There are a number of pulls when it comes to a career in sport.

The chance to spend every day doing what you love, earning your living along the way. Or maybe the pursuit of glory, the drive to be the best at what you have dedicated your life to. How about the sometimes staggering prize money on offer, which can lead to the chance of fame and a lifestyle most can only dream of?

Few consider that, for some, it’s not really a choice. It’s what athletes know – what they have always done, so they will continue to do.

That seems to be the case for three-time darts world champion Michael van Gerwen, who this week spoke about how he’s not a fan of darts and doesn’t actually follow his sport.

And he’s not alone. Some of the top names in tennis, football, and more have expressed their dislike and distaste for the games that have given them so much.

Here, Daily Mail Sport takes a look at some of the world’s top athletes who aren’t actually too fond of the sport they have found success in.

Michael van Gerwen – Darts

Three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen has dropped down to world No7 after the Matchplay, and his stocks have fallen significantly since his last world title in 2019.

The Dutchman has been speaking about his relationship with darts – the sport in which, perhaps for the first time in a decade, he is no longer the biggest star.

‘I never did in my life,’ he told Winmau of watching games. ‘I don’t even like watching darts.’

Luke v Luke (Littler and Humphries) has been the talk of the town for the last couple of years, while Littler has taken his game to a new dimension in recent months in becoming the first darts player to pick up £3million worth of earnings in two years.

Van Gerwen does make an effort to keep tabs on his rivals, but don’t expect to see him in the crowd of any events he’s not involved in any time soon, or listening to the likes of Wayne Mardle or Dan Dawson analysing the game on the tele.

But he doesn’t totally hate the game. Just prefers to play it – which is fair enough, all things considered. 

‘Sometimes if a friend like Vincent (Van der Voort) used to play or things like that, or if Luke against Luke are playing maybe a final,’ Van Gerwen continued on his viewing habits. ‘I put on some live scores, but I’m not going to watch it at all.

‘I’d rather play than watch. Simple as that. I always say the same, so it would be really weird to change my opinion.’

Ben White – Football

Arsenal defender Ben White has proven to be a bit of a diverse character in football in recent years. It all came to a head in November 2022, when he fell out with England assistant manager Steve Holland – supposedly over his attitude towards the game.

White is not a fan of watching football unless it’s to analyse his own performances. Reports also emerged three years ago that White was not watching other analytical videos while with England.

‘I watch myself for analytical reasons,’ White recently claimed to The Overlap. ‘I watch England, maybe, but I’m always busy doing something. I wouldn’t just sit down and watch a game.

‘I didn’t ever watch football when I was younger. I still don’t now.’

But, as is the case with Van Gerwen, it’s not all hate with White. He just wants to be out there playing.

‘I just loved the game,’ he continued. ‘I was always playing it, never watching.

‘So I don’t know too much about the older generations, but I know (Patrick) Vieira was a very good player. But I don’t know the details.’

Ben White (right) has become known for his dislike of watching football

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Serena Williams – Tennis

Serena Williams is perhaps the most famous name in women’s tennis history, and one of the most dominant too.

‘I don’t love tennis today, but I’m here, and I can’t live without it,’ she told TennisNow in 2012. ‘So I’m still here and I don’t want to go anywhere any time soon.’

That’s despite winning seven Australian Opens, seven Wimbledon titles, six US Opens, and three French Opens. But it’s not just tennis – it’s sport on the whole.

‘It’s not that I’ve fallen out of love, I’ve actually never liked sports, and I never understood how I became an athlete,’ she continued. ‘I don’t like working out, I don’t like anything that has to do with working physically.’

Not too much of an issue, though, it seems…

Serena Williams revealed in 2012 that she doesn’t love tennis – or sport on the whole

Nick Kyrgios – Tennis

Tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios has had a bit of a love-hate relationship with his sport.

The Australian, who is planning retirement at the age of 31, reached his first Grand Slam final in 2022 at Wimbledon. He would lose to Novak Djokovic, but has also regularly made headlines for his actions away from the actual tennis, such as his shouting during matches.

One wonders if his relationship with tennis is related to that. He said in 2015: ‘I don’t really like the sport of tennis that much. I don’t love it.’

He does, though, have love for a different sport. 

‘It was crazy when I was 14,’ he continued. ‘I was all for basketball and I made the decision to play tennis. I got pushed by my parents and to this day I can still say I don’t love the sport. It is just crazy how things go.

‘It’s good when you’re out there on a tennis court. There’s nowhere to hide. It’s all you, tactically, physically, mentally. But I just love basketball, I love the sport. I always have. I try when I’m on the road with tennis not to watch too many basketball videos and stuff like that, to keep me focused, but it’s tough.’

What could have been.

Nick Kygrios has a love-hate relationship with the sport – and would rather have been a basketball player

Mark Williams – Snooker

Things seem to be going a little better for Mark Williams since his comments in 2019, when he became one of the few athletes to actively say they ‘hate’ their sport.

Currently World No8 and a 2025 World Championship finalist, the Welshman was going through a tough patch back in 2019 when he had just beaten Fraser Patrick 6-2 in the first round of the UK Snooker Championship.

Despite actually being ranked No3 in the world, Williams had failed to win a ranking event all year. He lashed out at snooker, and, like Kyrgios, his mind was elsewhere.

‘I really struggled but somehow he struggled more than me and made it easy for me on a couple of frames,’ Williams said. ‘It’s going all right, I’m enjoying myself when I’m on the golf course.’

When questioned on snooker, he added: ‘Hate it. I’m just enjoying playing golf more.’

He had also talked about retirement in 2017, before going onto become world champion for a third time a year later.

Maybe he feels differently now. 

Mark Williams admitted to ‘hating’ snooker in 2019 after teasing retirement a few years earlier

Tyson Fury – Boxing

Potentially the biggest name in modern boxing doesn’t actually like boxing.

Tyson Fury has retired and un-retired countless times, but attributes his many returns to an addiction that helps him deal with his mental health struggles.

‘I’ve tried to walk away many times and been unsuccessful,’ he told DAZN in 2024. ‘I meant it when I retired after Dillian Whyte back in 2022, I really meant that wholeheartedly. I could have put my hand on the Bible and meant it, but it was difficult to let it go.

‘I’ve been in love with boxing from a little boy. It’s been a love-hate relationship. When it’s good, it’s very good and when it’s bad, it’s very toxic. Now I am a fully grown adult with a family of my own.

‘I wanted to walk away a lot of times but it always drags me back. Boxing is an addiction. It abuses my body, my mind, my soul. But I feel like it takes me to ecstasy. The rush is unbelievable. It gives me the biggest highs ever, but it also gives me the lowest lows. Boxing is more addictive than any drug ever. Ever. You can’t let it go.’

It only takes a quick viewing of his reality show to see how much his family have begged him to pack it in. It seems, though, their words aren’t enough, 

Fury is set to take on Anthony Joshua in an all-British mega-fight later this year, having eased past Mariusz Wach last weekend. After that, he may well retire again – but will seemingly always keep on coming back.

Tyson Fury has tried to retire from boxing a number of times but finds himself returning

Benoit Assou-Ekotto – Football

A pattern emerges in the list of players who don’t like their sport. They engage with it in some form all the time – every decision is based on their career, they have to analyse everything about it, and they spend most of their time performing it.

‘I play it enough, don’t I?’ former Tottenham full back Benoit Assou-Ekotto once argued in an interview with Sky Sports.

‘I don’t watch football. I don’t talk about football away from the game either. I suppose that is unusual. My interests are my friends and music, especially hip-hop. I like Ice Cube and 50 Cent.’

Assou-Ekotto played more than 200 times for Spurs, and didn’t do too much wrong. Perhaps his argument proves you don’t have to be totally obsessed with what you are doing to reach the top level – or maybe it suggests he could have gone higher if he was.

Former Tottenham defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto (right) is another sports star who does not enjoy watching their sport

Andre Agassi wrote in his autobiography that he ‘hates’ tennis despite his widespread success

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Andre Agassi – Tennis

We have saved the most brutal for last – eight time Grand Slam tennis champion Andre Agassi hates tennis.

‘I play tennis for a living even though I hate tennis,’ he wrote in his autobiography. ‘I hate it with a dark and secret passion and always have.’

Tell us what you really think, Andre.

It’s unclear exactly why the American feels that way, but it could be something to do with top players being on tour for more than 30 weeks a year, having tennis dominate their lives, and the stress involved.

Agassi won all there was to win. Others on this list have too. Still – it is not always enough. Showing that, sometimes, being a sports star may not be all it can seem to be. 

Shane Richie appeared bleary-eyed as he stepped out of his car ahead of being arrested at an Essex petrol station on Wednesday. 

The row at the Tesco petrol station in Harlow this week began after Shane, real name Shane Roche, drove his white Hyundai onto the forecourt seemingly with a flat tyre.

After exiting his vehicle and being spotted with a large vape by staff, the actor was told he could not smoke at the station.

Brandishing the vape, he replied: ‘It’s not smoking.’ Upon realising he was being filmed, the EastEnders star then claimed: ‘This is not a vape.’

After staff told him the vape ‘is a risk’, the actor, while reaching back inside his car and with his back to the employee, said: ‘I don’t give a f***.’

The row at the Tesco petrol station in Harlow this week began after Shane, real name Shane Roche, drove his white Hyundai onto the forecourt seemingly with a flat tyre

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After exiting his vehicle and being spotted with a large vape by staff, the actor was told he could not smoke at the station

As the manager of the petrol station phoned police, claiming Shane was being ‘aggressive,’ he told the man filming: ‘Someone’s coming to change my tyre.’

Police were later seen arriving at the forecourt.

He was arrested and later charged with drink-driving. He is set to appear in court next month. It is a criminal offence to smoke a cigarette at a petrol station due to the danger posed by sparks in the proximity of fuel, which is highly flammable.

It is not a specific offence to vape on forecourts, but firms strictly prohibit it over concerns about the same risk.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: ‘Officers were called to reports of a suspected drink-driver in Church Langley Way, Harlow, shortly before 11.20pm on Wednesday July 29.

‘On arrival, officers arrested a man. A charge of drink-driving has subsequently been authorised against Shane Roche, 62, of Surrey. He is due to appear at magistrates’ court on Wednesday, September 9.’

Following the arrest, it was reported that fears are rife within his circle over his ‘gruelling schedule’ and ‘nineties drinking buddies’ amid claims his wife has walked away from their business together.

As the manager of the petrol station phoned police, claiming Shane was being ‘aggressive,’ he told the man filming: ‘Someone’s coming to change my tyre’

He stood with his hands behind his back during the exchange 

It emerged on Friday the EastEnders star has been charged with drink-driving.

The star, who plays Alfie Moon on the BBC soap, was challenged after he was seen vaping at the Tesco petrol station. 

Now a new report in The Sun has claimed those close to Shane think he could be ‘spiralling’ and could end up being let go from the soap.

A source told the publication: ‘This has been a long time coming. Shane has been struggling to keep up with the demands of his workload and it appears it has all got a bit much. Everyone is so concerned about him.

‘Since his character Alfie took over as landlord of the Queen Vic, he has been filming all the time because he is at the centre of the show.’

‘It is a pretty gruelling schedule. Plus he’s got a big tour in September which he has been rehearsing for. When Shane gets stressed he does like a drink, he has made no secret of that.’

Shane spoke to a member of staff during the event

The source went on to claim that BBC bosses ‘won’t take the incident lightly’, adding: ‘It wouldn’t be a surprise if they suspended him.’

Next month Shane is due to perform in nationwide theatre tour Prat Pack alongside Bradley Walsh, Brian Conley and Joe Pasquale but the publication claims there are fears he will be away with his ‘drinking buddies from the nineties’ for a whole month.

There are now also reported questions over his marriage to actress Christie Goddard who he wed in 2007. They have three children together.

The publication claims that Christie was terminated as director of their joint company Bluebelle Skye Productions in June so now has no control over the business empire they have run together since 2017.

A representative for Shane has been contacted by The Daily Mail for comment.

She has been trolled online for her weight but says it won’t stop her from telling other women about the condition.

An MLA has said she won’t let online trolling stop her from raising awareness of gestational diabetes.

Alliance representative Sian Mulholland was speaking at a Diabetes in Pregnancy study day, organised by the Belfast Trust and attended by clinicians from across Northern Ireland.

Gestational diabetes happens if your body cannot produce enough insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels, to meet extra needs in pregnancy.

Ms Mulholland, who represents North Antrim, said: “I’ve had comments directed at me that I’m a walking advert for diabetes it had made me really hesitant to even say that I actually had the condition.

“It’s one of the reasons it’s taken me this long to talk about it. There’s a real lack of understanding that any woman can get gestational diabetes. There are risk factors but it’s not controlled to one group of women.”

Ms Mulholland also spoke about the misconceptions around the condition: “People not understanding what you could or couldn’t eat, what that would mean for your pregnancy and the biggest thing that people didn’t understand is that GD goes away immediately after you’ve had your baby.”

While any pregnant woman can develop GD, that possibility is increased if her BMI is above 30, she’s previously had a baby weighing over 10lbs, or if a close relative has diabetes.

Gestational Diabetes can also increase the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes after the baby is born.

“For me it was understanding that taking care of myself post-partum may have staved off a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes a little bit further. But it’s also reeling that back and knowing that it’s not your fault and trying to break that burden of blame and guilt,” Ms Mulholland added.

Women with gestational diabetes are more likely to give birth to a baby that’s bigger than normal, or they may give birth earlier, with GD raising the likelihood of giving birth before full term. Mums are also at a higher risk of pre-eclampsia, which causes high blood pressure during pregnancy.

Ms Mulholland says that despite the trolling and nasty comments, she sees her position as MLA as a platform to let other women know that GD is a common, manageable condition.

She explains: “I had to put my thran head on – a good North Antrim word! – and realise that actually I can’t let faceless trolls get in my way of using my platform to encourage people to get their bloods tested to look out for the symptoms of diabetes, and to speak to their healthcare providers.

“And if you are someone who’s just been diagnosed with GD to realise it isn’t your fault and speak to your healthcare providers about getting full holistic support for you and your baby but also just to keep in mind that you could not have changed anything,” she adds.

Belfast Trust’s diabetes specialist midwives Deborah Burns and Jacquie Simpson organised the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Day, which attracted clinicians from across Northern Ireland.

Deborah said: “We want to improve the maternity care experience for women with diabetes in pregnancy, so we started by educating our staff. This has expanded from Belfast Trust staff to regionally.

“Diabetes in pregnancy can lead to complications. It’s a complex condition so it’s important to that we all know how to look after these women and keep them and their babies safe during pregnancy.”

Gestational diabetes doesn’t usually cause any symptoms but if you’re noticing increased thirst, needing to pee more often than usual, and/or a dry mouth it is important to contact your GP or midwife. You may then be sent to your local Maternity Service for a GD test.

Most cases are only picked up when your blood sugar level is tested during screening for gestational diabetes. If you have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, this may be manageable with changes to your diet and eating habits and monitoring your blood glucose levels.

However, there are times when medication may still be needed. Women with gestational diabetes are under the care of a specialist team of midwives, nurses and doctors.

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

Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty has addressed the ongoing feud between himself and his family

Adam Ramsay-Peaty has spoken out about his family estrangement. He has suggested that a reconciliation may be possible – but only if he believes they have “improved as people”.

The swimmer and Strictly Come Dancing star, who is married to Holly Ramsay, daughter of TV chef Gordon, spoke following what he described as a “real rollercoaster of a week” at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he picked up two bronzes and a silver.

Following the 100m breaststroke final, Peaty broke down in tears and hit back at his critics, declaring “you can’t hurt me” and insisting they needed to “do better.”

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In a Guardian interview published on Saturday, Peaty, 31, addressed the personal tensions between himself and his family, including mum Caroline and dad Mark, which emerged in the lead-up to his December 2025 wedding to Holly, 26.

When asked whether a reconciliation with his family was possible, Peaty said: “For me, as a Christian, there has to be forgiveness. It doesn’t mean you have to forget, but forgiveness takes time.

“I’m not saying that it won’t get better but it has to come from a place where I feel like they’ve improved as people, in a sense, and opened that communication up. I haven’t told one thing to the media. I haven’t done one story over the last eight months and more.”

On whether the very public falling-out, which has played out extensively in the press, has taken a toll on him, Peaty said: “I wouldn’t say on me because I’ve got a thick skin.

“But I care about my wife, I care about my son. I care about the relationships that people think I have with my son, and my own family, but that’s my private life.”

The swimming star has a son, who is nearly six, from a previous relationship, and a daughter due in December. He also spoke out in an interview following his 100m breaststroke final in Glasgow.

Expressing his disappointment at finishing third, he said: “It’s hard because I know how hard I work. I know the s**t I’ve been through, which is no fault of my own, but it does take its toll.

“I’m not crying because it’s bronze instead of gold. I’m crying because I know I am better than that. I feel like I couldn’t have put any more in and that’s where it hurts, because I’m like, ‘What’s the point of all the metres every day, what’s the point of being exhausted all the time?

“What’s the point of having to say no to family events so you can go to training’? It has to mean something and for me it has to be human excellence and that is not excellence for me.

“So that’s the emotion that is unfortunately coming out. [Holly] is always going to be proud of me and I think as a father, it doesn’t matter if you come home with a gold, as long as you come home with a teddy.”

Peaty’s mum Caroline posted afterwards: “I forgive people but that doesn’t mean I accept their behaviour or trust them. I forgive them for me, so I can let go and move on with my life.”

The swimmer’s relationship with his parents soured in the lead-up to their December wedding, reportedly after his mum expressed her hurt at being excluded from wife Holly’s lavish hen-party in the Cotswolds.

Victoria Beckham received an invitation to join the celebrations at Soho Farmhouse, yet Caroline was allegedly asked to stay at home and care for Peaty’s son from a previous relationship instead.

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She was told she would not be welcome at the wedding at Bath Cathedral, while the Olympian’s father was informed he could attend only if he remained at the back of the church. He declined the offer, and on the day, only Peaty’s sister Bethany was present from his side of the family.

Caroline has previously acknowledged speaking to a newspaper about her son during the early stages of their falling-out, but insists she has not spoken publicly about him since, and has hinted she’s ready to build bridges.

She said: “He’s our son who we love, whom we supported to reach his aspirations. Our love, our time, our sacrifices were given freely with no expectation of financial reward just genuinely given with the love as any mother and father would do for their child.”

Countdown to Kickoff: The Ultimate 26/27 Sky Sports Bundle

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Sky’s Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle includes at least 215 live Premier League clashes across the 2026/27 season with more than 1,400 live games across the EFL and beyond, plus F1, golf and darts.

Every subscription now comes with 135 channels alongside free subscriptions to HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu.

By SOPHIA STANFORD, NEWS REPORTER

Published: 10:05 BST, 2 August 2026 | Updated: 10:15 BST, 2 August 2026

A tourist plane has crashed at the famous Nazca Lines in Peru, killing all 11 passengers and two crew who were on board.

The crash happened at around 1pm local time in the Pueblo Viejo region, after the small plane took off from an airport in Pisco.

According to Peru’s state news agency, there were two German, two Spanish and seven Italian tourists on the flight.

Peruvian radio station RPP said they ranged from 18 to 78 years old.

The Nazca Lines are enormous figures drawn into the desert sand by people who lived in the area around 1,600 years ago.

Their scale – with one pelican figure measuring 285 metres long – has prompted many questions about their purpose, as they can only be fully appreciated from the air.

In 1994, the site was added to Unesco’s World Heritage List and it continues to attract visitors from across the world.

Images from the scene of yesterday’s crash show smoke rising from the barely identifiable wreckage.

Police Major Jorge Andrade was quoted by AFP saying: ‘Given the severity of the accident, there are no survivors. We have recovered four bodies so far.’

Sightseeing flights over the geoglyphs had been temporarily suspended on Friday due to wins speeds of over 40km/h and resulting dust clouds.

However, the cause of the crash is yet to be fully established.

A statement from the Municipalidad Provincial de Nasca said the aircraft was operated by the Aerodiana airline.

It said the province ‘extends its heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased’.

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

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: Homes destroyed and several dead after major earthquake

St Ives in Cornwall and St Ives in Cambridgeshire could not be more different in many ways – but they may share more than a name

St Ives in Cambridgeshire shares its name with a fishing town in Cornwall. Beyond that, the two towns have little in common apart from their separate claims to a riddle about a traveller’s trip to St Ives.

The popular brain-teaser is normally found as a nursery rhyme. Its earliest known publication was in 1730 and goes as follows:

“As I was going to St Ives,I met a man with seven wives,Each wife had seven sacks,Each sack had seven cats,Each cat had seven kits:Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,How many were there going to St Ives?”

The answer is subject to debate. Some think it’s a logic trick where only one is actually going towards St Ives. Others believe it’s a mathematical equation summing powers of seven.

The question of which St Ives is referred to is also up for debate. The Cornish claim is based on the cats they keep to prevent rodents damaging fishing gear. But some say there is a stronger case for Cambridgeshire.

According to the Huntingdonshire History Festival, a Royal Charter was granted for St Ives to host an annual market in 1110. In 1200, it purchased the rights to a weekly market and the town’s success skyrocketed.

King Henry III purchased over 7,000 feet of fabric from the town in 1237. By 1250 the market was being advertised in Douai, France. Just like the riddle, many went to St Ives.

In 1202, the Liber Abaci was published to assist traders with their mathematics. Its equation “Seven Old Men Go to Rome” follows the exact same structure as the St Ives riddle.

It’s possible that traders carrying the Liber Abaci found their way to the bustling market town and inspired the disputed riddle. Popular trading commodities also required protection from rodents, so cats were common.

This settles the debate for some people, but leaves room for discussion. While it didn’t reach the heights of its Cambridgeshire counterpart, Cornwall’s St Ives was granted its own market charter much later in 1487. Coupled with its busy fishing port, it was also replete with merchants. We may never know which St Ives is at the heart of the riddle.

It’s like a scene from one of those hard-bitten American crime movies of the 1930s. The police and a key prosecution witness are discussing problems with their evidence in a fast-approaching trial.

It turns out that the facts in the case have changed, rather awkwardly. It is a glum scene. And the cops say to the witness: ‘Yeah, we can’t change the data.’ And then they say: ‘But we can change the interpretation of it.’

It’s easy to imagine, isn’t it, in some smoky interrogation cellar in a dingy precinct of Los Angeles or Chicago? But in fact it happened in the pretty English city of Chester, in April 2024.

The witness was Dr Ravi Jayaram, once a rising star of TV, now the only person who has ever come close to seeing the nurse Lucy Letby doing anything wrong. 

Amazingly, Letby is now in prison till she dies, for seven murders and seven attempted killings. This is despite there being no hard evidence that she harmed anybody. So this is quite important. But is it what it seems?

Dr Jayaram gave evidence to both of Ms Letby’s trials on the same event. His evidence to her second trial in 2024 led to headlines that he had caught her ‘virtually red-handed’ standing by a seriously ill baby.

Though he did not witness her actively harming the tiny child, he said she was failing to help when the infant was clearly in difficulties. As the years have gone by, many have begun to wonder if it was more virtual than red-handed.

My colleague Glen Owen wrote in The Mail on Sunday in 2025 about an explosive email, written by Dr Jayaram in 2017, which appears to go against his later evidence that he found her up to no good.

In that email, Dr Jayaram wrote that he went to investigate Baby K because Letby herself had raised the alarm and asked him for help – not because he had suspicions about the nurse.

Now comes this conversation between Dr Jayaram and the police. The full transcript of this exchange was obtained last week by the distinguished investigative journalist Cleuci de Oliveira.

In the transcript, Dr Jayaram struggles to cope with the fact that swipe records for one crucial door were back to front. They appeared to show a key nurse leaving the Neonatal Unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital when she was in fact entering it.

This is important because Dr Jayaram’s account involved Ms Letby being alone while the other nurse on the ward was absent. His account, in Letby’s first trial, depended partly on those records.

Shortly before the second trial, Dr Jayaram met Cheshire Police. During a half-hour conversation with Darren Riley (a civilian investigator) and Detective Constable Kate Millins, this key exchange takes place.

Dr Jayaram’s account involved Letby being alone while the other nurse on the ward was absent

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Dr Jayaram: I’m just looking at the swipe data now, to look at the timings… So, it was this, where it says that Jo Williams [another nurse] left the unit at 3:47?

CI Riley: Yeah…

Dr Jayaram: Yeah.

CI Riley: That actually means coming back.

Dr Jayaram: Oh, is that when she comes back?

CI Riley: Yeah, we can’t change the data.

Dr Jayaram: Ah, OK.

CI Riley: But we can change the interpretation of it.

The three carry on for some minutes discussing this confusing mess in what was once key evidence. They also discuss various other aspects of Dr Jayaram’s testimony.

When I asked Cheshire Police about it, they said they would not be commenting.

Dr Jayaram has yet to answer an email I sent him, asking for his response.

Former Tory Cabinet minister, Sir David Davis, said: ‘It is deeply troubling to see what appears to be the police and a key witness reshaping the interpretation of the evidence to Lucy Letby’s disadvantage in advance of her retrial.’

He called for another force to review Cheshire Police’s handling of the case.

Red box beats off red rage by Two Jabs 

The late John Prescott still fills us all with mixed feelings. Many of us enjoyed the day he punched a man who threw an egg at him, and I wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d sloshed the fat, plummy Tory MP who used to jeer snobbishly at him about his old trade as a waiter. 

The late John Prescott lost the keys to his ministerial red boxes so frequently that he was given a total of 16 spare keys

Now it emerges that he kept losing the keys to his ministerial red boxes, so often that he was issued with 16 spare keys between 1997 and 2007. Alas, he would sometimes try to smash his way back into the box with a cold chisel and a lump hammer, a scene all too easy to imagine. 

But the boxes are tougher than they look. The old-established firm of Barrow, Hepburn and Gale, which has been making and restoring the boxes for decades, tells me he still failed to get them open. The mangled cases were classed as ‘compromised’ and had to be replaced. 

Left’s sick love affair with the guillotine 

Nigel Farage seems to be carving out a new life for himself as a victim. It’s sad to watch. Imagine the old Nigel demanding that the police arrest someone for posting a picture of a T-shirt. 

In my view he is quite wrong about Green Supremo Zack Polanski’s Instagram, or whatever it was. A guillotine is not a murder weapon. Imagine attacking someone with this unwieldy machine in the street. 

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In Peter Hitchens’ home town, Oxford, he often sees people wearing T-shirts similar to this one that Zack Polanski shared on Instagram

Polanski’s action is actually worse than Farage thinks, but in a deeper way. Left wingers claim to be furiously opposed to all executions, but they aren’t really. As experience shows, they’re actually quite keen on killing people for having the wrong opinions. And you can buy, for about £20 on the internet, a popular T-shirt bearing a picture of a guillotine and the words ‘a platform for fascists’. 

I see people wearing them in Oxford, my home town. By ‘fascist’ they mean people like me. They’ll say it’s a joke. But is it? 

As recently as 1959, similar Western fun revolutionaries were cheering on the Cuban firing squads run by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Havana. The moat of the La Cabana fortress was disgustingly wet with their opponents’ blood. And plenty of respectable anti-death penalty Leftists in 1930s Britain excused Stalin’s murderous purges. 

England’s Dimeji Shittu was left upset by the decision following the contest in Glasgow

Controversy has erupted at the Commonwealth Games after England’s Dimeji Shittu had to settle for silver following a controversial defeat by India’s Ankush Panghal.

Despite appearing to have had the better of his opponent in Glasgow, it was Panghal who was awarded the gold in the men’s 80kg boxing final.

The Englishman won the first round convincingly and forced Panghal to receive a count.

But things turned in the second; Shittu was handed a two-point deduction for holding and hitting, in the second and third rounds respectively, with the judges scoring the bout 4-1 in the Indian’s favour.

Four of the judges awarded Panghal the final round.

The result left the 24-year-old visibly emotional and TNT Sport commentators completely stunned, while the crowd booed the confirmation when it was announced.

“Shocking, terrible, totally robbed,” said co-commentator Richie Woodhall. “He [Ankush] certainly had the referee on his side there and the referee has cost Dimeji Shittu the contest.

“He’s been robbed there, I really feel for him.

“How did [Ankush] win that last round on the judges’ scores? That is absolutely terrible. Shocking decision. Totally robbed and that’s not sour grapes.”

Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist boxer Delicious Orie echoed Woodhall’s frustrations, adding that AI scoring would be one way to improve scoring in boxing.

He also added that the lack of warnings to Shittu was a head-scratcher.

“In my opinion, it was a total robbery,” he said in the TNT Sports studio. “I think the referee has stripped that gold medal from Dimeji.

“There’s this thing in boxing, because it’s subjective, the refereeing is subjective, the judging is subjective… I’ve been hearing stories that it would be good to potentially add AI judging into boxing.

“I wouldn’t necessarily be against it because then it becomes an objective sport. In track and field, you’re running to the line, you can’t argue with time.

“If I knew there was a specific set of scoring, then bring AI, because I would follow that scoresheet instead of someone else’s opinion. That can be the difference, as we’ve seen here, between a gold and silver medal.

“It’s a real shame for Dimeji. He scored some really good points, he pushed his opponent back. I don’t know what the referee was thinking. There weren’t even any warnings, so to give him two point deductions really doesn’t make any sense to me.

“I’m no ref, but speaking to Dimeji, stopping the fight, looking him in the face and saying ‘don’t do it again’. That’s enough for him to not do it again. Essentially stripping that gold medal is no good.”

Shittu himself refused to blame the referee. He said after the fight: “A lot of people might say this about the referee, the judging, but at the end of the day I can only blame myself.

“Those are the rules. We live and we learn. At the end of the day, it’s a foul in amateur boxing. It cost me the fight.

“If people think I should have got the decision, fair play, I understand.

“But if I’m sitting here blaming judges, blaming refs, I’m not going to get better.”