Twenty one police stations in Essex could be closed to the public under proposals being considered.

Opening hours would change at a further 25 stations as part of the proposals, which would save an estimated £2.5m.An Essex Police survey found 63% of people had not visited a police station in the past year, and 94% said they would rather report a crime by phone.People in the county will also be able to contact the police by dialling a new national non-emergency number: 101.Among the police stations that would close to the public under the proposals are Rochford, Wivenhoe and Brightlingsea.Nine police stations - Basildon, Grays, Harlow, Southend, Rayleigh, Colchester, Chelmsford, Braintree and Clacton - would remain open to the public between 08:00 and midnight, seven days a week.Staff consultationA further 16 stations, including Halstead, Witham and Billericay, would be open from 12:00 to...

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Gaddafi instructs Essex law firm in move to regain London embassy

London law firm, which has been appointed to advise Muammar Gaddafi, has defended taking on the Libyan dictator as a client.Shaun Murphy, senior partner at the firm, Edwards Duthie, which has its head office in Ilford, north-east London, confirmed he was the only solicitor in England and Wales acting for the Gaddafi family. He stressed that anyone was "entitled to legal representation".On Tuesday the high court released papers confirming that Edwards Duthie, on behalf of Gaddafi, had issued a legal challenge with the aim of removing representatives of the National Transitional Council from Libya's London embassy and consulate buildings.The firm has lodged two cases with Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart, of the Queen's Bench, alleging that the rebel diplomats are trespassing. Court papers describe...

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Appeal overturns mum Ursula Nevin's jail sentence over looted shots

A woman jailed for accepting a pair of looted shorts from her housemate has walked free after her sentence was reduced on appeal.Mother-of-two Ursula Nevin, 24, was jailed for five months by a district judge last week after she pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods.Recorder of Manchester Judge Andrew Gilbart QC today ruled the decision was "wrong in principle" as he ordered her to perform 75 hours of unpaid work for the community instead.Greater Manchester Police last week apologised on Twitter after a previous tweet in praise of her sentence.The strong sentences handed out to many caught up in the riots which hit major English cities last week have caused much debate, with some suggesting appeals will see jail terms much reduced.Nevin was in bed at the time of the widespread disorder in...

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Cameron warned over human rights

David Cameron has been warned by senior Liberal Democrats not to try to "water down" Britain's commitment to human rights in the wake of the riots.The Prime Minister said he wanted a fightback against "the wrong-headed ideas, bureaucratic nonsense and destructive culture" which had led to the disturbances, including the "twisting and misrepresenting of human rights".Writing in the Sunday Express, Mr Cameron said that he was prepared, if necessary, to take on "parts of the establishment" in order to get to grips with the issue.However former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell made clear he faced a fight with his coalition partners if he tried to tamper with the principles of the Human Rights Act which enshrines the European Convention on Human Rights in UK law."The European Convention on Human...

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Tough riot sentences prompt new guidelines for the courts

New guidelines to advise judges and magistrates on handing out exemplary justice to people implicated in major civil disturbances are likely in the wake of the thousands of court hearings arising from last week's riots.The decision by judge Elgan Edwards, in Chester Crown Court, to hand down four-year prison sentences to Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan – who tried to organise riots on Facebook – is reputed to have alarmed some of the more liberal members of the Sentencing Council.The council's spokesman yesterday emphasised that they have no official view on the sentences, because they have not met since the riots, but confirmed they will issue new guidelines if requested. The case has also created tension inside the Government&nb...

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The Court of Appeal may be busy, according to critics who believe the sentences given to people involved in the recent riots are too severe.

Two men got four-year prison sentences after they were found guilty of trying to organise public disorder in Northwich and Warrington. Another man got 18 months for having a stolen TV in his car. One woman was jailed for six months for stealing a £3.50 case of water and another was jailed for five months for receiving a pair of shorts. When sentencing, one judge said the aim was to provide a deterrent to others.Judge Andrew Gilbart QC of Manchester Crown Court said: "I have no doubt at all that the principal purpose is that the courts should show that outbursts of criminal behaviour like this will be and must be met with sentences longer than they would be if the offences had been committed in isolation. For those reasons I consider that the sentencing guidelines for specific offences are...

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Human rights groups have expressed alarm over the home secretary's proposal to give the police new powers to create "no-go" areas to clear the streets in the event of fresh rioting

.Both Liberty and Big Brother Watch demanded that the "headline-grabbing initiative" should be immediately abandoned and warned that lack of police powers was not the problem in last week's urban riots in several cities.But Theresa May insisted it was necessary to look at giving the police the power to impose immediate curfews covering wide geographical areas in order to tackle the kind of fast-moving disturbances that swept across many of England's major cities last week. May is also keen to extend existing limited powers to impose curfews on individual teenagers aged under 16.In a hastily arranged speech in London to senior police leaders, the home secretary defended her police reform programme, including the introduction of elected police commissioners, arguing that the events of the last...

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A letter from a journalist jailed for phone hacking, which alleges senior News of the World figures knew what was going on, has been released by MPs.

Former royal editor Clive Goodman wrote the letter to News International as he appealed against his dismissal in 2007.Mr Goodman said hacking was "widely discussed" at the paper and that he had been promised his job back if he did not implicate it in court.In a separate move, the Commons culture committee may recall James Murdoch.'Constructive and open'Committee chairman, Tory MP John Whittingdale, said that it might recall Mr Murdoch to give further evidence because it needed to ask more questions on what he knew about hacking.Other former News International executives are already expecting to be called to give evidence to MPs in September.Responding to the release of Goodman's letter, a News International spokesman said: "We recognise the seriousness of materials disclosed to the police...

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Magistrates have been told that they can ignore sentencing guidelines and hand down more draconian penalties to rioters and looters.

Courts are being advised that the scale of last week’s civil disobedience means that offences committed during the riots should be dealt with more harshly.The memo, sent late last week by the capital’s most senior justice clerks, led one magistrate to warn that any offenders involved in the “anarchy” can expect a prison sentence.Magistrates appear to have heeded the message, as figures released by the Ministry of Justice last night disclosed that two in three people charged in connection with the riots and looting have been remanded in custody.In other developments:* Theresa May, the Home Secretary, will today indicate that thousands more officers will be trained as riot police, but will deepen the row with chief constables by insisting that controversial reforms will go ahead.* An official...

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Claim Murdoch paper had police tip-off on murder

BRITAIN'S police watchdog is investigating claims that a police officer handed information on the murdered teenager at the centre of the phone hacking scandal to Rupert Murdoch's News of the World.The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it had received a report from the police force in Surrey, south-east England, that one of its officers tipped off journalists about Milly Dowler's case.She went missing in 2002 near her home in Walton-on-Thames near London, sparking a high-profile manhunt.&nb...

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Weekend opening for courts dealing with riots

Weekend sessions have been held in courts across the country as the number of people charged for riot-related offences reaches more than 1,000.About 30 riot-related cases were heard at Manchester Magistrates' Court.Politicians have been out visiting areas affected, with Ed Miliband in Hackney and Nick Clegg in Manchester.Some 2,250 people have been arrested and extra police numbers are being maintained over the weekend, one week on from the first disturbances.Other developments related to last week's rioting in London, the East and West Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool and Gloucester, include:US "supercop" Bill Bratton, the prime minister's new crime adviser says communities cannot "arrest their way out" of gang crimeTwo men have been arrested over the death of Trevor Ellis, who was found with...

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10 more men have been arrested in connection with messages they posted on Facebook allegedly encouraging people to riot in the UK.

Scotland Yard vowed to track down and arrest protesters who posted “really inflammatory, inaccurate” messages on Facebook, but it didn’t stop at just two people. While two teenagers were arrested this week in connection with messages posted on Facebook allegedly encouraging people to start rioting, 10 more have now joined them, according to the BBC.Two are from St Leonards-on-Sea. 27-year-old Nathan Sinden, who is alleged to have posted Facebook messages encouraging criminal damage and burglary, has been remanded in custody. Arrested on Wednesday, he appeared before Hastings Magistrates’ Court this morning. An 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill. He has been freed on police bail until August 22.Two men from Lancashire have been charged after allegedly posting...

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Police have raided houses overnight, rounding up suspects from four nights of unrest in London and other English cities.

Over 1500 people have been arrested, including three over the deaths of three men who were hit by a car in Birmingham while protecting shops from looters.It came as British Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament he would look to the United States for solutions to gang violence, promising authorities would get strong powers to stop street mayhem erupting again.Decisive actionCameron told lawmakers he was "are acting decisively to restore order on our streets."Acknowledging that police had been overwhelmed by mobile groups of looters in the first nights of the rioting, Cameron said authorities were considering new powers, including allowing police to order thugs to remove masks or hoods, evicting troublemakers from subsidized housing and temporarily disabling cell phone instant messaging...

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Fears of rough justice as courts rush to process riot arrests

Concerns are growing that those involved in the riots and looting of the past few days will get rough justice because of the speed with which they are being shunted through the judicial system amidst public and political desire for retribution.Experts also have anxieties about the ability of an overcrowded prison system to cope with the influx.So far more than 1,600 people have been arrested in connection with the violence and looting, and more than 500 have appeared in court.Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the probation officers' union Napo, estimated on Thursday there would be an extra 1,500 cases for the London courts, and 2,500 in total across England, just based on numbers of suspected looters and rioters identified so far.More arrests were made on Thursday and they are...

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Top hedge fund Rubicon sues former managers

Rubicon Fund Management, one of the top-performing hedge fund firms during the credit crisis, is suing two former partners over a rival firm it claims they secretly planned to set up following an acrimonious internal dispute.Rubicon, based in London's upmarket Mayfair district, has issued legal proceedings against Tim Attias -- a former boyfriend of model Jerry Hall -- and Santiago Alarco, the former managers of Rubicon's Global Fund, claiming they "behaved dishonestly in failing to disclose" plans for a new firm.It is also suing Catherine Cripps, who recently left her position as fund of funds manager and head of the research team at fund manager GAM, which was until recently a major investor in Rubicon, a claims document showed.The case, which centres on a new firm called SATA Partners that...

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Mccartney To Talk To Scotland Yard About Hacking

Paul McCartney said on Thursday that he plans to meet with Scotland Yard following allegations by ex-wife Heather Mills that a voicemail from McCartney while they were in the throes of breaking up had been hacked by a reporter working for the London Daily Mirror. Speaking via satellite from Cincinnati to the Television Critics Association in Beverly Hills, McCartney said that "apparently I have been hacked." Although he said such illegal activity is nothing new, "I do think it's a horrendous violation of privacy." He added "I feel that more people than we know knew about it." However, he said that he would reserve further comment until he had a chance to discuss the matter with British authorities. Meanwhile, CNN/U.S. President Ken Jautz said on Thursday that he's standing by Piers Morgan,...

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The chief constable of Cleveland, his deputy and a staff member have been arrested as part of a criminal inquiry into corruption within the police authority

The chief constable of Cleveland, his deputy and a staff member have been arrested as part of a criminal inquiry into corruption within the police authority, the Guardian understands.Sean Price, the chief constable and Derek Bonnard, his deputy were taken in for questioning on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, corrupt practice and fraud by abuse of position. The third person arrested is a female member of the police staff.Warwickshire police, which is running the investigation, would not comment on the identities of those arrested.A spokesman said: "Police officers conducting a criminal investigation into a number of people with current or past associations with Cleveland Police Authority and the manner in which the authority may have conducted some of its business have this morning...

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Defence select committee warns Britain's influence will decline unless the armed forces get adequate resources

Spending cuts will prevent the armed forces from carrying out military operations and lead to a decline in Britain's influence and role in the world, a hard-hitting report by a cross-party group of MPs warns.Concluding that the armed services cannot do what ministers want them to without adequate resources, the report questions whether the government's rhetoric and ambitions are realistic.In a stinging attack, MPs say that by deploying British forces to Libya while cutting the defence budget "we can only conclude that the government has postponed the sensible aspiration of bringing commitments and resources into line."They point to a government promise to "confront the legacy of overstretch", with British troops never again having to undertake such a breadth of operations simultaneously. "The...

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