Wrongful Arrest Robbed Me Of Chance To Grieve For 3-Year-Old Son, Says Mum

A grieving mother has told of her agony when she was wrongly arrested on suspicion of murder after her three-year-old son died of a chest infection.
















Alfie died of a chest infection aged three.
















Abby Podmore says she was robbed of the chance to say goodbye.

Abby Podmore described how her ‘horrifying’ ordeal had robbed her of the chance to grieve for Alfie, who passed away in his sleep.

An investigation has now been launched by the Independent Police Complaints Committee.

The 20-year-old dental nurse has also received an apology from the hospital which mistakenly sent Alfie home after failing to spot the serious lung infection that killed him.

Ms Podmore told an inquest: ‘I couldn’t believe what was happening – my son had just died and I was being treated like a criminal. Looking back, I feel like I was robbed of a chance to say goodbye to Alfie.

‘I wanted to be with his body, just wanted to be with him.’

The boy was taken ill at nursery on February 2 and seen at Birmingham Children’s Hospital the following day but was discharged after medics said he was only suffering from a gastric virus.

They prescribed antacid medication rather than antibiotics that might have saved him from an ‘aggressive’ bacterial infection of pneumonia.

Alfie died at home on February 6 despite his mother’s attempts to revive him.

But when an ambulance arrived, it was joined by 15 police officers in two riot vans to detain Ms Podmore and her partner.

At Birmingham coroners’ court, Judge Aidan Cotter condemned police for the way in which they showed ‘no compassion’ and that, in her shoes, he ‘probably would have gone round and thumped a police officer’.

Det Insp Moira Blackburn said police arrested Ms Podmore after a neighbour falsely claimed the mother and her partner had been heard arguing.

Recording a narrative verdict, Mr Cotter said Alfie died as a result of failings by the hospital – and that doctors had made a clinical misjudgment.

Hospital bosses accepted liability and apologised to Ms Podmore, insisting lessons had been learnt.

Phone Hacking: 35-Year-Old Man Arrested By olice

A 35-year-old man has been arrested by officers from Operation Weeting investigating phone hacking at the News of the World, Scotland Yard says.









A total of 16 people have now been arrested as part of the investigation into phone hacking.

The BBC understand he is Raoul Simons, who was appointed deputy football editor of the Times in 2009.

He is being questioned by police in north London on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages.

Meanwhile, Guardian reporter Amelia Hill has been questioned over alleged police leaks, the newspaper said.

Ms Hill is believed to have been questioned under caution but not arrested in relation to the arrest of a Met Police detective constable last month who worked in the Operation Weeting team.

Scotland Yard says the "investigation continues" and they are not giving a "running commentary" on events.

Mr Simons moved to the Times from the London Evening Standard. News International, which publishes the Times, would not comment on whether he remained its deputy football editor.

A total of 16 people have now been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking - 15 of whom are still under investigation - since Operation Weeting was launched in January.

Scotland Yard's fresh investigation was set up to examine the illegal interception of voicemails.

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson are among those who have already been arrested as part of the inquiry.

The scandal has led Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Assistant Commissioner John Yates to resign, and the News of the World to close down after 168 years.

Brian Paddick Picked By Liberal Democrats For London Mayoral Race

2012 race will be rematch between Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone and former Met deputy assistant commissioner.












Brian Paddick is once again the Liberal Democrat candidate for mayor of London, pitted against Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone.

London's mayoral election next year will be a rematch between Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone and Brian Paddick, after the former Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner was selected as the Liberal Democrats' candidate for the second time.

Paddick, who came third in the 2008 mayoral election when Johnson ousted Livingstone after two terms, was declared the winner after a four-horse race in which the former MP Lembit Opik was eliminated in the first round.

Opik lost the safe Lib Dem seat of Montgomeryshire in the 2010 general election. On Friday, in an election run on the single transferrable vote, he secured just 252 votes, coming fourth behind London councillor Brian Haley, with 316.

Paddick narrowly won on second preference votes (1,567), with Mike Tuffrey, a member of the London assembly, close behind on 1,476. About 6,000 London party members were eligible to vote.

Paddick, who had said he was undecided about standing when he put in his nomination papers in June, has pledged to fight for a "fair deal" for Londoners, to protect local community policing and to hold down bus fares.

He thanked Liberal Democrat members "who placed their trust and confidence in me to be their candidate for mayor of London – I won't let you down".

Opik, who had previously claimed that "forces within the party" were trying to prevent him standing, conceded defeat before the final result was announced. He told the Evening Standard: "I stood because I felt the Lib Dems desperately need to reach out beyond their traditional voters. Boris and Ken are celebrity politicians. I fear the party doesn't grasp the implication of this." He was not quitting. "I'll be back," he said.

Some in the party are resigned to next year's election being a Johnson-Livingstone rematch, and see the mayoral election as a way of boosting the party's profile for the London assembly elections taking place at the same time. Currently it holds just three seats out of 25.

Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister, said Paddick provided Londoners with a "real, credible alternative" to Johnson and Livingstone.

"Brian's experience is exactly what London needs right now. Whether dealing with the aftermath of the riots or phone hacking and corruption in the Metropolitan police, Brian has shown in recent weeks that he has the authority and leadership London needs."The phone hacking scandal that rocked News International, the Metropolitan police and the political establishment is likely to surface in the 2012 contest. Paddick, whose phone was hacked by the now defunct News of the World, is among a group of public figures who have sought permission for a judicial review of the Met's handling of the phone hacking scandal.

Johnson, the incumbent mayor who declared his intention to seek a second term a year ago, came under fire over the summer for having dismissed reports that News of the World's use of phone hacking was more widespread than first thought as "codswallop" – a claim that turned out to be wide of the mark.

Livingstone, who was the first to declare his intention to stand again, was mayor when the original police investigation was conducted in 2006.

Paddick, who retired from the police in 2007 after 30 years of service, told the Evening Standard on Friday that reformed gang members should go into school to warn children of the dangers of getting involved in violent crime, after the recent riots in the capital raised fears about violent young people.

PM Hopeful Of WPC Murder Probe Help

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher is a reminder of the "horrors" of the Gaddafi regime and expressed hope that the rebel authorities would co-operate in the investigation into her murder.












Policemen attending to Wpc Yvonne Fletcher who was shot during demonstrations outside Libyan Embassy.

Only one of the three main suspects in the 1984 killing is believed still to be alive but Mr Cameron said he was sure that the National Transitional Council (NTC) would assist British police in their investigation.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also said the Government will do "everything we can" to get answers for WPC Fletcher's family.

Rebel officials in Tripoli on Tuesday night said one of the suspects for WPC Fletcher's murder, Abdulqadir al-Baghdadi, had been shot in the head. He was an official at the Libyan embassy in London at the time of the murder.

Reports in the Daily Telegraph claimed that junior official Abdulmagid Salah Ameri, who was suspected of firing the fatal shots, is also thought to have died. That left Matouk Mohammed Matouk as the last named suspect believed to be still alive, it added.

Negotiations have begun so that officers from the Metropolitan Police investigating the murder of WPC Fletcher, who was gunned down while on duty at a protest against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime outside the Libyan embassy in London, could travel to Libya once the security situation improves.

Mr Cameron said: "There is an ongoing police investigation and I am sure the new authorities in Libya will co-operate in that investigation."

He added: "The murder of Yvonne Fletcher was a reminder of the horrors that happened under the Gaddafi regime, and we should be celebrating today that that regime is coming to an end, and that Britain has played a proud part in that."

Mr Clegg said the Government would be "looking to the new Libyan administration to help" when he was asked if pressure would be put on the NTC to extradite Matouk for a trial in the UK.

Mr Cameron will on Thursday travel to Paris for an international conference on Libya aimed at providing support to the NTC.

British Army Faces Further Inquiries Into Alleged Abuse Of Iraqi Prisoners

Other torture allegations remain to be heard after army cleared of systemic abuse in Baha Mousa case.












The British army faces further inquiries into its treatment of prisoners in Iraq. Above, Al-Ma'aqal prison in Basra, 2004.

The Baha Mousa report is not the only one to look into the question of the "systemic" abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

A second inquiry is to open later this year, examining disputed allegations that up to 20 men were tortured and murdered in British custody after a gun battle in southern Iraq in 2004.

That inquiry became inevitable after the high court severely criticised the Royal Military Police's investigation into the affair and said that courts should be wary of evidence given by the RMP's second in command.

The court of appeal is currently considering whether to order a third inquiry, into the military's entire detention and interrogation policy, after hearing arguments on behalf of more than 150 men who allege they were systematically tortured by the British army in south-east Iraq between 2003 and 2008.

The complaints include 59 allegations of detainees being hooded, 11 of electric shocks, 122 of sound deprivation through the use of ear muffs, 52 of sleep deprivation, 131 of sight deprivation using blackened goggles, 39 of enforced nakedness and 18 of being kept awake by pornographic DVDs played on laptops.

The Ministry of Defence's lawyers have conceded that the individual allegations "raise an arguable case of breach of Article 3" of the European convention on human rights, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. But, in its attempts to persuade the courts that a third inquiry is not needed, the MoD has set up a team of 80 investigators, half of them former civilian detectives, to examine the allegations.

The Iraq historic allegations team (Ihat) is now scouring MoD records, including hundreds of video recordings of military interrogations, and interviewing the complainants.

Many of the complaints centre on a secretive Intelligence Corps facility known as the joint forces interrogation team, or JFIT. Already, three men who served at the JFIT have been referred to the director of service prosecutions, who has been asked to consider war crimes charges under the 2001 International Criminal Court Act.

Nine other deaths in British military custody are also being re-examined.

Phone Hacking: Met Police detective Arrested

Policeman suspected of leaking details of hacking investigation as force also confirms arrest of 35-year-old man.












Phone hacking: the man has not been charged but he has been suspended by the Metropolitan police.

A police detective has been arrested on suspicion of leaking details about Scotland Yard's phone-hacking investigation.

The man has not been charged but he has been suspended by the Metropolitan police.

The Met also on Friday arrested a 35-year-old man, who Sky News named as former News of the World reporter Dan Evans, on suspicion of phone hacking. He has been released on police bail.

Evans was suspended by the paper more than a year ago after being named in a civil case against the now defunct tabloid's publisher, News International subsidiary News Group Newspapers, brought by interior designer Kelly Hoppen.

Sue Akers, the force's deputy assistant commissioner, who is leading the investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, said: "I made very clear when I took on this investigation the need for operational and information security. It is hugely disappointing that this may not have been adhered to."

Akers added: "The MPS [Met] takes the unauthorised disclosure of information extremely seriously and has acted swiftly in making these arrests."

A spokesperson for Guardian News & Media, which publishes the Guardian, declined to comment on reports that the leaks had been to the Guardian, and said: "We note the arrest of a Scotland Yard detective on suspicion of misconduct in a public office relating to unauthorised disclosure of information.

"On the broader point raised by the arrest, journalists would no doubt be concerned if conversations between off-the-record sources and reporters came routinely to be regarded as criminal activity. In common with all news organisations we have no comment to make on the sources of our journalism."

The receptionists At 4-Star Hotel Who Were Found Stabbed To Death

A man has appeared in court accused of murdering a couple found stabbed to death in a house.

Alice Adams and Tibor Vass, both aged 20, worked as receptionists at the Radisson Edwardian Heathrow Hotel in Harlington, west London.

Attila Ban, 31, a Hungarian man from Harlington, has been remanded in custody over the murders after appearing in court on Saturday.

He also worked at the hotel as a receptionist.



















Victims: Alice Adams and Tibor Vass were found stabbed to death.


Police found the bodies of Ms Adams, from Buckinghamshire, and Mr Vass, a Hungarian national, from Harlington, on Wednesday after concerns were raised about their welfare.

Both died of multiple stab wounds.

They were discovered at a property behind the Radisson Hotel with the rear gardens backing on to the hotel's secure gated car park.

A knife has been recovered from the scene, said Scotland Yard.












Murder scene: A police cordon in New Road, Harlington, west London, where the bodies of a man and woman were discovered at a property.


Ban was arrested in Harlington after receiving treatment for wrist and neck injuries at a west London hospital.

He will appear at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.

In a statement, Miss Adams' family said: 'Alice touched the hearts of everyone she ever met.

'Her capacity to spread love was unprecedented and her spirit will live on forever. We will be making no further comment to the press at this time.'

Claims Of A Police Leak Over Milly Dowler Case To Be Investigated

The police watchdog is investigating a claim that an officer on the Milly Dowler murder case gave information to the News of the World newspaper.










Milly disappeared as she walked home from school in Walton-on-Thames.

The allegation against the Surrey Police officer is from 2002. Last month it emerged the same officer had been taken off the Dowler case in 2002 for discussing it with a friend.

In June it was discovered Milly's phone had been hacked by the newspaper.

The 13-year-old was murdered by doorman Levi Bellfield in 2002.

The police watchdog - the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) - is offering to meet the Dowler family to offer them further details of the latest allegation.

Surrey Police said three weeks ago that there was no suggestion of any officer having shared information about the Dowler case with the News of the World.

The force said then that an unnamed officer was given "words of advice" and permanently taken off the investigation in 2002 after telling a friend - a retired police officer - about the case.

But the BBC understands that the unnamed officer referred to in July is the same one now being investigated by the IPCC over an allegation that information was passed to the newspaper.

Surrey Police are refusing to comment now that the matter is in the hands of the IPCC.

'Long overdue'

Mark Lewis, the Dowler's solicitor, said the family welcomed the investigation but added that it was long overdue.

"The family are obviously pleased this is being looked at, but it is nine years later than it happened.

"One officer was removed from the initial Milly investigation in 2002, we are now in 2011. There is a question as to why it has taken so long to get to this stage."

Mr Lewis also said the family had received hardly any information about the substance of the inquiry: "We don't know what they are looking at, what investigations will take place, what information they require."

He added that the claims were yet another blow for the Dowlers: "It is one thing on top of the other."

News of the World owner, News International, said: "News Corporation's independent Management and Standards Committee is co-operating fully with the Metropolitan Police and is facilitating their investigation into illegal voicemail interception and related issues at the News of the World."

The schoolgirl disappeared while walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

Bellfield was convicted of her murder in June 2011.