Police community support officer assaulted in Crawley

A police community support officer (PCSO) has been assaulted in Crawley, say Sussex Police. The force said it had arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker and assault.He remains in police custody, according to officers. The PCSO was reported to have been assaulted on Thursday at 18:45 BST in Crawley's Broadfield area.
Sussex Police urged anyone who saw the incident or has relevant information to contact them.

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The Guardian

27 minutes ago

• The Guardian

Windfarms in England hit by wave of copper cabling thefts

Copper thieves have been targeting England's onshore windfarms, and security experts say organised gangs could be behind the crimewave. At least 12 large windfarms across Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Derbyshire, Essex, Humberside, Northamptonshire, North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have fallen victim to cabling thieves in the past three months. Typically there may be fewer than five opportunistic incidents a year, and the recent spree suggests an organised group may be targeting the industry, according to the security company DeterTech Crime Intelligence. 'The current state of offending is exceptional and unlike anything I've seen,' said Richard Crisp, an intelligence analyst at DeterTech. 'We would typically expect to receive about four reports per year. It's also noteworthy that those reports were typically of isolated single turbines, whereas in 2025 they have all been of large windfarms, operating multiple turbines.' In one instance, the towers of three turbines within a single windfarm were broken into, which Crisp said underlined the scale of the criminality and the organised nature of the heists. The spate of thefts has emerged as windfarm developers prepare to invest in new projects in England after the Labour government lifted a ban on such proposals last year. The government hopes to double the number of onshore windfarms by the end of the decade to help create a virtually carbon-free electricity system by 2030. A source close to the affected windfarm owners – which have not been made public – said it was understood that thieves broke open the doors found at the base of wind turbine towers, which are used for maintenance work. The offenders have appeared undeterred by the fact that the turbines were operating at the time of the thefts, which suggests a high level of confidence and familiarity with the infrastructure. Windfarm developments are often in remote rural areas, meaning criminals do not necessarily need to wait for the cover of nightfall to carry out their thefts, the source added. 'Copper is a valuable resource. So if you can steal something that will get a good price, there will be people willing to do that,' the source said. 'From a risk versus reward calculation, stealing copper from a windfarm will be a lot more attractive than dealing drugs, for example. Stealing copper does not come with a class-A penalty.' The industry is working with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership, which aims to combat metal crime from other infrastructure, including railway and telephone lines. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Although many windfarms are protected by high fences, locked gates and deep trenches dug to prevent vehicles from accessing the site, some can be easily accessed by would-be thieves. Owners have been urged to increase security measures and monitor their CCTV for any signs of criminal intent. In most of the cases of theft suspicious vehicles have been spotted carrying out 'hostile reconnaissance' beforehand, according to DeterTech. James Robottom, the head of policy at RenewableUK, said the trade group was aware of the recent incidents and was 'working pro-actively with the police to identify ways to secure sites even more effectively in the future'. 'This organised criminality not only affects the operation of important energy infrastructure – it also risks the lives of our workers and those carrying out these thefts,' Robottom said.

Daily Mail​

3 hours ago

• Daily Mail​

Shaughna Phillips shows off her bump on Love Island AfterSun as Maya Jama congratulates the former contestant on her pregnancy

Shaughna Phillips showcased her bump on Love Island AfterSun on Sunday, hours after announcing she is pregnant. The former islander, 31, who is also a mother to Lucia, two, looked radiant as she appeared as a special guest on the ITV 2 spin off show. To discuss her her happy news, the blonde beauty wore an elegant white wrap dress. Appearing alongside Demi Jones, Shaughna was congratulated by host Maya Jama after she revealed she is expecting her second child. Walking over to the two guests, Maya said: 'Hello, congratulations are in order, Shaughna!' The host continued: 'I mean amazing. Baby number two?' which the blonde beauty replied. 'two, here you go and busy!'. Taking to Instagram earlier on Sunday, Shaughna revealed she was expecting as she posted a video of herself taking a pregnancy test and showed off her growing bump. She also shared a sweet video of her daughter Lucia wearing a t-shirt saying 'Big Sis' and 'In my big sister era' to go with the announcement. Shaughna did not reveal who the father of her baby is as she wrote: 'Adding a little more love to our family…' Following the birth of her daughter Lucia in April 2023, Shaughna's boyfriend of four years, Billy Webb, 29, was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply 4.5kg of cocaine worth at least £360,000. However Shaughna revealed in November that the father of her little girl had been released after serving only 12 months of his sentence and the family reunited to enjoy a Christmas grotto together. The blonde bombshell has been very open with her fans throughout the ordeal and previously revealed on her podcast Oh, Baby with Shaughna and Holly that she had struggled to come to terms with the situation. She said: 'It's the most gut-wrenching position to be in. Taking to Instagram on Sunday , Shaughna revealed she was expecting as she posted a video of herself taking a pregnancy test and showed off her growing bump 'And, I mean, before I even answer this question, I want to just put it out there that you can judge me all you want, but please don't let me know, because I feel like unless you've been in this position you can't really have an opinion on it. 'Because before I was in this position, before I had a baby, if you had asked me would I ever, ever take my child into a prison, the answer would be absolutely not. Anyone that does that is crazy. 'And then, lo and behold, I'm now in this position. And I think the thing is, we're always going to be co-parents. 'And I know that me and my dad had the best relationship ever, and to me, my dad is the best person in the world. 'And I don't want Lucia to think differently of her father. I would never, ever stop him from seeing her, ever.' Sharing an adorable video to her Instagram announcing he had been released, the reality star revealed that she and her partner had taken Lucia to see Santa and added she never thought this day would come. She captioned the clip: 'If you had told me this time last year, that me and Billy would be taking Lucia to see Santa next Christmas, I probably wouldn't have let myself believe you 'The best couple of days, this Christmas is going to be so special'. The star also revealed to MailOnline that she had struggled raising her daughter as a single mother. She said: 'Having a newborn baby, hormones are all over the place and I was just struggling' 'Anyone who's had kids they'll probably say that when they're a newborn it's easiest because they just lie there and need to be fed but as they get older and they can talk back and say no... It's exhausting.'

Daily Mail​

3 hours ago

• Daily Mail​

DOMINIC LAWSON: The no-nonsense police chief restoring faith in law and order - and why he's got no time for Labour's misguided prison reforms

Amid the general dissatisfaction with the state of our public services, which is the most dangerous element in this national malaise? It is the precipitous loss of confidence in our police forces. Less than half of those questioned last year in the Office for National Statistics Crime Survey said their local police were doing a good job; ten years ago almost two-thirds gave a positive response. This matters so much because, while the Government burbles about 'defence of the realm' being the first responsibility of the state, our sense of security derives principally from how it is manifested in our daily lives. That comes from policing. I have never heard the risks to this fundamental element in the pact between government and the governed put with such urgency as by the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir Stephen Watson, addressing the country's pre-eminent political think tank, Policy Exchange, last week. The 56-year-old Watson lamented that 'our natural constituency' – by which he meant the law-abiding – 'are now asking, what the Hell is going on with policing?' He then set out how destructive this is: 'The policing mission is essential to our country, it is essential to our life-blood, it is essential to our economy, it is essential to the fabric of family and community life, it is essential to a country that prides itself on abiding by the rules.' To listen to some within law enforcement, the impression is given that, without a vast increase in funding, they are defenceless to stem the decline. Not so this particular police chief, who describes such an attitude as 'abhorrent defeatism, telling the public we can't do x or y, that it's all too difficult'. Watson is entitled to such an implicit criticism of others in the crime prevention business, because of the transformation he has wrought within the Greater Manchester Police (recognised with a knighthood in this month's King's Birthday Honours). When he took over GMP in 2021, having made the previously lamentable South Yorkshire Police the 'most improved force' for three successive years, it was in special measures. The GMP had failed even to record 80,000 crimes and its 999 response times were the worst in England. That was turned around within a year, with a quadrupling of 'stop and searches' and, in 2024, progress was stepped up, increasing arrests, answering emergency calls in an average time of two seconds, and attending serious incidents, also on average, in under eight minutes. All this has had a marked effect on offending rates – downwards. Last year, GMP recorded a reduction of eight per cent in total crime: residential burglaries down 11 per cent, theft down 28 per cent and vehicle offences down over 18 per cent. It must be deeply frustrating for Watson and his officers that the Government, concerned about jail overcrowding, and arguing that short sentences don't help prisoners to reform, is pursuing a policy of replacing so-called 'short prison sentences' with electronic tagging. As Sir Stephen remarked to those of us at the Policy Exchange meeting: 'Short sentences may not work for offenders, but they do work for victims, and I'm on the victims' side.' Many blame the requirement to investigate so-called 'non-crime hate incidents' as a reason for police forces' distraction from dealing with what used to be the bread and butter of crime-fighting. These were introduced in the wake of the Macpherson Report, following the racially motivated murder of Stephen Lawrence, and designed to log acts of prejudice or hostility towards people with a 'protected characteristic'. Watson didn't raise this, but, asked by a member of the audience if the policy of collecting 'non-crime hate incident data' should be scrapped, he responded that it should: 'What it morphed into was pretty much anyone with a protected characteristic who perceived themselves to be a victim of an incident because of that, was automatically recorded. I think that's a mistake. It went too far.' Not that he has any tolerance for delinquent police officers, declaring that recent years have revealed 'the most appalling misconduct and criminal acts by serving officers who should never have been recruited and who should have been kicked out of the force long before dreadful things happened'. Under Watson, GMP has kicked out hundreds of officers deemed to have been corrupt or simply useless (he introduced a new test for aspirant officers, having been stunned to discover how many were functionally illiterate, unable even to fill out an incident report). In a sense, Watson is trying to reintroduce what is sometimes called 'good, old fashioned policing'. This was clear from an interview he gave to the Daily Telegraph a year ago, when he said one of his first decisions was to replace what he called officers' 'scruffy kit', which didn't even have the force's insignia, with smart new uniforms. 'If you turn up to work, if you're a female officer, you tie your hair up, if you're a man, you've had a shave, you press your clothing, you polish your boots, you look smart.' It is perhaps not surprising that Watson comes from a military family background. His father had been a Royal Navy officer in Rhodesia but the family left the country along with many other Britons when Robert Mugabe took power. Sir Stephen himself was 18 when he returned to Britain and still has a faint Rhodesian accent. I noticed that especially when sitting close to him at lunch after the speech was delivered. I also saw that he was wearing Union Jack cufflinks. Some of the other attendees at the lunch were former Metropolitan Police officers, who felt the Met desperately needed his brand of leadership. On all the vital measures, such as arrests per officer, and reducing crime rates, that most emblematic force, the original one created in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel, has been eclipsed by Manchester. Sir Stephen didn't rise to the bait but emphasised how supportive the Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, had been. When film emerged a year ago showing one of Watson's officers kicking and stamping on the head of a 19-year-old, Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, during a fracas at Manchester Airport, Burnham made sure to see the police footage of the whole incident. This showed that Amaaz had, just before, broken the nose of a female police officer in a sustained assault. Burnham went on the radio to warn those marching in support of Amaaz: 'There are two sides of this complicated situation... people's careers are put on the line. We feel for the police officers who were injured.' Would London's mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, have done the same? And do the Home Office apparatchiks want someone like Watson to be the country's top cop? When I asked a former Met Detective Chief Inspector, David Spencer, now Policy Exchange's head of Crime and Justice, he was not encouraging: 'The Government should replicate the Watson playbook of police leadership across every force. 'My biggest fear is that the current system is more likely to suppress future Watsons coming through.' If that is the case, public confidence in the police will slide still lower – possibly with consequences that no government could survive.