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The Paul Mackenzie sentence handed down in Mombasa on Friday, 200 years in prison, closes one chapter of Kenya’s Shakahola forest case. It does not end the legal fight. Mackenzie, who leads the Good News International Church, was convicted last month of murdering 190 children and one adult. His defence lawyer says an appeal has already been launched.

How the 200 years were calculated

According to the BBC, the High Court imposed 100 years for homicide and a further 100 years for offences related to starvation. Sentences within each category run concurrently, but the two sets run consecutively, giving the 200-year total. Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty. Justice Diana Kavedza-Mochache accepted that the case met the threshold for considering it, but declined to impose it, saying capital punishment would remove any prospect of rehabilitation. Kenya has not carried out an execution since 1987, and the sources note that those sentenced to death there serve life terms.

The judge said Mackenzie bore “primary criminal culpability” for relocating followers to a remote location and ordering them to fast to death. She described the killings as “cold and calculated” and said the sentence was meant to “send an unmistakable message” that such atrocities warrant the maximum penalties allowed by law.

What the court found

The court found that 183 victims died of starvation, while eight others were classified as murder by direct homicide. In her judgment on 19 October, the judge said followers regarded Mackenzie as “Jesus’s mouthpiece.” The BBC reports she found the deaths arose from an organised system of religious teachings and directives that compelled followers to take part in the fast. Burials were called “weddings,” and the dead were celebrated as having wedded with Jesus.

Post-mortem results cited in the reporting showed starvation as the cause of death for most victims. Others died from suffocation, strangulation or head injuries. The judge also said some children were isolated and denied food while their parents watched.

Mackenzie was tried alongside 28 others, including guards who enforced the fasting orders and gravediggers who helped conceal the bodies. All 29 were found guilty. Sentences for the co-accused went up to 160 years, and his assistant pastor, Smart Mwakalama, received that term. According to the Associated Press, all but one of the group had denied the charges, and that person confessed and pleaded for leniency. The defendants had asked the court for leniency before sentencing.

Appeal and remaining charges

Everyone convicted has been given 14 days to appeal. Defence lawyer Lawrence Obonyo, who represents Mackenzie and several others, told the AP he had already started the process. He argued the ruling was “circling around the constitution to give a sentence that is unattainable,” since terms of 160 to 200 years amount to life sentences.

The Paul Mackenzie sentence also covers only part of the picture. Reports say he faces further charges, which he denies. They include terrorism and manslaughter charges relating to more than 200 other victims, plus child abuse and torture charges in two other courts. Prosecutors allege he directed the deaths of 52 people in Kwa Binzaro village while in detention, and he has pleaded not guilty in that case.

Families react

Reactions from relatives were mixed. Suleiman Ziro, who lost six children and his wife, told the AP the sentence was not enough and called for the death penalty, partly because he has not recovered his loved ones’ bodies. Francis Wanje, who lost eight relatives, told the BBC before the hearing that he hoped for a sentence “which will match his deeds in the forest.” Another bereaved father, Stephen Mwiti, said he feared Mackenzie’s message could still spread from behind bars.

The sources differ on how many victims have been identified. The Guardian says only 26 of the more than 400 bodies recovered could be named, while the AP reports more than 60 were identified and reburied by relatives. Both agree that many remain unidentified or unclaimed.

The case has also raised questions about oversight. The BBC reports that investigations by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights found local officials and law enforcement had repeatedly turned a blind eye to the group’s activities. The Guardian notes calls for tougher regulation of religious organisations. The Paul Mackenzie sentence settles one trial, but the appeals and the outstanding charges mean the Shakahola cases will continue in court.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom has commuted every sentence on California death row, converting the death sentences of 548 people to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Described by Al Jazeera and the Death Penalty Information Center as the largest mass clemency in US history, the move came on Thursday as Newsom’s final term winds down.

What Newsom announced

In an open letter, Newsom said he was using his constitutional clemency powers because “state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us.” The Guardian reported that the decision covers 529 men and 19 women, making up the largest death row in the western hemisphere.

He called the decision difficult but a “righteous action”, acknowledged it may reopen “excruciating memories for victims’ families”, and said he alone bears responsibility for it. Life without parole, he argued, is the harshest punishment the state can ethically enforce. He also described California’s system as a failure that “has not and cannot be fairly applied”, and said it has led to the conviction of innocent people.

A largely symbolic move with real consequences

California has not carried out an execution since 2006, and only 13 people have been put to death since voters restored capital punishment in 1978. Newsom imposed a moratorium in 2019. The BBC described the commutations as largely symbolic for that reason, but the Guardian noted the practical effect: the sentences can no longer be revived by a future governor.

The cost of maintaining the system is a recurring theme. The Death Penalty Information Center says California has spent $6bn on capital punishment since 1978. Experts quoted by the BBC said ending it could save millions of dollars in court costs every year.

Newsom’s office also highlighted delays in the system. Of the 548 people sentenced to death, 220 had waited 15 years or more for an appointed habeas lawyer, and 139 had waited 20 years or more. Without the moratorium, 45 people would be considered to have exhausted their appeals and would face immediate execution risk, according to the governor’s office.

Court review still to come

The commutations are not entirely final. Under California’s constitution, the state Supreme Court must review clemency for anyone with multiple felony convictions. The Death Penalty Information Center estimates this applies to about two-thirds of the cases. The BBC, citing CalMatters, reported that at least four of the court’s seven justices must sign off. How the court will handle the volume of reviews, and how long it will take, was not clear from the reports.

Reaction and the national picture

The American Civil Liberties Union called the commutations an end to a “racist, error-prone, and inhumane punishment.” Other supporters included Martin Luther King III and death penalty lawyer Bryan Stevenson. Jeanne Woodford, a former state prisons director who oversaw four executions, said she is “haunted by the fear that we will execute an innocent person.”

The Guardian also reported support from a relative of a murder victim, who said she once backed the execution of the man who killed her sister but changed her mind over time. The BBC spoke to the mother of one man affected, who maintains his innocence. She said the news brought mixed emotions, but that at least the execution chamber would not be rebuilt.

The Death Penalty Information Center says the decision will cut the national death row population by nearly 30 percent. It arrives while public opinion remains divided. A Pew survey in August found 66 percent of Americans support the death penalty for murder, yet roughly 73 percent acknowledged a risk of executing an innocent person. The DPIC says at least 203 people sentenced to death in the US since 1973 have later been exonerated.

Timing and politics

The announcement follows the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee in late September, which prompted international criticism and renewed calls for a national pause. Executions are also rising elsewhere in the US, with three scheduled for Thursday in Indiana, Florida and Alabama, and the Trump administration has pledged to expand federal executions.

Newsom, who is term-limited, leaves office in January 2027. Xavier Becerra is due to succeed him on 4 January. Newsom is widely seen as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. Columbia law professor Bernard Harcourt told the BBC that an abolitionist stance ahead of a presidential run is not unprecedented, citing François Mitterrand in France in 1981, and suggested voters may respect it. Whether American voters see it the same way is untested.

For now, the future of California death row rests with the state Supreme Court, which must decide whether Newsom’s clemency stands for those with multiple felony convictions.

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Thomas Markle Jr, the Duchess of Sussex’s half-brother, has been named a “person of interest” by Philippine authorities investigating child sexual abuse image allegations against their father, Thomas Markle Sr. No charges against either man have been reported in the sources, and officials have been careful about how they describe the son’s position.

Interior and local government secretary Jonvic Remulla told a press conference in Manila there were “signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well”. He stressed that Markle Jr, 60, was “only a person of interest so far” and was not yet being treated as a suspect. “We will know in the next few days,” he added.

What the Philippine official said

Remulla said more than 7,000 photos and one video had been uncovered. He said they showed under-age males and females of Asian, Latin and European descent, some as young as 10 and 11. He called them “the most deplorable displays of impunity towards sexual activity that I have ever seen”.

The Guardian reports that Markle Jr’s alleged involvement is not thought to be directly linked to the material he handed to police. The sources do not say what the “signs” Remulla referred to actually are, and Markle Jr has not been reported as responding to the remark.

How the inquiry began

The inquiry followed Markle Jr’s own approach to local police and the FBI. He said he had found four storage boxes at his father’s former home in the Philippines containing “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sex abuse images. The Mirror reports that boxes of materials were handed to authorities last week and are understood to contain computers, phones, hard drives and old video tapes.

The Standard reports that Markle Jr also alerted the FBI to two storage units in Los Angeles. This came days after Mexican police raided a unit Markle Sr is said to have rented near his former home in Rosarito, Mexico. Police and FBI agents are examining whether Markle Sr possessed illegal images while living in the Philippines and in Mexico.

Markle Jr was recently interviewed at his home in Cordova, Cebu, during an international, multi-agency video meeting. According to the Sun, as cited by the Guardian, he gave his statement to an FBI agent in Florida who specialises in child abuse cases. He remains in Cebu City.

Markle Sr’s position

Markle Sr, 82, returned to the US from the Philippines in May. He has admitted paying for sex in the Philippines. He strongly denies possessing child abuse imagery, has called the allegations “sick lies”, and has suggested he was “set up”. He has reportedly been moved into a US care home for dementia patients, which the Standard says has prompted fears that the FBI may be unable to interview him.

Meghan, the Met and the wider fallout

The Duchess of Sussex said she was “deeply distressed” by the claims. She said she had been told of disturbing allegations about her father and had kept him from contact with her children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, to protect them. A spokesman declined to comment on the latest development.

The sources differ on when she received a letter containing those allegations through the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. The Guardian says 2018, the Mirror says 2019, and the Standard says “seven years ago”. The Met has said it shared the allegations with her but not with other forces, and it has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is now investigating.

For now, the label of “person of interest” signals only that investigators want to establish more about the son’s role. Remulla’s promise of clarity “in the next few days” suggests the next announcement may show whether the inquiry widens or the label is dropped.

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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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