Davies uses a combination of sport nutrition gels and powders, including electrolytes and carbohydrate powder, which is easier to digest and, crucially, contains zero fibre. G1M Sport is a favourite, but post-challenge, he’s been enjoying green vegetables, salads and other fibrous staples. As well as the physical issues, there were also mental challenges to overcome.

Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom, has been given a conditional pardon, David Lammy has confirmed.

Ellis shot Blakely dead outside The Magdala pub in Hampstead, London on 10 April 1955, following a tumultuous relationship involving infidelity on both sides, an aborted pregnancy, and physical abuse by Mr Blakely – including a punch in the stomach during an argument that led to a miscarriage.

Under cross-examination, Ellis admitted that she intended to kill Blakely, and the jury took just 20 minutes to convict her of murder – a charge that carried a mandatory death sentence. She was later executed on 13 July 1955.

Her family have been calling for a pardon, saying evidence that she was badly treated by her lover was never heard at her trial.

The King has accepted the government’s advice to grant Ms Ellis a conditional pardon, Mr Lammy told MPs.

Ellis’s legacy has been cemented in the world of film, television and theatre, with the most famous film being Mike Newell’s moving Dance with a Stranger (1985) with Miranda Richardson as Ruth Ellis.

Lucy Boynton recently played Ms Ellis in the ITV drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, which also starred Toby Jones, Toby Stephens, Juliet Stevenson, and Laurie Davidson as Ellis’s partner, David Blakely.

Ellis was trialled at the Number One Court at the Old Bailey on 20 June 1955. Prosecutor Christmas Humphreys asked her just one question: “When you fired the revolver at close range into the body of David Blakely, what did you intend to do?”

She replied: “It’s obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him.” This confession was enough for the jury, who only spent 20 minutes deliberating, to find Ellis guilty and sentenced her to execution, which was the mandatory punishment for murder at the time.

Ellis was executed at 9.01am on 13 July 1955 by the famed hangman Albert Pierrepoint. As was customary with British executions, Ellis was buried in an unmarked grave in Holloway Prison. She was 28.

Her execution caused public outrage and contributed to growing support for the abolition of the death penalty, which was eventually suspended in 1965.

A petition signed by 50,000 people called for Ellis’s pardon on the grounds she could have been tried for manslaughter, and was submitted to the Home Office. It was ultimately rejected.

Further calls for her pardon, taking into account the abuse she had suffered, were brought forward in 2003 and 2007, but both failed to pass.

Although it took a decade, the Ellis case did much to advance the abolition of the death penalty in Britain, which finally came to pass in 1965.

More follows on this breaking news story. Subscribe here to get the latest updates from The Independent

Nigel Farage is angry. We know this, because yesterday he went to great lengths to tell us so. ‘So yes, you can ask: am I angry? Well, I’ve never been angrier in my life’, he raged in a recorded address to the nation from his Reform bunker.

The reason for his anger? A national newspaper had published a photo of a house he owns which is lived in by a family member.

A house, incidentally, that Farage himself had happily posed in front of for photographs previously. And a broadcast journalist had knocked on the door of a family member whilst apparently trying to inquire about his whereabouts.

He is also furious at the fact that he was being asked questions about his personal finances. ‘Making money is not a crime,’ he insisted furiously. ‘The really big question that I want to pose is: Do we want leaders that know how to make money? Do we want leaders who have run businesses, employed people and understand how the world works?’

To which the answer from most reasonable people would be ‘yes’. But that’s not the issue Reform’s leader keeps dodging. He isn’t currently under investigation by parliament’s sleaze watchdog for making an honest living.

He’s under investigation for accepting a staggering £5million gift from a mysterious British-Thai sugar daddy, not declaring it, then telling the voters legitimate questions about what he himself boasted was ‘a lottery win’, were ‘none of their business’. He’s also facing separate questions over accepting staff, security and a flat near Buckingham Palace from an acquaintance called George Cottrell (aka ‘Posh George’), who is a convicted fraudster, and recently published a book titled How To Launder Money. ‘I have not broken the law in any way at all’, Farage furiously declared. No, but some of his closest allies have.

We know too that Nigel Farage is scared. Scared for his own safety. ‘I am the most physically and verbally attacked public figure or politician of modern times’, he claimed. This was why he needed millions of pounds for his personal security. He used the example of an occasion when his car was surrounded and ‘written off’ by a hostile mob.

Though in the midst of his justifiable anger at this appalling incident, he seems to have forgotten that two of his parliamentary colleagues – Jo Cox and David Amess – were murdered during the course of their public duties.

And that, in a nutshell, was the problem with yesterday’s piece of political street theatre.

Nigel Farage claimed his decision to give up his Clacton seat and call a by-election, in which he will stand, was all about David fronting up to the establishment Goliath. A fresh mandate would leave him free to finish his populist revolution, he insisted.

But it wasn’t really about any of those things.

Nigel Farage’s statement was about one thing. Nigel Farage.

Or, to be more accurate, someone who currently calls himself Nigel Farage. Because the self-pitying, evasive and frankly boorish figure we saw yesterday was a pale shadow of the engaging, irreverent swashbuckler who has spent the past decade cutting a swathe through the British political elite.

His speech could have very simply been boiled down to two words. ‘Poor me.’ Everyone was out to get him. The parliamentary standards commissioner. Left-wing thugs. The editor of The Times. In Farage’s eyes, just about everyone in British politics is to blame for his political woes, other than him.

Yes, his tightly controlled and choreographed media appearance will inevitably garner rave reviews amongst his social media cheerleaders.

He will inevitably be re-elected in what is effectively the safest Reform seat in the entire country, especially given the major parties will not be standing and his only ‘serious’ competition will be from the intergalactic space warrior, Count Binface.

But his victory will be a meaningless one. Because it will not address any of his or Reform’s basic structural problems.

Through his infatuation with wealthy ex-lags and shadowy foreign crypto-billionaires, Farage now appears to be in politics primarily for himself, rather than any of the causes he used to so boldly champion.

His regurgitation of cliched anti-Press tropes to try to deflect from legitimate scrutiny simply reinforces the impression he has something to hide. And his increasingly tired rhetoric and demeanour is rapidly propelling Kemi Badenoch into pole position as the standard-bearer of the insurgent Right.

Which is why Farage’s attempt to deflect from all of this by using the voters of Clacton as his human shield is doomed to fail. The British people will look at the man taking his ego for a spin along the east coast, compare it to the one who fought so tirelessly and tenaciously to free his country from the tentacles of Brussels, and ask each other: ‘Who is this imposter?’

Nigel Farage is meant to be a populist warrior. The embittered, cry-baby who hid behind his podium and his advisers yesterday and raged at the world is anything but. To use a phrase he and his supporters are very keen on, he has turned into British politics’ biggest ‘snowflake’. And the heat generated by his sleazy dealings and relationships is seeing him melt under the pressure.

There was one way Reform’s leader could have sought to transform his political fortunes yesterday: Come clean. Is the £5million gift for security, as initially claimed? Or something else, as he and his allies implied in a series of car crash interviews last week? What is the true nature of his relationship with ‘Posh’ George Cottrell? What other undisclosed gifts from mystery benefactors are floating around?

But he didn’t come clean.

Instead, he’s running away. Running away from the scrutiny. Running away from parliament’s sleaze watchdog. And hoping that amidst the circus of the upcoming by-election he’ll be able to slip away into the crowd.

He won’t. Because the British people will be able to spot him a mile off. They know what the real Nigel Farage looks like.

They can easily see through the doppelganger that stood before them yesterday. And they won’t accept any cheap imitations.

Nottinghamshire Police have issued a statement as they assist the fire service with the large-scale fire at the scrap yard.

Police have evacuated a number of properties in the area, and road closures are expected to be in place for “some time”.

A Nottinghamshire Police spokesperson said: “Emergency services are currently dealing with a large-scale fire at a scrapyard in Radford Road. Police have evacuated a number of properties in the area.

“Road closures will be in place for some time in Radford Road to the junction of Northgate. Officers are advising people to avoid the area and for residents to keep windows and doors closed while the fire is extinguished.”

The arrests involved two men, both in their 60s, and a woman in her 50s.

The two men were also arrested on suspicion of fraud, while one was additionally arrested on suspicion of bribery.

The arrests mark the latest development in a long-running investigation which has already seen senior university figures suspended and a separate higher education regulator launch its own inquiry.

Police say they are exploring evidence indicating over £1million’s worth of fraudulent activity. As part of their enquiries, we’re probing around 60 transactions and investigating more than a million emails.

Our investigation team is working closely with the Crown Prosecution (CPS)’s Serious Economic Crime team.

Assistant Chief Constable Rick Jackson, GMP’s lead for crime, intelligence and forensics, said: “This is a key development in this significant and complex investigation which is seeing our detectives conduct painstaking work. This is a lengthy operation, and we are following every line of enquiry to ensure we are in a position to compile the strongest possible evidence for a potential prosecution.

“The investigation has become an even more complex picture since the allegations were first brought to our attention a year ago. We are ensuring that we have targeted phases focussing on each of the separate elements so that each strand is progressed methodically and thoroughly.

“The action today relates to one key strand of that investigation, and we are working closely with the CPS with a view to providing an initial file of evidence for their advice before the end of the year.

“We don’t lose sight of the fact that at the heart of this are students whose university experience has been impacted by money that should’ve been invested in their education instead allegedly being used for personal gain.

“We are continuing to engage with all relevant parties so that all necessary action can be taken in relation to any suspected criminality and to support those at the University potentially impacted by this case.”

An investigation into alleged “fraud and bribery”, the suspension of senior university figures and a separate regulator inquiry have placed the University of Greater Manchester under intense scrutiny over the past year.

Police are looking to work with the Office for Students, and are working with the University of GM to encourage any staff or representatives to provide any information that may assist with enquiries.

(Image: University of Greater Manchester)

The institution, formerly known as the University of Bolton, has faced a series of developments since allegations surrounding its governance and financial affairs first emerged in 2025.

In May 2025, the university announced that vice-chancellor Professor George E Holmes, provost Zubair Hanslot and another senior member of academic staff had been suspended following what it described as “serious allegations”.

The university said the suspensions were a precautionary measure and did not imply any assumption of guilt.

The move followed an investigation by PricewaterhouseCoopers into allegations which had surfaced publicly earlier in the year.

Dr Greg Walker, Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic), was appointed acting vice chancellor and interim accountable officer while internal procedures got under way.

Later, Greater Manchester Police confirmed it had launched a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud and bribery at the university.

The force said its investigation began after receiving allegations from online publication The Manchester Mill and following a report produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the university’s Fraud Response Panel.

In July 2025, detectives searched seven properties across Greater Manchester and the south of England as part of the inquiry.

At the time, police said no arrests had been made and described the investigation as being in its early stages, adding that officers expected it to be complex and lengthy.

In December 2025, the Office for Students opened a separate investigation into the university.

The higher education regulator said it would examine whether the University of Greater Manchester had adequate and effective management and governance arrangements in place and whether it had complied with its conditions of registration.

The Office for Students previously stressed that opening an investigation did not mean any wrongdoing or non compliance had been found.

The regulator also confirmed it would cooperate with Greater Manchester Police while carrying out its own independent investigation.

Throughout the process, the university has said it is committed to the highest standards of integrity and accountability and that it will cooperate fully with both investigations.

It has also repeatedly said its day to day operations have continued as normal and that its internal procedures remain ongoing.

North Yorkshire Police has issued a photograph of a man officers want to speak to after the theft on Friday, June 5.

The force said the items were taken from the bike while it was left secured at the hospital.

A police spokesperson said the force wants to speak to the man pictured “as he has been identified from CCTV at the site”.

Anyone who recognises the man is asked to email Ben.Robinson-Brockhill@northyorkshire.police.uk or phone 101 and ask for PC Ben Robinson-Brockhill.

Information can be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Quote reference number 12260104245 when providing details to police or to Crimestoppers.

Arthur Fery has earned £480,000 at Wimbledon so far but that amount barely makes a dent in his family’s enormous fortune

Arthur Fery is, without question, the wealthiest British tennis player on the circuit. The 23-year-old hails from a seriously affluent background, with his father Loic Fery having amassed a staggering fortune through his career in finance.

In 2023, Loic was ranked the 398th richest person in France with an estimated net worth of £275million. He became the owner and president of Ligue 1 club FC Lorient in 2009 but sold it earlier this year.

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Fery attended a local private school in Wimbledon costing £33,000 a year before earning a scholarship in the United States, where he continued to develop his tennis career. Fery has accumulated £650,000 ($868k) in prize money throughout his time on the ATP tour and is set to pocket a further £480k for reaching the quarter-finals at the All England Club.

Should he overcome Flavio Caballo on Centre Court on Wednesday night, he will be guaranteed a minimum payout of £900,000. His family’s vast wealth dwarfs that of every other British tennis player.

Andy Murray, Britain’s former golden boy and three-time Grand Slam champion, built a fortune of £110m, according to the latest Forbes rich list. Emma Raducanu, who claimed the 2021 US Open title and secured lucrative sponsorship deals with the likes of Dior, Porsche and British Airways, holds a net worth of £13.5m.

Reflecting on his time at Stanford in the US, Fery said: “Yeah, yeah, it’s been a while now, three years since I was there. Yeah, spent three years at Stanford as a transition after my career as a junior. Yeah, really loved it. Don’t regret it at all.

“I came out with a lot of hunger coming out of that, and I was ready to attack the pro circuit.

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“Learnt a lot. Made some great friends. The coaches are awesome, and obviously it was a great academic school, as well. Provided me with a backup in case tennis didn’t work out.”

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Darlington Borough Council approved the plans on July 7 after receiving the application earlier this year from headteacher Claire Throw and her team at St George’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School on Neasham Road.

The project will remove an area of soft landscaping and replace it with a new safe play surface, extra play equipment and a pergola to give children more space to learn and play outside.

A low wall, fencing and a gate will be added to keep the new play zone secure and to help manage changes in ground levels on the edge of the site.

The school, which sits close to homes and the nearby railway line, asked for permission to extend its existing play area over a space of just over 500 square metres.

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Council officers looked at the impact on neighbours’ views, noise, wildlife, trees and drainage before reaching their decision.

In their report, planning officers said the changes would mainly be seen from within the school grounds and that nearby homes on Thorntree Gardens, separated by gardens and planting, would only see limited changes along the boundary.

Officers also said the scheme would not cause problems for neighbours’ day‑to‑day living, as the new facilities sit within an existing outdoor play space where children already spend time.

Because the school sits close to the railway line, Network Rail was asked for its views and said it had no objection in principle.

However, it has told the school and its contractors to make sure cranes, digging and any other work do not affect tracks, bridges or other railway structures nearby.

The school now has three years from July 7 to begin the work, giving staff time to line up funds and contractors for the new facilities.