10 ***^ Friday 16 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
Total prosecutionsImmediate custodial sentencesSOURCE: MINISTRY OF JUSTICE (years ending March)1,000,1,500,2,000,60,80,100,120,Ten-year low2009 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 192009 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19Hip pain ‘worse than death’, say scientists
Patients waiting for hip
replacements are suffering pain
“worse than death”, a study by the
University of Edinburgh suggests.
The research recorded the state of
health of more than 2,000 people on
waiting lists and found 19 per cent
were in extreme pain or discomfort.
The level is so poor it is defined by
experts as “worse than death” – more
painful than chronic health conditions
such as diabetes, heart failure or lungdiseases. Scientists said the findings
disprove perceptions that hip and
knee arthritis only causes mild
discomfort.
Earlier this year research found that
four in 10 clinical commissioning
groups in England are rationing hip
and knee operations.
In some areas, patients are only
allowed NHS operations if they are in
so much pain they cannot sleep or
carry out daily tasks.Second Salisbury
police officer was
Novichok victim
Beef-ban university
to host communist
summer school
A second police officer was
poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury
during an attack on Sergei and Yulia
Skripal, police have revealed.
Counter-terrorism detectives, who
are investigating the nerve agent
attack, have confirmed that traces of
Novichok have been found in a blood
sample that was taken at the time from
a second police officer.
The officer from Wiltshire Police,
who does not wish to be identified,
was involved in the response to the
poisoning in March last year.
The Daily Telegraph understands the
male officer had previously displayed
signs that indicated exposure to a very
small amount of Novichok.
He received medical treatment at
the time and returned to duties shortly
afterwards. A police spokesman told
The Telegraph that the officer was
deployed to the scene of the attack as
part of the initial response.
Forensic examination of the officer’s
blood sample that was taken after the
incident has since been carried out,
and has given detectives confirmation
that traces of Novichok were present.
The officer has been informed and
continues to receive support from
Wiltshire Police along with other
officers and staff.
The higher levels of exposure to
Novichok suffered by the Skripals and
Det Sgt Nick Bailey led to them falling
critically ill soon after the attack.
Two other people, Dawn Sturgess
and Charlie Rowley, also suffered high
levels of exposure to the nerve agent
following a second incident in
Amesbury in June 2018, that led to the
death of Ms Sturgess.
A university that banned beef from
its canteens has been criticised for
hosting a series of lectures organised
by the Communist Party of Great
Britain.
Goldsmiths, University of London
will welcome controversial speakers
including Tony Greenstein, a Jewish
anti-Zionist and founding member of
the Palestine Solidarity Campaign,
who was expelled from the Labour
Party after using the term “Zionist
scum” and accusing Zionists of
“collaborating with the Nazis”.
Also giving a talk at the summer
school is Graham Bash, who has
spoken at events by Labour Against
The Witch-hunt. The group campaigns
against what it sees as unfair
disciplinary action against members
over anti-Semitism claims. Tina
Werkmann, a supporter of Labour
Party Marxists, will discuss “Turning
the tables on the witch-hunters”.
It comes just a few days after the
university took beef-based meals off
the menu in an effort to combat
climate change. The latest move has
prompted accusations that Goldsmith
is no longer a “safe space” for Jewish
students and that it is “officially
becoming a communist university”.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism
said it was troubling that the
university was “welcoming onto
campus a number of individuals who
have a history of baiting Jews or
outright anti-Semitism”.
Goldsmiths said: “We are committed
to freedom of speech and, in common
with other universities, hire out event
space to organisations that abide by
the law and our booking policies.”Veteran accepts his medals after 70 years
A D-Day veteran who refused his
medals after the Second World War
has decided to accept the awards more
than 70 years later to raise awareness
of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Pte Colin Palmer, 98, served in the
Army between 1941 and 1946 but
declined his medals because he felt
war was “a terrible thing”.
He remained silent about his
wartime experiences until the
anniversary of VE Day in 1995 when hefinally opened up to his family about
what he had gone through.
It is believed he had been suffering
from shell shock, now known as PTSD.
Mr Palmer told his family he would be
keen to have the medals he fought for
in order to raise awareness about the
disorder.
His daughter told an Age UK worker
about her father’s experiences and the
charity helped him to receive his
commendation on Wednesday.News
Prosecutions drop to lowest level in 25 years
By Charles Hymas HOME AFFAIRS
EDITOR and Ashley Kirk
THE number of people being prose-
cuted or sent to jail has fallen to its low-
est level for 25 years, Ministry of Justice
figures reveal, following Boris John-
son’s pledge to get tough on crime.
Just under 1.6 million people were
formally dealt with by the criminal jus-
tice system in England and Wales in the
year up to March, the lowest figure on
record and down 2 per cent on the pre-
vious year.
The number prosecuted fell to
1.38 million in the year to March, down
from 1.63 million in 2009, despite re-
cord levels of knife crime and a rising
overall crime rate.
The number jailed is at a 25-year low,
having fallen by almost 9 per cent in a
year from 84,100 to 76,800 and down
from a high of 100,200 in 2009.
It means that just 6.5 per cent of sen-
tences result in jail, down from 7.4 per
cent in 2009 and the lowest proportion
in a decade.
Richard Atkins, chairman of the Bar
Council, said: “Criminals up and down
the country will be rubbing their hands
with glee knowing that even if their
crimes are detected and they are
caught by the police, the chances of be-
ing prosecuted or jailed are slim.”
John Apter, chairman of the Police
Federation, said: “The public must
have faith in the criminal justice sys-Knifeman ‘carrying
albino ferret’ attacks
government worker
By Patrick Sawer, Phoebe
Southworth and Charles Hymas
A CIVIL servant was left with serious
injuries after being stabbed in the
street outside the Home Office by a
man who then “casually” strolled away
from the scene.
A 29-year-old man was arrested
shortly after the stabbing outside the
Marsham Street building in central
London.
Metropolitan Police officers were
called at 1.06pm to reports of a man
stabbed across the face and stomach.
Paramedics initially treated the inju-
ries as “life-threatening”, although it
was later established they were not as
serious as first feared.
A man was arrested in nearby Smith
Square on suspicion of grievous bodily
harm and possession of CS gas and
taken to a police station as armed offic-
ers set up a cordon on Marsham Street,
in Westminster.
There were reports the man was
seen carrying “an albino ferret” in a pet
cage and asking staff outside the Home
Office whether they worked there.
Police recovered a pet cage, a ruck-
sack containing coins and a rail ticket,
and a knife holder close to where the
man was arrested.
The victim was later revealed by
Robert Jenrick MP, the Secretary of
State for Housing, to be a civil servant
at the Ministry of Housing, Communi-
ties and Local Government, who ap-
peared to have been targeted because
of his staff security badge. Security at
all Whitehall departments is being re-
viewed.
John Hay, 58, a stonemason, was
working on a building site in Smith
Square where the suspect was arrested,
a stone’s throw from the Home Office.
He said: “I heard some noise and
came out and saw a bloke on the floor
with two cops sitting on him, so you
couldn’t see what he looked like. There
was about six or seven armed police of-
ficers pointing a gun at him as he was
handcuffed, and about six others at the
end of Lord North Street as backup.”
Images of the victim posted on social
media show a bloodied, shirtless man
in his 60s wearing a suit jacket and
trousers being led from the Home Of-
fice by a paramedic and an armed of-
ficer. Witnesses reported seeing bloody
tissues in the entrance hall, where staff
had tried to administer first aid on the
injured man.
One staff member said employees
were told not to leave the building.
Shaun Malston, 43, a senior property
manager at an estate agents opposite
the building, described seeing a man –
thought to be the attacker – walk calmly
down the road after the incident.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “I went
outside and there was a bloke sitting on
a ledge by the Home Office. Everyone
else was running around but he just
stood up and put something in his
backpack then walked off down the
road. I walked back towards the office
and saw a couple standing outside.
“They said ‘It’s him, it’s him, the man
with the backpack on, he was the one
waving the knife around!’ He just
looked like a bystander, he was very
casual.”
A police spokesman said: “Enquiries
are ongoing into the exact circum-
stances of the incident. We are keeping
an open mind about any possible mo-
tive at this early stage.”tem. For that to happen there must be
significant wholesale investment at
every level to ensure that those who
commit crime are brought to account
and made to face the consequences of
their actions.”
The Prime Minister has pledged to
reverse the trend with a crime blitz that
includes 20,000 extra police officers to
combat the increase in violent crime
and improve detection and prosecu-
tion rates.
Mr Johnson has also signalled a
move to tougher sentences for serious
violent and sexual offenders as part of a
review that could see them serving
longer jail terms.
The figures show those prosecuted
for indictable offences – serious crimes
dealt with by a crown court – also fell
by 8 per cent from 261,500 to 241,
in just a year. This mirrors the fall in thenumber of offences resulting in
charges by police.
The numbers jailed for serious of-
fences have also fallen by 8.4 per cent,
from 69,300 to 63,500, the lowest fig-
ure for a decade and down from 80,
in 2009.
The biggest fall in jail sentences
were for theft – down from 22,600 to
19,800 – and sex offences including
rape, which saw the number receiving
immediate custodial sentences drop
from 3,891 to 3,073 following contro-
versies over the use of digital evidence.
Victims of theft also saw the number
of prosecutions fall from 83,900 to
73,500, a decline of 12 per cent, while
sex offence prosecutions dropped from
10,411 to 7,412, a decline of 29 per cent
in a single year.
The ministry maintained, however,
that a bigger proportion of serious of-fenders were being jailed, up from 25
per cent in 2009 to 32.2 per cent this
year.
It said prisoners were also serving
longer terms with the average sentence
length rising from 13.5 months to 17.
months over the past decade, while the
conviction rate for offenders brought
before courts was the highest in a dec-
ade at 87 per cent.
Community resolutions were how-
ever also up, by 3.4 per cent in a year to
105,647, as were fines which rose by 2.
per cent to 993,000, accounting for 77
per cent of all sentences.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman
said: “We are doing more to restore
public confidence in the justice system,
investing in police and prison places
and reviewing sentencing to make sure
violent and sexual offenders are prop-
erly punished.”MPs have a bone to pick over anti-knife campaign
By Charles HymasTHE Home Secretary has been forced
to defend a chicken shop anti-knife
campaign against claims that it is racist.
The Home Office faced a backlash
from senior black Labour MPs after un-
veiling plans to issue chicken boxes at
takeaway shops across England and
Wales that warn young people of the
dangers of knife crime.
More than 321,000 special boxes
have been distributed, at a cost of£57,500, to more than 210 chicken
shops to target 10 to 21-year-olds with
an anti-knife crime message.
However, David Lammy, the Labour
MP, said the Government was stereo-
typing black people. “The Home Office
is using taxpayers’ money to sponsor
an age-old trope,” he said.
“Boris Johnson has already called
black people ‘piccaninnies with water-
melon smiles’. Now his government is
pushing the stereotype that black peo-
ple love fried chicken. This ridiculousstunt is either explicitly racist or, at
best, unfathomably stupid.”
Diane Abbott, the shadow home sec-
retary, labelled the campaign “crude
and offensive”.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, re-
jected the criticism and said Ms Abbott
was “playing politics with knife crime”.
The campaign follows warnings
from charities and the Youth Justice
Board that “chicken-shop gangs” are
luring children into crime and drug
dealing with offers of free food.Number of criminals jailed
also falling despite knife
crime epidemic and a
rising overall crime rate
Virtuoso performers The Bolshoi Ballet’s dazzling production of Marius Petipa’s Don Quixote opened at the Royal Opera
House in Covent Garden last night, with Margarita Shrainer and Igor Tsvirko in the principal roles.ELLIOTT FRANKSTeenagers held over fatal screwdriver stabbing
By Daily Telegraph Reporters
SEVEN teenagers have been arrested
after a lawyer was stabbed to death
with a screwdriver in an unprovoked
attack.
The youths, aged 14 to 17, were ar-
rested after Peter Duncan was attacked
in what police said was a “chance en-
counter” at an entrance to Eldon
Square shopping centre in Newcastle,
at about 6.20pm on Wednesday.
Mr Duncan was taken to the city’s
Royal Victoria Infirmary but died, and
a murder inquiry was launched.
Mr Duncan’s family paid tribute to
him, saying he will be in their “hearts
and thoughts every day”.
In a statement, they said: “Peter was
a devoted father, husband, son,
brother, uncle and friend and loved by
all who knew him. His death will leave
such a huge hole in our lives and he’ll
be deeply missed by us all.”
Mr Duncan, who was 52 and from
Newcastle, was an in-house lawyer fora multinational maritime firm. North-
umbria Police said the investigation
was at an early stage but it appeared
there had been a “coming together” at
the entrance to the shopping centre.
The force added that the weapon was
believed to be a screwdriver, and do not
believe that the incident was the result
of a mugging gone wrong.
The force said the arrested youths
were a 14-year-old, two 15-year-olds
and four 17-year-olds, one of which is
believed to be the main suspect.Unseen Ed A free
exhibition of pop star Ed
Sheeran’s personal items,
including family photos
provided by his father and
the puppet used in two of
his biggest music videos,
opens at Christchurch
Mansion in Ipswich on
Tuesday, ahead of four
concerts in his home
town.GEOFF ROBINSON PHOTOGRAPHYРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS