PUBLISHED: 09:30, 7 March 2013 | UPDATED: 13:10, 7 March 2013
A 16-year-old girl was stabbed to death in a ‘sporadic and very quick’ attack as she travelled to school on a busy bus in Birmingham city centre.
She was attacked on the top deck of the number 9 First West Midlands service as it pulled into a stop on the Hagley Road at 7.37am, just a few minutes after she had boarded.
Officers and paramedics rushed to the scene after the bus driver reported that a passenger had been wounded.
Despite frantic efforts to resuscitate her, the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
A huge manhunt has been launched for the killer, who police have described as ‘extremely dangerous’ and may still be carrying weapons.
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Rush-hour horror: Police and paramedics at the scene in Hagley Road, Birmingham, where a schoolgirl was stabbed to death on a bus this morning
Investigation underway: Police surround the bus, where the girl was reportedly attacked by a male friend
Tragedy: West Midlands Police said they have identified the victim’s family and are in the process of breaking the sad news
Tragedy: West Midlands Police said they have identified the victim’s family and are in the process of breaking the sad news
Detective Superintendent Richard Baker, of West Midlands Police, said they were looking for a black man in late teens or early 20s who was wearing a black hoodie with a tiger or leopard motif on the back.
Det Supt Baker said he also had either a white bandage around his right hand or was carrying a small white bag.
He said it was not known whether the suspect knew the victim.
The bus was driven from the scene, with the body still in-situ just before midday and and the Hagley Road was then re-opened.
Around three hours after the attack, a man was detained and spoken in Lower Temple Street in the centre of the city, but was released without being arrested.
West Midlands Police said the girl had been identified and officers have broken the tragic news of her death to her family.
Scouring the scene: A forensics officer gathers clues on board the 9 National Express West Midlands bus
Collecting evidence: A police officer removes an item from the scene of the fatal stabbing
Building a case: Officers and paramedics rushed to the scene after a member of the public dialled 999 claiming to have witnessed the stabbing
Probe: Forensics experts load evidence into a van as a manhunt got underway to find the killer
Location: The girl was attacked as the bus pulled into a stop on the Hagley Road near the Five Ways roundabout leading out of the city towards Stourbridge, West Midlands
Traffic backed up into the city centre as police closed off the busy Hagley Road out of the city.
Shocked passersby took to Facebook to speak of their horror at the incident.
Darren Bent, from Birmingham, said his wife was on the bus.
He wrote: ‘Can’t believe some guy has just stabbed and killed a school girl right in front of my missus on the number nine bus on her way to work and she had to give CPR love you xxx the guy did it as bus was about to stop and ran off.’
Stephanie Clinton added: ‘It doesn’t make you a man if you carry a knife it makes you scum. It doesn’t matter if you in a gang or not. It’s all wrong so grow up and put the knife down.’
Taking the lead: Detective Superintendent Richard Baker updates the media about the investigation
Search operation: A huge manhunt has now been launched after the killer fled the scene
Gathering clues: The Hagley Road, which is a main commuter route into the city, remains closed and is likely to remain so for the rest of today
Twitter user Mareesha wrote: ‘So the girl got stabbed by her friend?’
AustymZogs tweeted: ’15yr old Schoolgirl stabbed to death by a friend on a bus in Birmingham, UK during rush hour this morning.’
A bus user yesterday tweeted that a passenger was discovered carrying a knife on the service only yesterday.
The West Midlands Police spokesperson said: ‘At 7.37am today, police received a call from a member of the public reporting that a passenger had been attacked.
‘Officers and other emergency services were immediately dispatched but it was clear that nothing could be done to save the victim.
‘West Midlands Police have identified the victim’s family and are in the process of breaking the sad news.’
In vain: Emergency services were dispatched immediately, but nothing could be done to save the victim
Scene: The attack is believed to have happened during rush hour at 7.37am in Birmingham
Appeal: Witnesses to the attack are asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
A West Ambulance Service spokesperson said: ‘West Midlands Ambulance Service can confirm it was called this morning to a medical emergency on board a bus in Hagley Road, Edgbaston shortly after 7.35am.
‘A senior paramedic officer in a rapid response vehicle, two BASICS Emergency medics and two ambulance crews attended.
‘One person was confirmed dead at the scene. ’This is a criminal matter.’
A National Express West Midlands Travel spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that a tragic incident took place on a number nine service on the Hagley Road this morning.
‘Our thoughts and condolences are with the family of the person involved and we will offer all possible support to the police in their investigation into the matter.’
Witnesses to the attack are asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
The city centre attack comes just a few months after two Big Issue sellers were stabbed to death in broad daylight in the middle of the city centre.
In May 2001, 16-year-old Rosemarie Ross was stabbed to death as she sunbathed in the sunshine in Centenary Square, Birmingham.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2289518/Birmingham-stabbing-Schoolgirl-16-killed-bus-morning-rush-hour.html#ixzz2MrMnr52U
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PUBLISHED: 17:39, 25 February 2013 | UPDATED: 20:16, 25 February 2013
Police in an area of Afghanistan where 109 British troops died and hundreds were wounded trying to secure peace are riddled with corruption, child abuse, drug taking, kidnap and murder, a devastating investigation by Panorama revealed last night.
Weapons, ammunition and fuel paid for by UK taxpayers are being openly sold by Afghan officers – possibly to end-up with the Taliban – while senior police refuse to crackdown of the abuse of young boys by their officers.
Some officers appear drug-addicted, others are kidnapping civilians for ransom while in the past five weeks, four boys suspected of having been used as ‘sex slaves’ have been shot – one in the face – while attempting to escape from police commanders believed to have abducted them from their families. Three have died.
A BBC documentary has revealed fears over Afghan police officers, who are set to take over security when Coalition forces withdraw. The force is shown to be drug-addled, selling arms to the Taliban and molesting young boys. File picture
The disturbing reality of what has been achieved in the Sangin area of the troubled Helmand province and the extraordinary workings of local police were laid bare on BBC Panorama by correspondent Ben Anderson, who spent five weeks embedded with US forces in Afghanistan’s most violent area.
His stark findings questioned the optimistic assessment of some commanders and politicians, including defence secretary Philip Hammond, ahead of the full hand over next year to Afghan forces that ‘transition is proceeding very well – it is on track’.
And it raised questions too for the families of the British troops killed during anti-Taliban operations in Sangin where UK forces handed over security to the US in 2010.
Royal Marines at Sangin District Centre, Afghanistan. A total of 109 British servicemen have died there and hundreds more injured
Lucy Aldridge, whose 18 year-old son William, of 2nd Battalion The Rifles died there is 2009 after being blown-up while trying to rescue colleagues, said: ‘This will really make those who have lost loved ones think…it is not a surprise but very worrying.
‘If nothing has been achieved and this kind of thing is going on among the police who are meant to be responsible for law and order then everyone who has lost their lives has done so for nothing.
‘It begs the question that will be at the back of the minds of all those who lost someone in Sangin…did our loved ones lose their lives in vain?’
The documentary casts doubt on defence chiefs claims the handover is on track
Mrs Aldridge said she was ‘pleased’ the failings of the police had been exposed and questioned the need for British troops to ever have become involved in Sangin.
She said that at one stage during 2009 Sangin was the most dangerous place in the world and that he son’s unit had been ‘pretty much a sitting target’ as it tried to establish a peace in which Afghan civilian police could operate.
The Panorama programme Mission Accomplished? Secrets of Helmand, highlighted the work of U.S. Marine Major Bill Steuber, who is in charge of police advisory teams.
Afghan police in Jalabad, 2007. Some officers are believed to be selling off arms, petrol and even scrap metal from security walls
There was despair in his voice as he said corruption among the police was rampant, comparing it to the TV show ‘the Sopranos.’ ‘It’s vast,’ he said, ‘everything from skimming ammunition off their supplies to skimming fuel off their shipments.
‘There’s false imprisonment – they’ll take people during an engagement, and they’ll just wrap everyone up, then they’ll wait for the families to come in and pay them money to be able to release them.’
The major said police often sell weapons and ammunition in the local bazaar, including rocket propelled grenades.
In one instance, a patrol base was deemed unsafe to stay in because the Afghan police were selling off the security walls as scrap metal.
Lucy Aldridge, the mother of 18-year-old Rifleman William Aldridge, the youngest soldier killed in Afghanistan. He died in Sangin.
Every Afghan police base has one ‘chai boy’, a tea boy, who is often barely into his teens – some are used as servants and sex slaves, Major Steuber told Anderson.
None of the commanders responsible have been arrested and referring to the frustrations of his job, the US Marine officer said : ‘Try doing that day in, day out…working with child molesters, working with people who are robbing people, murdering them.
‘It wears on you after a while.’ He adds : ‘As an adviser you are a dog with a lot of bark and not a lot of bite…if we were to shut down all of their corruption schemes you would render them ineffective.’
Many of the patrol bases British and US forces fought so hard to establish and defend have been abandoned and most of the US marines remain on base with just 18 leaving to advise Afghan police and troops at 34 sites.
Anderson said that because of the growing risk of deadly insider – or ‘green on blue’ – attacks, the Americans live completely apart from their Afghan counterparts.
Whenever the Americans enter the Afghan side of the base, they have their weapons cocked, ready to fire.
‘When they did go out, what the marines saw was far from encouraging,’ he said, ‘At one checkpoint, the Afghan police were openly smoking marijuana. Two other police officers, assigned to fill sandbags to fortify a watchtower, were high on something stronger – probably opium or heroin.
‘When one of the police commanders was shot, three weeks after I left, the American medics who saved him found a bag of heroin in his pocket.’
Anderson told how a police commander identified a factory making the improvised explosive devices that have killed hundreds of Coaltion troops and Afghan civilians and asked the Americans to close it down.
Told that it was now his job, he reluctantly agreed to mount an operation only to disappear on unannounced leave.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2284302/On-Afghan-police-sell-weapons-Taliban-addicted-drugs-kidnap-rape-young-boys.html#ixzz2LztUGPzL
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These Commies on Facebook and Twitter are priceless. It is amazingly easy to feed them any old crap and off they go 100 miles an hour chatting shit. They actually think the bollocks they write makes a difference. Fact is its only other Commies and EDL/Patriot/Nationalist types who even bother reading it.
The majority of what they post is screenys from Facebook, which to them are absolute GOSPEL. They screenshot Jay last week and were boasting about how they had grassed him to police and that his door was going through so we decided to give them something to chat shit about. We typed a status saying Jay had been arrested by anti terror police and within minutes they were off typing shit about it and loving themselves. I decided to spice it up a bit so I typed another status saying 4 of ours are in custody including Zoe. Off they went again in a frenzy. Got some of our Twitter mafia to add to the illusion with highly visible “has Zoe been arrested”? posts and within 5 minutes a senile old Commie was tweeting “rumour has it Zoe has been arrested”. These people think they are amazingly clever but they are just gullible fools. Morons for want of a better word.
As they were so excited thinking they had got us arrested for the Bulger caper we first let them think thats what it was then decided to go for the attack on the SWP old boy in Lewisham which they have been telling us we will get arrested for “knowing about it” for a year. I stayed off the Zoe account on Facebook for a few days to add to the illusion as well.
Ive never seen so much foam and bullshit as what theyve been writing about this. Just for your information Commies, you know about us what WE CHOOSE for you to know. When I set up my account I chose the surname Smith because I knew you’d soon be all over me so I gave you a false surname to chat shit about. also knew that you’d try and find out where I lived so Smith ought to keep you busy. The other day I posted on a thread on Indymedia that “Zoe Smith works in the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport” and yes youve guessed it, you bought it bigtime and spent your time ringing and emailing the hospital trying to get me sacked. Its a fail I am afraid.
Next they hear that Tommy has been released and never shy to miss an opportunity to try and cause infighting they start saying that Hel Gower/Tommy grassed the Casuals for early release. Again a fail as all of us knew that none of ours have been arrested anyway. You bunch of utter failures. Weve had no end of fun watching you grass pointlessly and type shit for days but now we are putting you out of your misery.
You will know what we allow you to know and or feed you. Casuals 1 Commies o
Until next time we waste your time NFSE
Zoe xxx
Wayne havercroft aka havo funeral info
12th February at 12.00 For Service
Hucknall, St Mary’s Church NG15 7AS.
12.45pm St Marks Church for Burial, Bestwood Village, NG6 8UU.
The wake shall be held at Griffins Head Pub, NG15 8EN
Any question please get in too with either Tracie Bird or Chris Payne
Lets give him a good send off!
Thank you
NFSE
Stacey
Well done all those who turned up. Keep up the pressure NFSE
Bex
8:25am Friday 4th January 2013 in News
A GANG of three men jumped out of a car before headbutting and attacking a group of teenagers with a claw hammer, a court heard.
Two of the men were yesterday jailed for the attack, while the third was given a suspended sentence at Bolton Crown Court.
The three boys were walking along Green Lane, Great Lever, at about 1.30am on October 1, 2011, when the three men, now all aged 22, drove past and shouted something at them, the court heard.
The boys shouted back and the driver of the black Vauxhall Astra, Mohammed Khan, turned the car around.
Waheed Khan, a passenger, got out the vehicle to confront one of the 16-year-old victims before headbutting him.
Mohammed Khan then got out the car before hitting two of the other boys, aged 16 and 17, around the head with a hammer.
Shafqat Khan, aged 22, joined in the fight and started kicking one of the boys in the head while shouting racial abuse as he lay unconscious on the floor.
All three of the victims were taken to hospital where two of them needed stitches in their heads.
One of the boys suffered at 3cm long cut on the right side of his head and the other needed six stitches.
Louise Couen, prosecuting, said the attack had a lasting affect on the boys, emotionally and socially.
Speaking about one of the victims, she said: “As a result he rarely feels confident enough to go to public areas alone.”
All three of the attackers pleaded guilty to causing actually bodily harm.
Shafqat Khan admitted that his offence was racially aggravated.
Mohammed Khan, of Malton Avenue, Great Lever, was jailed for 15 months, while Shafqat Khan, of Crescent Road, Kearsley, was jailed for 12 months.
Waheed Khan, also of Crescent Road, was given a five-month suspended sentence and ordered to do 125 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Timothy Stead said: “The consequences could have been much worse than they were.”
http://englishdefenceleague.org/edl-news-2/1837-another-charge-or-two
See link above
Regardless of what you think of Tommy, this aint right. Look at all the unpunished threats on here yet theyve charged him over some tweets? And the beardy weirdo slapped
The whole game plan of Commies and the nobheads who supply them with screen shots is to cause infighting. They hope people will get upset over what others have said about them on the screeny and itll cause murder. They work on their basic theory that we are all thick as shit and will believe anything they say. They often say “Our spy in Casuals/EDL/CXF says…” and follow it with some nonsense that prove they really are clueless and don’t have a spy. If they really had spies would they be boasting about it? They hope we will all get paranoid and start blaming each other and arguing/fighting. No, we don’t. We laugh at the idiots. Today’s attempt to cause infighting is a cosmic fail.
At the bottom of the screeny is a pic of one of our girls. This suggests that she is the person who took the screenshot. For this to be real it would mean that she failed to notice this while taking the screeny, and then the blogger failed to protect his informant and also failed to notice. You get where I’m coming from? They simply changed the profile pic on their troll account to implicate her and just discretely left it there knowing it would be noticed. It its glaringly obvious. No way would they have failed to notice it. Totally massive fail. Please try harder next time you aren’t fooling anyone. Idiots
Zoe
Good luck all those attending CXF Oldham demo today at 1pm NFSE
Becki
Friday, 14 September 2012
It’s Friday. Friday, as you know = Day of Rage. This Friday’s rage, kicking off all over the world is over the film Innocence of Muslims which depicts the early life of Mohammed. Any portrayal of Mohammed, even a sincere one ignites the anger and ire of Islam. In Islam there could be never be a film equivalent to ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ to name just one film about the life of Christ. There have been deaths during attacks on US Embassies in North Africa and the Middle East. Other western embassies have also been attacked. In London the demonstration outside the US Embassy today was another assault on Freedom of Speech and freedom of Movement for the non-Muslim.
Anjem Choudary announced that there would be a demonstration in Grosvenor Square this afternoon. He and 300 or so of his followers, who currently call themselves United Ummah, were allowed to march through London to Grosvenor Square. They were not stopped from burning an American and an Israeli flag. I was not there but I have been given photographs, video and a briefing from those known to me in the EDL, covering several divisions who were there. This is a collation of their experiences.
This has been reported in most of the national newspapers. In the Daily Mail here. The Weekly Standard here. TheHuffington Post UK reported that , one protester, who refused to give his name, blamed the death of US Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in Benghazi on Wednesday, on “freedom of speech”.
“This is what happens when you can say anything,” he said. “Would it not be better for you [The West] to stop those who go beyond the limits and insult the messenger [Muhammad]? Obama and Clinton should not condemn the protests but condemn the mouths that speak against the prophet. This is the direct result of man-made law and freedom of speech. We do not want freedom, we want Islam.”
The report also says “A rumoured counter-protest mooted by the English Defence League in “solidarity” with the Americans failed to materialise.”
This is not the case and other reporters, in particular this member of Demotix did notice counter-protestors scattered about. To avoid being penned away from the Muslim demonstration patriotic protestors stayed in small groups positioned in and around Grosvenor Square.
This video was taken by one such, a young woman. She got quite near to the notorious Sayful Islam who has still not been charged for his assault on Tommy Robinson one day in Luton. As the video came to an end she tried to discuss the demonstration with one of the men who seemed reluctant to speak to a mere woman. She asked him (this wasn’t caught by her equipment) why his group was so opposed to freedom of speech. At this point a police officer had come up behind her and and took her out of the crowd and moved her round to the side of the demonstration. She asked the police why they were allowing the Muslim demonstrators to get away with burning the US flag.
She then spotted other EDL supporters known to us both – a married couple and joined them standing by the statue of president Eisenhower. They were booing the United Ummah, called to them ‘No Sharia!!!’ when more police officers again pulled them away and they were detained, and threatened arrested, to ‘prevent a breach of the peace’. They were removed from Grosvenor Square but allowed to make their way out of the area down Audley Street.
“So they asked us to leave the area or they would give us a ride in one of their nice police cars, to their police station.We all declined their offer, because as my old mum said, “Never except a lift off of strange men”.
Prior to her removal Mrs D took the photographs below of the Muslim demonstrators.
Miss M described the demonstrators as mixed in ages and ethnicities – she could see, among others, Somalis, Arabs and Pakistanis. There were a number of women but they were confined to the back of the march and the demonstration. She said that the atmosphere was tense, aggressive and intimidating.
Other Patriots describe being stopped twice by police within 10 minutes of their entering Grosvenor Square. They were stopped before they were even able to park their car, then stopped again two minutes later while still looking for a space. They were made to pull over to the side of the road and detained for no obvious reason. By the time they were allowed to proceed and had found a parking space the Muslim demonstration had dispersed.
The absence of the UAF and anti-fascists to counter these regular calls for sharia law which discriminates against women and Gays is a perennial mystery. I do not know why the Police have orders to facilitate Muslim abuse, while stifling any counter-protest but I consider that this assault on our centuries old freedoms is serious and worrying.
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/43900Friday
This is basically a standard fob off letter. It basically states that this is not a complaint about the conduct of an officer, but relates to a decision made by a Commander so they wont deal with it via ordinary complaint procedure. A letter will follow from the Public Order branch which will also be a standard fob off letter, that is only to be expected. The MET are used to ignoring the law and breaching human rights at many demos, and they are also used to getting away with it. They wont roll over and admit they did wrong and they wont give compensation easily either. Once we get the letter from them several of us are going to sue, watch this space for details of how to do it and what to say on the court papers. Dont get mad, get justice. NFSE
Becki
Two policemen accused of giving false evidence about an English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism march in Bolton appeared in court today.
The Greater Manchester Police serving officers Inspector Robert Cantrell and Constable Alan Glover are on trial charged with perverting the course of justice.
The pair are suspected of giving untruthful evidence that led to the arrest of a man during the protest in March 2010.
The man was charged with a public order offence during the EDL and UAF’s march.
Both officers appeared in York Crown Court to give their names and dates of birth – they will appear again on September 17.
By JAMES SLACK, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
PUBLISHED: 00:00, 22 August 2012 | UPDATED: 07:46, 22 August 2012
Town halls have launched an astonishing 9,600 spying missions on the public in the past three years.
The surveillance operations exploit anti-terror laws but many are targeting minor offences such as flouting the smoking ban, dog fouling and dropping litter.
Council officers have also gone undercover to carry out ‘test purchases’ at local escort agencies, it was revealed last night.
Snoopers: Town halls have launched an astonishing 9,600 spying missions on the public in the past three years
In other cases, tactics included obtaining phone records and trapping householders putting out rubbish early by using motion-activated cameras on lampposts and inside tin cans.
Families suspected of cheating school catchment area rules have been followed by council ‘spies’.
Civil liberties campaigners said was clear the hugely controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act was being abused.
They urged the Coalition to stop merely ‘tinkering’ with the ‘broken’ law – passed ostensibly to fight terrorist fanatics – and subject it to an overhaul.
In a painstaking report, which took months to compile from Freedom of Information Act requests, the Big Brother Watch group discovered 345 councils had been authorised to use RIPA 9,607 times since 2009 – the equivalent of around nine spying missions a day.
Some 26 local authorities have used RIPA to spy on dog owners to see whose animals were responsible for dog fouling.
A further seven have used their powers to investigate suspected breaches of the smoking ban.
Suffolk County Council conducted a ‘test purchase of dating agency services’.
Bin cam: Tactics include trapping householders putting out rubbish early by using motion-activated cameras on lampposts and inside tin cans
Many councils are targeting minor offences such as flouting the smoking ban, dog fouling and dropping litter
Stockton Borough Council mounted an operation to check on the ‘proper movement of pigs’ and to investigate a ‘fraudulent escort agency’. No action was taken.
Northumberland mounted three spying operations on a ‘tarmac resurfacing service’. No action was taken.
BBW said Kent was the worst authority in the country for RIPA investigations, with 315 in three years.
Alarmingly, seven public authorities refused under the Freedom of Information Act to disclose why or how often they have used the powers. They included the BBC and Ofsted.
The spies are called ‘covert human intelligence sources’. In many cases they will be council employees, such as dog wardens or trading standards officials, but school children are sometimes recruited to test for the sale of underage alcohol or cigarettes.
Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, admitted councils had been misusing RIPA.
Stockton Borough Council mounted an operation to investigate a ‘fraudulent escort agency’. No action was taken
He said: ‘Under Labour, councils seriously abused and over-used such snooping powers – for matters as trivial as spying on garden centres for selling pot plants; snooping on staff for using work showers or monitoring shops for unlicensed parrots.’
Mr Pickles said the Coalition had changed the law so that, from November, town halls will require the permission of a magistrate before they can launch snooping missions.
But campaigners and experts – including the Government’s own watchdog – have questioned how much difference the change will make. BBW director Nick Pickles said: ‘The current law is broken and before further surveillance powers are considered we need to fix the situation.
‘Despite nearly ten thousand investigations in three years, most resulted in no action being taken, reinforcing the need for a comprehensive review.’
He wants the public to have a right to know they have been spied upon. Currently, those who are found to be innocent never know they have been under surveillance.
Sir Paul Kennedy, the Government’s Interception of Communications Commissioner, said in his annual report: ‘I still remain unconvinced that the Government’s proposal to require all local authorities to obtain the approval of a magistrate before they can use these powers will have much impact other than to introduce unnecessary bureaucracy into the process.’
However, Mehboob Khan, of the Local Government Association, said that without snooping powers it would be harder for councils to tackle rogue traders.
The BBW report also laid bare the extent to which scores of other public bodies and quangos are spying on the public.
Job Centre Plus made use of RIPA 34,093 times between 2009 and 2012. On almost 18,000 occasions, people were put under surveillance to see if they were living as a couple.
Women are entitled to receive more state handouts if they are classed as living as a single mothers.
The BBC refuses to reveal the tactics it uses to catch licence-fee evaders
A string of public bodies including the BBC have refused to disclose how often they have used the spying powers.
The lack of transparency was yesterday described as ‘unacceptable’ by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
Hundreds of state bodies are entitled to use the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which was introduced by the last Labour government.
Normally, they reveal under the Freedom of Information Act how many surveillance operations they have carried out and why.
But the BBC, Ofsted, Royal Mail, the UK Border Agency, the Prison Service, Office of Fair Trading and UK Trade and Investment all refused requests from the Big Brother Watch campaign group.
They claimed ‘disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice a range of law enforcement functions and activities’.
In the BBC’s case, this is likely to involve operations to catch licence-fee evaders.
Unlike town halls, under a change in the law later this year, public bodies will continue to be allowed to snoop without approval from a magistrate.
Mr Pickles said: ‘For public bodies, funded by and working for the taxpayer, to be using RIPA yet so vociferously trying to avoid accountability is simply unacceptable.
From the BBC to Ofsted, the Royal Mail to UK Trade and Investment, public bodies should be transparent about why there are using these powers.
‘It is important that the public can have faith that surveillance powers are being used only in those situations where serious crimes are taking place and when there are no less intrusive alternative routes of investigation.’
A TV Licensing spokesman said the BBC used RIPA only to detect licence evaders ‘as a last resort’, adding: ‘The reason we do not release more details on how and when it is used is to ensure people without a valid TV licence don’t use this information to their advantage.’
September 1st Scottish Defence League demo Dundee
September 1st English Defence League demo Walthamstow (London)
September 22nd Casuals United demo Rochdale
A woman was horrifically sexually assaulted while working alone in a fast-food restaurant.
She was attacked as she prepared to open a city centre branch of Subway by a man who knocked on the door begging to use the toilet.
Leicester police want to trace this man
She reluctantly let him in and he turned on her.
Yesterday, the woman, who is in her 20s, told the Leicester Mercury about her ordeal in the hope it would help police catch her attacker.
She has agreed for details of the incident – such as the fact she is a member of staff at the shop in Charles Street, Leicester – to be released in order to tell her story.
She said: “This is a very dangerous man and he needs to be arrested. He was touching me all over my body. I kept telling him to stop but he didn’t listen to me.
“I told him I was going to call the police and there were cameras inside the shop, but he didn’t care.”
She believes the man is eastern European and had been drinking.
She said: “He came to the door while I was getting the shop ready for opening.
“He asked if he could come in to use the toilet, but I told him he could not because we were closed.
“He went away but came back again and begged me to let him in to use the toilet.
“He seemed really desperate so I let him in this time. I really wish I hadn’t.
“The police and the manager here at the shop have been very supportive. I just hope someone knows who he is and tells the police his name.”
Detectives have released CCTV images of a man they want to trace in connection with the attack, which happened shortly after 6am on Friday.
After the man left the shop, he ran away along Humberstone Gate away from the city centre.
A Charles Street business owner, who asked not to be named, said: “This is horrible and it has upset the women who work here, too.
“It’s made them feel very unsafe because they think if this man has done this once he will do it again.”
Detective Constable Jane Everson said: “This woman was subjected to a terrifying and distressing assault.
“We need to trace the man responsible and urge the public to take a look at the images.
“Do you know this man? Did you see him running through the city centre at this time?
“Maybe you saw him hanging around in the city?
“It doesn’t matter how insignificant the information you have may seem to you, to us it could be significant in our investigation.”
The attacker is white, aged about 25, of medium build, with short, dark brown hair.
He was wearing a black hooded top and jeans.
Call Det Con Everson on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
By ANNA EDWARDS
PUBLISHED: 04:27, 21 August 2012 | UPDATED: 08:25, 21 August 2012
This is the CCTV image of a man police want to question in connection with two serious attacks
This is the man police are hunting after two lone women were attacked at knifepoint and slashed with a blade.
Extra police have been patrolling the Hounslow area of London after two women were assaulted within ten days of each other in night time attacks.
Police have issued an image of a man they want to question in connection with serious attacks on two young women within 10 days of each other.
A 19-year-old woman was approached from behind, grabbed by an attacker and cut with a bladed item across her neck in the first of the two assaults.
It happened shortly before midnight on August 7 in Hanworth Road, Hounslow, west London, near the junction with St Stephens Road, Scotland Yard said.
The second incident occurred on Friday, at about 1.30am, in nearby Whitton Road, near the junction with Murray Avenue.
A 26-year-old was approached from behind and sliced across her face with a bladed item.
Both women suffered deep cuts which required hospital treatment.
Detectives have formally linked the two incidents and extra officers have been patrolling the area following the attacks.
This 19-year-old woman was approached from behind, grabbed by an attacker and cut with a bladed item across her neck in the first of the two assaults
The suspect is described as a black man, or a light-skinned black man, aged between 18 and 25 years, and between 5ft 6ins and 5ft 11ins.
Borough commander for Hounslow Carl Bussey said: ‘I would ask people to be extra vigilant and aware of their environment, particularly when walking late at night.
‘These sorts of crimes are thankfully rare in Hounslow, but I would like to reassure people that my officers are working tirelessly to catch whoever is responsible.
A 26-year-old was approached from behind and cut across her face with a bladed item
‘Extra officers will be on patrol in the area while this investigation continues.’
Police have urged a male cyclist who came to the aid of the victim in Hanworth Road to contact them as they believe he may have information that could help the investigation.
Detectives would also like to speak to anyone in the area who has been followed in the last few weeks, or has noticed a man fitting the description acting suspiciously.
Anyone with information is asked to contact them on 0208 721 4155 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 .
The MET have ignored us for days on the issue of this black racist woman on the London bus. We have had people go into police stations and make complaints as well as mass emailing them and demanding to know why when Emma West did less than this they scrambled all their resources and arrested her, yet in this case they first tried ignoring it then say they are “assessing the situation”. More proof that the police and the diversity obsessed CPS are only interested in arresting white people for racist offences. Now this is in the Mail they will be sat around shitting themselves knowing that they will sooner or later have to act here, and they wont be happy. At the end of the day, if Emma West wants to say that she isnt happy that her town has been swamped with ungrateful foreigners she should be allowed to say it. If this black woman hates white people she should be allowed to say it. But you cant have a system where you will persecute white people for anything you deem racist, while ignoring worse racism from other races. Simple as that. If Emma West was nicked and the other white woman was jailed then we demand this woman gets the same treatment, otherwise it shows your “hate crime” laws up for what they are. Anti white bullshit. Please forward this article to the MET and CPS. Cheers
Zoe
