SAN CRISTOBAL DE LA LAGUNA, Spain (AP) — Pope Leo XIV warned people smugglers on Friday that they will face God’s wrath for exploiting the desperation of migrants, demanding they stop and repent during his final day in this epicenter of the African migration route to Europe.
For the second day in a row in the Canary Islands, the American pope insisted on the inherent dignity and rights of migrants and demanded they be welcomed and integrated into society, in some of his strongest comments on the politically divisive issue.
“Break those chains and free those you hold in bondage,” Leo said in a message to human traffickers that he delivered during a meeting with humanitarian aid organizations that help migrants on the island of Tenerife.
Leo wrapped up his weeklong trip to Spain in the Spanish archipelago, which is closer to Africa than the Iberian Peninsula and is a key point of entry for migrants who make the perilous Atlantic crossing from West Africa.
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He is fulfilling a wish of Pope Francis to visit the islands to commemorate the thousands of lives lost at sea. He is also drawing attention to the Catholic Church’s biblically-mandated mantra to “welcome the stranger,” amid anti-migrant sentiment in Europe and the Trump administration’s mass deportation program in his native United States.
Pope Leo XIV meets a migrant at the ‘Las Raices’ center, in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Pope Leo XIV meets a migrant at the ‘Las Raices’ center, in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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During the encounter with aid groups in Tenerife, Leo implored receiving communities to integrate people fleeing war, poverty and climate change and spare them from the “silent shipwreck” of abandonment when they are left on the streets with nothing after surviving perilous crossings.
“A human conscience, and even more so a Christian conscience, cannot remain indifferent in the face of these graveyards of the sea, to the victims of shipwrecks and the lack of aid,” Leo said. “Every life lost on these routes is a failure for the human family.”
A deadly passage and a warning to traffickers
The Canary Islands have long been a stepping stone for migrants trying to reach Europe from West Africa and Morocco.
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While people smugglers and human traffickers operate the Atlantic route, there are also many self-organized boats of migrants, including many former fishermen from Senegal who were left without income due to overfishing in recent years.
Migrant arrivals in the Canary Islands peaked in 2024 at nearly 47,000. They have fallen dramatically, with over 3,000 people landing there in the first five months of 2026.
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Migrants attend a meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the ‘Las Raices’ center, in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Migrants attend a meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the ‘Las Raices’ center, in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Because of the vastness of the ocean and scarcity of rescue ships or monitoring, some experts consider the Atlantic route more deadly than the more well-known central Mediterranean smuggling route from Libya and Tunisia to Italy. Since 2020, several West African boats have been found in the Caribbean and Latin America with only dead bodies on board after drifting across the Atlantic, pushed by trade winds and currents.
Leo directed his remarks Friday to the criminal organizations and individual smugglers who organize these “death routes” to Europe. Such smugglers charge thousands of euros a person and often force their passengers into prostitution or other forms of black market labor by withholding their documents to pay off the debt.
“Stop. Repent,” Leo said in his message to traffickers, emphasizing each word in Spanish and drawing a sustained applause from the crowd. “For every life lost, every family deceived, every body subjugated, every woman threatened, every worker exploited, you will have to appear before divine justice.”
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“Repent while there is still time, for God’s mercy can reach even the most hardened sinner, but it enters only through the narrow gate of truth, justice and conversion,” he said.
With his two-day visit to the Canary Islands, Leo has confirmed himself as the heir of Francis’ migration preaching, which was a priority of Francis’ 12-year pontificate and often caused friction with U.S. and European powers.
History’s first U.S.-born pope has not only echoed Francis’ message and gestures, he has expanded and amplified them during a deeply symbolic visit. Upon arrival on Thursday, Leo threw a bouquet of flowers into the sea from a port nicknamed the “Dock of Shame” in 2020, when migrants were forced to live in squalor during a spike in their arrivals.
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Pope Leo XIV hug a child during a meeting with migrants at the ‘Las Raices’ center, in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Pope Leo XIV hug a child during a meeting with migrants at the ‘Las Raices’ center, in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Leo’s gesture mimicked the one Francis made in 2013 when he visited Lampedusa, Sicily, another flashpoint in Europe’s migration drama, and denounced the “globalization of indifference” that the world showed asylum seekers.
But in a sign Leo is making the papacy his own, the 70-year-old pope has added a new gesture to his repertoire: After a onetime migrant offered his testimony during Leo’s encounter Friday, the pope did the viral “6-7” hand gesture that’s popular with young people as he joked alongside him. That earned the pope cheers and applause from the crowd.
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Leo meets with migrants at reception center
In the Canary Islands and in remarks on the Spanish mainland, Leo reaffirmed the right of migrants to flee but also to stay home, demanding their countries of origin provide the necessary economic and security conditions. He shamed European countries that turn their back on migrants’ plights, and said Christian cannot remain indifferent.
On Friday, he noted that for the Catholic Church, the process of integrating migrants into a community can become a chance at spreading the faith, “without imposing” it and in respect of the migrants’ own beliefs.
Leo opened the final day of his trip by visiting the Las Raíces migrant camp. Leo drew a round of applause when he went off-script to tell migrants that he would speak in French and English, the language spoken by many of the people living in the camp.
One woman told him of the desperation that drove her to leave her homeland and family, the trauma of the crossings, and her gratitude at finding safety and a new life.
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“We aren’t asking for privileges. We aren’t asking for compassion. We just want respect, humanity and the chance to live with dignity,” said the woman, identified as Bousso Diouf.
Next month, on July 4, the American pope will spend U.S. Independence Day on the island of Lampedusa, where Francis in 2013 first denounced the “globalization of indifference” the world shows migrants.
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Pope Leo XIV attends a meeting with migrants at the ‘Las Raices’ center, in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV attends a meeting with migrants at the ‘Las Raices’ center, in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
At least one person was killed and ten were injured during an active shooter incident in Midland, Texas.
The Midland Police Department said officers are in a standoff with the suspect, who is reportedly barricaded inside a building. There are “11 known victims,” including one person who was killed, Mayor Lori Blong told reporters.
“Officers heard gunfire coming from the building and worked quickly to secure and clear the area. Armored units were deployed, and partner agencies assisted in the response. Efforts to bring the standoff with the shooter to a safe resolution are ongoing,” Midland Police Chief Greg Snow said in a statement Friday morning.
Investigators believe there’s only one known suspect. Officials have not released the names of the suspect or victims.
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The ‘active shooting incident’ in Midland, Texas, unfolded near the 4600 block of West Wall Street, seen here (Google Maps)
“We already have a perimeter established, and the situation is now secured in that area. But we’re still asking that all Midlanders stay put,” the mayor said.
Police are urging the public to stay away from the area, located near the 4600 block of West Wall Street. Officials have set up a family reunification center at Midland Memorial Hospital.
The hospital confirmed it received nine of the shooting victims, according to First Alert 7. Five of them are in stable condition, while four required surgery, hospital officials told the outlet.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Paul Bell, 55, of Widgeon Road, Darlington, appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on June 8.
He pleaded guilty to assaulting a man by beating him on June 18, 2025, in Darlington.
The court handed Bell a 24-month conditional discharge, meaning no further action will be taken if he does not commit another offence during this period.
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Magistrates also ordered Bell to pay £100 compensation to the man concerned.
In addition, Bell must pay £400 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The court prioritised compensation, so no victim surcharge was imposed. A collection order was made, with Bell required to make weekly payments of £10, starting June 22, 2026. Bell’s guilty plea was taken into account when sentencing.
David Hockney, one of the most celebrated and influential British artists of modern times, has died aged 88 at home on 11 June 2026.
Kirstie McCrum Deputy Head of News, Live News Network and Laura Harding
11:59, 12 Jun 2026Updated 12:06, 12 Jun 2026
David Hockney, one of Britain’s most revered and influential artists of the modern era, has passed away at the age of 88.
He died peacefully at his home on June 11, according to his publicist Erica Bolton.
A statement issued to the Press Association read: “The celebrated British artist David Hockney, one of the most important figures in contemporary art in both the 20th and 21st centuries, passed away peacefully at home on 11 June 2026, one month short of his 89th birthday.”
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The statement continued: “David Hockney’s enduring legacy reflects his underlying enthusiasm for life, his outstanding sense of humour, his immense generosity, and his investigative curiosity encapsulated by his signature phrase, Love Life.
“Details of memorials will follow in due course.”
Across a career spanning more than seven decades, Hockney’s vibrant and uplifting artistic vision established him as one of the most beloved artists in the world, responsible for some of the most iconic imagery of the 20th and 21st centuries. In 2018, his painting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) fetched 90 million dollars (£70 million) at auction in New York – shattering the then world record for a work by a living artist, reports Yorkshire Live.
Long regarded as a “national treasure”, with his distinctive oversized round spectacles, soft Yorkshire accent and bleached blond hair – later replaced by a collection of flat caps – his appearance was nearly as recognisable and iconic as his artwork.
Having been raised beneath the northern skies of industrial Bradford, he became captivated by the luminosity and liberation of 1960s California, establishing the state as his primary residence for four decades.
Particularly significant was that, as an openly gay man during an era when homosexuality remained criminalised in England, he eagerly seized the chance to express his sexuality freely.
Perpetually inventive, he remained captivated by the possibilities of employing technology in artistic creation: during the 1980s he produced large-scale photographic collages using Polaroid prints, while in the 2000s he utilised the Brushes app to generate hundreds of images on his iPad.
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His work encompassed a broad spectrum, from still lifes and landscapes to numerous portraits of friends and relatives – including even his pet dachshunds – alongside stage designs for theatrical and operatic productions.
A dedicated smoker, seldom photographed without a cigarette, Hockney frequently complained about the “little Hitlers” who attempted to restrict the habit. In his eighties, he commissioned badges bearing the motto “End bossiness soon” – joking that demanding to “End bossiness now” would prove “too bossy”.
Born in Bradford on July 9, 1937, David Hockney was the fourth of five siblings raised in a working-class household. His father, Kenneth, worked as an accountant’s clerk and painted “Ban the Bomb” posters for local peace demonstrations, while his mother, Laura, was a devout Methodist and committed vegetarian.
Bradley Thomas has denied inflicting a fatal brain injury when he was giving Emmerson Oak Thomas a feed during the night.
The 23-year-old’s partner of almost two years said she was awoken by Thomas screaming for help when their three-month-old son went limp.
The jury at Teesside Crown Court watched a police video interview of the baby’s mother while Emmerson was being treated at Newcastle’s RVI hospital.
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She told officers Thomas ‘screamed’ for help and when she came downstairs, she found her son breathing in an unusual manner before his face turned white and lips turned blue.
The clearly distressed young mother said it felt like an ‘eternity’ for paramedics to arrive at their home and take over CPR.
Thomas previously told jurors he had fallen asleep with Emmerson on his knee and the baby must have slipped to the floor.
Toby Hedworth KC, prosecuting, cross-examined the evidence of the child’s mother.
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He asked if she believed Thomas had ‘lost his temper and done something bad’, to which she simply replied ‘no’.
Earlier in the trial, jurors had heard how the “deeply unconscious” boy was taken to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where a scan revealed brain injuries consistent with being shaken.
On footage shown to the jury, the child was seen to be making unusual arm gestures while laid on a changing mat before he became limp and lifeless.
Pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton said the bleeding on the brain was consistent with blunt force injuries caused by excessive and vigorous shaking.
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Thomas, of Grasmere Road, Redcar, denies murder and his trial continues.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States and Iran are close to signing an agreement aimed at ending their war, three regional officials told The Associated Press on Friday. A senior U.S. official said the tentative deal includes terms for removing and destroying nuclear material from Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted Friday on X that an agreement “has never been closer.” He gave no details, saying a final deal was still pending.
The apparent breakthrough in negotiations comes after Iran exchanged fire with the U.S. and Israel over three days this week, threatening to return the Middle East to full-scale war.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said multiple times in recent weeks that the countries were on the cusp of a deal. The war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28 has rattled the Middle East and virtually shut down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 7.
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The regional officials said the emerging deal is expected to pave the way for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the phased lifting of sanctions on Iran, and the release of frozen Iranian assets. These officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, declined to discuss further details.
A senior U.S. official said key terms in the emerging agreement include the removal and destruction of Iran’s nuclear material and the dismantling of Tehran’s nuclear program. The terms also include Iran agreeing not to fund terrorist groups, the official said.
The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide details about the sensitive talks.
Underscoring the fragility of the talks, Trump on Friday lashed out at Iranian officials on social media and said: “They better get their act together, and FAST!”
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Iran’s nuclear program has been a key point of division. The U.S. and Israel fear it could lead to an atomic weapon — a main reason their leaders cited for going to war. Tehran has insisted its nuclear efforts are for peaceful purposes.
Also critical is Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for oil and natural gas. Disruption of transit through the strait has crimped global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.
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The U.S. has responded since mid-April with a naval blockade of Iranian ports to choke off Iran’s own oil exports.
The regional officials said they expect a signing ceremony for the agreement in the coming days after officials in Washington and Tehran approve it.
“This deal has the potential to remake the region and lead to lasting peace,” U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Friday in a social media post, without releasing details.
Trump on Thursday claimed significant progress in talks to extend the ceasefire, just hours after he threatened to escalate attacks and seize Iran’s oil industry. Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said on state television that mediators were active and the text of a deal was “mostly finalized.”
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There was no immediate comment Friday from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, which has been leading efforts to mediate a deal between the U.S. and Iran. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi had said Thursday that Pakistan remained involved in negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel was not a party to the deal being negotiated. He said in a statement Friday that he and Trump were in “full agreement” that Iran must not have nuclear weapons.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement Friday he expects Trump to advocate for Israel’s interests. Katz warned that Israel could still act independently toward Iran and said the country would not pull out of the zones it is occupying in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, nor would it withdraw from the northern refugee camps of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end fighting in Lebanon between its ally militia Hezbollah and Israel. Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing his goal of destroying the militant group, complicating negotiations between Iran and the U.S.
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The deal was largely being brokered by Pakistan, led by its army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, the regional officials said, with backing from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar.
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Binkley reported from Washington and Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. AP journalist Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Michelle Price in Washington, contributed to this report.
At 2:45pm UK time, Facebook and its chat service, Messenger, reportedly went down.
People who tried to log into the site were met with messages like “an unexpected error occured” or “something went wrong”, The Independent said.
Instagram and WhatsApp, other Meta services, may have been affected too.
Issues appear to have been worldwide.
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“We’re aware people are currently having trouble accessing our services. We’re working on it,” Meta’s communications chief, Andy Stone, shared on X earlier.
He said this before many began to see improvements on Meta’s apps, like Facebook.
We’re aware people are currently having trouble accessing our services. We’re working on it.
The Independent has said there are “anecdotal reports” of people being able to log back into their Facebook accounts as of 3:38pm UK time, though others are struggling.
Speaking of anecdotes, the HuffPost UK team has been able to log back into our account as of 3:46pm.
Is Messenger down?
Outage reporting site Downdetector currently shows some Messenger outages, though this has decreased significantly since its 2:22pm UK spike.
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Side note: Downdetector traffic was so high today that the detector itself seems to have gone down.
Is Instagram down?
Downdetector shared higher numbers of reported outages as of the time of writing.
NordVPN reports that “Instagram is experiencing issues. A significant number of users report issues with the website, apps, and other services.”
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Is WhatsApp down?
The messaging app appeared to be working as normal, per Yahoo! Finance.
Why were Meta sites down today?
In short, we don’t know yet. HuffPost UK has reached out to Meta to ask which products were affected and why but did not recieve an immediate response.
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However, we know that Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp share servers. That means that an issue with one of the service providers could spell disaster for all.
Meta previously had a seven-hour outage that happened because of one wrong command that broke the “backbone” of the company’s network.
The 2021 error affected “the network Facebook has built to connect all our computing facilities together, which consists of tens of thousands of miles of fibre-optic cables crossing the globe and linking all our data centres,” Facebook’s vice president of engineering and infrastructure, Santosh Janardhan, said at the time.
We are yet to learn the cause of 2026′s outages, however.
Back in 2011, Jesse was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the Facebook founder in The Social Network, but in the upcoming follow-up The Social Reckoning, the part will be played by Succession’s Jeremy Strong.
During a new interview with Vanity Fair, the filmmaker claimed he spent three days trying to get the Now You See Me actor to return for his second movie, to no avail.
While reiterating that he didn’t want to speak on Jesse’s behalf, the director said: “He simply did not want to be conflated with Mark Zuckerberg anymore, that he has his problems with the guy.
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“He doesn’t like kids coming up to him in airports with business cards that say ‘I’m CEO, bitch’ for him to sign.”
Elsewhere in his Vanity Fair interview, Aaron Sorkin was quick to praise Jeremy’s performance in The Social Reckoning.
He enthused: “[I] followed his lead. He showed up on his first day, and when he said ‘good morning’ to me, he was already talking like Mark.”
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Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning
While The Social Network told the story of Facebook’s formation, the new film explores the events leading up to the 2021 leaks that revealed that the site’s team were aware of harmful practises that it chose not to address in lieu of turning a profit.
An official synopsis teases: “A companion piece to the hit film The Social Network, Sorkin’s original screenplay is based on the events that gave rise to the Wall Street Journal’s shocking exposé The Facebook Files.
“The film is inspired by the true story of how Frances Haugen, a young Facebook engineer, enlists the help of Jeff Horwitz, a Wall Street Journal reporter, to go on a dangerous journey that ends up blowing the whistle on the social network’s most guarded secrets.”
The Social Network is due for release on 9 October. Check out the film’s newly-released trailer below:
Stacey Solomon has admitted to owning a huge naked photo of her husband, Joe Swash, which is inspired by Orlando Bloom’s iconic nude paddleboard pose with ex-wife, Katy Perry
16:38, 12 Jun 2026Updated 16:38, 12 Jun 2026
Stacey Solomon has admitted she doesn’t know what to do with a giant naked photo of her husband, Joe Swash. The Sort Your Life Out presenter confessed to owning the eye-popping image – in which the EastEnders star appears completely starkers, paddling a canoe – on her BBC spin off show: Sort Your Life Out: Unpacked.
In the striking snap, which was blown up by an excitable fan for Stacey, 36, and Joe, 44, after they took the photo in Australia, the dad-of-four attempts to recreate A-lister Orlando Bloom’s iconic pose from 2016 in which the actor appeared totally nude on a paddleboat with then wife, Katy Perry.
That NSFW snap went viral in minutes, with the Lord of the Rings star later revealing he had “the feeling of being of free”. However, there were some who were appalled by the star’s ‘ballsy’ comments.
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In Joe’s snap, the cheeky chappy paddles his wife along a river Down Under, sporting a baseball cap backwards – and nothing else. Asked if her husband was naked like Orlando on the photo, Stacey replied: “He’s fully naked. We were in Australia, and do you remember when Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry took that photo? I was like: ‘Joe, we should take that photo”. So we did and we did our own re-enactment.”
Claiming the fan “put a pickle” to protect Joe’s modesty before sending the photo, she continued: “And then a fan blew it up and put a pickle in front of Joe’s (manhood) and sent it to us. I’m like: ‘What am I going to do with this?’”
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She continued: “It was so lovely and thoughtful of this fan that I thought ‘I can’t throw it away’ – so I’ve just kept it for like 10 years.”
Admitting she didn’t know what to do with it, Stacey later mused: “I don’t want this in my house but I don’t know what to do with it.”
The mum-of-five, who stars in the BBC show Sort Your Life Out where people are forced to clear out clutter from their homes, admitted she keeps everything fans send her.
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She added: “It’s just so lovely that someone would take the time to blow up an inappropriate picture of you and spend their time and money doing that. And I think: ‘I can’t just shred it and put it in the bin”.’
However, drawing the line at framing the photo, she said: “The thought was there, but I’m not framing it.”
And ask if she’d considered putting it up in her toilet, she joked: “My lovely blue loo? That’s like my sanctuary – I’m not putting Joe’s penis up there.”
A large boat and two caravans stuffed with waste were found in Fenland in separate incidents
A large boat and two caravans stuffed with waste were found dumped in Fenland in separate incidents. Fenland District Council received a report on Monday, June 8, that a fly-tipped boat had been dumped in High Side, Gorefield.
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In recent weeks, two caravans stuffed with rubbish had also been dumped in March and Wisbech. A fly-tipped caravan in Oldfield Lane, Wisbech, was reported to and removed by the council in May.
Another was dumped in Flagrasshill Road in March, which was stuffed with asbestos sheeting. A spokesperson for the district council warned: “Fly-tipped waste should not be disturbed by the public.
“Fly-tipped waste can be dangerous – it might include syringes, broken glass, asbestos, toxic chemicals or other dangerous items. It may also contain evidence that could help find those responsible and lead to prosecution.”
The council said it worked with a specialist contractor to clear it gradually and safely before removing the caravan from the site on Thursday, June 11. The boat was also removed by the district council the afternoon it was spotted on Monday, June 8.
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A spokesperson for Fenland District Council said: “Fly-tipping of any nature is illegal. Fly-tipping and abandoned vehicles cost the taxpayer significant amounts of money to clear away.
“We take reports of fly-tipping very seriously and aim to prosecute the people responsible. Fly-tipping can lead to a prison sentence and unlimited fine.
“Householders and businesses must also be aware that it is an offence to allow fly-tipping by not taking proper precautions to ensure anyone they engage to dispose of waste on their behalf does so correctly and is properly registered.”
The district council is appealing to the public for information about any of these incidents. Information can be reported through the fly-tipping form on the council’s website or by calling 01354 654321.
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The council has asked anyone who sees fly-tipping to make a note of its exact location, the day, date, and time it was spotted and, if you see a vehicle or individuals involved, the registration and other identifiable features.
An online child sex abuse predator told police he was a ‘paedophile hunter’. Rhys Meikle, from Openshaw, Manchester, was ‘operating as a prolific paedophile online’ before he was caught.
That claim was ‘a cover story in case he was ever caught’, police said as he was locked up. He distributed and traded ‘the most abhorrent child sexual abuse material’ with other sex offenders, detectives added.
Police raided his home in Openshaw in May 2024 after intelligence that indecent images of children had been shared online.
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He was arrested and his electronic devices were seized for examination, before he was bailed.
But the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) said he committed further offences while on bail – engaging with another individual online to share indecent images and videos of children and attempted to arrange their sexual abuse.
During their conversations, police said Meikle ‘indicated an intention to travel to abuse children’, discussed obtaining and distributing indecent images and suggested he had ‘a significant amount’ of child sexual abuse pictures and videos.
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In a statement after he was jailed, NWROCU said: “In interview, Miekle claimed that he had no intention of committing child sex offences and said he was attempting to catch sex offenders online, asserting that he possessed indecent images because he intended to use them as part of his role as a ‘paedophile hunter’.”
Detective Constable Adam Cronshaw from the NWROCU’s Internet Child Abuse Team said: “There is no legal justification for possessing or distributing indecent images of children, even for legitimate online child abuse hunter groups. Behind every image and video shared by Meikle is a child victim of sexual abuse.
“Meikle was operating as a prolific paedophile online, distributing and trading the most abhorrent child sexual abuse material with other sex offenders.
“He also attempted to arrange the abuse of young children so he could obtain first generation images to sell on a website. His claim of being a paedophile hunter was not credible and is believed to be a cover story in case he was ever caught.”
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Meikle, 31, of no fixed address, was jailed for four years at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating the commission of child sexual offence and making; and distributing indecent images of children. He also received an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was placed on the sex offender register indefinitely.
Police said that at the same hearing, Meikle received a further four-year sentence after being found guilty of drugs offences, following a separate investigation by Greater Manchester Police.
Detective Sergeant Chee Chan, from GMP’s Response Police Unit D Relief, called Meikle ‘a dangerous individual’who who ran a drug dealing operation while distributing and trading child sexual abuse material for money.
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“In an attempt to evade justice, he falsely portrayed himself as a ‘paedophile hunter’ despite the overwhelming evidence against him,” he added. “His imprisonment removes a significant threat from our communities, safeguarding children and protecting the public from further harm.”
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