Abusers use counter-allegations to deflect blame onto their victims and deter them from seeking help in the future (Picture: Maria Korneeva/Moment/Getty)
When the police arrived, Michelle thought her ordeal was finally over.
She sat shellshocked on the sofa, squinting through a black eye with blood seeping from a cut lip after the latest violent assault at the hands of her abusive partner.
But it was Michelle who ended up in a cell that night after he told officers she hit him first.
Her ex had used the counter-allegation tactic.
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It’s one that perpetrators often employ, according to Nadia Hughes, head of criminal justice services at Advance, a charity that helps women who’ve experienced harm through domestic abuse and the criminal justice system.
The ploy is particularly effective when a woman has acted in self-defence or retaliated, so the perpetrator himself has injuries. These are then misunderstood by the police as signs of aggression, rather than the culmination of years of abuse.
Nadia says that besides deflecting the blame from the abuser, the tactic also serves another purpose: ‘It’s a really manipulative way to deter a survivor from calling 999 in the future’.
Once the counter-allegation strategy has been used once, the police have a record that this woman might be violent or abusive. Nadia explains that ‘she’s then less likely to report the abuse she’s been subjected to because there is a distrust of statutory services like the police’.
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‘Counter allegations actually become a sort of weaponised way of controlling that survivor. It is something we hear a lot unfortunately.’
Around half of recent referrals to Advance, which works at the intersection of domestic abuse and criminal justice, have stemmed from women being arrested as a result of counter allegations.
Research shows that women are three times more likely to be arrested than their male partners at a domestic abuse incident involving them.
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Michelle tells Metro she suffered years of abuse prior to her wrongful arrest, beginning when she was pregnant.
‘The second time he hit me was after my son was born and he was in my arms,’ she says. ‘That was horrific.
‘My son had a white baby grow on and there was blood all over him where he broke my nose.’
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Michelle suffered appalling injuries, including a broken leg and fractured collarbone, when her ex pushed her from a fourth-floor window.
‘When you’re in it you don’t see how serious it is,’ she says. ‘You just know that you survived it.’
She describes how her homelife hinged on her ex’s moods.
Around half of recent referrals to Advance have stemmed from women being arrested as a result of counter allegations (Picture: Getty Images/Johner RF)
‘He would phone me during the day and let me know how good or bad his day was going,’ she says.
‘That would determine what my evening was going to be like. If it was a bad day, I would be walking on eggshells waiting for him to flip at me.
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‘It’s like dying a slow death waiting for that snap to happen.’
Looking back, Michelle can’t even remember what that final argument was about.
When her ex started hitting her again, she instinctively threw her arms up to try and defend herself.
But she caught his face with her elbow while doing so, giving him a bloodied nose.
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Despite being the one who called the police, she found herself being arrested alongside him.
She lost her job as a family support worker after missing a key court hearing while in custody.
‘I sent myself to university when I was 30 trying to better my life,’ Michelle says. ‘I got the job of my dreams, and it was taken.’
Research shows that women are three times more likely to be arrested than their male partners at a domestic abuse incident involving them (Picture: Getty)
Beyond the physical and emotional toll, counter allegations can cost women their homes, their children and their jobs.
In the case of Bethany Rae Fields, her killer used counter allegations in the lead up to, and on the day he killed her.
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After 21-year-old Bethany reported her ex Paul Crowther to the police following threats he had made against her, her friends and family, Paul turned his finger at her multiple times.
Pauline, Bethany’s mum, calls his actions ‘despicable. She was tiny; 21 to his 35 years.’
Staffing issues meant that Paul’s complaint progressed slowly – as did Bethany’s against him – and a week after filing his ‘case’ with the police, he chased it, and then again four days later.
Despite Paul being reported to the police seven times, despite being known to services after having had two former partners complain about harassment – with one resulting in a conviction, and despite Paul telling mental health services that he wanted to take revenge against Bethany, he was still invited to make a statement after reporting her to the police.
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He went into the station on September 12, 2019, to make a statement against her. That same day he killed her.
Pauline now urges police to think of Bethany’s initials – BRF – and to ‘Believe. React. Fast’. That means considering whether the counter-allegation tactic is in play.
For Jessica, the experience of being disbelieved by the police has eroded her faith in the force completely.
‘I don’t believe they have listened to me once, or made me feel safe,’ she tells Metro.
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Jessica was abused for years by two of her children and ended up having to leave the family home after being arrested and charged when one of them claimed she was the perpetrator.
She says her son would hold a knife to her throat and her daughter would kick and spit at her.
‘It got to the point where I couldn’t go to the rest of the house really. I was living in a bedroom. It was marked cell number five with my name.’
Jessica adds: ‘I don’t think I could even admit to myself how bad it was until now, when I look at the pictures of the injuries and the pictures of my bedroom door – I thought that was normal.
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On the day of her arrest, Jessica says her daughter ‘started on’ her again as she was going into her bedroom.
Like Michelle, she put her hand out to signal she’d had enough – but that was not how it was subsequently reported to the police: ‘Apparently that was attempting to push her down the stairs.’
‘We are finding that women are not speaking up – they are not feeling confident or safe to report.’
Jessica is still haunted by the traumatic experience of being arrested.
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‘I was in the bedroom with my other daughter,’ she recalls. ‘We were just laying there. There was a bang on the door.
‘My bedroom door regularly banged from the children anyway, but as I went to open it, I was literally pulled out by force onto the little landing.
‘I didn’t have a clue what was happening – there was no reason for the police to be there. I was put in handcuffs.
‘I was crying, and the two children that did this were sat there filming the whole thing and laughing.
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‘It was so daunting, and the way they treat you when you’re going to the cells is just horrendous. I’d never been in one before.’
Jessica adds: ‘Everyone always joked and called me Wonder Woman because I had six children. I was a nursery manager. I was a trusted person.
‘They’ve taken all of that away.’
She spent a year under investigation only for the common assault charge to be dropped at the crown court.
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Being made to feel like a criminal has now changed how she views the police.
Learn more about Advance
Advance is a charity that helps women who’ve experienced harm through domestic abuse and the criminal justice system.
They deliver wraparound frontline services across the South and East of England, including Greater London.
You can find out more about the charity here; and if you need help now, you can find the relevant contact details here.
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‘They just don’t seem to understand domestic abuse. They definitely don’t understand child-to-parent violence.’
In addition to being less likely to call the police, a woman subject to counter allegations is also less likely to be referred by them on to specialist support because she is seen as a perpetrator.
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Nadia says: ‘If you’ve got perpetrators who are recording a woman using resistance – someone who has been subjected to abuse for a long period of time and gets to the point where she retaliates as a response to that – that becomes an isolated incident away from the long-term abuse and can be used as evidence against her.
‘We are finding that women are not speaking up – they are not feeling confident or safe to report.’
Research shows nearly 70% of women in prison or under community supervision are victims of domestic abuse. For many, that is directly linked to their offending and can take the form of counter allegations, coerced offending or criminalisation by association.
‘I’ve seen quite a number of cases where very coercively controlling men – very manipulative men – are able to set these situations up. It can all be quite Machiavellian and horrendous.’
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The Centre for Women’s Justice is campaigning for a new defence in criminal law that will recognise coercive control as the driver of the offence.
Currently, victims can only rely on the defence of duress – when you are coerced into acting under the use or threat of violence – which has been found to be ineffective in cases of domestic abuse.
Instead, they often depend on the police or Crown Prosecution Service deciding it is not in the public interest to prosecute them.
Harriet Wistrich, founder and CEO of the Centre for Women’s Justice, tells Metro: ‘In a lot of domestic abuse situations, by the time the police have arrived the victim could be very traumatised or hysterical and he’s appearing very calm.
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‘If he’s saying, “she’s just a bit mentally unwell and she’s just thrown something at me”, how do the police deal with that situation?
‘And we have seen a lot of situations where the woman has been arrested and she’s really the victim and the police aren’t necessarily able to make a very careful assessment of what’s going on.
‘I’ve seen quite a number of cases where very coercively controlling men – very manipulative men – are able to set these situations up.
‘It can all be quite Machiavellian and horrendous.’
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She adds: ‘Our proposed model is based on what we have for victims of trafficking, where it’s recognised that if you’re forced to commit criminal offences that essentially you have a defence if you can show that it’s directly linked with your exploitation.
‘What we’re arguing is that where somebody is in a coercively controlling relationship where they are under control of somebody and they are essentially forced to handle stolen goods or drugs or commit mortgage fraud or whatever it is, they can show circumstances which lead them to commit those acts.
‘Obviously, it’s not necessarily having a gun held to you, but if it’s in that context of the relationship then they should have a defence and be able to argue they are not culpable rather than potentially argue it as mitigation but still be convicted of a crime.’
West Yorkshire Police is appealing for witnesses after a fatal collision on the A1(M) northbound at Darrington and an earlier collision that took place nearby earlier this morning (April 16).
The force says that it received reports at 7.36am of a man walking on the hard shoulder on the A1(M) and whilst emergency services were on route to the scene, the same man was said to have been in a crash with an HGV just before the Ferrybridge junction.
He died at the scene.
A spokesperson said: “Enquiries have confirmed that the same man was involved in an earlier collision on Valley Road, Darrington.
“It was reported at 7.16am that a collision has taken place involving a white Renault Captur and a white Toyota Proace City van and that the van driver had left the area on foot. The driver of the other vehicle was taken to hospital to be checked over.”
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The man has not been formally identified yet, but he is understood to be a 60-year-old man from Leeds.
The County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust confirmed it is planning to cut about 600 full-time equivalent roles from its workforce over the next two years amid “significant” financial challenges.
Health bosses at the trust have said it will be taking a “measured approach” to the cuts, including offering a voluntary severance scheme, without disrupting healthcare services.
Staff will continue to be recruited in the patient safety and service delivery departments.
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The trust is in charge of University Hospital North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital, as well as other community hospital sites around the region.
A spokesperson said: “Like many NHS trusts nationally, we are facing significant financial pressures and have a responsibility to use public resources efficiently while providing safe, high-quality care.
“As part of this, the Trust is planning to reduce its workforce by around 600 whole-time equivalent roles over the next two years.
“We are taking a measured approach, including a voluntary severance scheme and exception-based recruitment. Recruitment will continue for some roles essential to patient safety and service delivery.
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“We are committed to managing these changes fairly and transparently, working closely with staff, trade unions and partners to minimise impact and ensure continuity of care for our communities.”
News of the potential cuts comes amid a challenging time for trust.
A report into its breast services last year found that unnecessary surgeries were carried out, cancers were missed and poor standards of care were delivered at hospitals in Durham and Darlington.
NHS officials have since apologised for the failings and said they are investigating hundreds of cases.
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Earlier this year, hundreds of NHS workers at the trust secured a £5,500 back payment after a long-running dispute was finally settled. Unison, one of the UK’s largest trade unions, previously warned that up to 900 workers had been left in “immense financial distress”.
And now the union has warned that up to 21,000 roles could be cut nationally by 2028.
Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, said he is “extremely concerned” by the potential cuts.
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Helga Pile, Unison’s head of health, said staff morale has been hampered by the proposed cuts at trusts around the country.
She added: “Cutting thousands of NHS jobs is the wrong answer when staff are already stretched to breaking point.
“Years of underfunding have left many trusts out of pocket and ministers’ financial reset is creating deep uncertainty about services and staff.
“The NHS is being asked to transform how care is delivered, with more community services and technology, but none of this is possible without the staff to make it happen.”
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As part of the cuts, Unison said trusts are planning to reduce nurses and other clinical staff, as well as support post reductions through vacancy freezes, restructuring and reduced use of agency workers.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Thanks to the extra £26 billion we have invested, the NHS has an extra 12,000 doctors, 16,000 nurses, and 8,000 mental health workers compared to July 2024.
“We make no apology for reducing spend on agency staff, for which the NHS was previously paying huge sums to rip-off recruitment agencies.
“It is only because of that focus on getting better value for money that we have been able to invest in more frontline staff, give staff above forecast inflation pay rises for two years in a row, and improve services for patients.”
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What do you think about the trust’s statement? Let us know in the comments below.
Justin Evans, 24, from New Zealand, was reported missing over the weekend and has not been seen since late on Saturday night.
18:02, 16 Apr 2026Updated 18:03, 16 Apr 2026
Coastal searches are being carried out across Orkney for a missing monk feared dead by his local diocese. Justin Evans was reported missing from the private island of Papa Stronsay on Sunday, April 12.
The 24-year-old from New Zealand was last seen within Golgotha Monastery shortly before midnight the previous night. Police have been carrying out searches on Papa Stronsay and the nearby island of Stronsay in an attempt to find him.
Hugh Gilbert, Bishop of Aberdeen, previously said he had learned with “deep sadness” that Justin, also known as Brother Ignatius, was “presumed dead”. He also suggested both police and the coastguard had “called off” searches for him.
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However, Police Scotland has now confirmed searches will continue and will focus on costal areas of other nearby islands. The force added there was “nothing to suggest any suspicious circumstances or criminality”.
Inspector David Hall said: “Our thoughts are very much with Justin’s family at what is a very difficult time. Extensive and detailed searches using local police resources and partner agencies have been carried out on the islands of Papa Stronsay and Stronsay, including along the shorelines.
“Coastal areas on other nearby islands will continue to be searched by local and specialist police resources and partners. Any further relevant information reported to police about Justin and the circumstances leading up to him going missing will be acted upon.
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“At this time there is nothing to suggest any suspicious circumstances or criminality.” Reports from New Zealand say Justin was from Christchurch and he had lived at the Golgotha Monastery for around two years.
Papa Stronsay, one of the smallest islands in Orkney, is a private island owned by the Catholic order Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer and is only accessed by a boat run by the monastery. In the 2022 census, Papa Stronsay had a population of just nine.
Founded in 1988, the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer are headquartered at the Golgotha Monastery on Papa Stronsay – an island they purchased in 1999. They were also based in New Zealand until July 2024 when the Bishop of Christchurch disallowed the order from ministering in the diocese following allegations of unlicensed exorcisms.
In his previous statement, Bishop Gilbert said: “The Diocese has learned with deep sadness of the disappearance and presumed death of Justin Evans, also known as Brother Ignatius, aged 24, a member of the Redemptorist Community on the island of Papa Stronsay. It is believed that he came to harm in conditions involving the sea.
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“The local police and coastguard services have now called off their searches. Brother Ignatius was known for his humility and charity, and our prayers are with his community and family at this difficult time.“
Justin is described as around 6ft tall, with short hair and a dark beard. When last seen, he was wearing a white robe.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Enquiries to trace Justin Evans, reported missing from Papa Stronsay, Orkney, remain ongoing. The 24-year-old was last seen within Golgotha Monastery on the island shortly before midnight on Saturday, April 11.
“Searches of the island and nearby islands have been carried out and will continue into next week. Anyone with any information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting incident 1573 of Sunday, April 12.“
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Lauren Hawker-Jones from travel tips firm Jack’s Flight Club has gone viral on TikTok for showing how customers can swerve the dreaded middle seats during free online check-in.
Footage viewed more than 200,000 times shows the 29-year-old getting ready to check in 24 hours before her flight’s due to take off, identifying the available seats you don’t want.
In a separate tab she loads up Ryanair again and opens up a new booking for the flight.
Travel guru claims Ryanair hack can help you guarantee aisle or window seat for free (Image: Kennedy News/Jack’s Flight Club)
The savvy travel worker can then be seen adding three new passengers to allocate them the unwanted middle spaces.
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She claims Ryanair then reserves them as the system thinks they’re being bought, leaving only seats you’re happy with being available for ‘random allocation’.
Lauren, who lives in Barcelona, Spain, has hailed her hack as a ‘small-but-satisfying win for the average budget-conscious traveller’.
Lauren, from Birmingham, said: “As a budget traveller I’m always looking out for small ways to make the journey more comfortable in a cost-effective way.
“Since testing this out a few months ago I’ve tried it on every flight since and I’ve always landed a window or aisle seat.
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“I think with all the increasing luggage restrictions and tighter seating becoming the norm, it feels like a small-but-satisfying win for the average budget-conscious traveller.
“I doubt it’s going to sink Ryanair anytime soon so if it helps even a few people avoid the dreaded middle seat without forking out even more cash I think it’s worth sharing.”
Katy Maclure, Head of Community and Content at Jack’s Flight Club, says the hack is a way to ‘get back at Ryanair who have no shame in charging extra for more breathing room’.
Katy said: “Lauren discovered it when she was travelling back to the UK to visit family and she’s managed to replicate it since.
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“Our mission is to make sure people can travel without spending over the odds and if we can find ways without having to pay these inflated fees then we want to share them.
“It’s normal there’s going to be a hold on that seat so presuming there are enough seats left to buy there’s an opportunity to jump in on a bargain.
“It only works closer to the end of the check-in time when most of the seats are allocated so you have to have the time and the willpower but it works.
“Hating the middle seat is about personal space because if you’re not willing to spend that bit extra you’re jumped in between people you don’t know.
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“It’s like a punishment and it doesn’t feel fair so this is a good way to claim that personal space and get one back over the airline who have no shame in charging extra for more breathing room.”
The post, captioned ‘desperate to avoid the middle seat?’, has been liked more than 2,400 times and has more than 75 comments.
One commented: “Love it, travel alone and hate the lottery of the seat picking.”
A second said: “Lol love it for real. The tech guys will hate it.”
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A third added: “I’ve done it with up to 20 seats.”
However, one said: “Not a hack. It’s a cheapskate trying to dodge seat costs.”
According to leaked documents, measures are being considered to address potential disruption to supplies of key goods, including carbon dioxide (CO2), which could affect the storage of packaged meats, salads, and drinks production should fighting continue into the summer.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the public should know that contingency planning is underway but emphasised that there is currently no immediate cause for concern.
Mr Kyle told Times Radio: “It is difficult for me, because, of course, these leaks are very unhelpful.
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“But when people do read it, they need to be reassured that we are doing this kind of planning, and we are doing this kind of scenario planning.
“Bear in mind that back in Covid, Boris Johnson missed five Cobra meetings in the lead up to it.
“I can tell you, because I’m in these meetings, the Prime Minister has been there since the very start, and he is going through personally and driving deep dives into lots of areas of resilience throughout our economy.”
The Government has said that the Iran conflict is not expected to lead to critical shortages, though there may be a reduced choice of goods on supermarket shelves in a “reasonable worst-case scenario” should fighting continue unabated.
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Mr Kyle said carbon dioxide supplies are “not a concern” for the UK at this stage.
He told Sky News: “If any of these things change, I will be up front with the public about it in advance so that we can prepare.
“But right now, people should go on as they are, enjoying beer, enjoying their meats, enjoying all the salads.
“But also there are critical uses for CO2: MRI scanning, for example, water purification; it’s involved in our nuclear industry, our civil nuclear power industry, some defensive uses for it as well.
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“There’s lots of needs for CO2, so these are the reasons why I took it so seriously way back to six months ago, not just in the last few weeks.”
Mr Kyle said he had mothballed a CO2-producing plant in Teesside shortly after becoming Business Secretary in order to prevent it shutting down completely.
Following the outbreak of war, the Government provided funding to restart the Ensus bioethanol plant, which produces CO2 as a by-product, to boost supplies.
Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said the supermarket was in “constant contact” with the Government about supply chain risks.
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He told reporters: “We are in constant contact with the Government for their scenario planning and we completely support their efforts.
“At this time, we haven’t seen any issues and are in very strong shape.
“We constantly talk to our suppliers and none of our suppliers have raised any issues.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting also addressed concerns about essential supplies, telling LBC he was “confident” that NHS supplies would remain resilient.
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However, he said contingency plans were in place to prioritise ambulances should diesel shortages materialise.
A Government spokesperson said: “Reasonable worst-case scenarios are a planning tool used by experts and are not a prediction of future events.”
Meanwhile, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has expanded plans to cut electricity bills for thousands of UK manufacturing firms.
An existing scheme to cut electricity bills by up to 25 per cent for more than 7,000 businesses is being expanded to help 10,000 firms.
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However, the GMB union said members in gas-intensive industries, the ceramics sector and other manufacturing companies were “sickened at the lack of support” after being “shamefully ignored by the Government in this announcement”.
Conservative shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho criticised the policy, saying: “just 0.2% of businesses will benefit from this”.
Will you be seeing the movie in cinemas? (Paramount/X)
Video game movies are certainly more authentic nowadays, but are films like the new Street Fighter too obsessed with looking like their source material?
After debuting at last year’s The Game Awards with a teaser trailer, the upcoming Street Fighter movie has just received a full trailer, ahead of its October 16 release.
It offers a little more insight into the actual plot, with the focus being on series mascots Ryu and Ken (both looking a lot worse for wear than usual) as they’re recruited by Chun-Li to partake in a fighting tournament.
The movie looks to be the most faithful and authentic adaptation of the Street Fighter games so far, but we’re still left unsure about its quality as an actual movie.
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For what it’s worth, this new Street Fighter movie can’t be any worse than past attempts. The original 1994 film was a mess that only half-resembled the source material, but it’s fondly remembered for its campy charm, unlike the 2009 The Legend Of Chun-Li, which was a boring slog with even less ties to the games.
This new effort, directed by Eric André collaborator Kitao Sakurai, is explicitly billed as an action comedy and isn’t afraid of leaning into the more fantastical elements of Street Fighter, with the trailer proudly showing off Ryu throwing a fireball, even if it does joke about how ridiculous it is.
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Early glimpses of the action also look very impressive, and the movie clearly isn’t too concerned with keeping things realistic. Fireballs aside, you have yoga master Dhalsim stretching his limbs à la Mr Fantastic and Zangief defying physics to suplex Ken.
What’s more, not only is the film focusing on the street fighting part of Street Fighter, Ryu and Ken, who’ve been the main faces of the games since the beginning, finally get to be the stars.
Combined with the costume design – with every character from the games being instantly recognisable – there’s no denying that the new movie looks very authentic, which has increasingly been the case with video game movies of the last few years.
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However, we’re getting the sense that this desire for authenticity has become too much of a priority; that video game movies are trying too hard to please diehard gamers, that they forget to be actual movies.
This was an issue we brought up with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and Street Fighter, at this early stage, looks to be making similar mistakes. The trailer doesn’t offer that much insight into the general plot, focusing on highlighting key set pieces and how many fan favourite characters are appearing.
You’ve also got the car destruction mini-game, a gag line about Chun-Li’s thighs, the use of sound bites from the old games; it’s a lot of style over substance made for fans to point at in recognition, as opposed to telling a cohesive story. Especially with the stacked cast threatening to make things feel overcrowded.
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It almost seems like it’s overcompensating for the early days of video game movies, which were embarrassed of their source material and typically earned fan ire for deviating so much. We’re glad to be long past those days, but perhaps we’ve swung too far the other way, with newer movies unwilling to take any real risks to avoid upsetting fans.
The movie looks to be capitalising on nostalgia for Street Fighter 2 specifically (YouTube)
None of this may matter, though, as authenticity appears to be the winning formula. The Super Mario and Minecraft movies were slated by critics but are the highest grossing video game movies ever made, because they so closely resemble their source material; they feel like the games brought to life on the big screen.
As such, this new Street Fighter movie stands to go the same way. The trailer has had a mostly positive reception among fans, with 63,000 likes on YouTube at time of writing.
Even fans who don’t expect the movie to be any good are looking forward to it, if some of these Reddit comments are anything to go by.
‘This looks both amazing and awful. I’m in,’ says MurDoct.
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‘It has a ‘so bad it’s good’ kinda vibe,’ says Rakyand.
‘This looks like the dumbest most mindless nonsense I have ever seen in a while. I will be sat for opening night,’ says UrienOptics.
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Perhaps the bigger question is whether the Street Fighter community alone will be enough to ensure the movie turns a profit or if this adherence to authenticity will move general audiences. Street Fighter’s one of Capcom’s biggest franchises but it lacks the same widespread appeal of something like Super Mario.
This isn’t even the only Capcom related movie out this year, as there are plans for yet another live action Resident Evil in September. Simply titled Resident Evil, it’s directed by Zach Cregger of Weapons fame, although it aims to tell an original story.
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A new trailer was shown recently behind closed doors and though it sounds like it’ll lack any familiar characters from the games, descriptions of the trailer say it’s suitably gory and full of zombies. So, it’s not going to divert too much from the source material.
Cregger is hot stuff in Hollywood at the moment, which may have earned him more leeway to make his film however he wants, but with less famous directors it seems the instruction now is authenticity at all costs.
Guile’s hair looks ridiculous in live action but fans would be mad if it didn’t (YouTube)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge who halted construction of President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom clarified on Thursday that the administration can proceed with below-ground construction of a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington issued his latest ruling in a lawsuit over the ballroom project several days after an appeals court instructed him to reconsider the possible national security implications of stopping construction.
Government lawyers had argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of possible threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.
Leon had barred work from proceeding without congressional approval, but he suspended enforcement of that order for two weeks. The appeals court extended that stay until Friday.
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Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, said he is ordering a stop only to above-ground construction of the planned ballroom, apart from any work needed to cover or secure that part of the project. Otherwise, the Trump administration is free to proceed with construction of any excavations, bunkers, military installations, and medical facilities below the ballroom.
“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” the judge wrote. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”
The Prime Minister is facing renewed calls for his resignation over the scandal.
17:27, 16 Apr 2026Updated 17:32, 16 Apr 2026
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of misleading MPs over the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, after it was reported the peer failed his security vetting but was still handed the Washington job.
Security officials initially denied Lord Mandelson clearance, but the Prime Minister had already named him as Britain’s top diplomat in the US, and the Foreign Office took the rare step of overruling the recommendation, according to The Guardian.
Sir Keir has previously insisted due process was followed in the appointment, and that Lord Mandelson had lied about the extent of his links with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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The Labour leader has also said the vetting carried out independently by the security services “gave him clearance for the role”.
But the peer was not granted approval following the secretive process by the Cabinet Office’s UK Security Vetting (UKSV) last January, the newspaper reported.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said on X: “Last September, Keir Starmer told Parliament three times that ‘full due process’ was followed over the appointment of Lord Mandelson.
“We now know the Prime Minister misled the House.
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“The Prime Minister must take responsibility.”
Paul Hutcheon
Paul Hutcheon
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Keir Starmer had already made a catastrophic error of judgment. Now it looks as though he has also misled Parliament and lied to the British public. If that is the case, he must go.
“Labour came into government on a promise to clean up politics. Instead we’re seeing the same old sleaze, scandal and cover-ups as we did under the Conservatives.”
The Green Party also called for Sir Keir to resign.
Lord Mandelson, a political appointment rather than a career diplomat, was sacked from his Washington role last September when more details emerged about his relationship with Epstein, who died in 2019.
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Sir Keir has been under fire over the decision to give Lord Mandelson the job despite it being known that his dealings with Epstein continued after the financier’s conviction for child sex offences.
Questions over his judgment intensified after the first batch of documents showed he was warned before announcing Lord Mandelson’s ambassadorship of a “general reputational risk” over the Epstein ties.
That warning stemmed from the first part of the checks, carried out by the Cabinet Office, which was based on information in the public domain at the time.
The second was the highly confidential background vetting by security officials, which followed the announcement but before Lord Mandelson took up his role in February 2025.
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Information unearthed in this process – including any concerns – is never shared with ministers, and the result is binary, either clearing the candidate or barring them.
Foreign Office officials deployed a rarely used authority to override the decision to deny Lord Mandelson clearance, and he was told days later that he had passed, according to The Guardian.
More documents are yet to be released at the behest of MPs.
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The Guardian reported that senior Government officials have been weighing whether to withhold documents from Parliament that would show Lord Mandelson failed the security vetting.
Some material is expected not to be published either because it relates to a police investigation into Lord Mandelson, or because Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee believes it could jeopardise national security or diplomatic relations.
But keeping documents from the committee could amount to a breach of the Conservative motion to release “all papers relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment”.
Sir Keir said in February that Lord Mandelson was cleared by security vetting, which he criticised for failing to disprove the former Labour grandee’s lies.
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He said: “There was a due diligence exercise that culminated in questions being asked because I wanted to know the answer to certain issues.
“That’s why those questions were asked. The answers to those questions were not truthful.
“There was then, I should add, security vetting carried out independently by the security services, which is an intensive exercise that gave him clearance for the role, and you have to go through that before you take up the post.
“Clearly, both the due diligence and the security vetting need to be looked at again.
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“I’ve already strengthened the due process. I think we need to look at the security vetting because it now transpires that what was being said was not true. And had I known then what I know now, I’d never have appointed him in the first place.”
Taking questions from journalists following a press conference on 5 February in Hastings, Sir Keir said that “security vetting carried out independently by the security services, which is an intensive exercise that gave [Lord Mandelson] clearance for the role, and you have to go through that before you take up the post”.
The cage, which stars Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha, was partly shot in the picturesque village of Tockholes as part of a wider production across the North West and is set to air April 26.
It was also filmed in Le Mans Crescent, the go to location for many producers of hit television dramas.
The five-part series, written by BAFTA-nominated Tony Schumacher, follows casino cashier Leanne, played by Smith, who turns to stealing from her workplace to save her family home.
Her actions put her on a collision course with her boss Matty, played by Socha, who is hiding secrets of his own.
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The Cage (Image: BBC)
Filming in Tockholes saw road closures in place last year, with Tockholes Road shut between the Royal Arms and Belmont Road during evening and overnight shoots.
(Image: Henry Lisowski)
Production crews were based in the area for two days, using locations including a pub car park for equipment.
Residents were warned to expect disruption, including changes to their usual routines, while scenes featuring actors in police uniform and vehicles with flashing blue lights were also recorded.
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Filming in Le Mans Crescent (Image: NQ)
The drama has also been filmed in and around Liverpool and Merseyside, with Element Pictures producing the series.
The BBC has released the trailer for the high-stakes drama, which will air on BBC One at 9pm, with all episodes also available on BBC iPlayer.
The Cage features a wider cast including Barry Sloane, Geraldine James and Sue Jenkins, and promises a tense story of crime, loyalty and survival.
All five hour-long episodes will be released at once on BBC iPlayer, alongside weekly broadcasts on BBC One.
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Coronation Street have been filming storylines in the old Bolton Magistrates Court all week.
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