19-year-old found dead in Mercedes after shooting in east London

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A 19-year-old was found dead in a car after being shot in east London, it has emerged.

The victim was shot as he sat in a Mercedes, before being found by shocked passers-by after a “commotion” in a busy road in Ilford last night.

Paramedics found the man unconscious with a gunshot wound and battled to save him but he died at the scene.

The incident comes just two days after an 18-year-old was shot dead as he cycled through an estate in near-by Barking.

David Adegbite, 18, was ambushed by a gang who surrounded him in a car park on the St Ann’s estate shortly after 7pm on Sunday.

Scotland Yard said today it was too early to say if the two shootings were linked.

Officers were called to reports of the shooting at the Ilford Lane junction with Bedford Road, Ilford, at 10.10pm last night.

Witnesses described hearing two gun shots ring out after a fight broke out near the junction of Bedford Road.

A shop worker said: “There was some sort of a gang fight, probably over drugs, and then a stabbing and two gun shots and then the shooters drove off.

“Armed police come down and blocked off the road.”

Khalid Hussain, chair of Ilford Business Association, who runs K1tyres in Ilford Lane, said CCTV showed a car pulling up alongside another vehicle last night. 

He said: “There’s some kind of commotion, and it looks like the man the car is shot. The car looks like a Mercedes.

“The other car drives off then there’s a Good Samaritan who runs to the car. I think he calls police and tries to help them man inside.”

Residents of the road where the man was shot, a quiet street of Victorian terraces, spoke of their shock at the killing.

Rafa Roblewski, 31, a student who recently moved to the street with his girlfriend said: “It’s really scary this has happened. We hoped we were moving somewhere nicer and then a man is shot dead here.”

Buses were diverted and a cordon was still in place this morning as forensic officers combed the area for evidence.

A Met spokeswoman said: “Police were called by the London Ambulance Service (LAS) on to a report of a man unconscious after being shot in Ilford Lane at the junction with Bedford Road, Ilford.

“Officers attended along with the LAS and found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was attended to by paramedics but was pronounced dead at the scene at 23.22pm.”

The family of the man, whose age is not known, have not yet been informed of his death. There have been no arrests.

Woman dies in Westminster attack

Pic:police shoot attaker
Crime reporter(wp)

A woman has died on Westminster Bridge in central London in what police are treating as a terrorist incident.

A police officer was also stabbed in the nearby Houses of Parliament by an attacker, who was shot by police.

The attacker struck several pedestrians as he drove a car across the bridge, before crashing it into railings.

A doctor at St Thomas' Hospital said a number of other people were hurt - some with "catastrophic" injuries.

A Downing Street source said Prime Minister Theresa May was safe.

Prime Minister Theresa May was seen being ushered into a silver Jaguar car as what sounded like gunfire rang out at Parliament during the incident.

MPs said they had heard three or four gunshots and staff inside Parliament were told to stay inside their offices.

Commons Leader David Lidington told MPs the "alleged assailant was shot by armed police".

Tom Peck, political editor for the Independent, tweeted: "There was a loud bang. Screams. Commotion. Then the sound of gunshots. Armed police everywhere."

Press Association political editor Andrew Woodcock witnessed the scenes unfolding from his office window overlooking New Palace Yard.

"I heard shouts and screams from outside and looked out, and there was a group of maybe 40 or 50 people running round the corner from Bridge Street into Parliament Square.

"They appeared to be running away from something.

"As the group arrived at the Carriage Gates, where policemen are posted at the security entrance, a man suddenly ran out of the crowd and into the yard.

"He seemed to be holding up a long kitchen knife.

"I heard what sounded like shots - I think about three of them - and then the next thing I knew there were two people lying on the ground and others running to help them.

"Armed police were quickly on the scene and I heard them shouting to people to get out of the yard."

London business chief defends Osborne in row over editor job

Pic:George Osborne addresses Evening Standard staff
Staff reporter(wp/es):
The chief executive of business group London First today stepped into the row over George Osborne’s appointment as Evening Standard editor, saying the former chancellor could champion both the capital and the North.

Jasmine Whitbread spoke out after Labour and SNP MPs said it was impossible to be both an editor for London and MP for Tatton in Cheshire.

She said: “Critics have asked how George, known for his support of the Northern Powerhouse, can possibly champion London. But I completely disagree — this is a false dichotomy, one business simply doesn’t recognise. 

“Business has a shared agenda across the UK: to get our capital and our country Brexit-ready, and, as we prepare for 2019, the Standard will continue to be a strong and influential voice.”

Labour raised the issue in the Commons yesterday, with shadow minister Andrew Gwynne arguing it was “a matter of great concern” and risked diminishing Parliament in voters’ eyes.

Mr Osborne responded: “In my view, this Parliament is enhanced when we have people of different experience take part in our robust debate and when people who have held senior ministerial office continue to contribute to the decisions we have to make.”

Heathrow Airport baggage handlers charged over 'cocaine plot'

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Two baggage handlers at Heathrow Airport have been charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the UK after a series of raids across London and the south east.

Mohammad Ali, 40, from Slough and Girmit Singh, 55, from Hayes were arrested during an operation by the National Crime Agency in December last year.

Singh has also been charged with conspiring to import cannabis.

Both men are due to appear at Wimbledon magistrates court on Friday.

Eleven other people, including another Heathrow baggage handler, have already been charged in connection with the alleged cocaine smuggling plot.

They are due to appear before Kingston Crown Court next month.

Boy, 15, knifed in street after 'fight' nearby

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A teenager was today in hospital after being stabbed in a north London street.

The 15-year-old boy was found by paramedics and police in Lordship Road, Stoke Newington, shortly before 10.20pm on Monday.

He was rushed to an east London hospital but his injuries are not life threatening or life changing.

Lordship Road and nearby Lordship Park were both closed last night following the incident.

It came after two cars, a blue Renault hatchback and a silver hatchback, collided on Lordship Park before reports of a “fight”. Police believe the two incidents are linked.

A Scotland Yard spokesman today said they were called by the London Ambulance Service to the incident. No arrests have been made and enquiries continue.

It came after a weekend of violence in London. On Saturday night a one-year-old boy died after an alleged attack in a Finsbury Park flat which also left his twin sister critically injured. Bidhya Sagar Das, 33, of Wilberforce Road, Finsbury Park, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.

In separate incidents an 18-year-old man died after being shot in the head in Barking, east London, in a suspected gang-related attack on Sunday while hours earlier a murder probe was launched after a man in his 20s was found dead in a flat in Hoxton.

'Cufflink' terrorist Samata Ullah admits IS charges

Pic:Officers outside a property in Cardiff in September and Samata Ullah
Crime reporter(wp):

A man who used a James Bond-style USB cufflink to store extremist data has admitted five charges of terrorism.

Samata Ullah, 34, of Cardiff, pleaded guilty to being a member of so-called Islamic State, terrorist training, preparing terrorist acts and possessing articles for terrorist purposes.

He denied one charge of directing terrorism.

The Old Bailey court in London heard the Attorney General had decided to accept the pleas.

The remaining charge will lie on his file.

When he was arrested on 22 September, he had a USB cufflink with an operating system loaded onto it to conceal a hoard of extremist data, including a blog.

The court heard that between December 2015 and his arrest, Ullah had provided instructional videos on how to secure sensitive data and remain anonymous online with the use of encryption programmes.

He also admitted having a book entitled Guided Missiles Fundamentals AFM 52-31 and an electronic version of Advances in Missile Guidance, Control and Estimation for terrorist purposes.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said a hi-tech report dealt with Ullah's desire to copy his blog onto a platform in a "format that meant it could not be closed down or deleted by the authorities".

Ullah, who has been diagnosed with autism, admitted the charges earlier in March but his pleas could not be reported until after the the prosecution had time to consider whether to go ahead with a trial on the remaining charge.

Judge Gerald Gordon lifted reporting restrictions and adjourned the case until 28 April.

He said the "issue of dangerousness" would have to be looked at before sentencing.

Speaking after the hearing, Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Commander Dean Haydon said: "Just because Ullah's activity was in the virtual world we never underestimated how dangerous his activity was.

"He sat in his bedroom in Wales and created online content with the sole intention of aiding people who wanted to actively support ISIS and avoid getting caught by the authorities.

"This is just the sort of information that may have helped people involved in planning devastating, low technical level, attacks on crowded places as we have seen in other cities across the world."

Murder probe after man found dead at block of flats in Hoxton

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A murder probe has been launched after a young man was found dead at flats in east London.

Metropolitan Police officers were called to Hoxton's Cranston Estate after the victim, in his 20s, was found unresponsive shortly after 12.30pm on Sunday.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Scotland Yard said a 28-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder.

He is being held at an east London police station.

A Met Police spokesman added: “The victim’s next of kin have been informed. 

“Formal identification and a post-mortem examination will be scheduled in due course.

“Enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances of the events.”

It came amid a weekend of violence in London.

On Saturday night a one-year-old boy was killed in an attack in a Finsbury Park flat which also left his twin sister critically injured. The children were named locally as Gabriel and Maria.

A 33-year-old man, believed to be the twins' father, was later arrested.

In a separate incident an 18-year-old man died after being shot in the head in Barking.

Scotland Yard said detectives had arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with the shooting in St Ann’s just after 7pm on Sunday.