Essex News & Investigations

THE UK's "failed" scam reporting system Action Fraud is set to finally be axed within weeks, with a "soft launch" of its replacement due next month<Dec> following repeated delays after MPs branded it "not fit for purpose" and "failing victims." The beleaguered system is set to be rebranded as "Report Fraud" with new technology that promises to speed up the process and also to collect evidence for potential police investigations. The replacement has been dogged by setbacks aft

A DAD of five and his stepson have been sentenced after they each strangled cops who tried to arrest them after the older man attacked a stranger on a drunken night out. Special Inspector Mark Barham feared he could have died at the hands of Sam Minter, 39, (above left in custody image and right from police body worn camera on the night) as he throttled him on a pitch black river bank. He was saved by colleagues who used PAVA spray to subdue Minter who had drunk five pints an

A WOMAN who died "following disorder" in a Swindon property was "incredible and caring" colleagues have said as a 13-year-old girl arrested on suspicion of murder has been bailed. Sarah Forrester, 55, (above) from the Wiltshire town was described was pronounced dead on Friday evening. A Wiltshire Police spokesperson said: "An investigation is continuing into her death, and a 13-year-old girl who was arrested in connection with it has since been bailed. "A heightened police pr

A BRITISH man who was a key figure in an international online child abuse platform that exploited at least 25 underage UK girls, from the home he shared with his mother has been jailed for seven and a half years. Bradley Talbot, 29, from Portsmouth, was a 'moderator' on a twisted Telegram group that incited girls aged 12 to 17 and groomed online into sex acts that were filmed and livestreamed to about 6,000 members across the globe. The group had 'poster girls' and degraded i

POLICE found a stash of seven hunting knives and a host of suspected stolen items in a car after a dramatic foot and car pursuit - but only after private security guards insisted officers attend the scene. An officer for private security firm My Local Bobby (MLB) saw two vehicles parked suspiciously close to each other with all doors open at the Palms Hotel off the A127 at Hornchurch on Wednesday, November 5, at just after 2pm. The officer had seen the same vehicles driving v

A WATCH store manager who hanged himself after he was tied up during a £1.1million robbery was working in a business that was "run by Maurice Sines as a front for organised crime", a court was told. The three men accused of being involved in the audacious heist from the luxury watch store 247 Kettles, in south west London, were also warned by police their lives were in danger after a "£100,000 bounty" was placed on each of them, Woolwich Crown Court heard. The court heard the

DOORBELL camera footage shows the shocking moment a teenager was shot in a Liverpool street just five hours after a boy was stabbed. The video, which has been shared on social media, appears to have been filmed from a house in Manley Road, Huyton, where the attack happened on Friday evening. In the footage, a male is seen standing in the street, when a dark-coloured car pulls up from his right. The male appears to be pointing towards the car before a hooded male is then seen

BLACK cab serial rapist John Worboys could be considered for release again by the end of the year despite being subject to a new police investigation into an alleged sex attack in the 1990s. A minimum six year jail term he received for sex attacks on four of his victims is due to end next month<December>and the Parole Board confirmed that an initial assessment into whether Worboys can have a fresh parole hearing to assess if he can be released is underway. But, it comes as La

WEST Midlands Police have tonight (Saturday November 8 2025) charged a man with attempted murder after a woman was stabbed in Birmingham. Djeison Rafael, 21, was charged following an incident in Smallbrook Queensway last night (7 November). He has also been charged with two further assaults and possession of a blade. Rafael was arrested following the incident, which saw a woman in her 30s taken to hospital with a serious neck injury. Rafael, who is a Black British national, h

THOUSANDS of suspects and criminals who would have been remanded or jailed will instead be "free in the community" after a new "Sentencing Bill" comes into effect next year, a police chief said. More prisoners will also be released early under the changes to free up prison spaces due to our bursting prison population. There will be an expected rise in reoffending rates by four to six percent, police chiefs estimate, that is around 360,000 more crimes a year on top of the 6.6