By KATHERINE LAWTON, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER

Published: 07:32 BST, 2 September 2026 | Updated: 07:45 BST, 2 September 2026

The Met Office predicted “unsettled” September conditions with rain and wind

Advertisement

Ireland, Scotland and some parts of the UK could drop to 1C due to a cold snap that has been forecast this month. Temperatures look set to plunge from September 11, with the GFS weather model showing highs of just 11-12C around southern and eastern coasts at around midday.

Meanwhile 9C is coming in the Midlands and Northern Ireland, and lows of 2C on the cards in parts of Scotland. The Mirror reports by 6pm on September 11, the data shows highs of just 15C in the south-east – well below what is expected for this time of year – with afternoon temperatures remaining below 10C in Wales, northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Further cool conditions should follow on September 12, with temperatures dropping to just 1C in parts of northern England and Scotland. Every single county could see temperatures below 10C at midday, the data suggests.

The maps show temperatures peaking at just 13C in the south-east at around 6pm on September 12, with the Midlands reaching 11C, 12C in Northern Ireland and 10C in Scotland.

Similar conditions are expected on September 13 too, with the GFS model once again showing single-digit temperatures across the country at midday – with London at just 7C. Afternoon highs may reach just 14, with the warmest conditions expected in Northern Ireland and the south-west.

Temperature anomaly maps for this period show the UK shaded in areas of dark blue. This indicates that temperatures are expected to drop well below the seasonal average.

The Met Office anticipates “unsettled” conditions for the first half of September, with rain in northern and western regions and drier spells in the south and east.

The Met Office forecast for September 5 to 14 states: “An unsettled period is likely, with many places seeing showers or longer spells of rain at times. Rain is expected to be most frequent across northern and western areas, while the south and east are more likely to see longer, drier spells. There is also the potential for some strong and gusty winds, particularly in the northwest.”

The BBC forecast for September 7 to 13 says conditions should soon turn “cooler”, with “wet and windy or showery weather” on the cards.

It states: “Atlantic weather systems should continue to dominate conditions into the second week of September, with low pressure and frontal systems tracking near or across the UK, so further periods of wet and windy or showery weather look most likely.

“Short-lived drier and sunnier spells should occur in-between, especially in the southern and eastern UK where conditions may be less wet overall than the north and west.”

Want to see more of the stories you love from Belfast Live? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives… To add Belfast Live as a preferred source, simply click here.

“We are creating a modern and vibrant retail destination which we believe will drive Ballymena back to the top of the list of must-visit retail destinations”

A Co Antrim shopping centre has announced “another significant milestone” in its transformation.

Fairhill Shopping Centre in Ballymena has revealed that current tenant JD Sports will be relocating to a newly formed retail space in “prominent corner location” within the centre.

The new JD Sports 12,300 sq. ft store, located beside the newly opened Primark, will occupy a highly visible position within Fairhill, and owners say it will create an impressive new retail destination for one of the UK and Ireland’s best-known sports-fashion retailers.

A spokesperson said: “The relocation will provide JD Sports with a significantly enhanced trading environment and an opportunity to showcase its extensive range of leading footwear, sportswear and fashion brands in a modern new format.

“JD Sports is renowned for its strong portfolio of global sports and lifestyle brands and its ability to combine sports performance with contemporary streetwear and fashion.

“With a loyal customer base and broad appeal across a range of age groups, the retailer will further strengthen Fairhill’s fashion, footwear and leisure offering.”

Back in 2021, Magmel (Ballymena) Limited bought over the Fairhill Shopping Centre in the heart of Ballymena town – since then, the company has embarked on a £10million transformation project.

From a fresh rebrand to an internal revamp of the storefronts and mall to building a new 26,100-square-foot unit for Primark, owner Ryan Walker said the new JD Sports will add to their mission to revive Ballymena’s status as a leading retail destination.

Ryan Walker from Magmel ( Ballymena ) Limited said: “We are very pleased to have secured JD Sports for this impressive new store at the heart of Fairhill.

“JD is an exceptional retailer and a fantastic fit for Fairhill, and their relocation to such a prominent corner position within the centre represents a significant step towards seeing the centre fully occupied with prime retailers.

“The new store will provide JD Sports with an excellent platform to showcase its leading range of sportswear, footwear and fashion brands, while creating an exciting new retail destination for our customers.

“We are now seeing the positive impact from our investment in the Centre and this announcement demonstrates the confidence that leading retailers have in Fairhill and Ballymena.

“We are creating a modern and vibrant retail destination which we believe will drive Ballymena back to the top of the list of must-visit retail destinations.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our What’s On newsletter

Sixteen people were killed and ⁠28 injured in a bus accident in eastern Egypt on Wednesday, local authorities said.

Egypt’s health ministry said the incident occurred on the Dahab-Nuweibaa ⁠road in South ⁠Sinai, on an area along the ‌Red Sea ‌coast that is popular ⁠with tourists.

According to the AFP news agency, 20 ambulances rushed to the scene of the accident in a popular diving area on the country’s eastern coast.

The nationalities of those who died have not yet been released.

Last month, 15 people were killed and 32 injured in ‌a ​road accident in ‌Egypt’s ⁠Ismailia governorate.

More to follow…

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Lawrence Brewer was one of three men who carried out the brutal hate crime murder of James Byrd Junior and was executed in Texas for the crime – but not before one final harrowing act

He was a brutal killer who claimed the life of a man simply because of the colour of his skin.

Lawrence Brewer was one of three men, along with Shawn Berry and John King, who launched a savage and harrowing attack on James Byrd Junior.

The victim was 49 when he was brutally murdered by the three men, two of them who were white supremacists, in Jasper, Texas in 1998. On June 7, James had accepted a lift from Shawn Berry, who was just 22 at the time. In the car with him were Brewer, then 31, and King, then 23.

Berry knew James as they both lived in the town but instead of taking him home the three men carried out an act of such violence it was leave the whole country appalled.

Taking James out of town and to a remote country road, they savagely beat him before tying a chain to his ankles and to the back of their pickup truck. Then then dragged him behind the truck for three miles. Brewer claims he slit James’ throat before the hellish journey began but horrifying forensic evidence showed the victim had been desperately trying to keep his head off the ground as he was dragged along.

It is thought he only succumbed to his injuries about half-way through the journey when his right arm and head were severed when his body hit a culvert. In addition, almost all of his ribs were fractured. When his head was discovered his brain and skull were still in tact, which lead forensic experts to believe he was still conscious as he was being dragged behind the pickup truck.

His killers then dumped his torso in front of a Black cemetery and heartlessly left the scene to head to a BBQ. James’ body wasn’t discovered until the following morning by a passing motorist. Close by police discovered a wrench with the word ‘Berry’ written on it and a lighter with the word ‘Possum’ written on it, which was King’s nickname while he was in prison.

Chillingly, officers discovered James’ remains in 81 locations and the harrowing killing was quickly labelled a hate crime and the FBI were called in to help with the investigation.

All three killers, Berry, Brewer and King, were arrested, tried and convicted for James’ murder, with King and Brewer sentenced to death while King was ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Before Brewer’s execution on September 21, 2011, he requested a lavish final meal. He asked for two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover’s pizza, a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.

However, he had one final chilling act to commit. After being presented with his final meal on earth, the brutal killer refused to eat a single mouthful. The act changed everything for those waiting to be executed on Texas’ death row – no last meal would ever be offered again.

Senator John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate criminal justice committee, said afterwards: “It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege.”

Instead inmates on the day before their death will now be served the same as all other inmates. After the ruling was passed, Whitmire said: “It’s long overdue. This old boy last night, enough is enough. We’re fixing to execute the guy and maybe it makes the system feel good about what they’re fixing to do. Kind of hypocritical, you reckon? Mr Byrd didn’t get to choose his last meal. The whole deal is so illogical.”

King was executed on April 24, 2019, while Brewer remains behind bars. He spends 23 hours per day in a cell measuring 8 by 6 feet, with one hour for exercise.

In an incredible act of forgiveness Ross Byrd, James Byrd’s only son, is now involved in Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, an organisation opposed to capital punishment and he even campaigned to spare the lives of the men who had killed his father.

By QUENTIN LETTS, PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHWRITER

Published: 18:48 BST, 1 September 2026 | Updated: 06:46 BST, 2 September 2026

The drive on the highway by the Mediterranean in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, is scenic and, these days, desolate. Crops lie abandoned and buildings destroyed by Israeli air strikes, too many to count, are in ruins.

Near the town of Naqoura, a Lebanese military checkpoint, painted in the white-and-red colours of the national flag, is the last visible sign of the state’s presence. Soldiers are positioned behind concrete walls, but the road is empty. A few minutes further south, around a dozen Israeli flags indicate the start of occupied territory. Unless authorised by Israel, no-one can enter.

This part of the country is the heartland of Lebanon’s Shia Muslim community, from which Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and political party, gets most of its support. It has seen three invasions by the Israeli military in wars against the group in the last two decades alone. The most recent started in March, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel following the killing of the Iranian supreme leader, at the start of the US and Israel’s war against Iran.

Last month, a BBC team joined a humanitarian mission of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as Unifil, which is one of the only ways to visit the area under Israeli control. There, as it did in Gaza, Israel has flattened entire villages, and air strikes and demolitions have continued even after a ceasefire was announced in June.

Michael Pickering was jailed for life in 2018 – an investigation is underway into his death

A sadistic killer who ‘enjoyed’ subjecting victims to extreme violence has died behind bars. Michael Pickering, from Oldham, was found died at HMP Long Martin, a category A men’s prison in Worcestershire, on August 7. He had a history of drug abuse. He was 39. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has begun an investigation into the death.

He was behind bars for brutally murdering a recovering alcoholic in his own home before trying to sell his things.

Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter

In 2018 Pickering was handed a life sentence to serve a minimum of 36 years in jail after being found guilty of torturing and killing Jonathan Herd at his flat in Oldham.

A judge said Pickering wanted to rob Mr Herd, 45, of anything he had of value during the raid on July 30, 2017 after running out of drugs.

He repeatedly stabbed and punched Mr Herd at his flat on Lee New Road before jumping up and down on his body as he lay defenceless, causing his lungs to collapse.

Mr Herd suffered 115 separate injuries. His body was discovered by his parents the next morning.

After killing Mr Herd, Pickering took a taxi to Oldham with three shopping bags of items he had stolen from the flat, including a mobile phone, an Xbox, a TV, some DVDs, £40 in cash, a coat and Mr Herd’s gold chain, which was ripped from his neck.

Pickering, of Coverham Avenue, Oldham, tried to sell the items at a branch of Cash Generators, but was refused. He is thought to have sold them privately.

Jurors were told that nearly two decades ago Mr Herd’s former partner died, and that he turned to drink as a way of managing his grief.

He was succeeding in his battle with drink, and Manchester Crown Court heard his family had ‘genuine hope’ he would return to his former self.

The PPO has now confirmed brief details of the death of Pickering on its website and said an investigation was ‘in progress’.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP Long Lartin prisoner Michael Pickering died on 7th August 2026. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”

At Pickering’s 2018 sentencing hearing, Judge Richard Mansell QC said: “Jonathan’s life was extinguished by you in the most callous, cowardly and brutal way imaginable.”

The court heard Pickering had only been out of prison for two months when he killed Mr Herd, having served eight years in prison for robbery, blackmail and causing actual bodily harm.

Those charges related to a sickening incident when Pickering broke into a man’s home before holding him captive for hours. The man had a knife held to his throat and Pickering’s accomplice threatened to cut off the victim’s fingers and eat them, the court was told.

Pickering claimed to not have any recollection of the attack, having been drunk and high on class A drugs.

The judge said: “I am satisfied you [Pickering] gain a degree of enjoyment or excitement from subjecting someone to extremes of violence and torture.”

After his release in May 2017, Pickering began mixing with old friends and continued abusing drink and drugs.

He met Mr Herd through a mutual friend, who lived in a flat near Mr Herd’s home. The court heard Mr Herd invited Pickering into his flat after he asked to charge his phone.

Pickering, who had drunk ‘copious’ amounts of alcohol and taken crack cocaine, had taken an eight-inch blade from his friend’s house, which he used to deliver the ‘sickening and merciless violence’ in Mr Herd’s flat.

Judge Mansell said the sheer number of wounds, the location and the time over which they were delivered showed elements of torture.

In a victim impact statement read by prosecutor Rob Hall, Mr Herd’s mother Pauline said: “There are no words that will ever describe the pain.

“Jonathan was a kind, generous and loving son who loved his family and was dearly loved in return. He saw the good in people, and if he could help them, he would. He was looking forward to the future and his health was improving.

“He had started to get out, he was regaining his confidence and had made new friends.”

Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Wilkinson from GMP’s Major Incident Team said: “This was an horrific attack on an innocent man whose life was taken away from him for the sake of an XBox and a few DVDs.

“Jonathan’s family came to visit him the following day and walked in to find their loved one lay dead on the floor after being brutally murdered. No one should ever have to see that.

“Sadly there is nothing we can do to bring Jonathan back, but I hope the result goes some way to helping his loved ones grieve and come to terms with their loss.

“Justice has been served today and Pickering is exactly where he deserves to be – behind bars where he will have plenty of time to think about what he did.”

Lisa Petrie is right to ask why her son’s killer was allowed to roam the streets.

John McNab was a young man with his whole life ahead of him. But at the age of just 22 his life was wiped out when a teenager stabbed him in the street.

Yesterday, a statue, the Knife Angel, was unveiled at the spot where John was killed a year ago as a monument to all victims of knife crime in Scotland. John’s mum, Lisa Petrie, was there to witness the artwork’s official launch and speaks eloquently in today’s Daily Record about the need for action on knife crime.

She has campaigned tirelessly for bleed kits to be installed around the country to help victims survive. Her work will save lives and for that we should all be grateful. But Lisa also wants to know what is being done by our political leaders to tackle the rising tide of knife violence.

The teenager who killed her son was out walking the streets, despite being charged with an earlier knife attack. Lisa wants a fatal accident inquiry into John’s death so that the full circumstances of the killer’s release into the community can be examined.

Advertisement

It is widely accepted our overcrowded jails do not have room for everyone accused of a crime to be remanded in custody. But when a teenager has already attacked somebody with a knife, it is surely a matter of public safety to make sure they are not simply put back into the community to attack again.

Too many young men carry and use knives, but the process of dealing with these dangerous individuals is not tough enough.

Lisa is right to ask why her son’s killer was allowed to roam the streets. The teenager should have been in a secure unit – not free to kill.

FM’s food cap quest is a folly

Parts of John Swinney’s Programme for Government are welcome and worthy of support. Capping bus fares at £2 is a measure that will ease the pressure felt by low-income families.

Slashing NHS boards from 14 to two should have been done years ago and the First Minister’s instincts on fewer councils are also sound. But his plan for a supermarket price cap looks increasingly ridiculous.

Swinney came up with the gimmick during the heat of an election campaign and it looked ill-considered even then. It looks legally questionable and the SNP government could end up wasting more public money on a doomed court battle.

Swinney will have to challenge vested interests if he is to get his way on rewiring the Scottish state. His political capital should be spent in this area, not in a pointless battle with the UK Government on price caps.

Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.

More than 200 Newnham residents have signed a petition calling for a safety review of the Barton Road and Grantchester Street junction

Advertisement

Cambridgeshire Live readers are split over a ‘dangerous’ junction, with commenters at odds over who is responsible and what action should be taken.

Cambridge residents have called for a safety review of a ‘dangerous’ junction they claim has been the scene of numerous “near misses”. The junction of Barton Road and Grantchester Street has long been a source of concern for Newnham residents, and despite being redesigned in 2023, many still fear it remains unsafe.

Peter Singleton, chair of the Old Newnham Residents Association, says there are a number of ‘design flaws’ in the current junction that are causing confusion among drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. These include allowing cyclists and pedestrians to cross simultaneously and removing the audible beeping signal indicating it is safe to cross.

The 73-year-old warned that this poses a particular risk to cyclists and pedestrians and has already resulted in accidents and several near misses.

He said: “You’re never going to come up with something that’s going to satisfy everyone, but if we can make it safer, then that’s better. Accidents certainly happen there, and if you like, you could call it a case of more accidents waiting to happen. Particularly in Newnham Croft, there are quite a lot of elderly people who are not so agile.”

He launched a petition at the start of July, which has since gathered more than 200 signatures, sufficient to trigger a debate at Cambridgeshire County Council.

One commenter, Brexit498 quotes: ” ‘Dangerous junction where accidents are waiting to happen’, then they will have to wait a long time because there is no issue here for cyclists, pedestrians or motorists. The road layout is heavily biased towards cyclists and pedestrians (no problem with that), but that group needs to take some responsibility for crossing the road. BTW: how many ‘incidents’ have there been in, say, the last two years?”

Riccy feels: “There is nothing wrong with the junction, it’s the drivers who want to take their tests again and take more care.”

Freddly adds: “Essentially, the problem is one of too many cars and vans, and they are driving too fast for the road conditions. The crossing needs to be on a table which is high and steep enough to damage cars that drive over it at speed. The crossing needs to scrape and damage bunkers if taken at speed, also on SUVs with high clearance.”

Poppythecat says: “The problem is pretty obvious. It’s motorists speeding to beat the lights and, more than likely, going through red lights altogether. If you’re approaching a pedestrian crossing, you should be slowing down, not speeding up to get through before the lights change.”

Throatwobblermangrove writes: “And guess who redesigned this junction in 2023? The GCP, of course. The same issues were predicted back then, but were ignored by the GCP, who imposed the current design, with massive disruption and inconvenience, taking four months just to build the unwanted new crossing and claiming it would ‘improve walking and cycling links and make it safer for people crossing the road’. Yet again, look how wrong they were.”

Over on our Facebook page, Thalia M comments: “It would help if drivers did not ignore the no right turn to the river, and as always, cyclists ignore everything, lights, crossing points, cycle paths. Please don’t rip it up and spend any more time or money on this.”

Gabriel Bienzobas M believes: “A poorly designed junction which during the redesign had the opportunity to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists, but instead prioritises motor traffic.”

Rachel J feels: “Someone needs to be responsible for ensuring the safest possible designs for cyclists. What about that abomination of a roundabout on Fendon Road near the hospital?! It might work for the Dutch, but it doesn’t work in the UK. It’s so dangerous.”

Do you believe that this junction is dangerous? Comment below or HERE to have your say.