One in 42 homes in Britain are
worth £1 million or more, with
about 80 per cent of new “prop-
erty millionaires” created in the
past year found outside London.
The research by the estate
agency Savills found a record
689,168 homes in Britain were
worth £1 million or more, equiva-
lent to 2.4 per cent of all housing.
The number of “property mil-
lionaires” rose by 8 per cent in
London over the past year, the
smallest growth of any region,
compared with 63 per cent in
Wales, 49 per cent in the East Mid-
Carol Lewis
Deputy Property Editor
NEWMAN’S
VIEW
her. An inquiry identified concerns
about the doctor that included
other patients. The case was esca-
lated to senior managers at the Uni-
versity Hospitals of North Mid-
lands trust who began a formal
investigation, contacting Stafford-
shire police and the General Medi-
cal Council.
The doctor was suspended for
about 12 months. He returned to
work in 2019 after police decided
that there was a lack of evidence to
take the matter further.
The Staffordshire force has
reported itself to the Independent
Office for Police Conduct, which
said: “We assessed a referral from
Staffordshire police in December
and decided on the information
available that the force should con-
tinue to deal with the matter.”
The doctor completed his initial
Continued on page 2→PAGES 9-
February 13, 2022 · Issue No 10,301 · sundaytimes.co.uk £3 · only £2 to subscribers (based on 7 day Print Pack)
Sunday newspaper of the year
‘This has the whiff of Munich’
whiff of Munich in the air from
some in the West.”
His comments appear to reflect
frustration with the attitudes of
some western allies and are also a
tacit admission that he fears last-
minute diplomatic efforts may not
prevent an assault.
The US has said that Russia
could invade “within days”. Joe
Biden spoke to Vladimir Putin for
about an hour yesterday after
Antony Blinken, the secretary of
state, had told his Russian counter-
part, Sergei Lavrov, that diplo-
matic channels remained open.
A UK diplomatic source said:“We obviously have a close intelli-
gence-sharing relationship with
the US and agree with them on the
seriousness of the situation and
risks of Russian military action. We
believe the Kremlin has made no
final decision over whether to
invade Ukraine but the outlook
does look bleak.”
The British ambassador to
Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, is
remaining with a “core team” in
Kyiv but some embassy staff and
their families are being withdrawn.
British troops helping to train
Ukrainians on anti-tank missiles
supplied by the UK will leave thecountry this weekend. British citi-
zens, thought to number in the low
thousands, are being told to “leave
now while commercial means are
still available”.
The Ministry of Defence has
ruled out an evacuation similar to
the one in Afghanistan last August
after the fall of Kabul. Wallace said:
“Russia has a formidable armed
forces that would have an air
defence and [anti-aircraft] capabil-
ity. The Taliban had lots of things
but it didn’t have that. I think it is
important to say that the proximity
and the scale of the Russian
manoeuvres has a risk that there isan invasion, and that would be
risky to your families, so if you
want to take a precaution, you
should leave.”
Wallace flew out of Moscow on
Friday night after talks with Krem-
lin figures, including General Val-
ery Gerasimov, chief of the general
staff. The defence secretary said he
feared for the security of Europe
and added that the western
response to incidents of Russian
aggression against Georgia and Cri-
mea had been “muted” and had
left Putin with the impression
there were few consequences.
According to the German maga-zine Der Spiegel, the CIA and the
Pentagon have received intelli-
gence of an “exceptionally
detailed” invasion plan, planned
for Wednesday.
The Kremlin has denied it is
planning to invade Ukraine and
has accused western media of par-
ticipating in a smear campaign.
A source close to Liz Truss, the
foreign secretary, said: “We were
too peripheral with Crimea in- We are showing vitally
important international leader-
ship.”
Editorial, page 24The defence secretary has likened
last-minute western diplomatic
efforts to stop Russian aggression
to appeasement, saying there is a
“whiff of Munich in the air”.
Ben Wallace said Russia invad-
ing the Ukraine was “highly likely”
and warned that the military pres-
ence on the border had reached
such a size that it could “launch an
offensive at any time”.
He added: “It may be that he
[Putin] just switches off his tanks
and we all go home but there is a
Caroline Wheeler and
Larisa Brown
Defence secretary likens desperate western efforts to prevent Russian invasion of Ukraine to appeasement
CITY BREAKS
ARE BACK
BOOKS
TO CHANGE
YOUR LIFE
MAGAZINE
TRAVEL
THE CRISIS
IN UKRAINE
Doctor arrested for
alleged sex assault
on child patient
Shaun Lintern Health EditorCovid exodus creates
boom in £1m homes
outside the capital
lands and 36 per cent in the south-
east of England. Being a “property
millionaire” means your home is
worth £1 million or more, but does
not take into account the size of the
mortgage, even if it is £999,999.
While a property worth £1 mil-
lion or more used to be common
only in the capital, the crippling
cost of buying a home has spread
across the country. One in 24
homes in the southeast cost at least
a seven-figure sum, and one in 40
in the east.
In London it is one in 11. Some in
the most expensive areas are just
modest two-bedroom flats. Many
young people earn less than their
parents’ or grandparents’ house in
the capital “earns” every year.
The greatest concentration of
£1 million-plus homes outside Lon-
don is in Elmbridge, Surrey,
known as the “Beverly Hills of Brit-
ain”, which features expensive
gated developments such as St
George’s Hill, where 37 per cent of
homes are in this price bracket.
House prices continue to rise.
Over the past year, the average
price of a home has jumped by
£24,530, or £67 a day, to another
all-time high of £276,759, accord-
ing to figures published last week
by Halifax. The average price of a
home is below £200,000 only in
the northeast, Northern Ireland,
Scotland, and Yorkshire and the
Humber.
The average first-time buyer is
Continued on page 2→Patsy Stevenson, whose picture went viral after her arrest at a vigil for Sarah Everard, says Cressida
Dick’s resignation as head of the Metropolitan Police must be a catalyst for reform Interview, page 15A YEAR ON, THE VIGIL THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
An NHS hospital doctor has been
arrested on suspicion of child sex-
ual assault, and police have begun
a review of hundreds of patient
records.
Concerns were first raised about
the 34-year-old almost four years
ago. He was allowed to return to
work at the Royal Stoke University
Hospital after a police inquiry.
It is understood that last year he
was the subject of complaints over
the examinations of two girls aged
seven and 15 at Russells Hall Hospi-
tal in Dudley. He was excluded
from the hospital trust in March
and in October the General Medi-
cal Council suspended him. The
doctor was arrested in December.
Detectives have identified nine
potential child victims.
Staffordshire police have
launched Operation Anzu with the
NHS, a major incident review that
will look at the doctor’s work at
both hospitals. Hundreds of files,
including those of vulnerable
adults, are being reviewed. Help-
lines have been set up for patients.
At least 109 have been identified as
cases of concern. The doctor
worked in accident and emer-
gency departments at both hospi-
tals, and in obstetrics and gynae-
cology at Dudley.
He was suspended from seeing
patients in 2018 when the parents
of a vulnerable female raised con-
cerns about his examination ofBEN STEVENS FOR THE SUNDAY TIMESy(7HA9F6*LNSTRN( |||+z!.'
INDEX
This week News 2
Weather News 29
Letters News 26
Sudoku News 28
TV & Radio Culture 29