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An Aer Lingus Dublin to Rome flight was diverted to a French military air base on Thursday after a bomb threat, one of at least 21 aircraft targeted across Europe in the second wave of such alerts in a single week. No explosives have been found on any of the planes involved.

What happened to the Dublin to Rome flight

The Aer Lingus Airbus A320 was rerouted to Evreux military airfield, west of Paris, and escorted by military aircraft. France’s air force said it scrambled jets “as soon as the threat was reported”. The office of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said a bomb squad was waiting at the airfield and that 151 passengers and six crew had been moved to a safe place.

Aer Lingus described the diversion as a “security precaution” and said the aircraft landed safely in Normandy. The airline said it was working to get passengers to Rome as soon as possible.

A wider pattern across Europe

The Dublin to Rome flight was only one of many. According to the BBC, flights to Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Poland and Romania were affected. The Guardian’s live coverage, which counted aircraft reported through the day, put the tally at 25 at one stage.

• Two Finnair flights from Helsinki were targeted. One was escorted into Rome’s Fiumicino airport by Italian fighter jets, and the other landed in Vienna.
• Three Ryanair flights landed in Bulgaria, two of them in Sofia, escorted by Bulgarian fighter jets. The transport ministry said no issues were identified.
• Czech police said four aircraft arriving in Prague were searched with negative results. Among them were EasyJet flights from Newcastle and Glasgow. The National Centre against Terrorism, Extremism and Cybercrime has taken over the investigation.
• A Wizz Air flight from Milan to Warsaw was diverted to Vienna, and LOT and Aegean Airlines each reported flights affected.
• Spain’s airport authority said three flights at Madrid were targeted, but any threat was ruled out after inspections.
• Heathrow and Birmingham airports received threats that were assessed as not credible.

The disruption follows similar threats earlier in the week, which briefly shut an airport outside Warsaw.

Who is behind the threats?

The answer is still unclear. Aeroporti di Roma, which manages Rome’s two airports, confirmed to the BBC that the threat against two inbound flights arrived by email. It was signed by a group or individual calling themselves “Fighters of the Male State”, who said they were targeting a “feminist regime” and threatened to “turn the skies red”. The BBC noted that the name appears to echo a Russian ultra-right group banned by a Moscow court in 2021. It also cautioned that even if the email is genuine, it is unlikely to give investigators the leads they need.

No arrests or charges have been reported, and no country has attributed blame. Al Jazeera noted that the threats come as many European officials accuse Russia of planning cheap, deniable “hybrid attacks”, but that is context rather than a finding about these incidents. EU transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said it was “too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents are linked”.

Official response

UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander called the incidents “malicious hoax threats” and said there were “established processes” for dealing with them. Heathrow said there was “no risk to passengers, colleagues or the aircraft”. A global airlines body condemned “attempts to interrupt air transport” and urged authorities to find the origins of the threats.

The Guardian’s analysis offered some perspective. About 20 alerts are still a tiny fraction of all flights in Europe, though experts quoted there said the sheer number of hoaxes pointed to coordinated action. For the passengers on the diverted Dublin to Rome flight, that meant an unscheduled stop at a military base rather than the Italian capital.

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The Henry Nowak sentence has been increased by the Court of Appeal, which ruled that a 21-year minimum term for Vickrum Digwa was “unduly lenient”. Digwa was jailed for life in June after being convicted of murdering the 18-year-old student in Southampton on 3 December 2025. His minimum term is now 25 years.

What the Court of Appeal decided on the Henry Nowak sentence

The Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, sat with Mr Justice Nicklin and Mr Justice Wall. She quashed the 21-year minimum term and replaced it with 25 years. Digwa spent 175 days on remand, and that time is deducted. He must therefore serve at least 24 years and 190 days before he can be considered for parole, according to reports of the ruling.

Attorney General Ellie Reeves referred the case under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. Digwa, who appeared by video link from HMP Frankland, separately argued that his term was “manifestly excessive”. The court refused him permission on that point, with Baroness Carr saying it was “unarguable” that the term was too long.

The Lady Chief Justice said the trial judge, William Mousley KC, had been entitled to use a 15-year starting point. He had found that Digwa did not take the knife to the scene intending to commit a crime. But she said his overall assessment “materially understated” two things. One was the repeated use of a large, immediately available dagger with intent to kill an unarmed man. The other was “the deliberate cruelty, additional suffering and obstruction” that followed. “It was not only lenient, but unduly so,” she said.

The kirpan argument

Much of the hearing turned on the religious blades that Sikhs may lawfully carry. The sentencing judge had heard that Digwa wore a small kirpan and also carried a larger dagger, in keeping with the Nihang order of Sikhs. Reports say the dagger was 21cm long.

Jonathan Polnay KC, for the Attorney General, stressed that the case was “not about the lawful possession of a kirpan”. He said it was about what followed. He argued that using a lawfully carried blade for lethal violence was “on at least one level, analogous to an abuse of trust”. Baroness Carr said the initial lawfulness of carrying the knife “does not reduce the seriousness of its subsequent lethal use”.

Imran Khan KC, for Digwa, argued that overlapping aggravating factors had been counted more than once. The judges accepted that some should not have counted against Digwa, including the wider community impact, which the court said he had not anticipated or intended.

Aggravating factors cited in court

The Attorney General’s submissions pointed to several features of the case. They included a false allegation of racism against Mr Nowak, which police body-worn video showed led to officers handcuffing him as he lay dying. They also cited the filming of the dying teenager and what was described as sustained attempts to pervert the course of justice. Baroness Carr described the filming as “incomprehensible cruelty”. The trial judge had earlier found the racism accusation to be a lie.

Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, was jailed for three years in July for assisting an offender by removing the knife from the scene. She dropped an appeal against that sentence shortly before the hearing.

Family reaction and what happens next

Mr Nowak’s family called the ruling “an important step towards justice” but said no sentence could return their son. “We have been given a life sentence of grief,” they said, adding that their “fight for justice is far from over”. They said they would support the independent rapid review being led by former lord chancellor Alex Chalk, which will examine the killing and “any missed opportunities to intervene”.

Ms Reeves said the “brutality and cruelty of this case horrified me” and that she hoped the outcome would bring the family some justice.

The legal process is not entirely over. Digwa has applied to appeal against his murder conviction, and that application will be decided separately.

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An Educating Cardiff teacher who sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl has avoided immediate jail, receiving a 33-month prison sentence suspended for 30 months. Gareth Ritter, 44, of Bryngwyn, Monmouthshire, was also told he will be on the sex offenders’ register for life. He had appeared in the Channel 4 documentary series about school life in the city.

How the Educating Cardiff teacher’s case unfolded

Ritter initially denied the sexual assault charge. He changed his plea to guilty in October, after giving evidence at his trial at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court. He had also previously admitted two counts of making an indecent photograph of a child and one of distributing an indecent photograph of a child.

The assault itself dates back to 2015, when Ritter was in his 30s. The court heard he offered the teenager a lift home from an event in Cardiff, then said he needed to stop at a flat he owned in Cardiff Bay. Judge Dyfed Llion Thomas told him he had made comments about how she looked and dressed that made her feel uncomfortable, and had touched her uninvited. He then moved towards her until her back was against a wall and kissed her.

The court heard she pushed him away. On the drive home, Ritter told her not to tell anyone what had happened. The Daily Record reported that he was described in court as having “giggled” about the incident rather than apologising.

How the offence came to light

The allegation emerged years later, almost by accident. Detectives investigating an unrelated matter found intimate images of a young woman under 18 on Ritter’s phone and tablet. The court heard he claimed someone else had sent them to him. When police contacted the woman about the images, she told them about the assault.

During the trial she described the incident as something that “makes me feel sick”. She said she had blamed herself and later been diagnosed with depression. She said Ritter had “abused his position” and was someone she had “looked up to”.

The judge’s remarks and the decision to suspend

Judge Thomas described the offence as a “cruel assault on a young woman by an older man”. He said the attack was planned and an abuse of trust, adding: “I think you targeted her on that night, you took her to a location where you knew you would be alone.”

He also spoke directly about the complainant’s fear of not being believed. “She is believed, Mr Ritter, and everyone knows that what she told the court was true,” he said. The judge said he had “grave reservations” about whether Ritter was truly remorseful, pointing to “arrogance and self importance” in his evidence.

Even so, he suspended the sentence “with some reluctance”, citing Ritter’s previous good character and the likely effect on his family. Ritter must also complete 250 hours of community service.

Defence barrister Jenny Yeo said the former teacher, who has no previous convictions, was “sorry beyond words for the stress and pain he had caused”. She said he had lost his long-serving careers in teaching and in music, where he had been respected as a brass band conductor, and was seeking therapy.

What happens next

The court heard a further hearing will consider court costs, a restraining order and a sexual harm prevention order. No appeal was mentioned in the reports of the sentencing.

Anyone affected by the issues in this story can contact the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) on 0808 801 0331. Children can call Childline free on 0800 1111, and adults worried about a child can call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.

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At least seven passenger flights across Europe were targeted by suspected bomb threats on Tuesday 3 November, forcing searches, runway closures and a fighter jet escort. No injuries were reported and, according to the reports, no explosives were found on any aircraft. Authorities are now trying to establish whether the bomb threats were connected.

What happened on the seven flights

The flights were bound for four countries: two for Poland, two for Italy, two for Bulgaria and one for Spain. Only one was diverted. The rest landed at their intended destinations and were checked afterwards.

The most disruptive incident involved LOT Polish Airlines Flight 286 from London Heathrow, which was carrying 181 people. It was diverted to Warsaw-Modlin Airport, about 25 miles from its planned destination of Warsaw-Chopin. According to the Mirror, Modlin raised the alert at 9.54am, and the plane landed safely minutes later. The airline said a security inspection found no suspicious items, and passengers were taken to Chopin by coach. Modlin was closed for around two hours, and the threat was cancelled at 12.21pm.

Earlier, a Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen to Warsaw-Chopin was also threatened. It landed normally after about an hour in the air. An SAS spokesperson said the matter had been referred to Polish police. Warsaw airport said it closed one runway as a precaution.

In Italy, two Ryanair flights were searched at Rome Fiumicino. The airport said it received an anonymous report of an alleged bomb threat on one flight that landed around 9.40am. About an hour later, Ryanair Flight 9611 from Dublin was escorted by the Italian Air Force after a separate report. Bomb disposal experts cleared both aircraft. Reports differ slightly on the origin of the other flight: the Independent and the Mirror say Lisbon, while Business Insider said the airport did not immediately confirm it.

A Ryanair flight from Manchester to Murcia in Spain was met by fire engines, police and a bomb squad. Francisco Lucas, the Spanish government’s representative for the region, said 114 passengers and seven crew left the aircraft. Around an hour and a half later, he said the Civil Guard had ruled out explosives and the airport had resumed normal operations.

Two further flights were threatened as they approached Sofia, Bulgaria, one from Dublin and one from Bergamo. Bulgaria’s border police told the national news agency BTA that the threats arrived by email. Wizz Air said the Bergamo flight was cleared after security checks.

Are the bomb threats linked?

The sources agree that no connection has been formally established. Al Jazeera reported that several countries are investigating whether the incidents were a coordinated attempt to disrupt airspace. A European Commission spokesperson said the EU was “closely monitoring the situation” but that it was “too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents are linked.”

The Independent reported that no group has claimed responsibility. It said the incidents highlight growing European concern about hybrid security threats since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That is context from the report, not a finding by investigators, and nothing in the sources attributes Tuesday’s bomb threats to any person or state.

The disruption did not start on Tuesday. On Monday, a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia was diverted to Budapest after a bomb threat was received during the flight, according to an airline spokesperson. That adds to the sense of a pattern, though again, no link has been confirmed.

Details are still emerging, and police in several countries are handling their own inquiries. For passengers, the immediate impact was delay, diversion and long waits on the tarmac. For authorities, the question is whether seven threats in a day were a coincidence or something coordinated.

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been served with a witness summons requiring him to give evidence in a High Court fraud trial in mid-December, according to reports from the BBC, the Independent and the Mirror. He is not accused of any wrongdoing. His appearance would nonetheless be a rare moment of public scrutiny for a member of the royal family.

What the witness summons requires

The BBC reports that the summons compels Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to give evidence and answer questions on or around 15 December. The Mirror gives the date as 14 December, and the Independent says on or before 15 December, so the exact day appears not to be fixed. Witnesses usually attend in person, but the BBC and the Mirror both note that a video link is possible.

The BBC says he is believed to be the first royal since the 19th century to be sent such a summons. The Mirror puts the precedent at 1891. The appearance would also be his first public questioning since his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, and the first time he has spoken publicly since being stripped of his titles.

The civil dispute behind the case

The trial concerns a claim brought by Nebahat Isbilen, an elderly Turkish woman, against her former financial adviser, Selman Turk. She alleges he misled her and used her wealth to his own advantage. The Independent describes the case as a £40 million fraud trial. The Mirror says her lawyers have told the court that tens of millions of pounds of her funds were misappropriated and that Mr Turk failed to explain where the money went. Mr Turk strongly denies dishonesty. His representatives, Janes Solicitors, say he looks forward to being vindicated in court.

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s link to the case is a payment of £750,000 made to him in November 2019. According to court documents cited by the BBC, Ms Isbilen claims she was misled into believing it would help with a passport. Mr Turk disputes that. His case, as set out in the judge’s ruling and reported by the Mirror, is that she made the payment of her own accord, either as a gift to build goodwill with the then duke or because she hoped he could help her husband, who she says has been politically persecuted in Turkey. The BBC notes that the transfer came the day after the Newsnight interview was recorded. The money was later repaid, and the BBC says Ms Isbilen’s lawyers contacted him in 2021.

A second sum is also expected to feature. Court documents cited by the BBC refer to about £768,000 paid from Ms Isbilen’s account in January 2020. Mr Turk has described it as a loan to Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to buy a chalet in Switzerland. Ms Isbilen contests this, and the claim was challenged at earlier hearings.

Why the judge allowed it

Mr Turk, not Ms Isbilen, wanted Mr Mountbatten-Windsor called. Last month Mr Justice Adam Johnson ruled that “fairness requires” Mr Turk be able to put his case using “the evidence he considers relevant and material”, given how serious the allegations are. The judge said it was “highly unlikely” Mr Mountbatten-Windsor would volunteer a witness statement, so a summons would probably be needed. He also described the evidence as “limited in scope”.

The Mirror reports that the summons can also require a witness to hand over documents, and that court rules say witnesses must be offered enough to cover reasonable travel expenses.

What happens next

The trial is expected to begin later this month and, according to the Mirror, to run for 11 weeks. The BBC says Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has been approached for comment. The sources do not say what he will tell the court. Nothing has been established in the case so far, and the claims on all sides remain allegations to be tested at trial.

The BBC points out that his finances have long drawn questions about transparency. A witness summons means that, in this one case, he may have to answer on the record.

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A third boy has been arrested in connection with the Halloween party stabbings in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, as police continue to piece together what happened when five teenagers were attacked at a house party on Saturday night. All three suspects remain in custody on suspicion of attempted murder. No one has been reported as charged, and arrest does not imply guilt.

What police say happened

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said officers were called shortly after 10.30pm to Park Road, where five boys had been injured. The force has said the five had been invited to a supervised party at a home on the road. It says an uninvited group of males got in through a garden fence and assaulted them.

One 17-year-old victim remains in hospital in a life-threatening condition. The other four, aged 16 or 17, have been discharged.

Who has been arrested

Two boys were arrested on Monday. The third arrest, announced on Tuesday, is of a 16-year-old from Bristol. According to the Standard, the three are a 16-year-old from Southampton, a 16-year-old from Bristol and a 17-year-old from Southampton. All are being held on suspicion of attempted murder. Because of their ages, none of the boys can be named.

Det Ch Insp Elizabeth Pirie, the senior investigating officer, thanked those who had already come forward with information or footage. “We now have arrested three boys, but we still want to hear from you if you have any information which could assist us,” she said. “However small it may seem to you, it may be key to our enquiries.” Officers are still reviewing video footage and witness accounts to establish the movements of those involved.

Witness accounts and the motive

Two witnesses told the BBC that a fight began after a group came over a garden fence, though they said the reason for the stabbings was unclear. One teenager described standing in the hallway near the exit when someone he knew lifted his shirt and said he had been stabbed. He later saw the boy lying outside the front of the house while another person pressed on his wound. These are first-hand accounts given to a news outlet. Police have not publicly set out a motive, and the sources offer no confirmed explanation.

Reassurance in the community

Police cordons were placed around parts of Park Road and neighbouring Valley Road. The force says neighbourhood officers will visit local schools and colleges this week to offer advice and reassurance and to support those affected, directly or indirectly.

Ch Insp Rachel Noble, Eastleigh’s district commander, said the violence would have been “extremely distressing and concerning for everyone who was at the party”. She added that officers would stay visible around Park Road for anyone who wanted to talk or report something.

Anyone with information about the Halloween party stabbings is asked to contact police on 101 or through the force website, quoting reference 44260534624. Information can also be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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The jury in the Russell Brand trial has retired to consider its verdicts on seven charges after three weeks of evidence at Southwark Crown Court. Brand, 51, denies all of the allegations against him, and no verdicts have been delivered.

The jury of eight men and four women was sent out on Tuesday afternoon, after the judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, spent the morning summing up the evidence. He told jurors he could accept only a unanimous decision. “I can only accept a verdict from all 12 of you that is a unanimous verdict,” he said.

What Russell Brand is accused of

Brand is charged with three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. The charges relate to six women and to alleged incidents between 1999 and 2009. The attempted indecent assault count was originally an allegation of indecent assault, and was amended during the trial. He has pleaded not guilty to every charge and is on bail. According to the reports, he has attended court daily, accompanied by his wife.

The court heard that the alleged offences took place in a variety of settings, among them a hotel room, workplaces and a private home. The women cannot be identified because of legal protections for complainants in sexual offence cases.

The prosecution case

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told jurors that Brand was a “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” predator. She said he was “child-like in his expectation that his every desire should be met” and treated women as “a means to an end”. In her closing speech she stressed that the six women did not know one another but described a similar pattern of behaviour.

She told jurors the women had “nothing to gain”. They had not sought publicity, taken part in a documentary or made compensation claims, she said, adding that the only benefit to them might be “some closure”.

The defence case

Brand gave evidence in his own defence. He accepted he had been “obsessed” with sex when he was younger and that he had “misused” his fame, but he said every encounter was consensual. He described consent as “fundamental” and, in his words, in many ways more important than sex itself. When the individual allegations were put to him, he repeatedly answered “no”.

His barrister, Ian Winter KC, urged jurors to separate questions of behaviour from questions of criminality. “It is not criminal to treat women unkindly before, during or after sex,” he said, adding that if there is consent, “it is lawful”.

Mr Winter also attacked how the case reached court. He said the women came forward “very many years” after the alleged events, and only after a 2023 Channel 4 Dispatches documentary that, he argued, had “poisoned the wells” of justice and left the complainants “thoroughly contaminated”. He questioned the delays in the women approaching police. He also asked why Brand was accused of “only three rapes in 10 years” given the number of women he had slept with. The prosecution rejected the suggestion that the women’s accounts were tainted.

What happens next in the Russell Brand trial

The judge told the jury he would not cover every witness in his summing-up and would instead pick out those who seemed most significant. Jurors now deliberate in private, and the court has not said how long that may take. The Russell Brand trial continues, and Brand is presumed innocent unless and until the jury returns a guilty verdict on any count.

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A Reform UK councillor has been charged with 35 offences, including 12 counts of rape, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced on Tuesday. George Madgwick, 37, is due to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on 25 November. He has said he is innocent.

What the Reform UK councillor is accused of

According to the CPS and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, the charges relate to four complainants and are alleged to have taken place in Portsmouth and Wales between 2008 and 2021. The CPS said the complainants were aged 16 and 17 at the time.

Besides the 12 counts of rape, Mr Madgwick is charged with:

• two counts of assault by penetration
• two counts of sexual assault
• eight counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm
• two counts of controlling or coercive behaviour
• two counts of making indecent images of a child, and one of distributing an indecent image of a child
• one count each of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child, stalking, making threats to kill, false imprisonment, theft and criminal damage

Police said their investigation began on 24 July 2025 after a report of a sexual offence. Officers arrested a man at an address in Wandsworth, London, on 6 January 2026. The CPS authorised the charges this week, and the Standard reports that Mr Madgwick has been bailed.

Suspension and a statement of innocence

A Reform UK spokesperson said Mr Madgwick had been suspended from the party “with immediate effect”. In a statement on social media, he said he was “shocked and dismayed” and “unequivocally” innocent, adding that “due process must take its course”. He said he would continue to sit as an independent on both Hampshire County Council and Portsmouth City Council, according to the BBC.

Mr Madgwick represents North East Havant on the county council and Paulsgrove on the city council. He led the Reform group on the county authority, where the party won 20 seats and finished third. The BBC reports he was elected to the county council in May, months after his first arrest.

Hampshire County Council said it was aware of the “extremely serious allegations” but that it would be inappropriate to comment while criminal proceedings were under way. It added that being charged with a criminal offence does not disqualify a councillor from office.

Political fallout begins

The charges quickly became a political issue. Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson called them “truly shocking” and urged Nigel Farage to say whether he knew of the arrest or the allegations. She also asked him to explain why Mr Madgwick was allowed to stand for the party, hold a local leadership role and work as a Reform member of staff. The sources do not report any response from Mr Farage.

The CPS issued a reminder that proceedings are active and that Mr Madgwick has the right to a fair trial. It warned against any reporting, commentary or sharing of information that could prejudice the case.

What happens next

The charges are allegations only, and none has been tested in court. The first hearing at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on 25 November is the next scheduled step. Offences of this seriousness are normally sent on to the Crown Court. The sources do not say when any trial might take place.

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A driver who left a headteacher trapped beneath his 4×4 and carried on driving for more than a mile has been jailed for life, and will serve at least 25 years before he can be considered for release. Simon Richardson, 35, of no fixed address, was sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday, days after a jury found him guilty of murdering Michael Mullins.

What the court heard about the collision

Mr Mullins, 56, a father of two, was cycling home from Stretford Grammar School on the early evening of 20 April. The school is where he had been headteacher for 17 years. Richardson, driving a Volvo XC90, went through give-way markers and into his path, the court heard. Mr Mullins landed on the bonnet and windscreen before falling beneath the vehicle, where he became entangled in the suspension.

Prosecutors said Richardson knew the cyclist was trapped just inches below his feet. His front-seat passenger and cousin, Gabrielle Debotte, told the trial that both of them heard “moaning” from outside as he drove away from Paddock Lane in Warburton, and that Richardson then said words to the effect of “He’s under the car.”

The Crown said Richardson drove 1.3 miles to a secluded farm track on Wet Gate Lane in Lymm in an attempt to dislodge his victim, who prosecutors described as “the single, solid piece of evidence of what he was driving away from”. The court heard he twice tried to pull Mr Mullins out, then returned to the car and swerved sharply from side to side before mounting a grass verge. Mr Mullins was freed, but was run over again as Richardson reversed and drove off.

A motorcyclist followed a trail of blood from the scene and found Mr Mullins alone and barely breathing on the verge. Emergency services could not save him, and he died from multiple injuries.

Why the judge said Richardson was jailed for life

Passing sentence, Mrs Justice Brunner KC said Richardson had shown an “astonishing degree of disregard for human life”. She told him: “For every moment you carried on, you were knowingly using your heavy vehicle to cause serious injury to a man who was trapped, injured and completely helpless as a result of your actions. You did that because you decided escaping from the scene of an accident was more important than a human life.”

Richardson was arrested the day after the killing. He denied murder throughout a trial lasting more than two weeks, saying he had not realised Mr Mullins was under the car. He had also denied getting out of the vehicle to try to free him. Jurors returned their verdict on Friday. They also convicted him of dangerous driving on 21 April, relating to a police pursuit before his arrest.

The court heard that Richardson had 28 previous convictions. Prosecutor Phil Barnes KC described a “significant history” of driving offences. These included careless driving and failing to stop or report an accident in 2011, driving with excess alcohol and while disqualified in 2012, and driving while disqualified and uninsured in 2013. In 2023 he was convicted of driving without a licence and insurance.

For the defence, Jaime Hamilton KC said the lack of premeditation was a “significant feature” of the case and that Richardson had not intended to use his vehicle as a weapon. He said Richardson accepted that his actions led to Mr Mullins’s death and expressed remorse through his barrister. Richardson looked straight ahead as he was sentenced.

A family and a school left bereft

Sarah Mullins, his wife of 27 years, gave a statement to the court describing him as her “safety net” and “anchor”. She spoke of an “all-consuming lethargy that makes it feel difficult to put one foot in front of another”. She said: “My past, present and future have been brutally and callously torn apart… The fact that Michael had to endure such a violent and painful death is an open wound that refuses to heal.”

Elizabeth Baxter, the school’s acting head, said it had been an “honour and a privilege” to work alongside him. She called him an inspirational leader who “has left a void and a gulf at every level of our school”. The public gallery was packed as the statements were read, and members of Mr Mullins’s family were in tears when the verdict was delivered.

The case stands out for the sequence of events the jury accepted: a collision, a long drive with a man trapped underneath, a stop where he was released, and a final act of driving over him. For the judge, that conduct justified a sentence under which Richardson was jailed for life, with a quarter of a century to serve before any parole consideration.

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A Wizz Air bomb threat received mid-flight on Monday 2 November sent a London Luton to Sofia service diverting to Budapest under the escort of a Hungarian fighter jet. The flight landed safely, and the airline later said an inspection had been completed and nothing was found.

What happened on the Wizz Air bomb threat flight

Wizz Air flight 4302 left Luton at 08:33 GMT and was due in the Bulgarian capital at 13:25 local time (11:25 GMT), according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Instead it touched down at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport at around 12:09 local time (11:09 GMT).

The Daily Record, citing Hungarian media, reported that the Airbus A321neo was over Bosnia and Herzegovina when it was told to break from its route and head for Budapest. Hungarian outlet Index reported that it landed on runway two and stopped at bay B5, where emergency services were waiting. Fire crews, police and counter-terrorism personnel were reportedly on standby across the airfield.

Fighter jet scrambled within minutes

Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said on social media that the flight asked for permission to land in Budapest after the threat was received. “Within minutes,” he said, a Hungarian Defence Forces Gripen took off and escorted the passenger aircraft. The Daily Record reported he also said NATO’s air defence readiness service had issued an ALPHA alert.

The jet then returned to its base, reported as Kecskemét, and police took charge of the incident, he said. “Readiness is not a routine, but a responsibility,” he wrote, adding that Hungarian soldiers had shown they could guarantee the safety of the country’s airspace.

Checks, closures and what Wizz Air says

Wizz Air said the aircraft taxied to a designated stand, where the relevant authorities carried out security checks on the plane and passengers. The airline said it was cooperating fully with them and that the safety of passengers and crew “remains our highest priority.”

Reports differed on timing. The Evening Standard said inspections were still under way when it published. The BBC later reported that Wizz Air had confirmed the inspection was “completed and nothing was found”, and that the plane would depart again shortly. The Daily Record, citing a report in Index, said runway two was closed during the incident, with other arrivals and departures moved to the airport’s remaining runway.

What is still unknown

No injuries have been reported. None of the sources say how the threat was communicated or who was behind it, and no arrests have been reported. The Evening Standard noted that authorities had not released further details about the nature of the threat. Any investigation is now a matter for Hungarian police.

The speed of the military response suggests how seriously such alerts are treated. Within minutes of the Wizz Air bomb threat, a fighter jet was in the air, a runway was shut and emergency teams were in position. For passengers, the outcome was an unscheduled stop in Hungary and a delayed journey to Sofia, but the aircraft was cleared and expected to continue.