be passed to their [...]
08
May 2012
Covert checks by private detectives on the background of Labour politicians are expected to take centre stage at the Leveson Inquiry tomorrow. At the start of what looks likely to be an explosive week of evidence at the inquiry into press ethics, Russell Middleton, temporary Assistant Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall, will explain how [...]
05
May 2012
Anti-corruption pledges urged – but Surrey chief fears she cannot stop ‘distasteful’ exodus. Dozens of people involved in Britain’s biggest private-sector policing contract have been ordered to sign “anti-corruption” agreements amid concerns about senior officers retiring and then immediately rejoining on lucrative deals with security firms. Surrey Chief Constable Lynne Owens – the head of [...]
02
May 2012
Cannabis: Britain’s growth industry
At farms across the UK, business is booming – but now violent gangs are muscling in. Against the steady hum of an extractor fan, the handheld video camera pans over a small forest of green plants. The unmistakable serrated leaves of cannabis flutter as gentle gusts of warm air from a heating unit waft over [...]
