The US has recorded another sharp fall in its murder rate, with homicides down 18% in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2025. 

That’s according to analysis from the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), which said that the US homicide rate has likely reached a “historic low”. 

It’s not just the murder rate that’s falling. The CCJ said that four types of crime have fallen by more than half in recent years: homicide (51% lower than 2022), carjacking (73% lower than 2023), residential burglary (56% lower than 2018), and vehicle theft (down 51% compared to 2023). 

While the White House has framed the data as a triumph for the Trump administration, crime rates in the US have been falling for years, albeit with some exceptions, notably shop-lifting and drug offences.      

“Murder and other crime rates are falling across the map, in cities with different political leadership, housing and economic conditions, policing and prosecution strategies, violence reduction models, and levels of federal enforcement activity,” said Adam Gelb, the CCJ’s president. 

“Local policies and programmes surely matter, but the striking consistency of the decline suggests that macro-level forces are exerting enormous influence as well.” 

Image: Andreas Strandman

Amid family feuds, damaging headlines and questions about its future role, Britain’s royal family has spent much of the past decade managing its public image. But the importance of good royal PR dates back centuries.

Long before communications teams and media advisers became fixtures of royal life, Queen Caroline (1683-1737) attempted a remarkable piece of image management. Faced with the challenge of making a German royal dynasty seem unmistakably British, she turned to one of Britain’s most powerful national stories: the legends of King Arthur and Merlin.

As the wife of the king of Great Britain and Ireland, George II (1683-1760), Caroline belonged to the House of Hanover. The German dynasty had inherited the British throne only two decades earlier and was still viewed with suspicion by many of their subjects. At the same time, an increasingly public feud between the king and his heir, Frederick, Prince of Wales, threatened to undermine the image of stability that a country recently torn apart by civil war, religious schisms and political revolution so desperately needed.

Caroline’s solution to this problem was unexpected. In 1735, she commissioned a curious attraction in the gardens of her palace at Richmond. Known as Merlin’s Cave, it looked like something from a fairy tale: a gothic thatched building filled with wax figures of Merlin, legendary prophets and other figures from Britain’s distant past. Many contemporaries thought it bizarre, with one critic dismissing its inhabitants as “a great many strange puppets”.

Yet Merlin’s Cave was far more than an eccentric garden folly. Although an unlikely tool of statecraft, Caroline’s use of Arthurian iconography sought not only to strengthen the Hanovarian claim but also to promote a shared British identity at a time of political uncertainty.

Myth as messaging

Although the House of Hanover had inherited the British throne in 1714, it did not yet possess a deep-rooted place in the nation’s imagination. George I (who reigned 1714-1727) preferred his native Hanover to his new dominion and had relied heavily on interpreters and intermediaries throughout his reign. This exposed the dynasty to accusations that they were foreign rulers.

Supporters of the exiled Stuart dynasty, known as Jacobites, continued to regard James II’s son, the “Old Pretender” James Francis Edward Stuart, as Britain’s legitimate king. They had attempted ill-fated but bloody uprisings in 1715 and 1719. On his accession to the throne in 1727, George II therefore faced a challenge that was both political and cultural: he needed to not only rule Britain, but to persuade his people that he belonged there.

Arthurian legend offered a solution to this problem. Unlike the Jacobite claim, which emphasised hereditary right, it provided access to something broader and potentially more powerful: the idea of a shared British past. Arthur and Merlin were useful precisely because they belonged to no single dynasty. They could be appropriated to cultivate a different kind of legitimacy – one founded on patriotism, national identity and Britain’s historical traditions.

Queen Caroline was well placed to appreciate Arthur’s political usefulness. Unlike her husband, who famously cared little for the arts, Caroline was an enthusiastic reader who understood the political value of culture. Raised in the intellectually vibrant courts of Berlin and Hanover, she had access to extensive libraries that exposed her not only to Arthurian myth but to traditions linking the House of Guelph – the Hanoverian dynasty – with medieval English royalty.

While earlier monarchs such as Henry II and Edward I had often appropriated Arthur directly as a model of kingship, Caroline shifted attention towards Merlin. Throughout Arthurian tradition, Merlin acts as an adviser, genealogist and interpreter of Britain’s future. He guides Arthur while also foretelling the destiny of the realm. By placing Merlin at the centre of her cave, Caroline was employing these associations to connect the past, present and future in ways that linked the Hanoverians both to Britain’s ancient heritage and its future success.

This symbolism became even more pointed because the royal family itself was divided. George II and Caroline had a strained relationship with their son, Frederick, and contemporary supporters interpreted Merlin’s inclusion as a call for reconciliation. In a 1735 poem inspired by Merlin’s Cave, the Anglo-Welsh writer Jane Brereton has Merlin urge Frederick to fulfil his filial duty and “perpetuate Brunswick’s Race”, suggesting that at least some observers understood the Cave’s symbolism as a plea for dynastic harmony as well as political stability.

Not everyone was convinced, however. Caleb D’Anvers – a pseudonym for Nicholas D’Anvers, editor of the satirical journal The Craftsman – mocked Merlin’s Cave as an eccentric curiosity. Opposition writers, meanwhile, turned Merlin into a vehicle for attacks on both Caroline and her ally Sir Robert Walpole. Yet the very nature of these responses suggests that Caroline’s critics understood the political message she was trying to convey. Their objections stemmed not from confusion, but disagreement.

In the deeply divided political culture of the 1730s, Whig celebrations of Britain’s legendary past could easily become targets for Tory and Jacobite satire. The negative responses to the cave demonstrate that Caroline’s political opponents recognised her intentions well enough to parody them.

Merlin’s Cave therefore offers a revealing glimpse into the political uses of myth in 18th-century Britain. In turning to Arthurian legend to promote the image of a stable, legitimate and distinctly British monarchy, Caroline understood a lesson that monarchies continue to grapple with today: legitimacy depends not on inheritance, but on the stories people tell about who belongs to the nation and who should shape its future.

The figures also reveal the safest place to live in Northern Ireland

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People in South Belfast are more likely to witness crime than residents of any other part of Northern Ireland.

The latest PSNI recorded crime figures show that there has been a rise in some serious types of offending, including rape and all sexual offences (by 4%), stalking and harassment (1%), robbery (19%), drug offences (5%), and possession of weapons (14%).

However, the general trend of falling crime over the past decade has continued. In the year ending March 2026, 93,601 offences were recorded, a 2% drop on the previous 12 months.

The figures also reveal that some parts of the country are far more dangerous places to live than others. The highest volume of offences last year were recorded in Belfast, a total of 30,994 offences.

That means a third of all recorded crime in Northern Ireland last year took place in Belfast.

Crime rates, which account for population size, are generally considered the fairest way to compare crime across areas of wildly different sizes.

You can see how it compares where you live using our interactive map:

They show that Belfast also has the highest crime rate in Northern Ireland, of 88 crimes per 1,000 residents.

Population figures are not readily available for the four policing districts within Belfast – North, South, East, and West – so the crime rate is for the city as a whole. However, estimates based on census population ward figures show that residents in South Belfast are most likely to witness crime.

Last year, South Belfast, covered by the local policing team based on Lisburn Road, experienced the highest volume of crime, with 10,117 recorded offences. South Belfast also had the highest crime rate, followed by North, West, and then East Belfast.

However, higher crime rates in South Belfast may be driven by visitors to the district for its nightlife or shopping.

Outside of Belfast, residents of Derry City and Strabane were most likely to experience crime with a crime rate of 61 crimes per 1,000 residents, significantly lower than Belfast.

Meanwhile, Mid Ulster was the safest place to live in Northern Ireland, with the nation’s lowest crime rate of 29 crimes per 1,000 residents.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Wiza Bondele goes to work every day at a hospital in Congo with one goal in mind: to slow the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record.

At an Ebola treatment hospital in the eastern Ituri province, the epicenter of Congo’s ongoing outbreak, Bondele disinfects contaminated areas, checks visitors’ temperatures and enforces handwashing protocols — work that puts him at risk of getting infected.

But like hundreds of other front-line health workers, including burial teams and drivers, Bondele says he has been working without pay since the outbreak was declared in mid-May in one of Congo’s most remote and conflict-hit regions.

Poor welfare for front-line workers has been a key source of concern in the outbreak. The payment issues and attacks on health teams and facilities have forced some health workers to walk off the job, disrupting critical care in the outbreak that authorities say continues to spread at an alarming rate and faster than efforts to track it.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people or contaminated materials, a risk Bondele is well aware of.

“Sometimes patients are bleeding or vomiting blood. We clean and disinfect those places,” the 29-year-old infection control worker told The Associated Press while on duty. “With risks like that, we deserve salaries.”

Confirmed cases in the outbreak have exceeded 4,000, including over 1,800 deaths, according to the latest government data. It is the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, behind the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak that recorded more than 28,000 cases, including over 11,000 deaths. Another from 2018-2020 killed at least 2,200.

This outbreak has been linked to the Bundibugyo virus, for which there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments.

Workers continue despite financial strain

A veteran of Congo’s 2018 Ebola response, Bondele returned when the virus resurfaced, believing his experience could help protect his community in Ituri, which accounts for nearly 90% of the Ebola cases.

Instead, he found himself among many workers who have continued reporting for duty without receiving the monthly salary of $510 that Bondele said they were promised.

Officials have told them that the outstanding payments will be made, he said. Workers have registered their numbers to get paid through mobile money transactions, signed attendance sheets and waited for payment notifications, but only some were eventually paid.

Bondele said even colleagues who were paid have told him they have not received the full amount.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Manchester United boss Michael Carrick has not yet followed transfer instructions previously laid out by Paul Scholes

Michael Carrick has not sanctioned any major sales so far this summer at Manchester United. This is despite United hero Paul Scholes recommending eight stars be sold.

Carrick is currently taking charge of his first pre-season and there are just a few weeks until the Premier League returns. With only three first-team signings made so far in Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Karl Darlow, more additions are expected.

However, there has yet to be a major exit from the club, aside from Casemiro’s departure. In April, Scholes was asked for a series of United stars who were surplus to requirements and of the eight players he listed, only one appears set to leave as things stand.

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Joshua Zirkzee was among the players that Scholes believed should be sold and the former Bologna forward is edging closer to a return to Italy. La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Zirkzee is willing to join Juventus, who are pursuing a loan arrangement with an option to buy.

Scholes and Carrick spent seven seasons together in United’s midfield during their playing days. However, whilst the pundit’s suggestion to move on Zirkzee may materialise, the other seven stars Scholes mentioned could all remain part of United’s squad next term, with Carrick’s response clear.

The 51-year-old stressed the importance of United revamping their defence. Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast, Scholes said of Leny Yoro: “I think he’s struggled, me. I think there’s something in there, I think he needs a bit of time, but if you had to make a choice now, I’d probably sell him.”

He also argued that the shift away from ex-boss Ruben Amorim’s three-at-the-back system would have implications for Noussair Mazraoui. Mazraoui has been linked with a departure this summer, though he remains part of Carrick’s side. Highly-rated defender Yoro has also expressed a desire to make his mark at United next season.

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Turning to midfield, Scholes felt Manuel Ugarte would depart and the Uruguayan was linked with a move before picking up an injury at the World Cup. Mason Mount also featured on Scholes’ eight-man list, though the England international has caught the eye during pre-season.

Additionally, Scholes felt the moment had arrived to say goodbye to Harry Maguire, who continues to have a key role at United. He said: “I’m thinking about a Manchester United team you want to win the league and the Champions League and that’s where United should be aiming. I’m not sure you’d do that with Maguire.”

Elsewhere, United have held an interest in Newcastle United full-back Lewis Hall in the transfer window. Focusing on the left-back position, Scholes previously urged the club to offload long-serving Luke Shaw due to doubts about his reliability, despite him having featured in every Premier League fixture last season. He was equally prepared to let Patrick Dorgu leave.

Scholes said on Dorgu: “They brought him in as a wing-back and he’s not really played much there. I’d probably sell. I’m not sure what position he is. Again, if you keep him then he’s just a squad player.”

Overall, of the eight players Scholes recommended be sold, only Zirkzee appears set for an imminent exit. There has been little speculation regarding the remaining seven of Yoro, Mazraoui, Shaw, Dorgu, Mount, Ugarte and Maguire.

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‘I hope my life saves another.’

Kiena Dawes’ last words before ending her life were a plea for her abuser to be held accountable for the ‘torture’ he put her through – and for no other women to be failed in the way she was.

But while Ryan Wellings was eventually found guilty of assaulting Kiena and subjecting her to prolonged domestic abuse, he was cleared of having any ‘criminal responsibility’ for her death.

High profile trials like Kiena’s ending in not guilty verdicts on manslaughter charges have led families, campaigners and even police and lawyers to call for a new law to ensure perpetrators are held responsible when their abuse leads to a person ending their own life.

Kiena’s Law would see the creation of a new standalone offence for domestic abuse-
related suicide.

Campaigners are also calling 
for coercive and controlling behaviour to be included within the ‘dangerous offender’ framework, allowing courts to impose extended sentences.

Kiena’s mother, Angela Dawes, backed calls for a law in her daughter’s name, saying: ‘My girl didn’t want to die. My girl wanted to live. But she lived in fear.’

Nobody in England or Wales has ever been convicted by a jury of manslaughter in relation to domestic abuse victims driven to suicide.

That is despite the grim fact that women in abusive relationships are now more likely to kill themselves than die at the hands of a current or former partner.

In its latest annual report, the Domestic Homicide Project, a programme led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), recorded 150 suspected domestic abuse-related suicides in England and Wales.

That is up from 98 suicides in the previous 12 months, and significantly higher than the 80 recorded intimate partner homicides.

This Is Not Right

On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.

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With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.

You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at vaw@metro.co.uk.

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Yet figures show only 3% have resulted in any kind of prosecution.

When it comes to manslaughter, there has been just one conviction – that of Nicholas Allen, who pleaded guilty and was jailed for 10 years in 2017.

Kiena’s Law

Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw in partnership with charity Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA), hosted a conference in Blackpool last month to launch a petition calling for Kiena’s Law and address concerns about the link between sustained domestic abuse and suicide.

He told Metro: ‘If you can imagine the pain, the anguish, the trauma that somebody must be in for them to be in such circumstances that they feel that taking their own life is the only escape from the abuse they’re enduring, it is horrendous.

‘We believe that the courts and the judicial system need to have the power in those circumstances to get justice for the victims, and there needs to be a greater deterrent for perpetrators.’

Frank Mullane, founder of AAFDA, said law change is critical if perpetrators are to be properly held to account.

He told Metro juries are ‘struggling’ with the link between domestic abuse and suicide and the legal concept of ‘causation’.

Defence teams are also being left free to ‘exploit any mental health difficulties the deceased may have had – even though some or all of those difficulties may have been caused or contributed to, by the abuse’.

‘Causation’ and the link between domestic abuse and suicide

In simple terms, causation is proof that a defendant’s conduct contributed to a victim’s death in a ‘significant’ way.

Several problems arise from that in cases of domestic abuse-related suicide.

They include the victim likely being nowhere near the defendant when they die and the suicide being seen as a ‘choice’ freely made by the deceased.

Another obvious difficulty is the absence of the victim’s voice from the witness box.

In that void, defendants can point the jury in the direction of myriad other issues to explain why they may have taken their own life, minimising the effects of their abusive behaviour and avoiding accountability for it.

Jurors are then left with what can appear to be a choice between either the abuse or the victim’s mental health as factors behind the decision to end their life, rather than an appreciation of how the two are intrinsically linked.

Dr Anne Lodge, a senior lecturer in law at Teesside University, told Metro: ‘Too often, suicide is treated as a completely independent choice of the victim.

‘But where someone has been subjected to years of coercive control, their autonomy may have been so eroded that they no longer see any other way out – they may be effectively stripped of their freedom to make choices.

‘That’s something the law needs to recognise.’

Tim Woodhouse, suicide prevention researcher at the University of Kent, found that one in three suicides in the county between 2018 and 2024 were impacted to some extent by domestic abuse.

If that number was applied nationwide, it could mean as many as 1,000 domestic abuse victims are taking their lives each year.

Mr Woodhouse told Metro: ‘Being physically abused, sexually attacked and emotionally tortured, week after week, month after month, is clearly exceptionally damaging to anyone’s mental health.

‘It’s made even worse when the person abusing you is someone you once loved.

‘So, on the one hand, it’s easy to understand why such a high number of victims are killing themselves, but we are just beginning to understand that these tragic deaths actually happen for a number of different reasons.

‘Some victims have been beaten so badly in the past that believe that they are going to be murdered by their perpetrator, so they attempt suicide as a way of controlling the way they die – even though they don’t actually want to stop living.

‘Others attempt suicide because they believe the lies that their perpetrator tells them, for example that their family and friends hate them and the world would be a better place without them it.

‘Finally other victims feel so isolated, trapped and helpless, that they simply can’t see another way of making the abuse stop.

‘Many of the victims in this group will have reached out to services like the police, the family court, domestic abuse charities and social services but not got the support they needed to make the abuse stop.’

In 2022, a coroner ruled that Jessica Laverack, 34, ended her life at her home in East Yorkshire after suffering domestic abuse.

Hers was the first inquest to make clear the link between domestic abuse and suicide.

Phyllis Daly, Jessica’s mother, told the Blackpool conference coercive control ‘leaves few visible signs, but can destroy a victim’s life’.

‘Jessica stated that she felt she had no escape and her life wasn’t her own anymore,’ she said. ‘She was trapped, miserable and fearful.’

She added: ‘Sustained domestic abuse that ends in suicide is not incidental. It’s a foreseeable outcome, a preventable outcome, and accountability has to follow.’

‘I didn’t want to end my life – I wanted the fear to end’

Dr Lodge said: ‘Many victims already have existing vulnerabilities, whether that is previous trauma or mental health difficulties.

‘Those factors can be used by the defence to argue that the abuse was not a sufficient or significant enough cause of the suicide.

‘This narrative potentially downplays the devastating impact prolonged coercive control can have and makes it harder to hold perpetrators criminally responsible for manslaughter.’

The conference got a harrowing glimpse of what a jury might hear if a victim could give evidence at their own manslaughter trial.

One survivor bravely spoke publicly for the first time about how she contemplated ending her life.

‘When people hear the words domestic abuse, they often imagine bruises, broken bones, black eyes,’ she said.

‘But abuse is rarely defined by one incident. It took years and a whole new vocabulary – gaslighting, stonewalling, coercive control – before I fully understood what had happened.’

She added: ‘People often think suicide is about wanting to die. For me, it wasn’t.

‘I didn’t want to end my life. I wanted the fear to end. I wanted the intrusive thoughts to end. I wanted to feel safe again.

‘There is a profound difference between wanting a life to end – all the things you love – and desperately wanting unbearable pain to stop, because when you’re in so much pain you can’t feel anything anyway.

‘No joy, no pleasure, no hope. You’re not living anymore anyway.

‘When someone dies after domestic abuse, we often ask “why did they take their own life?”

‘Perhaps we should begin by asking a different question – “what happened in the years before they died?”’

Local MPs Chris Webb and Lorraine Beavers pledged to campaign for Kiena’s Law in Parliament.

And Jess Phillips, the former minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls (VAWG), told the conference ‘justice is evading us’ currently but insisted the issue is ‘a fundamental part’ of the government’s VAWG strategy.

Ministers are ‘keen to look at what the solutions are in this space’, she added.

A Government spokesperson said: ‘We are committed to halving violence against women and girls, and our thoughts remain with all those who have lost loved ones as a result of domestic abuse.

‘We have now introduced better protection for victims by strengthening the management of offenders convicted of controlling and coercive behaviour.

‘The Law Commission is currently reviewing homicide law, including the use of manslaughter offences where abuse may have driven someone to suicide.’

‘Girls shouldn’t have to die to be heard’

During Wellings’ trial, the jury heard he was an ‘entitled, aggressive bully’ who would regularly slap and ‘rag’ Kiena by her hair.

He also threatened to use a drill to take her teeth out and ‘make her look like Katie Piper’ by throwing acid in her face.

More than once police were called, but Wellings threatened Kiena that she would have their daughter taken off them if she told them what was happening, so she declined to help prosecute him.

A final assault ‘broke’ Kiena, leaving her needing hospital treatment. This time she did make a statement to police and her tormentor was arrested.

He then broke his bail conditions but was not locked up, leaving her feeling let down by police.

Four days later she killed herself.

In her suicide note, she wrote: ‘The end. I fought hard, I fought long. I went through pain no-one could imagine.

‘I was murdered. Ryan Wellings killed me. He ruined every bit of strength I had left. I had dreams. I had a future at one point. That was taken away from me.’

But Wellings’ defence team described Kiena as a ‘very troubled young lady’ who ended her life not because of him, but because of ‘multiple factors’ including the loss of her father.

They also pointed to the fact she had made several attempts to end her life in the past, before she met Wellings.

Mr Mullane said: ‘Kiena’s Law represents an opportunity to recognise the devastating and sometimes fatal consequences of coercive and controlling behaviour, improve accountability and help prevent future deaths.

‘We owe it to Kiena and to every family affected by domestic abuse-related suicide to make that change.’

Mrs Dawes added: ‘Girls shouldn’t have to die to be heard, and my daughter had to die to be heard.

‘Nothing is ever going to bring my baby back, but if we can change things moving forward, I’d hate to see another family go through what we’ve been through.’

You can sign the petition Kiena’s Law: Recognise domestic abuse–related suicide in law by clicking here.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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Mark “Bruni” Brown says he is turning his back on the biker world after he was hacked at by masked assailants following a string of attacks.

A biker gang boss has quit after he was ambushed by machete thugs in a bloodbath on the M74.

Mark “Bruni” Brown – president of the Mad Dogs Motorcycle Club– was riding with fellow bikers when they were set upon by 12 thugs armed with bats and swords on the motorway, near Lesmahagow on Sunday.

After undergoing reconstructive surgery on his hands in hospital this week, he told the Record he has quit the biker gang over fears his family will be caught up in the violence.

The 63-year-old said: “I was driving on the motorway when I noticed one of our bikers had broken down.

“We stopped to help and the next thing I knew, masked men were hacking at me with machetes.

“My wife is terrified – I can’t go on living like this.

“I have left the Mad Dogs now and need to think about my family.

“Enough is enough. I won’t be back on the road with any motorbike club and just want to put this all behind me.”

Bruni revealed he has been targeted several times after he left rival biker gang the Blue Angels Motorcycle Club three years ago.

He continued: “I don’t know if it was Blue Angels who attacked me.

“Ever since I left Blue Angels my home has been petrol bombed, my car was torched, and now this.

“I’ve been in hiding due to threats on my life. We had to leave our home a year ago.”

Bruni and other Mad Dogs members were returning to Scotland from a weekend partying in England when they were set upon.

Armed thugs had been travelling in four vehicles and left the cars to attack the bikers who are regularly seen wearing leathers emblazoned with 1% logos, in reference to outlaw motorcycle gangs.

A red Mazda car used in the attack was later recovered in Ayrshire.

Earlier this week a social media post on a Mad Dogs Motorcycle Club page issued a defiant message and said they would not be forced off the road.

The now deleted post read: “A bit of background to what has been going on with the dogs. This is NOT rumours or bulls***, just straight facts.

“To set it straight YES we were attacked on the M74 motorway by 12 masked and heavily armed cowardly cardboard gangster puppets with swords, bats and anything they could grab as a weapon.

“Here’s their version, ‘We are all in hospital and some of us are dead. Clearly not, you incompetent cowards. You know what, we’re still standing and always will be!

“We have the same rights to drive on the roads as anyone else, doing what we want to do, but some people just can’t handle the fact we’re still here and growing stronger.”

The post was accompanied with pictures of Bruni but he told the Record it was nothing to do with him.

He was released from hospital on Thursday morning and claims injuries to his hands left him unable to pick up a phone.

He added: “This Facebook post was written as if it were speaking on my behalf but nothing could be further from the truth.

“Whoever put the message out there is just putting a target on my back.

“I was furious when my wife told me about it.

“Most of the injuries I suffered were defence wounds on my hands and I had two operations over the past week.

“I’m not able to hold a phone never mind post on ‘defiant’ messages on social media.

“I am waiting to find out if the surgery was successful, but if not I am facing amputation.”

Police are probing the M74 attack and asked motorists with dashcam footage to come forward.

Detective Sergeant Craig Wait said: “We believe this was a targeted attack on the group of motorcyclists and it’s vital we trace the people responsible.

“One man has been seriously injured as a result of the attack and many others, including members of the public who witnessed what happened, have been left shaken.

“I’m appealing to anyone with information to come forward.”

The attack comes weeks after Mad Dogs members were struck by a car outside a pub in Renfrewshire. Bikers were mowed down outside Lorimers boozer in Bishopton, after they had left a meeting on July 11.

Police said they were treating the incident as attempted murder.

The Mad Dogs MC gang broke away from Blue Angels – Scotland’s oldest motorbike outlaw gang – in 2023 and the two tribes have remained at war.

Mad Dogs founder and former president Dan Laponder is serving a nine-year jail term for blowing up a van linked to a Blue Angels rival. Laponder had been a leader of the Blue Angels but left and formed the Mad Dogs.

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In June 2024 the van used by Blue Angels member David Rollo’s dad was blown up near his home in Lennoxtown, Dunbartonshire. Fire crews found the pipe bomb lying underneath.

Police traced Laponder to a barge where he was living in Kirkintilloch and he told them about a shotgun he had inside. Laponder’s DNA and fingerprints were recovered from a bottle and duct tape used in the making of the pipe bomb.

Bruni then took over as President of the club but they have been repeatedly attacked over the past two years by the Blue Angels.

Last August violence erupted at the funeral of crash victim Gordon Luke, 71, at The Hurlet Crematorium in Barrhead, Renfrewshire.

Several men wielding machetes were said to have jumped from vehicles and attacked Mad Dogs members, leading to a 65-year-old grandad and men aged 44 and 30 being hospitalised.

In April of this year a fire on Edison Street in Hillington was linked to the feud but no injuries were reported.

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A council has said the decision to cut down the tree was a ‘last resort’

Residents in part of St Ives have been left feeling “deeply upset” after a 200-year-old tree was chopped down. Huntingdonshire District Council insist that the tree felling was a “last resort”, as the tree was causing “structural damage” to three nearby homes.

However locals say they were not told about plans to cut down the tree, and feel that a prominent part of their street has been lost. Local resident Rod Izatt’s friend told him that the mature oak tree in the Crescent, St Ives had been felled at the end of July. Rod went to see the tree for himself and was upset to see it had been cut down.

He shared a photo of it to Facebook and it gained over 170 comments, with many residents sharing their upset towards the loss of the tree. Rod and other residents feel they were not informed about the tree being cut down and he feels the street has lost a prominent sight.

He said: “My major concern is that this tree was over 200 years old – many people are deeply upset. With global warming and flooding occurring more, we need to change our focus from trees being obstacles to trees being solutions. They are living entities and support thousands, if not millions of species of wildlife.

“Essentially by cutting down this tree, we are breaking that link in nature. We need our woodlands, and that comes down to single trees in the end.”

Huntingdonshire District Council made the decision to fell the tree as it was causing “structural damage” to three nearby homes. A HDC spokesperson said: “We understand why people are upset by the loss of this mature oak tree.

“The tree was removed following a complex insurance subsidence claim affecting three neighbouring properties. Independent investigations concluded that it was a significant contributing factor to ongoing structural damage.”

The council spent three years trying to find options to retain the tree, however “no viable alternative was identified”. They added: “Although the tree appeared healthy, healthy trees can contribute to subsidence due to soil conditions and moisture demand.

“Removal was therefore a last resort, based on the evidence gathered and the need to prevent further damage to the affected properties.”