Man jailed for threatening to kill Labour MP Karin Smyth

Crime reporter(wp):

A man has been jailed after threatening to kill a Labour candidate during the general election campaign. Matthew Niblett phoned Karin Smyth’s office in Bristol seven times in one hour because he had taken exception to her campaign leaflets.

He left messages in the early hours of 3 June claiming he would kill Smyth, who was re-elected on 8 June, and saying that he hoped that she would get stabbed in the street or caught in a bomb blast. Niblett was jailed for 14 weeks after pleading guilty to one count of harassment without violence.

Judge Lynne Matthews said: “As a nation, we enjoy informed debate. We can protest, we can march in the street. But what we’re not free to do is the harassment of our politicians. That’s where we draw the line.”

The judge also made reference to the murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox in June last year. “We only have to consider what happened to Jo Cox to understand how your actions would have caused distress to Ms Smyth and those who work in her office,” Matthews said. “You have shown no regard for the anxiety you cause to others.”

The judge was told that Niblett, from Hartcliffe, south Bristol, had a longstanding issue with Smyth because he felt she had not properly investigated a case involving him. His lawyer, Jane Taylor, dismissed his calls to Smyth’s office as the “drunk ramblings” of a man with mental health and anger management issues.

Taylor said it was clear her client had absolutely no intention of harming any member of the Labour party. Niblett interjected: “I’ve been doing this for years and years and nobody’s died, have they?”

In a victim statement, Smyth, who doubled her Bristol South majority at the election, said she felt sad for Niblett and had been worried for the safety of her staff.

Niblett was also given a seven-year restraining order preventing him from going near or contacting Smyth or the offices of the Bristol South Labour party in Bedminster.

Tesco to axe 1,200 head office jobs

Pic: Tesco Store
Business reporter(wp):

Tesco plans to cut 1,200 jobs at its head office as part of a major cost-cutting drive.

The UK's biggest supermarket told staff on Wednesday morning about the cull, which amounts to a quarter of its workforce in Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield.

Tesco is implementing a turnaround plan that aims to reduce costs by £1.5bn.

The cuts come after the retailer said last week it would close a call centre in Cardiff at the cost of 1,200 roles.

Tesco said it was a "significant next step" in the reorganisation of the company.

"This new service model will simplify the way we organise ourselves, reduce duplication and cost but also, very importantly, allow us to invest in serving shoppers better," a spokesperson said.

Pauline Foulkes, national officer at shop workers' union Usdaw, said: "Tesco's head office staff are understandably very concerned that the company is proposing further large-scale job losses.

"Our priorities are to keep as many staff as possible in employment and to get the best possible deal for our members."

Shares in Tesco rose 1.6% to close at 171.7p, but have fallen almost 17% since the start of the year.

Tesco said earlier this year that 1,000 roles would go as it reduced the number of distribution centres.

It also announced a plan to replace 1,700 deputy managers at its Express convenience stores with 3,000 lower-paid "shift leaders".

Trading at Tesco has been improving under chief executive Dave Lewis and earlier this month it reported a 2.3% rise in UK like-for-like sales for the three months to 27 May.

The supermarket is undertaking a £3.7bn takeover of wholesaler and convenience store group Booker, which has drawn opposition from some shareholders.

Schroders and Artisan Partners have said that Tesco is paying too much for Booker, which owns the Premier, Budgens and Londis store brands. and has written to chairman John Allan about their concerns.

The Competition and Markets Authority has opened the first phase of its investigation into the deal, which will end in late July.

No final Grenfell Tower death toll 'this year'

Pic:Grenfell Tower/getty images
Staff reporter(wp):

The final Grenfell Tower fire toll will not be known until at least the end of the year, with 80 people currently presumed dead, police say.

The vast majority of those who died were said to be in 23 of the North Kensington building's 129 flats.

The 14 June fire destroyed 151 homes, most in the tower block, but also a number of surrounding properties.

The opening of inquests into seven of the victims heard a six-month-old baby was found dead in her mother's arms.

Survivors and relatives of those who died have expressed frustration at the progress of the investigation.

But Det Supt Fiona McCormack said the full death toll will only be known when the search and recovery operation is over.

What I can say is that we believe that around 80 people are either dead or sadly missing and I must presume that they are dead," the officer said.

She added: "I don't want there to be any hidden victims. We want to understand the true human cost of this tragedy."

Police said some residents had tried to move up the building to escape the flames and it is thought a number of people may have ended up in one flat.

Det Supt McCormack said officers were having to prepare some families for the reality that their relatives' remains may never be recovered.

There was "utter devastation inside the flats," she said.

The update on the police investigation came as Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs that cladding from 120 high-rise buildings in 37 local authority areas in England has now failed fire safety tests.

Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox has opened and adjourned more inquests into the deaths of the Grenfell Tower victims.

Unsafe flats

At least one person from 106 of the 129 flats at Grenfell Tower has been contacted in an attempt to identify those who might have died, police said.

Some of the victims have been identified from a variety of sources including 999 calls - 26 calls received came from inside the 23 flats where the majority of people are thought to have died.

The 23 flats concerned were located between the 11th and 23rd floors of Grenfell Tower.

Det Supt McCormack said: "At this stage, we must presume, that no-one in those flats survived, that includes anyone who lived there or was visiting them."

She said a few flats were still too unsafe for police to carry out further investigation "due to the devastation caused by the fire".

The previously given death toll was 79.

Local people have created their own databases on missing people with figures which differ from those officially released.

Police said they hoped information would be sent to its investigation if it might identify the missing.

They said "every imaginable source" of information "from government agencies to fast food companies" had been used by officers as part of their inquiries to identify the victims.