Labour’s Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has been convicted and fined for allegedly failing to tax a vehicle, despite officials saying it does not belonging to him.

Lord Khan was convicted via the controversial single justice procedure (SJP) over neglecting to tax a 24-year-old Nissan Micra.

However, City Hall officials say it is a ‘scam’ and the car does not belong to either the Mayor or Transport for London (TfL).

SJPs were brought on in 2015 as a cheaper method of dealing with low-level criminal cases, allowing magistrates to sit alone and in private to hand out convictions rather than sitting in open court. 

The mayor, 55, was found guilty by a magistrate last month of keeping an unlicensed vehicle in a criminal prosecution brought by the DVLA.

The magistrate, sitting in Herefordshire, convicted Lord Khan in his absence and ordered that he pay a £220 fine, £85 in costs and settle the £35.84 bill for unpaid tax on the Micra.

Court documents show that DVLA letters addressed to the Mayor about the unpaid tax bill were sent to Gordon Ramsay‘s east London restaurant, instead of the nearby TfL offices.

Officers at the DVLA are now reviewing the case and investigating the circumstances of the prosecution. 

The Mayor, who became Baron Khan of Tooting after he was appointed to the House of Lords in July, now faces the possibility of having to appear in court in person to try to overturn the conviction. 

A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: ‘This is a scam, which is a crime. It’s not the first time the Mayor has been victim of a scam involving people falsely stating that Sadiq is the owner of a vehicle. Such behaviour is illegal, and the DVLA are aware.’ 

It comes after a host of furious motorists pledged to register their vehicles in Lord Khan’s name in a protest against the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to cover the whole of London.

The protesters hoped to make him liable for the £12.50 daily charge for entering the zone.

The mayor was widely accused of waging war on motorists by Londoners after he expanded ULEZ and hiked the congestion zone charge.

He is also considering introducing new charges for SUV drivers, it was reported earlier this year. 

Critics have dubbed the SJP ‘conveyor belt justice’, with magistrates deciding on hundreds of cases a day and sometimes spending less than a minute making each decision.

The system, which is currently under Government review, was criticised in 2024 when around 59,000 train fare evasion convictions had to be overturned for being unlawful and it emerged that children had been wrongly convicted in the secretive courts.

It has also been the focus of intensifying scrutiny thanks to regular incidents of sick and incapacitated people being harshly convicted of not paying their household bills.

In Lord Khan’s case, court records seen by the Press Association show he was prosecuted by the DVLA after the annual tax on the blue Nissan Micra, which was first registered in 2002, ran out in September last year.

The DVLA accused Lord Khan of being the keeper of the vehicle when it was spotted as being untaxed on January 24, telling the court that his name and date of birth appear against the car on official records held by the Government.

The agency said a letter asking for confirmation of the identity of the car owner went unanswered in January, leading to a criminal prosecution.

Lord Khan serves as the chair of TfL as part of his mayoral role, and the organisation has its offices on the ninth floor of 5 Endeavour Square in Stratford.

But court papers show the DVLA sent its letters to 9 Endeavour Square, a two-minute walk away from the TfL base, in a building where Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen, Bar & Rooftop occupies the top floor.

Magistrate Surinder Gidda, sitting at Herefordshire Magistrates’ Court, convicted Lord Khan on August 18 after no plea had been entered to the charge.

The court has also sent a record of conviction to the Gordon Ramsay restaurant, ordering Lord Khan to pay the £340.84 court bill within 28 days or face the prospect of increased fines, bailiffs, or even ‘a warrant for your arrest to bring you to court’.

Defendants who believe they have been wrongly convicted of a crime in their absence can apply for the case to be re-opened, typically by appearing in person in front of a judge to make a statutory declaration.

Lord Khan could argue that he did not know about the criminal case because the letters were addressed to the wrong building.

Once reopened, he could petition the DVLA to withdraw the prosecution if it can be shown that he has been wrongly accused, or enter a not guilty plea.

Alternatively, the DVLA could apply to the court itself for the case to be reopened.

A town near Cambridge has been named one of the prettiest in all of England, and it boasts gorgeous nature, historic architecture, and has over 200 independent stores to explore

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While Cambridge is full of gorgeous architecture and various parks to explore, it can sometimes be nice to leave the city to explore somewhere new, as the surrounding area is brimming with stunning places just waiting to be discovered. Most people might find it more appealing to go on day trips and staycations in the summer months, when the weather is warmer, but the colder months can also be a great way to explore new places, as there tend to be less crowds around.

And to share his top recommendations, one avid UK-based traveller named Alexander McHale often shares his top recommendations of places he thinks is worth a visit. In a recent video published onto his social media platforms, Alexander went on to boast about a smaller town that’s near Cambridge, which he argued is one of the prettiest towns in all of England.

“One of England’s prettiest towns,” he wrote in the overlay text of the video, as he shared snippets from his visit.

The town in question is Holt, a historic Georgian market town in north Norfolk, located 79 miles northeast of Cambridge and close to the coast.

The town is home to many art galleries, antique and book shops and places to eat located along the high street and tucked away in hidden, charming courtyards and alleyways. And with over 200 independent shops, there are also plenty of shopping opportunities.

If you’re looking to enjoy nature, there are also several landmark spots, as the town is bordered by Holt Country Park and close to the Norfolk Coast.

In his video, Alexander was seen walking around the various shops on the high street, enjoying a sweet treat from one of the many cafes and coffee shops in the town, and taking in the gorgeous architecture.

After a major fire ruined most buildings in the town in 1708, the town was rebuilt using strict rules of proportion, symmetrical facades, and mathematical precision. It now still features gorgeous 18th-century Georgian buildings, courtyards, and alleyways that are waiting to be explored.

But some historic artifacts managed to survive the fire, including various 18th-century fire insurance plaques affixed to brick facades.

The town also boasts the Poppy Line steam train from the local train station, where visitors can enjoy scenic rides toward Weybourne and Sheringham.

To get to Holt from Cambridge, you can either do a two hour drive to get there, or take a train to Norwich before taking a second train to Holt.

Several people were quickly amazed by the town, as viewers took to the comment section to share their thoughts.

A mother discovered her son was restrained 33 times in six weeks. Another was told her distressed daughter is “aggressive” as six staff pin her to the floor and inject her with medication. Through tears, families describe images they cannot forget: bruises, broken bones, loved ones left sitting in urine-soaked clothes, isolated and afraid.

These are recent experiences shared by family carers supporting relatives with learning disabilities, autism and mental health conditions in mental health hospitals.

My colleagues and I spoke to 27 family carers about their experiences. Again and again, they described the fear that something might happen to the person they loved, alongside the frustration of knowing how to help but being unable to make that knowledge count.

Families told us that they had spent years learning how their relatives communicated fear, pain, distress and safety. They could often distinguish sensory overload from physical pain or anger. They recognised subtle signs that someone was becoming overwhelmed and knew which routines helped them feel secure and which situations could trigger panic.

This kind of knowledge is built through years of daily care and close attention. Yet many carers felt that their expertise lost its value as soon as their relative entered hospital.

Participants told us they were consulted during assessments but then excluded from decisions about care. Concerns raised after an incident were not always reflected in plans designed to prevent the same thing happening again. Some carers said they were labelled “difficult” or “disruptive” when they challenged the treatment their relative received.

Many described becoming reluctant advocates because they feared what might happen if they remained silent. Similar concerns about families struggling to obtain answers after serious incidents and deaths involving autistic people have been identified in previous research.

This led families to question how distress itself was being understood.

What professionals sometimes described as “challenging behaviour”, families recognised as fear, sensory overload, frustration, pain, confusion or an attempt to communicate an unmet need.

If distress is understood mainly as a risk that needs to be controlled, restrictive responses such as physical restraint become increasingly likely. Restraint means using physical force to limit someone’s movement and is generally intended as a last resort when there is an immediate risk of harm. Research has shown that the use of restrictive practices, including restraint and seclusion, can itself cause physical and psychological trauma.

Families described alternatives that could help. They valued communication passports, short personalised documents explaining how someone communicates and what staff need to know about their needs, alongside care plans setting out their fears, preferences and sensory needs. When staff used these well, carers felt signs of distress could be recognised earlier and some crises avoided altogether.

The problem described by families went beyond individual communication failures. They spoke about wider problems in how services were organised, how decisions were made, by whom and how concerns were handled.

Several described the trauma of seeking help for someone they loved and then believing that the care itself had caused harm. One participant expressed their anger by calling the system “the most corrupt, barbaric system going in the world”.

Carers also questioned what happened after things went wrong. Although healthcare policies emphasise openness and learning from mistakes, participants described accountability as “a hollow word”. Some struggled to obtain clear explanations and felt that complaints did not lead to meaningful change.

Their accounts echo concerns raised by the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and social care in England. Its Out of Sight review (published in 2020) documented longstanding concerns about restrictive practices and the treatment of autistic people and people with learning disabilities in hospital settings.

These concerns extend beyond the UK. The World Health Organization has highlighted efforts to move mental health services away from coercion, meaning practices that restrict a person’s freedom or compel treatment, towards approaches based on human rights, participation and relationships. The United Nations has also raised concerns about coercive practices and the rights of disabled people.

There is evidence that involving families may form part of the solution. A review of 53 studies examining ways to reduce restrictive practices found that family involvement was associated with lower use of restraint and other forms of coercion.

That finding reflects a central question raised by our research: whose knowledge is treated as valuable?

Family carers may hold thousands of small pieces of information about a person: how they show fear, what causes sensory distress, which routines provide reassurance and what apparently aggressive behaviour may be communicating.

Yet many participants described being pushed to the margins of decision-making or forced to fight to have that knowledge taken seriously. They believed this exclusion could increase the likelihood of distress escalating, deepen trauma and damage trust between families and services.

Efforts to reduce restraint increasingly recognise that coercion is shaped by relationships, institutional cultures and the way services are organised. Family knowledge may therefore be an important and underused resource for recognising distress before it becomes a crisis.

For the carers we spoke to, being listened to was ultimately about the safety and wellbeing of the person they loved.

If mental health services want to reduce the use of restraint, they need reliable ways of using the detailed knowledge families have accumulated over years of caring. That knowledge can help staff understand what a person is trying to communicate before distress reaches the point at which force is considered necessary.

The 28-year-old died after a crash on the A15 in January 2026

A father who was “always smiling” died of “traumatic injuries” after a single vehicle crash on the A15, an inquest has heard. Jacek Mierzejewski, aged 28, from Great Haddon, was killed when his car left the road near Yaxley at about 12.40am on January 11.

The inquest into his death was held on September 1 by Area Coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Caroline Jones. The red Toyota Celica he was driving left the road and initially struck a curb before colliding with a signpost, tree and fence, the inquest heard.

The court heard that the car had been travelling north towards Peterborough and “lost control” for unknown reasons. Mr Mierzejewski, who held a provisional driving licence, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A toxicology report determined Mr Mierzejewski had around 1.5 times the legal limit of alcohol in his system. The reason the vehicle left the road is “unknown” but it was deemed possible that his blood alcohol levels could have been a factor as well as his possible lack of driving experience.

It is believed the passenger, who suffered serious injuries, called the emergency services followed by a report from a member of the public. It was deemed a category one emergency response.

A post-mortem carried out on the 28-year-old’s death confirmed he died of “multiple traumatic injuries”. The father of two died as a result of a road traffic collision, Coroner Jones concluded.

The partner of Mr Mierzejewski paid tribute to him after his death. The 28-year-old’s partner said: “Jacek, my partner, my love has passed away. He leaves behind our son Diego who is nearly two years old and our baby on the way. He leaves a hole in our lives that can never be filled.”

She described Mr Mierzejewski as “always bubbly, always smiling and always bringing light wherever he went”. She added: “He had the kindest heart and the most beautiful soul. He was an amazing partner and a wonderful father. He loved his family more than anything in this world. I still can’t believe you are gone.

“Our children will always know who their daddy was and how much he was loved. I will carry you in my heart for the rest of my life. Rest in peace my love. You will always be loved, always missed and will never be forgotten.”

There was joy in Cheshire and Greater Manchester as the three lucky winning postcodes landed cash prizes, with every ticket in the winning postcode areas receiving £1,000.

The winning postcodes were CH65 6PA, which covers Fern Road, Whitby, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, M22 4EF, which covers Kenworthy Lane, Northenden, Wythenshawe, Manchester, and M30 7BY, which covers Liverpool Road, Eccles, Manchester.

The postcodes were among 20 winning postcodes announced in the lottery’s daily draw.

Players living in the winning areas who held a valid ticket for their postcode received £1,000 for each ticket they owned.

The Postcode Lottery supports a range of charities across the UK, with a minimum of 33 per cent of ticket sales going to good causes.

Every day, 20 postcodes across the country are selected to win £1,000 for every ticket in the postcode.

The Postcode Lottery also manages society lotteries on behalf of a number of charities and says it supports a wide range of charitable organisations and community projects in Britain and around the world.

To date, players have helped raise more than £1.7 billion for thousands of charities and good causes.

TG Jones, formerly known as WHSmith, has revealed that it will be shutting its Coney Street shop – which also contains the city’s main post office – on October 19.

The Post Office is set to close a few days early on October 14, seven years since the branch moved into the shop after the standalone Lendal location closed.

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As reported by The Press on Monday, the brand has secured court approval for a major restructuring, which is expected to lead to the closure of around 150 stores and affect hundreds of jobs.

Shops across the country have revealed that they are set to close, with banners in the window of the Coney Street shop reading “Store Closing Down” and “Everything Must Go”.

On the Post Office website, an advert to fill the main city centre post office has been advertised with a closing date of next Thursday (September 10).

It says: “These contracts will be awarded directly as Post Office Ltd must act with extreme and unavoidable urgency to protect essential services relied upon by communities.

“Applicants will be shortlisted prior to full assessment, with higher scores given to those experienced in operating a Post Office to required retail standards and those with suitable premises.

“Your Expression of Interest will guide shortlisting, so ensure all details are accurate and proposed locations include complete addresses with postcodes.”

The nearest Post Offices in York city centre are Micklegate and Colliergate.

TG Jones has been contacted for comment and once we receive their reply, we will include it in this story.

Lindsay Clancy does not deny killing her three children, but claims she was suffering with postpartum psychosis at the time

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A murder trial has gripped the US after a mum stands accused of killing three of her children but claims she had been suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time.

Lindsay Clancy, 36, is charged with killing Cora, age five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months old, in 2023, when she was on maternity leave.

Her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, the father of the three children, discovered the bodies in the basement when he came home.

The former labour and delivery nurse has pleaded not guilty of lack of criminal responsibility in court, but doesn’t deny strangling the young children to death. Instead, she claims postpartum psychosis led her to do it.

The prosecution argues she knew what she was doing, The Mirror reports.

Jurors however are struggling to reach a verdict. The murder trial started at the end of July but Tuesday ended a fourth day of deliberations without a verdict after previously saying they couldn’t agree whether the mother is criminally responsible.

What happened to the children?

The Clancy’s had been at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, with their kids on January 24, 2023, when Patrick said he nipped out in the evening.

He told the court the mum had been outside with the kids, building a snowman and was having “one of her best days”. Clancy reportedly told her husband at the time that she was having thoughts about harming her children or suicide.

Later on, Patrick said he left the home to pick up dinner and medication but when he returned, found all three children dead and Clancy injured in the garden from a suicide attempt.

Clancy is still paralysed from the waist down and requires a wheelchair. The three children were all killed after being strangled with exercise bands.

About the Clancy trial

The mum is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of assault and battery. But the trial is largely about whether the killings were intentional, given her mental health.

Kevin Reddington, her lawyer, says Clancy was so mentally unwell that she couldn’t be held criminally responsible. The trial heard she had bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis which led her to believe she heard a voice telling her to kill the children so she could end her life.

In her diary entries in the months before the killings, Clancy wrote feeling anxious, overwhelmed and preoccupied with the details of her infant’s care with “brain dog” and feeling “desperate to get a mental break from taking care of everyone”.

Yet prosecutors argue she acted intentionally, as she was involved in everyday activities on the day of the murder such as taking them to the doctor and building a snowman.

The prosecution claims she deliberately sent Patrick away on errands to get him out of the house. It has also questioned the seriousness of her suicide attempt.

What is postpartum psychosis?

According to the NHS, postpartum psychosis is a serious mental health illness that can affect someone soon after having a baby. Symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions, mania, low mood and confusion.

It is said to affect around one in every 1,000 mothers after giving birth and should be seen as a medical emergency. People in this state may not realise they are ill and may need their partner, family or friends to spot the signs and call for help.

Did Clancy try to get help?

After around three months after her youngest, Callan, was born, and around the time she was due to return to work, the mum’s mental health started to decline, according to court testimonies.

Clancy sought help from multiple providers and programmes in September 2022 and also checked herself into a psychiatric hospital for several days in early January 2023.

Her defence claims her care was disjointed and her medication was not managed well. The Clancy’s have both separately sued several people who treated her, though these claims are yet to be heard in civil court.

The clinic that saw Clancy testified she denied having plans to harm herself or anyone else and didn’t exhibit signs of mania or psychosis, but did say she reported feeling suicidal.

Her mother however claimed Clancy told her and Patrick in December 2022 that she thought about harming the children,

Has Clancy testified in court?

The court has heard from Clancy’s ex-husband, lawyers and more than 70 witnesses, including family members and medical staff, but Clancy has not taken to the witness stand.

Throughout the trial, she has been held at Tewksbury Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, but came into court to watch the proceedings from the defence table. She was seen occasionally crying, such as when prosecutors showed autopsy photos of the children to the jury.

What are the potential outcomes of the trial?

Judge William Sullivan has urged the jury to keep trying to reach a verdict, with deliberations expected to resume again on Wednesday.

The jury could convict her of murder or manslaughter, or acquit her if they believe her mental health was to blame.

A conviction could see her spend the rest of her life in prison, though if acquitted, a judge could still order her to be confined to a mental health facility if an evaluation determines she is a danger to the public.

If the jury can’t reach a verdict and a mistrial is declared, the charges against Clancy would remain and prosecutors would need to decide whether to go through the process again before a new group of jurors.

Alternatively, Clancy could be offered a plea deal though her lawyer is more likely to push to drop the charges, according to Boston defence attorney and former prosecutor, Brad Bailey, who is not involved in the case.

For more than a century, the Pilot and the Victory Chimes — two historic schooners with towering sails — have between them served the country in wartime, hosted the likes of Jacques Cousteau and graced the Maine state quarter.

But an inlet just off New York City’s famously polluted Gowanus Canal could be their final port of call.

The boats — now owned by a company that turns historic vessels into floating bars and restaurants — sank there in early July while docked on the Brooklyn waterfront.

Now many in the maritime community are calling on the company to do what it can to save them — and to account for how they sank in the first place.

The 121-foot (37-meter) Pilot, which is a little more than a century old, and the 128-foot (39-meter) Victory Chimes, which dates to 1900 and is the ship that graces the 2003 Maine quarter, are owned by New York City-based company Crew. Both schooners sank around the time of strong squalls, though the exact cause of the sinkings has not been fully determined.

Crew is working with insurers, marine salvage experts and marine surveyors to determine what to do about the sunken boats, said Alex Pincus, the company’s CEO.

“Raising wooden vessels of this size is a highly complex operation that requires specialized equipment, careful planning and extensive coordination,” Pincus said. “The vessels remain submerged as part of that ongoing process while assessments and planning continue.”

Maritime groups want to see the ships saved if possible

Many in the maritime community are calling on the company to do what it can to save the ships and to account for why they sank. Brad Vogel, a member of a canoe club called the Gowanus Dredgers, whose members paddle near the site, called the potential loss of the ships “a shame” and “in some ways unforgivable.”

“People in Maine, people in New York City, do want answers, and want to know what’s going on. And it’s not at all certain that there is a commitment to raising the vessels,” he said.

The Victory Chimes is on the National Register of Historic Places and is the last surviving Chesapeake ram, a kind of flat-bottomed schooner designed to navigate narrow and shallow waterways. Crew acquired it at auction about three years ago.

The loss of the ship is “heartbreaking for Maine and the nation’s maritime heritage” because it’s the last schooner of its type, said Steve Bromage, executive director of the Maine Historical Society.

“While salvaging her requires tremendous effort and expense, it would be very unfortunate to lose such an important part of history,” he said.

The Pilot once ferried maritime pilots to larger ships in Boston Harbor. It also made trips for the Coast Guard during the World War II era. It became an educational and research vessel in the 1970s and 1980s, and Jacques Cousteau spent time aboard it during that period. Crew acquired the vessel in 2015 and turned it into an oyster bar.

The schooners were docked at Brooklyn Bridge Park before being relocated to Henry Street Basin, just off the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood. The canal is a federal Superfund site regarded as one of the most toxic waterways in the country, though a long-term cleanup is underway.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, which manages the park, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Coast Guard and New York City officials also didn’t respond to questions about the sinking of the ships.

The loss of the boats is “sad, but not entirely unexpected,” because maintaining such historic schooners is very difficult, said Amanda Pleau, spokesperson for the Maine Maritime Museum. Most turn-of-the-century schooners lasted less than 20 years, she said.

“That’s also why historic vessels are so special; it’s not uncommon in Maine to come across a home that’s more than 100 years old, but the remaining ships are few and far between,” Pleau said.

This is the moment a suspected thief brazenly stole an influencer’s Louis Vuitton suitcase outside London St Pancras station.

Colleen Bankston’s bag was apparently pinched by the man as she turned her back for a split second while packing luggage into the boot of a taxi on Sunday morning. 

Footage shows a man, wearing headphones and a baseball cap, looking around to see if anyone is watching before subtly bending down to grab the suitcase and walking off with it. 

Ms Bankston, a 62-year-old influencer and personal trainer, appears none the wiser as she faces the boot of the taxi, the bag having been just behind her. 

The thief then hides the suitcase by holding it close to his chest, before disappearing through the station entrance. 

The video, which was taken by a man nearby who said he recognised the suspected thief, was posted on social media by the American fitness influencer. 

Captioning the clip, she wrote: ‘Get this guy who stole my bag before he gets someone else or, worse, takes a child.’ 

Reacting to the video, one viewer wrote: ‘He has definitely done this before… He is a pro… I bet he has stolen countless bags from tourists.’ Another said: ‘Happened two weeks ago to my friend at St Pancras.’

He then begins walking off with the bag, clutching it to his chest so it is less visible 

The suspected thief, wearing headphones and a baseball cap, walks quickly along the outside of the station before turning into the entrance 

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The suspect looked smart in a white polo shirt, blue suit trousers, a black rucksack and glasses. 

A spokesman for British Transport Police said: ‘Officers are aware of a video showing a man taking a suitcase from outside St Pancras International railway station on Sunday August 30.

‘Enquiries are ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact British Transport Police by texting 61016, quoting reference 447 of 1 September.’

Last month, an Algerian migrant who stole a suitcase containing jewellery worth up to £175,000 outside St Pancras by telling his victim her trousers were dirty was jailed. 

Jumama Zaida had just come out of the station in April after she arrived on the Eurostar from Paris when an accomplice told her she had a stain on her clothing and offered her a tissue in a bid to distract her.

As she wiped her trousers, Bilal Arbaoui, 32, then used the opportunity to steal Ms Zaida’s gold Rimowa case, which can cost upwards of £1,000. 

She quickly noticed the luggage had been taken and saw Arbaoui running away with it, before notifying police. 

Assisted by an Arabic interpreter, Arbaoui appeared at Inner London Crown Court this month and was jailed for 22 months after he pleaded guilty to theft, despite initially denying it was him in CCTV images.

Arbaoui, of Neasden, north-west London, has two previous convictions for similar bag thefts since he arrived in the UK in 2024.

An Algerian migrant who stole a suitcase containing jewellery worth up to £175,000 by telling his victim her trousers were dirty was jailed last month

At the same station in June, classical musician Peter Facer had his oboe stolen 

At the same station in June, a classical musician was also targeted in another cruel ‘distraction theft’. 

Peter Facer, 38, had his oboe stolen by crooks when he was travelling back from his former woodwind teacher’s retirement party in London on June 14.

The oboist was leaning against railings outside the station entrance when the thieves struck.

Mr Facer was carrying a coffee and two bags, one containing his rare oboe d’amore while the other contained his clothes and a pair of Apple AirPods.

One of the crooks pretended to ask for directions to Euston station while his accomplice stole the ‘sentimental’ instrument.

The young man walked away after Mr Facer repeated instructions to get to Euston as the thief claimed to have limited English.

The classical musician was ‘just trying to be helpful’ – but when he looked down, his possessions, including his cherished woodwind instrument, had vanished.

The Met Police told the Daily Mail at the time: ‘it appears to be a theft not involving violence which means we are unable to provide a comment in this instance.’ 

Bahrain intercepted an Iranian aerial attack early Wednesday, as Tehran continued to fire on allies of the United States in the Gulf region despite threats from President Donald Trump to escalate American military attacks.

Bahrain, which hosts an important US naval base, said its air defense systems intercepted incoming fire from Iran, accusing Iran of ‘attacks targeting civilians’ in a statement issued by its military.

After a respite of more than a month, fighting between the US and Iran has been increasing since the weekend after the American military hit Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran retaliated by firing missiles at American bases in Jordan, which were all intercepted.

The renewed violence threatens to threatens to fully reignite a conflict that is now in its seventh month and has led to a spike in oil prices, roiled the global economy and is posing increasing political problems for Trump’s Republican party ahead of November midterm elections.

Since the fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed above $95, up more than 30 per cent from the start of the war.

Ahead of the morning attacks on Bahrain, Iran fired missiles at Jordan and drones at Kuwait all of which were intercepted. 

On Monday, the United Arab Emirates said it had intercepted an incoming Iranian drone over its waters as well.

The US Central Command said it had completed the latest barrage against Iranian military targets including air defense sites, radar systems and maritime assets.

President Donald Trump threatened to escalate American military attacks

A map showing US attacks on Iran and retaliatory strikes

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One US strike hit a home hosting a wedding, according to Iranian media. At least five people were killed, including a child, and wounding at least 68 others, according to Iranian officials.

Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Wednesday called the US ‘Satan’ after the attack in the country’s south.

‘Minab school: children massacred. Lamerd sports hall: kids slaughtered. Kouhestak wedding: children killed with families. If a power acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan, and kills like Satan, it’s Satan. Shields a junior Satan that does the same? It’s THE Great Satan,’ said Ghalibaf in a post on X.

The US military said it was aware of the report but that it ‘never targets civilians.’

In a statement, the Iranian army said ‘dozens of the army’s attack drones… have targeted radar systems and the positions of US forces at the Al Dhafra and Al Minhad bases in the United Arab Emirates’.

It said it also targeted ‘radar installations and gathering points’ of US forces at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards meanwhile said they targeted US forces in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

During last month’s the lull in fighting, the US ramped up economic pressure on Iran, which is suffering from soaring inflation, negative growth and a collapsing currency, as Washington sought to win concessions to fully open the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping traffic.

About a fifth of the world’s traded oil was shipped through the key waterway before Israel and the US attacked Iran on February 28 and Iran largely shut it down. 

Despite many pronouncements from Washington that the strait is open, only a handful of ships are making the passage each day and Iran has regularly attacked vessels.

In launching its latest attacks, US Central Command said it was responding to Tehran trying to hit commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East.

Late Tuesday, Trump said he would not force Iran to the bargaining table.

‘I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. 

‘They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?’ Trump wrote on social media.

Earlier, Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions. 

He warned that if Iran retaliated for the new strikes, ‘they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level.’

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.