UK News & Investigations

The Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs for England and Wales has formally received its mandate with its terms of reference published today, March 31 2026. Once they are laid before the House of Commons on 13 April, the Inquiry will begin its investigation into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children by grooming gangs across England and Wales. The Inquiry is chaired by Baroness Anne Longfield CBE, supported by panellists Zoë Billingham CBE and Eleanor Kell

FOUR Syrian nationals were arrested in Germany as part of a major probe into the supply of equipment to Channel migrant people smugglers. British National Crime Agency (NCA) officers joined international partners to target a network suspected of supplying the equipment to groups behind the dangerous Channel crossings by small boats to the UK. The raids, which took place in the North Rhine-Westphalia region on wednesday morning (March 25 2026), also saw boats and engines seize

NEARLY a tonne of cocaine has been seized at Southampton Docks after the container they were in had sailed from Nicaragua via Panama to the UK. Two men have been charged as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation. The Class A drugs were seized at Southampton Docks after the container they were in had sailed from Nicaragua via Panama to the UK. Acting in partnership with the NCA, Border Force officers opened the container and found 943kg of cocaine with a street va

VITAL CCTV evidence used to convict criminals during trials could be undermined by "deepfakes" as they get ever more sophisticated, the boss of the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned. NCA Director General Graeme Biggar gave the stark warning as he unveiled the agency's strategic threat assessment of organised crime for this year published this week, March 17 2026, saying organised crime groups would use AI technology to exploit more victims and try to compromise the crimi

A convicted murderer and two accomplices staged an elaborate but botched scheme to try to help criminal associates escape big EncroChat prison sentences for international drug trafficking. William Todd, 61, (top left) was 21 years into two life sentences when he orchestrated a plan to help Danny Brown, 58, Stefan Baldauf, 66, (below) and four other guilty men walk free after they were convicted of trying to smuggle 448kg of MDMA worth £45m to Australia in the arm of an indust

A JUDGE branded a paedophile who was a key figure in twisted online child abuse groups that shared sex abuse material of children including babies as being in a "different statosphere of crimianlity" before jailing him for more than 11 years. Joao Teixeira, 26, (above) was found in possession of 17,005 indecent images of children on his devices, Lewes Crown Court heard today, during a National Crime Agency (NCA) probe into the use of Telegram and Signal by sick online crime g

Two men who raped a vulnerable girl in Rotherham over 25 years ago have been jailed today, 22 December 2025, following a National Crime Agency (NCA) historic grooming investigation. Kessur Ajaib, 44, (above left) and Mohammed Makhmood, 43, (above right) both of Rotherham, were aged between 18 and 20 at the time of offending. Ajaib and Makhmood raped the victim, aged around 14, over a period of more than two years, starting in 1999. The girl was attacked by Ajaib while out in

A PAEDOPHILE who admitted a string of child sex offences, including being a key figure in two twisted online crime groups, is trying to get a reduced sentence by telling police he will report a man who "sexually abused him as a child." Joao Teixeira, 25, (above) yesterday, December 10 2025, admitted 12 charges at Lewes Crown Court. These included two counts each of being involved in an organised crime group and two of facilitating the sexual exploitation of children by being

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

A MAN suspected of being a high-ranking member of a Syrian people smuggling gang which arranged crossings of the Mediterranean was at large in the UK for at least a year after entering the country via a Channel boat under a false name. The arrest by the National Crime Agency (NCA) Extradition Unit of Ayman Al Taleb, 41, in the Rusholme area of Manchester on 13 November 2025, has raised fresh concerns over the security risk posed by the Channel crossings. Al Taleb is wanted by