A councillor said she often gets contacted by concerned residents

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A city councillor is calling for action to tackle speeding and dangerous driving on a Peterborough road after two teenagers were seriously hurt in a crash.

Dogsthorpe Councillor Katy Cole is set to meet with residents, police, Peterborough City Council officers, ward councillors and Cabinet colleagues on Tuesday, June 9, to discuss measures which could combat speeding and road safety concerns.

“The reason I’ve put this meeting together is so that the [council] officers, the police and Angus Ellis (Cabinet Member for Transport) can come up with a plan,” Cllr Cole said.

The residential roads around Sycamore Avenue are known to be an area where motorists consistently drive erratically at speed. Earlier this month, two teenagers were seriously injured after the car they were driving hit three parked vehicles.

The incident resulted in Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes, and Dogsthorpe councillor Ishfaq Hussain calling for action to slow vehicles down on the road.

Cllr Cole told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that local residents often compare the area to a ‘race track’. “Residents have used that term with me,” she said.

“Cars speed down to the bottom of Newark Avenue into Elmfield Road, they go up onto Central Avenue, they go right on Sycamore Avenue… up onto Eastern Avenue and then back again round on to Newark Avenue.”

The councillor said there were many dangers of speeding in such an area. “It’s a very, very busy, highly populated area,” she said. “You’ve got children walking to and from school, and to the shops.”

Cllr Cole has first-hand experience of what she calls’ ASB driving’. “I nearly got knocked over by a speeding car only a few weeks ago on Newark Avenue when I was attempting to use the zebra crossing.”

It’s an issue, the councillor noted, that has been going on for far too long. She said: “I was elected in 2023 and there haven’t been many months that have gone past where I haven’t had a resident contact me… about anti-social driving, anti-social parking or speeding.”

The councillor believes that bringing key players – as well as residents – together in discussion is the best way to ascertain which kind of measures will be most effective in tackling the issues.

“It’s important that we have this meeting with the police and highways teams, and councillors and residents, so that every one can be heard,” she said. “We can work together as a community to try and prevent this from happening.”

As reported by The Press, two cars were damaged by the fire along with nearby homes and a barbershop as a result of the blaze, which happened at one end of Beaconsfield Street in Acomb, at its junction with School Street.

Firefighters were on the scene around 10.45pm yesterday and several houses had to be evacuated as a precaution, North Yorkshire Police said.

A force spokesperson said: “The suspect remains in custody for questioning while the investigation continues.

“It is being treated as an isolated incident with no threat to the wider public.

“Witnesses or anyone with relevant CCTV, doorbell or dashcam footage are being urged to come forward.”

A police cordon was in place this morning around the burnt-out vehicle and covered about one-third of Beaconsfield Street, after police issued a notice last night to the public to avoid the area.

Broken glass was on the floor next to the campervan and one of the windows of local business Headline Barber had a large hole in the bottom.

An SUV opposite the campervan saw its plastic fairing mostly melted away and there appeared to be scorch marks on other vehicles behind the cordon.

A clean-up operation involving a recovery vehicle was underway this afternoon.

Bystanders at the cordon, including shoppers and commuters surveyed the scene in Beaconsfield Street yesterday morning (Image: Kevin Glenton)

A fireball was visible from neighbouring streets overnight and firefighters were seen damping down the campervan around 1.15am.

Local resident Susan, who lives in a flat ten metres away from the explosion, said she felt like she’d had a narrow escape.

She said: “I’d gone to bed and was fast asleep at the time of the explosion and was awoken by the loud bang.

“My husband was in the living room and saw the flames.

“Almost immediately it felt like, a police officer knocked on the door and told us to evacuate for our own safety.

“If the cars outside had gone up, we could have been next.”

A police cordon was raised around the scene in Acomb yesterday morning (Image: Kevin Glenton)

Mrs Phillips, who lives in Milner Street, two streets away from the scene in the direction of Green Lane Allotments, said she was outside having a cigarette last night and heard the bang, which she said sounded like motorbikes she hears in the area.

Penny Hutchinson lives in Beaconsfield Street on the other side of police cordon put up yesterday.

She said everyone in her house was in bed when she heard the bang and she took a look out of her window then saw the blue lights of emergency service vehicles in the street.

Bryar Kanq is the owner of Headline Barber in Beaconsfield Street which is directly opposite the scene of yesterday’s explosion.

He lives above the premises and was there at the time and saw the incident from his front room window.

He said he was still shaking last night but was OK this morning as he waited for the cordon to be lifted by police.

He said: “I heard the bang from the front room overlooking the campervan – I don’t think it’s moved from the same spot in a year.”

A spokesperson for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust said none of its vehicles were deployed to the area.

North Yorkshire Police said anyone who can assist its investigation can call the force on 101.

Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or make an online report.

Please quote NYP-04062026-0632 when providing details.

Democrats labeled President Donald Trump “the Commander-in-Sleep” after he closed his eyes and appeared to “doze off” during an Oval Office press briefing.

Trump gathered reporters late afternoon Thursday at an event about “clean coal,” but when he gave the floor to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the president leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for several moments.

Liberals with large social media followings and prominent Democrats seized on the opportunity to mock the president.

“The Commander-in-Sleep clocks in,” said the official X account of the Democratic Party.

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s press office account quipped, “Sleeping is far better than listening to Lee Zeldin talk,” while California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s team declared, “DOZY DON IS BACK (HE NEVER LEFT).”

The White House denied that Trump was asleep in a fiery social media post.

“His eyes are literally open in the clip you posted, you dumba** mouth-breathers,” the White House Rapid Response account fired back at the progressive “Headquarters” account.

The progressive account had claimed Trump “appears to be completely passed out asleep during his 3pm Oval Office announcement,” and also referenced a similar incident on May 11 where a reporter posted a photograph of the president with his eyes closed. “He was blinking, you moron,” the White House account claimed at the time.

“How long until the @WhiteHouse says he was just ‘blinking’?” Headquarters joked Wednesday.

Hunter Biden, whose father, former President Joe Biden, is frequently the target of “Sleepy Joe” taunts from Trump and his administration, also joined in.

“See…I told you it was a clone. They keep forgetting to charge its battery,” Hunter Biden posted.

Others shared more serious concerns for the president.

Jonathan Reiner, the cardiologist of the late former Vice President Dick Cheney, said the behavior was “not normal.”

“A glaring omission from the president’s recent physical examination is any mention of his sleep disorder,” Reiner, who has frequently scrutinized Trump’s physical and mental fitness, said. “This is not normal.”

Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California claimed the president “is not well.”

“He can’t stay awake at important White House events and cabinet meetings,” Lieu said. “@WhiteHouse needs to come clean about why trump takes so many trips to the hospital and why doctors keep giving trump cognitive tests.”

“If any CEO fell asleep at multiple board meetings and events, that CEO would be fired,” he added in another post.

Lieu questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a House hearing Wednesday.

“Secretary Rubio, have you been at more than one meeting where President Trump has fallen asleep?” Lieu asked him.

“I’ve never seen him fall asleep. On the contrary, the guy doesn’t sleep,” Rubio replied.

White House Physician Dr. Sean Barbabella said Trump was in “excellent health” after a recent medical examination, and claimed he demonstrated “strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall physical function.”

The banner was described as an ‘offence and racist’ erected ‘solely to sow hate and division in our community’

The erection of a banner at a children’s playpark in Co Tyrone is being treated as a hate incident.

Police said officers removed the banner in the Moygashel area on Friday. A police spokesperson confirmed the placing of the banner is being investigated as a criminal offence.

“As a result, officers removed the banner from the children’s playpark on Friday June 5,” they said.

“Police inquiries are ongoing and anyone with any information that could assist is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference 891 29/05/26.”

Local Sinn Féin and SDLP representatives welcomed the removal of the banner.

Sinn Féin MLA Colm Gildernew described the banner as an “offence and racist”, adding it was erected “solely to sow hate and division in our community”.

He added: “There is no place in our society for racism, and it is the responsibility of all political representatives and community leaders to stand against hate and racism.

“Those who erected this vile banner have nothing to offer our society.”

SDLP councillor Karol McQuade said those responsible for the banner “do not speak for the people of Moygashel”.

He added: “I am glad to see that this hateful banner has now been removed. Its erection was a clear attempt to intimidate local people and make families feel unwelcome at council-owned facilities that are there for everyone.

“The people responsible for this banner do not speak for the people of Moygashel. This is one of the most diverse communities in the North and the people who have chosen to make their lives here contribute enormously to our society through their work, their culture and their involvement in local community life.

“I would urge the people behind these displays to show some humanity and let people live in peace.”

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A violent teenager who stabbed a beloved grandfather to death in an unprovoked attack had been released on police bail – twice – in the days before the murder, The Independent can reveal.

Rasheed Rahman plunged a five-inch knife that he had signed out from his supported living accommodation into the back of Mark Carroll, 55, as he walked in a small London park with a friend.

The attacker, then aged 19, who was not known to Mr Carroll, fled the scene still armed with the murder weapon, sparking an hour-long manhunt. He threatened two other people with the blade before he was caught.

Three days before the killing, on 7 April 2024, Rahman, a Sudanese national who lived undocumented in the UK before being picked up by immigration officers while working at a restaurant in Essex in 2021, had been arrested after he allegedly lashed out at members of the public. He was said to have punched at least two people on a canal towpath in Camden Town, London, while waiving a boat hook.

Just a day earlier, he had been arrested after allegedly using a brick to smash a window to break into an office in a church. Despite his spiralling behaviour, Rahman was released on police bail – leaving him free to kill.

Now, the Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into contact police had with Rahman in the days leading up to Mr Carroll’s murder on 10 April – and whether anything could have been done to stop the killing – after Rahman was convicted of murder.

But other questions remain about the “worrying” attack, with charity Hundred Families, who are supporting Mr Carroll’s family, warning that institutions are repeatedly failing to stop unwell people from going on to commit violent crimes.

Rahman was known to Romford mental health services and had suffered from drug psychosis as a result of alcohol and drug misuse, a court was told.

Charity director Julian Hendy said: “It is a worrying case. A man was stabbed by a stranger in a London park and it should never have happened.”

It is unclear when Rahman first entered the UK, but he told officials he had come to Britain in a lorry through Calais, northern France. On his discovery, he claimed asylum as a child from Sudan and was granted temporary leave to remain in the UK until March 2028.

In the lead up to the fatal attack on Mr Carroll, Rahman had been told that he was due to move out of his flat, which was run by a private company offering supported housing for young people, on 11 April.

At around 2pm in the afternoon the day before the stabbing, Rahman, wearing a green basketball top, blue shorts and a black bandana, signed out a kitchen knife from an Asda set which was kept by the office at the five-bed property, with house manager Idris Bello making a note of it in the “sharp knives log”. Residents were not allowed to own sharp objects and had to have knives booked out if they wanted to cook.

But the knife was never returned. Instead, Rahman left his hostel that afternoon, taking the weapon into central London, and used it to kill Mr Carroll the next day.

Mr Carroll, known as Mogi to his friends, was a Camden local with a huge heart. He would always strike up conversations with people and would accept them as they were, without judgement, his family said.

One of his two daughters, Ayisha Carroll, told The Independent: “He was probably one of the most giving people I knew. He was such a kind person. He didn’t have very much himself but he would always be giving away to people. He was a very down to earth person as well, and accepting of people as they are.”

Referring to Rahman, Ms Carroll added: “I know that he suffered and struggled but that doesn’t entitle you to take someone’s life. I want my dad to be remembered for who he was.”

On the morning of the 10 April, Mr Carroll and his friend of 20-years James Nash were drinking in St Martins Gardens, Camden – which they visited often – with Mr Carroll seen on CCTV from around 11am.

Over the next two hours, they chatted to other people, including some workmen on their lunch break. The pair had been drinking alcohol and gradually became more vulnerable.

During the murder trial at Wood Green Crown Court, Mr Nash said he was standing in front of Mr Carroll when someone came at him from behind. “That person was a distance behind him. I saw him lunge at him from behind. There was no argument, nothing,” Mr Nash said.

CCTV footage shown to the court showed Mr Carroll staggering into sight, trying to walk towards Mr Nash before he collapsed to the ground at around 13:11pm.

Ten minutes later, ambulances, paramedics and the police arrived, and he was taken to University College Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Louis Mably KC, for the prosecution, told the court that a single fatal knife wound in his back had landed behind his heart, severing his aorta, the main artery in the body that pumps blood from the heart.

“The blade had gone into his back, gone downwards, and cut through everything it had come across… Because the aorta had been damaged, Mr Carroll had suffered massive internal bleeding. It was catastrophic and fatal.”

While friends and paramedics rushed to help Mr Carroll, Rahman was already walking through Camden, still armed with the murder weapon. A nine-minute walk away in Arlington Road, witness Kamran Khail found him, standing and staring at him, in front of the hostel where Mr Khail was living.

“When I see him staring at me, I thought something was wrong,” Mr Khail recalled. “He didn’t tell me anything at that time, just he was staring. I was in fear, so I thought I should return back to the hostel”.

He added: “When I was walking he was also walking, when I was stopping he was also stopping… as I turned [back] to the hostel, he told me to stop.”

Rahman pulled the knife from the pocket of his jacket and held the blade to Mr Khail’s body. “He was saying in English, come with me… I thought he was going to kill me.”

Mr Khail was able to escape, fleeing into the hostel, where he alerted police.

Rahman then made his way to Gloucester Avenue, where he approached Kamil Hamma and his friend who were about to dock their Santander bikes. Rahman demanded he take Mr Hamma’s bike instead.

Mr Hamma told the trial: “He was quite adamant, consistently asking me for the bike, obviously I said no. He was about a metre-ish away, that was when he started grabbing the bike and getting a bit closer to me.”

They had a tussle before Rahman pulled out a knife. “I just saw the blade and got very kind of scared. He just took it out and said ‘give me your bike now’, to which I obviously backed off and let him take it.”

Video footage shows Rahman cycling towards Camden market when the knife falls out of a pocket and hits the ground. He stops to pick it up – a moment spotted by a keen-eyed coach driver who phoned the police.

Just before 2pm, officers tracked Rahman down to Castle Haven park, just half a mile from where the killing took place. There, they found the knife, with Mr Carroll’s blood on it, hidden in a plastic bag in a nearby bush.

Rahman was found guilty of murder, robbery and two other knife offences at his trial last month and will be sentenced at a later date.

He had previously pleaded guilty to affray and actual bodily harm over the events of the 7 April, with his sentencing yet to take place. Though he was charged with burglary over the incident on the 6 April, the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence against him.

Though Mr Carroll’s family are relieved they now have a guilty verdict, Mr Hendy said there were still questions to be answered about how Rahman was able to attack people with a knife.

He said: “This is happening far too often. We are seeing repeated problems with mental health support and other services, a lack of joined up working between agencies. Seriously unwell people are not being looked after well enough in the community and it is allowing tragedies to happen.”

The accommodation where Rahman lived houses young people transitioning from care, or who have complex needs or challenging behaviour, or who are unaccompanied asylum seekers. Rahman’s case did not involve any mental health defence.

Mr Hendy added: “There are certain questions to be asked of the accommodation provider; how was a man with apparently serious mental health illness able to access knives?”

He asked: “Does this warrant an offensive weapons review, and is there learning to be had from this to protect unwell people and members of the public?”

Meanwhile, Ms Carroll described her father as someone you could call on at a moment’s notice.

“He was always a message, a phone call away. He got up so early so, if I was on night shifts, he would give me a ring and we would have a chat,” she said.

“He had his own mental health difficulties, and I’ve been struggling knowing that he passed away when he should have had more support around him.”

She added: “There’s one Irish gentleman who he knew from the park, Tom, that dad would always go and check in on, when he was recovering from ill-health. Now whenever my sister and I visit the park to drop flowers there, the plants are always so well-kept by those who knew him.”

A grandfather, Mr Carroll loved the simple joy of visiting his eldest daughter, Danielle Morley, and her two children. And remained life-long friends with Ayisha’s mother, supporting her in periods of ill-health.

Ms Morley remembered his visits fondly, saying: “When dad came down to see me and the girls, the house was always full of laughter, love and happiness. Watching him with his granddaughters created memories that are so special and meaningful to me, and moments I will never forget.

“He absolutely adored them, and I could see how much joy they brought him every single time he was with them.”

She added: “Even though he’s no longer here, the warmth, love and happiness from those moments will always stay with me. The girls will always carry a part of their granddad with them through the stories, memories, and love he gave so freely.”

A Met police spokesperson told The Independent that it would be inappropriate to comment while the internal review is ongoing.

The force would not need to refer themselves to the regulator (The Independent Office for Police Conduct) over the murder as referrals are only mandatory if officers have had previous contact with the victim, not the perpetrator.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with Mr Carrol’s family and friends at this difficult time.

“All foreign national offenders who receive a prison sentence in the UK are referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity, with nearly 70,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals removed or deported since the 2024 election.”

Taylor’s Croke Park dream was firs floated following her first victory over Serrano in April 2022.

However, after a win over Karen Carabajal in London, her homecoming would take place at Dublin’s 3 Arena with Croke Park’s stadium chief executive Peter McKenna saying Taylor’s promoter Matchroom would not cover security costs.

Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn claimed “the cost of hire, the cost of everything involved with the event is three times nearly more than staging it at Wembley Stadium”.

Taylor suffered her sole career loss in 26 fights against Chantelle Cameron in Dublin in May 2023 before avenging the defeat later that year.

“I’m under no illusions that Flora will present a very tough challenge, she’s undefeated as a professional and has a good amateur pedigree so I have the utmost respect for her,” added Taylor.

“I’ve been blessed to achieve more than I could ever have dreamed in this sport but fighting at Croke Park really is the icing on the cake.

“I hope it’s the kind of event that will inspire a whole new generation to take up sport and follow their passions – that for me would be the greatest legacy I could leave.”

PC Mark Roberts, from Darlington, was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and seriously injuring another man in a crash that killed 74-year-old Muriel Pinkney, a passenger on a motorbike, near the Metrocentre in Gateshead in July 2022.

He had been responding to an emergency call about a choking baby in a marked Northumbria Police vehicle.

Teesside Crown Court heard that PC Roberts ran a red light that had been on “stop” for six seconds before colliding with Mr and Mrs Pinkney on a 30mph stretch of road.

Mrs Pinkney suffered fatal head and neck injuries but her family said they “did not want him to go to prison for doing his job”.

He was sentenced to 27 months in prison in April, but the Court of Appeal has now reduced and suspended his sentence.

Lady Justice Andrews, delivering the judgment alongside Mr Justice Jay and Mrs Justice Thornton, said: “This was not a case of prolonged dangerous driving.”

She described it as an “exceptional case” and acknowledged PC Roberts’ long career of public service and the harm his imprisonment was having on his family, including his disabled daughter.

PC Roberts appeared emotional and was seen wiping his eyes as judges quashed his 27-month sentence and replaced it with a two-year sentence suspended for 18 months.

During sentencing, the family of Mrs Pinkney said they did not blame the officer and did not want him to go to prison.

Dawn Hunter-Pinkney, the couple’s daughter, said in a victim impact statement: “For a long time we were angry but the more we hear about why the officer was driving the way he was, the more we understand.

“We don’t want him to go to prison for doing his job.

“We do accept this is a very tragic accident with a very tragic outcome, but sending the officer to prison won’t bring mam back.”

PC Roberts was suspended from Northumbria Police.

His barrister, Luke Ponte KC, argued that the original sentence was “manifestly excessive” and did not fully consider the “exceptional mitigation” in the case, including PC Roberts’ professional record and the circumstances of the emergency call.

The court heard that PC Roberts had a lifetime of public service and had responded to numerous emergency incidents throughout his career.

At the end of the hearing, three appeal judges ruled the sentence should be reduced and suspended, meaning Roberts can be released from custody.

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Hill issued a statement after the sentencing, saying: “I reiterate my previous comments in recognising that no words will make the pain of Mr Pinkney, his family and anyone impacted by this tragic incident, any easier.

“On behalf of Northumbria Police, I wish to express my sincere condolences for your loss and our thoughts very much continue to be with you at this time.”

Details of previous owners and crashes were wiped from the records, and stolen or cloned vehicles were given new identities

A trusted DVLA employer abused his position with the agency to alter or delete vehicle records to boost their value and to issue new identities for stolen or crashed cars, a court has heard.

Matthew Holloway accessed computer and paper-based systems to manipulate records for two car dealers in Swansea as well as for other individuals and organisations around the UK. Holloway’s actions served to increase the value of the vehicles with the dodgy documents by almost £1.3m.

A judge at Swansea Crown Court described what happened as “an example of organised crime” which had undermined the function of the DVLA and had invalidated the integrity of vehicle records which are relied upon by drivers, traders, and law enforcement. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here

Holloway and the two car dealers he was working with – Ashley Harris and Joshua Sawyer – have all been sent down.

Craig Jones, prosecuting, told the court that at the time of the offending Holloway worked in the special registration team at the DVLA, a position of trust and responsibility.

He told the court the defendant abused that trust by engaging in a “systematic campaign of vehicle document tampering” including removing registered keepers from log books and inserting new names, altering vehicle identification numbers, removing markers from the records which showed vehicles had previously been written off, removing certificates of destruction from records, and issuing new false identities for cloned, reconstructed, or stolen vehicles.

The court heard some of the manipulation of DVLA data was done at the request of two Swansea car dealers who operated a number of different companies between them – the co-defendants Harris and Sawyer. However, other changes to vehicle records were done at the request of people and organisations around the court and not in the dock.

The prosecutor said as examples of the changes made on behalf of Sawyer, the defendant removed the details of seven previous keepers from the record of an Audi RS5 and inserted the name of a new keeper, and also doctored the history of an imported Ferrari 458 Italia to hide the fact it had been written off in Australia.

The barrister said as examples of the manipulation carried out for Harris, the defendant changed the records of a BMW M4 Competition and a Mercedes-AMG to hide the fact they had both been involved in crashes in the past. He said in the case of the Merc, the identity of the car was changed no fewer than three times “which may be indicative – and I put it no higher than that – of use in criminal activity”.

The court heard Holloway carried out similar changes to other vehicles not linked to Harris or Sawyer, including issuing false identity documents for stolen Range Rover Sport worth £65,000 which was then sold to an innocent third party.

The prosecutor said the results of the prolonged investigation into the activities of Holloway showed the manipulation of the records he carried out meant an increase in the value of vehicles to the tune of some £1,290,000. He said the Harris benefited from the increase in the value of vehicles linked to him by £90,000 while Sawyer benefited to the tune of £75,000. Holloway himself was paid a total of £23,400 by the co-defendants for carrying out the changes.

The court heard that DVLA has also lost out to the tune of £27,000 on fees which were not paid.

Matthew David Holloway, aged 32, of Ffordd y Mynydd, Birchgrove, Swansea; Joshua John Sawyer, aged 31, of Treharne Road, Morriston, Swansea; and Ashley Keith Harris – also known as Keith Wayne Lewis – aged 44, of Tawe Road, Llansamlet, Swansea, had all previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud between January 2021 and July 2022 when they appeared in the dock for sentencing.

Neither Holloway nor Sawyer have any previous convictions while Harris has previous convictions for motoring offences, Class A drug trafficking in 2008 and 2012, and fraud from 2017. The fraud involved the defendant lying to finance firms about having been in a steady job for five years and earning around £30,000 a year in order to obtain high-value cars including BMW M4s, an Audi Q7, and an Audi R8.

In fact, the defendant had spent much of that time in prison serving a 2012 drug dealing sentence, and the income he declared to the taxman was less than half the amount claimed. On that occasion his barrister told Swansea Crown Court that his client ran a car sales business and the motivation for the fraud “may well have been to drive around in expensive cars to portray a certain image”.

Harris was sentenced to two years in prison for those offences with a judge describing him as a “thoroughly greedy and dishonest man” who “enjoys the trappings of money”.

Jon Tarrant, for Holloway, said his client’s personal gain from what he did at the DVLA had been limited compared to some of the sums of money the court had heard about, something which the defendant may be reflecting upon in the dock and questioning whether it was worth it. He said his client was “disgusted and ashamed” at his actions, and he described the fraud as “a spectacular fall from grace for which he will have to pay a high price”.

Andrew Evans, for Sawyer, said his defendant was a family man who had always worked hard since leaving school. He said when his client lost his job as a mechanic in the Covid pandemic he started his own car sales business and realised he could make “swift money” by getting his friend Holloway to make changes to vehicle documentation. The advocate said Sawyer now realises he made “a significant error of judgement” in trying to help his fledgling business.

David Singh, for Harris, said in the normal course of events given his client’s antecedent history his mitigation would go only to length of sentence, but he asked the court to find there were “exceptional and unusual” circumstances in the serious health issues being suffered by the defendant’s young daughter.

Judge Huw Rees said in his view what the court was dealing with was “an example of organised crime” which had the effect of undermining the function of the DVLA and invalidating the integrity of vehicle records which are relied upon by drivers, motor traders, and law enforcement. He said “greed was at the heart” of the offending for all three defendants.

With one-quarter discounts for their guilty pleas Holloway was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, Harris to two years and eight months, and Sawyer to two years and four months. The defendants will each serve up to half their sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

Speaking after the sentencing Lisa McCarthy, District Crown Prosecutor for CPS Cymru-Wales’ complex casework unit, said: “The evidence revealed an organised effort to alter vehicle documentation, including changing records to conceal the true status and history of vehicles.

“Holloway held a trusted position within the DVLA and exploited that role, as did Harris and Sawyer, for financial benefit. Their offending risked corrupting the UK’s vehicle registration system, which the public, motor trade and law enforcement depend on for accurate information.”

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Liverpool made a quickfire decision to replace Arne Slot with Andani Iraola over the past week and former Reds wideman John Barnes has offered his take on the situation at Anfield

John Barnes believes Liverpool fans contributed to the decision to sack Arne Slot. The Dutchman was let go by the Reds just 12 months after he led the club to just their second Premier League crown.

His second season at Anfield was far less inspiring. Liverpool eventually finished fifth and 25 points behind eventual champions Arsenal. Fans had also become frustrated with Slot’s style of play, with the trademark ‘heavy metal’ style of football deployed by Jurgen Klopp having been replaced by a more considered game.

And Barnes believes criticism from the stands was decisive in Liverpool chiefs deciding to move Slot on. Speaking to Betfred, he said: “That’s modern football. The owners, the Chief Exec and the rest of the hierarchy don’t sack managers, the fans do.

“If the fans lose faith in you, then unfortunately for all managers, this decision has to be taken. I’m sure they wouldn’t have wanted to do it but it’s the fans that decided and that’s unfair in my opinion.

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“If [Andoni] Iraola comes in now and loses a few games, are they going to sack him? And then sack the next manager. I support the club and the decisions they make, but I’m hoping the fans will have a lot more patience with the next manager.

“We don’t want to go down the route that Manchester United have been down. Mikel Arteta finished 8th, 8th and then 5th and his club didn’t sack him and look where they are now? Liverpool fans need to be careful what they wish for.”

Liverpool have already appointed Slot’s replacement, having made a move for former Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola.

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Asked if he is the right man for the job, Barnes added: “Well the previous manager was the right man for the job and it turned out the way it did. Iraola will only be the right man for the job if he’s supported when times get tough. I’m sure Iraola can do a good job, absolutely.”

Iraola, 43, has signed a two-year deal at Anfield and moves to Merseyside following a hugely successful stint on the South Coast. He led the Cherries to 12th in his first season before ninth and sixth-placed finishes. The Spanish coach departed the club having led them to a place in Europe for the first time in their history.

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All traffic has been stopped in both directions on the M6 in Cheshire following a crash.

The incident has taken place near to junction 20 at the M56 Lymm Interchange.

Traffic was initially stopped on the northbound carriageway, before vehicles were also held southbound.

Long queues are building up on the motorway in both directions.

Further details about the crash are yet to be confirmed.

Updates will be posted in this blog.