Olivia Pope will always be one of the most legendary TV characters of all time.

‘It’s handled,’ is a phrase I frequently say in my head when I’ve dealt with a tough situation, forever inspired by the tenacity that the lead star of Scandal imbued into the role.

When I heard that Kerry Washington was starring in and executive producing a new TV thriller called Imperfect Women, I couldn’t wait to watch it. But when I found out that she was one of three leads alongside The Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss and House of Cards actress Kate Mara, my excitement went through the roof.

Metro recently had the chance to speak with Kerry, Elisabeth and Kate together, and I couldn’t help but say to them that to me – as an avid entertainment geek – their Apple TV crime drama feels like the ultimate TV crossover event.

‘That was literally my dream when we first started developing it,’ Mad Men star Elisabeth answered, who is also an executive producer on the show.

‘I wanted to bring together that dream team. The idea of if we could get Kerry and Kate and bring together these three number ones from their own individual, incredible shows and create this… That was what I wanted for the audience. I wanted that fun.’

Little Fires Everywhere star Kerry then continued: ‘And as iconic as all of these characters in these shows are, then it was like, how do we work as hard as we can so that when people enter this world, all they’re thinking about are these women and these friendships and not those other characters.

‘I feel like we’ve really done a good job in creating a world that’s complicated enough that you can let go of that other stuff.’

Trust me, when you watch Imperfect Women, you won’t be thinking about Olivia from Scandal, or June Osborne from The Handmaid’s Tale. This trio of women, Eleanor, Mary and Nancy, will indeed consume your mind.

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Let me set the scene. Three women, who lead completely different lives, have been best friends since college. Eleanor is a successful charity boss, Mary is a housewife, and Nancy is a high-flying socialite.

At the start of the eight-part series, it’s revealed that one of the women has been killed under suspicious circumstances.

As the detectives investigating the case delve deep into the tight-knit group, secrets unravel and cutting betrayals come to light.

As the show progresses, viewers will gain insight into each woman’s mind, as the narrative flits between the present day and the past and between their unique perspectives.

It’s an engrossing experience that poses an important question to its audience: why are women often judged more harshly than men for their mistakes? Nobody’s perfect, but as the title of the thriller suggests, there is an imbalance.

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When I pointed out this double standard, Kerry snapped her fingers in agreement.

Kate, who starred as reporter Zoe Barnes in House of Cards, acknowledged how ‘everyone on the show is making very big mistakes’.

‘They’re not doing it to be a**holes,’ Kerry chimed in. ‘Everybody’s trying to do their best and struggling.

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‘I love the idea that when you see the words imperfect women, you think there’s something wrong with these women, and what you just come to realise is they’re human women. They’re just human beings.

‘We do put pressure on people to pretend to be something other than who they are, but you get to see in the show what it looks like to grapple and to try to uncover who somebody is after they pass, and how it can impact how you interact in the world as yourself as well.’

Imperfect Women is based on the book by Araminta Hall. While the essence of the story is the same, there are changes that have been made from the source material, most notably that the novel is set in England, with the three women becoming friends at Oxford University.

Elisabeth ‘fell in love’ with the structure of the narrative when she first read the book, an important aspect of the murder mystery that was brought into the TV show.

‘I’ll never forget the moment when I was reading Eleanor’s story, and it was fascinating and complicated and fun and interesting and challenging, and then you turn the page, and it says, Nancy. I still get chills talking about that,’ she recollected.

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‘I’m sure it’s been done before, but I don’t remember having seen it on television, especially with three women. So that was something that was really important to preserve for the show and to carry from the book.’

I might have been fangirling internally over speaking to actresses whose work I’ve admired for years, but it seems that they were just as ecstatic to work together on this project.

‘There’s so much mutual respect here and admiration. We’re like, fanning over each other all the time,’ Kerry shared.

‘To have the opportunity to collaborate and be inspired by each other, but also push each other… Every day, I was like, I want to live up to the talent that these two women are bringing to the table.’

Elisabeth, who gave birth to her child in 2024 before filming began in 2025, added: ‘I personally took as much advantage of the time between takes as possible. As a new mum, and as a working mum, I was constantly trying to get tips from them and advice and just listen to their stories.

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‘They’re both so incredibly wise, so intelligent, so good at what they do, both at work and at home. So for me, I was just trying to soak up and learn from them as much as possible.’

Imperfect Women is available to stream on Apple TV, with new episodes being released on Wednesdays.

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One sad chunk of salmon crudo in citrus soy dressing that everyone’s too polite to take – that’s what a small plates dinner usually comes down to;. Plus, one third of a portion of miso hispi cabbage and a spoonful of seasonal risotto for the fun, unfilling price of around £65.20. “Does anyone want that?” one person hopefully asks, before the waiter carts away the last morsel of the meal that’s worth about a fiver back to the kitchen, never to be seen again.

Small plates, even if never economical, used to be quite cool and adventurous. Stanley Tucci has openly shared his love for Duck Soup in Soho. Paul Mescal frequents Brat in Shoreditch. You’d be hard-stretched to find an Instagram dump shared by Dua Lipa without a candle-lit photo of a collection of small china plates clustered aesthetically together next to some thin-stemmed wine glasses. Singletons even mentioned small plates in their dating profiles to indicate they were edgy and elegant. This was an à la mode, not à la carte, way of eating. Until it wasn’t.

Because there has been a shift. These paltry portions that were pricy but chic no longer hit the same note. Diners have small plate fatigue. We want to be full, and we have less money in the current climate to take risks. Order the recommended three to four dishes per person at £20-£30 a plate? No thanks. In fact, according to data from OpenTable, 56 per cent of UK diners now prefer individual options over sharing plates. But more than the outrageous cost, small plates simply no longer feel special.

Everywhere you turn, there’s another restaurant with a sign in the same scrawling font serving biodynamic wine, roasted fennel, grilled tuna belly and roasted artichoke on industrial metal tables. The formula has become so predictable that it’s routinely parodied by one successful content creator on TikTok who’s made up her own fictional small plates restaurant, Prick. “We’re not actually a restaurant, we’re an eatery space,” she says to the camera with convincing condescension. “We’re on a seasonal mediterranean vibe tonight,” she explains to her digital diners. “So, that means if you haven’t pre-eaten you will be going home hungry.”

Dining out used to mean you’d order a starter, main and maybe some sides to share. That changed in 2009, when Russell Norman opened Polpo in Soho. Inspired by the “ciccheti” culture in Venice, the restaurant sold smaller servings of dishes at (importantly) a reduced price, so they could be shared with a group. The concept was immediately popular in London, with swathes of restaurants following the formula – but not always the price point.

“For the last 10 to 15 years or so, East London has been the gentrifying frontier with these hip, artisanal, aesthetic restaurants,” says Peter Harden of Harden’s restaurant guide.

“Restaurants and business people look at what sells and then everyone piles in, so we’ve got more and more of it – But I think we can say fairly conclusively that the East End of London is well discovered now, and that this type of eating is no longer radical.

“There’s a definite possibility that the trend is running its course,” he adds. “It is, maybe, starting to look a bit passe in terms of its appeal.”

Small plates are, TikTok parodies aside, descending into farce. A new “snack” section appearing on menus can see you set back £10 for one singular chicken nugget, before you’ve even entered into the core main small plate section of the meal. If we continue to distil at this rate, we’ll have a “crumbs” section on the menu by 2027, where waiters serve you the aftermath of a bread basket, rather than the thing itself.

Instagram social commentator Socks House Meeting, who has made many a meme lovingly mocking the East London crowd who pile into small plates restaurants, says there’s now a three-tier structure to the trend: “Actual-experience, sit-down natural wine type restaurants, which have been there from the start of it becoming popularised; the gastropub-type, wooden-interior, public house group-adjacent places, which have jumped in; and then really off-key places you’d not expect to see it, like Wetherspoons and All Bar One, who are now labelling what would’ve been called ‘starters’ or ‘sides’ as small plates.”

As this race to the bottom continues, it’s perhaps unsurprising that there’s been a bounce back towards restaurant maximalism in retaliation. Many recent openings in the capital – Field Notes in London Fields, The Hart in Marylebone (from the team behind The Pelican and The Hero) have opted for simple, filling menus that offer just a handful of starters and reliable mains like steak and potatoes and fish stew, over frills.

Sasha Shaker, Senior Director at OpenTable in the UK and Ireland, says the move away from small plates indicates a broad return to traditional dining, which has coincided with a yearning for the past. “[We’re seeing] nostalgia play a role, especially among Gen Z diners,” she says, “with retro comfort dishes like bangers and mash (29 per cent) and prawn cocktail (28 per cent) among the dishes they’d love to see on menus in 2026.”

In a period of economic uncertainty that seems to have no signs of slowing down, eating out is a treat that we want to feel luxurious. Case in point: Martino’s in Sloane Square, which opened in November to rave reviews and is all about old school glamour. “It was de rigueur to rip off your linen tablecloths a few years ago,” says Harden. “They did it at The Connaught – but they were never foolish enough to do that at The Ritz. It was a bit like dad-dancing; five stars trying to get hip and down with the kids,” he adds of the luxe confidence crisis.

“But in the long term… creature comforts don’t change that much over the years,” Harden muses of the direction we’re headed back to now. “Polished hipster concrete and low lighting is nice, but people are always going to like comfy chairs… Sometimes, you just want lots of people being extremely nice to you and making you feel important.”

The performance will take place on Thursday, March 26, and is described as a night of “razor-sharp wit”.

Known for his appearances on Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You?, and his travel series The Wonders of the World I Can’t See, Mr McCausland will deliver his observational humour to a live audience in Darlington.

A Darlington Hippodrome spokesperson said: “McCausland has been delighting TV viewers across the nation with appearances on shows such as Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You?, and his own travel series The Wonders of the World I Can’t See.

“Now, he’s hitting Darlington with a show packed full of laughs, left turns and the kind of stories you’ll be quoting for weeks afterwards.

“Yonks dives into the timeless themes of life, family, ageing and the wonderfully odd things we all pretend not to notice – all delivered with McCausland’s signature charm and mischievous sense of humour.”

Tickets are limited and organisers are urging fans to book quickly to avoid missing out.

There will be no additional dates or show extensions.

For more information visit the Darlington Hippodrome website or contact the box office on 01325 405405.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he was considering “winding down” military operations in the Middle East even as the United States is sending three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the region.

Trump’s post Friday on social media followed an Iranian threat to attack recreational and tourist sites worldwide and another day of the airstrikes and drone and missile attacks that have engulfed the region.

The mixed messages from the United States came after another climb in oil prices plunged the U.S. stock market, and was followed by a Trump administration announcement it was lifting sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded on ships, a move aimed at wrangling soaring fuel prices.

The 3-week-old war has shown no signs of abating, with Israel saying Iran continued to fire missiles at it early Saturday, while Saudi Arabia said it downed 20 drones in just a couple of hours in the country’s eastern region, which is home to major oil installations.

The attacks came a day after Israeli airstrikes hit in Tehran as Iranians celebrated the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, a normally festive holiday that has been muted by the war.

Trump says US near completion of its goals

The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’s leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs. There have been no public signs of any such uprising and no end to the war in sight.

On social media, Trump said, “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East.”

That seemed at odds with his administration’s move to bolster its firepower in the region and request another $200 billion from Congress to fund the war.

The United States is deploying three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, an official told The Associated Press. Two other U.S. officials confirmed that ships were deploying, without saying where they were headed. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

Days earlier the U.S. redirected another group of amphibious assault ships carrying another 2,500 Marines from the Pacific to the Middle East. The Marines will join more than 50,000 U.S. troops already in the region.

Trump has said he has no plans to send ground forces into Iran but also has asserted that he retains all options.

Iran threatens attacks beyond the Middle East

Iran’s top military spokesperson, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned Friday that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide will not be safe for the country’s enemies. The threat renewed concerns that Tehran may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as a pressure tactic.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei praised Iranians’ steadfastness in the face of war in a written statement read on Iranian television to mark Nowruz. Khamenei has not been seen in public since he became supreme leader following Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and reportedly wounded him.

With little information coming out of Iran, it was not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained in the punishing U.S. and Israeli strikes, which began Feb. 28 — or even who was truly in charge of the country. But Iran’s attacks are still choking off oil supplies and raising food and fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.

Israel continues wave of strikes against Hezbollah militants

The Israeli military said early Saturday that it began a wave of strikes targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Smoke was seen rising, fires broke out and loud explosions were heard across parts of central Beirut, hours after the Israeli army renewed evacuation warnings for seven neighborhoods.

Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million, according to the Lebanese government.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran during the war. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missiles and four others have died in the occupied West Bank. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.

US pauses sanctions on Iranian oil

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has soared during the fighting and was around $106 per barrel, up from roughly $70 before the war.

The newly announced U.S. pause in sanctions applies to Iranian oil loaded on ships as of Friday and is set to end April 19.

The new move does not increase the flow of production, a central factor in the surging prices. Iran has managed to evade U.S. sanctions for years, suggesting that much of what it exports already reaches buyers.

Looking for ways to boost global oil supplies during the Iran war, the Trump administration has previously paused sanctions on certain Russian oil shipments for 30 days, which critics said rewarded Moscow while having only a modest effect on markets.

___

Price reported from Washington, and Watson from San Diego. AP journalists Collin Binkley in West Palm Beach, Florida and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed.

Cardiff Council has approved a large digital advertising display at Coryton Roundabout despite concerns from the local community

It is one of the UK’s biggest roundabouts in the entire UK and now a massive cinema screen style digital billboard is set to dominate the skyline above it.

Cardiff Council has given the green light to an enormous 96-sheet digital advertising display on land beside Coryton Roundabout and Merthyr Road.

The board will feature a 12x3m display and be mounted on supporting fencing slightly over a metre in height.

Throughout the planning process, Tongwynlais Community Council, the local community body, voiced several concerns.

It stated: “Due to the size of the proposed display and the suggested location, adjacent to a busy interchange serving connections to the M4 and A470 as well as local roads, the community council feel this could pose a distraction for motorists.”

Additional concerns include the potential impact on the neighbouring wildflower meadow where “rare flowers” grow, and the proximity of a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and Local Nature Reserve. Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here

The community council continued: “Although the road is between the proposed sign and the SINC, wildlife may still be affected, in particular by the effect of the light intensity of the display and the frequency of the light from it.

“Bats and other nocturnal species can be affected by light projecting upwards and by the colour temperature of the lights.”

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It also questioned what advertisements would appear on the board and “what benefit this will have to the local village and community”. The officer’s report recommending approval stated: “It is considered that the advertisements would not have any adverse impact upon highway safety or pedestrian safety, as confirmed by consultation with Traffic and Transportation.”

Responding to environmental concerns, the report noted these were “acknowledged but best addressed by the comments from Ecology, who did not raise objections in this respect.”

The advertising consent was granted subject to several conditions, including restrictions on “maximum luminance” during both daylight and darkness, minimum display duration for advertisements, a prohibition on moving images and a ban on images resembling “official road traffic signs, traffic lights or traffic matrix signs”.

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but despite your phone being able to play music, it doesn’t sound very good. For all of its multi-tasking talents, making music sound as entertaining as it can be isn’t one of them.

That’s where a portable MP3 player comes in. Apple may have consigned its iPod to the technology graveyard, but the iconic Sony Walkman lives on, as do other music players from audio specialists such as FiiO and Astell & Kern. These deliver superior sound, extra storage for songs and wider high-resolution audio file support than your trusty mobile.

I’ve tested a surprising amount of MP3 players over the past 12 years, and I’ve watched them catch up with the times, now supporting wireless headphones, Wi-Fi and streaming services such as Spotify. This makes them a relevant modern music machine for quality-conscious listeners on the move. Below are the best MP3 players I’ve tested for budgets between £179 and £999.

The best MP3 players at a glance

How to choose the best MP3 Player

Your reason for buying a portable music player will most likely be to get superior sound over what your phone delivers. It would be wise to buy the best model you can afford and consider what headphones or other equipment you’re using it with. A cheap player won’t take advantage of a high-end pair of wired headphones and vice versa.

If you have a decent library of high-resolution files (FLAC, DSD and MQA are most common), you should check the file compatibility, as well as its storage capacity and how much that can be expanded with a MicroSD card for further songs. If you want to stream from a music service, make sure that the app can be downloaded onto the player, too.

Bluetooth support is also convenient, allowing you to play music wirelessly to Bluetooth headphones or speakers, though audio quality will suffer compared to the cabled method.

Most players nowadays also double up as a USB or Bluetooth DAC (digital-to-analogue converter), meaning they can connect to, say, a laptop, via a USB cable and/or wirelessly, to improve its audio quality.

Read our FAQs if you’re considering buying a second-hand iPod.

How I tested MP3 Players

The Irish low-cost airline posted a tongue-in-cheek video showing what they really think of passengers who miss flights, and people have agreed with them

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Missing your flight can be an enormously frustrating experience, particularly if the delay is completely beyond your control. You can be held up if there’s a problem at security, if the boarding gate changes at short notice and you have to traverse the entire airport to reach it, and even if your taxi journey to the airport is delayed.

However, sometimes the responsibility lies entirely with the passenger. It’s widely understood that you should arrive at the airport with sufficient time to account for these potential hold-ups, and opting to turn up as late as possible or spending so long in duty-free that you completely miss boarding is not the airline’s responsibility.

And in a tongue-in-cheek clip, Ryanair have been brutally candid about what they genuinely think of passengers like this. The Irish budget carrier shared a clip on Facebook in which they jokingly demonstrated what passengers who miss their flights expect the aircraft to do in order to accommodate them.

The footage showed a man turning up at the airport just as his aircraft departed from the runway. He screamed in frustration and ran out onto the tarmac, at which point the aircraft circled back and used some sort of sci-fi film beam to transport the man onto the plane whilst it was still airborne.

Ryanair commented: “What passengers that miss their flight expect us to do.”

Ryanair’s candid video elicited a wave of amusement from commenters, with many responding with laughing emojis. Some expressed bewilderment at how frequently people lose track of time in airports, especially when they ignore boarding announcements and then become frustrated when the plane departs without them.

One individual commented: “Accurate!” Another chimed in: “I would work for free in this marketing team.”

A third shared: “I watched four people chatting for like two hours in front of me whilst their gate was open and they waited until everyone boarded the flight, and then went to the gate after it was closed and started shouting at the employees. The whole time they were sitting and chatting, 10 steps, literally, from the gate!”

What to do if you miss your flight

If you happen to miss your flight, the first course of action is to contact your airline via telephone as soon as you realise you’re going to be late. This could be due to traffic en-route to the airport, other travel disruptions, or lengthy queues at security once you’re inside the airport.

According to Which?, doing so can increase your chances of being rebooked onto another flight at no extra cost, or if a fee is required, it may be less than the price of purchasing a new flight. Some airlines offer a “rescue fare” or a “rescue fee” for missed flights, but the conditions for this will vary depending on the airline you’re flying with.

You can also face a “no-show fee” from certain airlines if you fail to turn up at the airport at all, so if you’re running behind schedule, you should still attempt to reach the airport, even if you don’t board the plane.

Certain travel insurance policies may also provide cover if you miss your flight, but this will depend on your policy, and many of them don’t provide cover if it’s caused by long queues at the airport.

The most effective way to minimise the risk of missing your flight is to allow plenty of time to travel to the airport and get through security, accounting for any potential delays.

Consumer group Which? warned that there’s a “double whammy” to be aware of with prices rising and products reducing in size.

Which? tracks around 25,000 products across major UK supermarkets to look at how grocery prices are changing, and it said that shoppers could find themselves paying more for less.

Its supermarket food inflation tracker found that while overall food and drink inflation at the supermarket has slowed to 3.9% in the year to February, the cost of chocolate, which it said is driven by ongoing global supply issues, has surged by 9.7% annually.

Simple ways to shop sustainably and save money

Shrinkflation affecting Easter chocolate prices

Which? also found that the experience of products reducing in size but prices being maintained or increased “has become a prevalent trend in the seasonal aisle”.

The inflation tracker also showed that when looking at overall inflation across ranges of groceries, supermarket own-label premium products had the highest rates of inflation at 6.7% – a higher rate than budget own-brand items (4%) or branded items (2.8%).

Which? urges shoppers to look at the unit price to find the most cost-effective deals – for example, the price per 100g or 100ml.

If you’re looking to save money on groceries, Which? regularly finds that discounters Aldi and Lidl can be good options.

Reena Sewraz, Which? retail editor, said: “It’s disappointing to see Easter treats aren’t safe from shrinkflation, with some products going up in price significantly, even though they’re smaller than last year.

“Manufacturers are quietly giving shoppers less for more, so it’s no wonder people feel cheated when they get less bang for their buck.

“To ensure you’re getting a fair deal, always check the ‘price per 100g’ on the shelf edge label rather than just the headline price.

“This is the only way to accurately compare different brands and sizes to ensure you are bagging a genuine bargain.”

Why is chocolate more expensive now?

The price of chocolate has been rising sharply due to a severe global cocoa shortage caused by factors such as poor harvests, Which? said.

It said this, combined with high demand, increased energy and transportation costs, and climate-related challenges, has caused retail prices to surge.

Discontinued UK sweets/chocolates

Which? said it had approached supermarkets and manufacturers.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We know Easter is a time many come together which is why we are focused on giving customers brilliant value with trusted quality.”

Recommended reading:

A spokesperson for Mars Wrigley, which owns the Galaxy, M&Ms and Maltesers brands, also told Which?: “We always aim to absorb rising costs wherever possible, however, ongoing pressures, including the well-documented rises in the cost of cocoa, mean we have had to make carefully considered changes to ensure shoppers can continue to enjoy their favourite Easter treats without any compromise on the quality or taste they expect from Mars.

“As with all our products, final pricing remains at the discretion of individual retailers.”

Have you noticed shrinkflation when buying chocolate in your local supermarket? Let us know in our poll above or in the comments below.

At-home cooling tech is increasingly becoming a must-have. The best portable air conditioners can help keep your home cool and your sanity intact. But how do they work? While the best fans simply move air around and air coolers chill it using evaporation, an air conditioner actively lowers the temperature of a room by running air through a refrigerating unit and fanning it back out, expelling unwanted heat through a window.

They’re fairly pricey, costing between £135 and £800 (and have higher running costs than fans and coolers), but a portable AC unit is more convenient than installing a built-in air conditioner.

The running costs of around 25 to 35p per hour will prove good value for money when the temperatures rise, and most have a Class A energy rating. Below you’ll find reviews of the portable units we recommended, but if you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick look at our top five:

The best portable air conditioners: At a glance

How to choose the best portable air conditioner

Portable air conditioners come in a range of different sizes, designed for spaces from bedrooms to large offices. Their cooling power is rated in British Thermal Units (BTUs). A higher number means it’s suitable for a larger space, but can also equate to a bigger, pricier and in some cases less eco-friendly device. Equally, too low a BTU rating for the room size, won’t cool efficiently.

To work out which BTU rate is right for you, find the floor area of your space in square feet or square metres and consult the chart below, provided by Appliances Direct. The height of the room, its insulation and any heat-emitting electrical devices can all make a difference, but this should be a good guide:

Andrew Barlow, variously known as Andrew Longmire and Andrew Davies, lived in Bolton and Oldham at various times in the 1980s when he carried out a string of horrific sex attacks.

Barlow was dubbed “the Coronation Street Rapist” after attacking several of his victims in their own homes, which were often brick built terraced houses reminiscent of the soap opera setting.

The Prison and Probation Service Ombudsman confirmed that Barlow, by then known as Davies, died while a serving prisoner at the age of 69.

A PPO spokesperson said: “Adrian Usher, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, is conducting an independent investigation into the death of Andrew Davies on February 28, 2026.

“He was a prisoner at HMP Moorland”.

Andrew Barlow, pictured here in 2017 (Image: Newsquest)

Barlow’s string of sickening crimes, which ultimately saw him briefly become the most wanted man in the country, were carried out between 1981 and 1988.

He was finally caught after trying to shoot his way out of a confrontation with police officers with a shotgun and in 1988 was handed 12 life sentences.

The serial rapist was given yet another life sentence in 2017 when he pleaded guilty to raping a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint in Great Lever in January 1982.

Andrew Barlow was sentenced again at Bolton Crown Court in 2017 (Image: Phil Taylor)

But despite a total of 13 life sentences Barlow was at the centre of a highly controversial decision to release him under the supervision of the probation services in March 2023.

The move sparked widespread condemnation, including from Blackley and Broughton MP Graham Stringer.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed at the time that Barlow had been ordered to keep to strict conditions as part of his release.

These included being banned from the whole of Greater Manchester and ordered to stay at a specific address.

Barlow was kept under advanced supervision and monitoring and to keep out of an inclusion zone to avoid contact with his victims, while his use of electronic equipment was restricted.

But Barlow’s freedom in 2023 lasted only a matter of weeks after he was recalled to prison after breaching his conditions.

Barlow later tried to appeal against his recall but by the time of his death on February 28 this year was a serving prisoner HMP Moorland in Yorkshire.

A full report on Barlow’s death at HMP Moorland is expected to be published once Mr Usher has finished his investigation.