Amber Peat: Father vows to continue 'personal fight' for her

Pic-Mr Cook said he was not told when his daughter's surname was changed

The father of a 13-year-old girl who was found hanged said the authorities "let her down considerably".

Amber Peat left the Nottinghamshire home she shared with her mother and stepfather after a row. Her body was found three days later, on 2 June 2015.

Assistant coroner Laurinda Bower said agencies missed 11 opportunities to prevent Amber's death.

Her father Adrian Cook and his wife said those responsible for looking after Amber needed holding to account.

The inquest at Nottingham Coroner's Court heard the opportunities missed by schools and agencies in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire could have resulted in a referral to social care.

Mr Cook said: "In my mind they let her down considerably.

"It's a personal fight for me. I'm standing for Amber.

"Amber wasn't the first and she certainly won't be the last. It's disgraceful."

Mr Cook said he last saw Amber in 2013 when he took her for a meal.

He said he found out Amber, who lived in Mansfield, had gone missing when his wife saw something on Facebook.

After the three-week inquest, Ms Bower said Amber's mother and stepfather, Kelly and Daniel Peat, had given "very little, if any, consideration" to her welfare.

She also said she considered whether to return a conclusion of suicide but she could not be sure Amber intended to die.

During the inquest, Mr and Mrs Peat said allegations about her enduring punishments and excessive chores were untrue.

They called her a "drama queen" and said she had behavioural issues.

"I don't know how people can sit there and say their daughter is a liar," Mr Cook said.

"I don't think it was puberty that caused all the problems."

The coroner said the fact Amber saw Mr Cook only twice after her parents separated on Christmas Eve 2012 "would, no doubt, have had an emotional impact on Amber and a destabilising effect on her life".

Mr Cook said the Peat family would often move around without him knowing and he was not told when his daughter's surname was changed.

Amber's stepmother, Lynda Cook, who has been married to Mr Cook for four and a half years but never met Amber, said they were not made aware of the problems the teenager was having.

She said: "Just because Amber's not here to say physically what happened; she told people and spoke to the right people, who should have protected her and done something about it.

"Anyone who was supposed to be looking after her needs bringing to account. Hopefully that will be done," she said.

She added: "The first time I saw her in the chapel of rest, I said to Amber, 'We'll get justice for you'.

"It's what she deserves."

PM May seeks more time - promises Brexit deal vote by March 12

British Prime Minister Theresa May promised on Sunday to offer lawmakers a vote on her Brexit deal by March 12 in the latest delay to her attempt to win approval for a plan to ensure Britain’s orderly departure from the European Union.

As the United Kingdom’s labyrinthine Brexit crisis goes down to the wire, May is making a last-ditch effort to negotiate changes to the divorce package, though lawmakers could try to grab control of Brexit in a series of parliamentary votes on Wednesday.

British parliament voted 432-202 against her deal in January, the worst defeat in modern British history, prompting May to promised to seek changes that would allow lawmakers to ratify the agreement and avoid a potentially disorderly exit.

On her way to Egypt for an EU-Arab League summit, May said further meetings in Brussels on securing changes to the deal ruled out a so-called meaningful vote in parliament this week.

Instead, the new ‘high noon’ for Brexit, May and the British parliament will be on March 12, only 17 days before Britain is due to leave on March 29.

“We won’t bring a meaningful vote to parliament this week but we will ensure that that happens by the 12th of March,” May told reporters on board her plane.

“It is still within our grasp to leave the European Union with a deal on the 29th of March and that is what we are working to do.”

In Sharm El-Sheikh, May tried to win the backing of EU leaders to secure the changes and ease increasing frustration in Europe over Britain’s political impasse over a deal that was agreed with London in November.

TUSK CALL FOR CLARITY

European Council President Donald Tusk told May that the EU needs clarity that what the bloc might offer would command a majority in the British parliament before a summit of EU leaders scheduled on March 21-22, an EU official said.

The EU has ruled out reopening the Withdrawal Agreement, though both sides are looking at a possible legal addendum to reassure lawmakers who worry that the Irish border backstop could keep Britain trapped in the EU’s orbit for years to come.

“We’ve had good progress, constructive discussions with the European Union,” May said, adding that British negotiators would be back in Brussels on Tuesday.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, however, expressed fatigue with Britain and its Brexit crisis.

“You need two to dance tango, and I know how to dance,” Juncker said when asked if he was running out things to give on Brexit. “I have a certain Brexit fatigue.”

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he could not accept a post-Brexit border backstop that has a time limit or a unilateral exit clause, ruling out a suggestion from British Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

“We are not playing chicken, we are not playing poker; we are just standing by our position, which has been solid since day one,” Varadkar said.

“A backstop that includes a time limit isn’t a backstop at all. Nor would a unilateral exit clause work for us.”

With the clock ticking down to March 29, Britain is in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project it joined in 1973.

Both Britain’s major parties fractured last week, losing lawmakers who cast aside their former parties as broken remnants of a political system that was in meltdown.

LABOUR REFERENDUM PUSH?

Some lawmakers will seek to grab control of Brexit in a series of votes in the British parliament on Feb. 27, though such attempts have previously been defeated as May sought more time to get a deal.

Before she set off for Egypt, three members of her cabinet publicly split with government policy and said they would side with rebels and opposition parties to stop a no-deal Brexit.

“We have around the cabinet table a collective, not just responsibility, but desire to actually ensure that we leave the European Union with a deal,” May said.

Senior figures in the opposition Labour Party said on Sunday that it was moving closer to supporting another Brexit referendum and could do so as soon as early as this week.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has so far stuck to Labour policy to keep the option of a second referendum “on the table” if May’s government fails to secure a deal with Brussels that can break the impasse in parliament.

But when asked whether this would be the week Labour comes out in support of a second referendum, the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, told BBC TV: “It might be ... We are getting closer to that point.”

Bangladesh commandos kill purported hijacker of Biman Bangladesh plane

International correspondent,Dhaka(Wp/reuters):::

Bangladesh commandoes shot and killed a purported hijacker who had tried to enter the cockpit of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight on Sunday, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing, airline and aviation authority officials said.

The purported hijacker, who told the pilot he had a personal issue with his wife and wanted to speak to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, died when the commandos stormed the plane at Chittagong’s Shah Amanat International Airport, officials said.

“We tried to arrest him or get him to surrender but he refused and then we shot him,” said Major General S M Motiur Rahman of the Bangladesh Army.

Before the commandos moved in, all 142 passengers and most of the crew had been let off the aircraft unharmed. One crew member had been kept as a hostage, the officials said.

Air Vice Marshal Nayeem Hasan, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, said the man appeared to have a pistol and had explosives around his body. It was not immediately clear if the pistol or the explosives were real.

The man appeared to be in his 20s, was probably Bangladeshi as he was speaking Bangla, but his identity was not yet clear, the officials said.

The Boeing 737 aircraft was scheduled to go from Dhaka to Dubai via Chittagong. The purported hijacking happened after it had taken off from Dhaka.

Disabled mum who killed herself failed by benefits agency

Pic--Jodey Whiting had suffered ill health for a number of years

 Staff reporter(wp/bbc):::

A woman whose disabled daughter killed herself after her benefit payments were stopped has called for officials to be prosecuted over their failings.

Jodey Whiting, 42, of Stockton, Teesside, took her life in 2017 when her payments were halted because she missed a capability assessment.

An independent inquiry has found the Department for Work (DWP) breached its own rules and it has been ordered to apologise and pay £10,000 compensation.

The DWP said it accepted the findings.

Ms Whiting, a mother of nine, suffered multiple physical and mental health issues including curvature of the spine and a brain cyst, and took 23 tablets each day.

She was suffering from pneumonia when she missed her assessment but was then ruled fit to work and had her Employment and Support Allowance halted.

'Pushed' to her death

Her mother, Joy Dove, of Norton, said she was "shocked" by the extent of the failings outlined in a letter from the Independent Case Examiner.

She said: "It was awful. There was no need. They pushed her to it.

"How can you cut someone's money off without seeing them?"

The examiner found the DWP did not follow procedures which should have seen it telephone and visit Ms Whiting after she missed the appointment.

Ms Dove is seeking legal advice over whether any further action is possible.

"No-one should go through this," she said.

Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North, said the DWP had "systematic problems".

He added: "They had opportunities to help this family and each time they failed."

The DWP said it apologised to Ms Whiting's family for "failings in how we handled her case".

A spokeswoman added: "Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time and we are providing compensation.

She said the DWP was reviewing its procedures to "ensure this doesn't happen again".

Field searched in possible link to Linda Razzell murder

Pic--Linda Razzell was last seen on her way to work in Swindon in 2002

Crime reporter(wp/bbc):::

A field is being searched by police probing a potential link to the disappearance of a mother of four missing since 2002.

Linda Razzell was last seen on her way to work in Swindon.

The 41-year-old's body has never been found but her husband, Glyn, was sentenced to life for her murder.

Wiltshire Police said it was acting on a tip-off from the public and it was "keeping an open mind" as to whether it relates to Mrs Razzell's murder.

Sniffer dogs are at the site near Pentylands Lane in Highworth and a forensics tent has been erected.

A force spokesman added: "People in the local area are likely to see an increased police presence in this area over the weekend."

Mrs Razzell went missing in 2002 after setting off from her Highworth home to work at Swindon College.

Despite her body never being found, her husband Glyn was jailed for life in 2003, a conviction he failed to overturn in 2005.

He claimed DNA evidence against him - drops of her blood found in the boot of a car he had access to - was unreliable.

Former police detective Steve Fulcher later suggested double murderer Christopher Halliwell could have been involved with Mrs Razzell's disappearance.

Halliwell was jailed in 2016 for the 2003 murder of Becky Godden, having already been convicted of killing Sian O'Callaghan in 2011.

Persimmon practices in government house-funding scheme under fire-source

staff reporter(wp/reuters):::

Britain’s housing minister James Brokenshire is pressing builder Persimmon on how it operates within a public funding scheme for new house buyers as a review of the scheme comes due, a source close to the minister said on Saturday.

Brokenshire was “increasingly concerned” by practices at Persimmon regarding the “Help to Buy” scheme, the source said. The group is Britain’s second-biggest housebuilder with revenue of 3.74 billion pounds last year, up 4 percent.

However the company - along with some others in the sector - has attracted criticism for practices such as selling houses with rising leasehold charges which make them hard or impossible to sell on, and for poor quality workmanship.

“Leasehold, build quality, their leadership seemingly not getting they’re accountable to their customers, are all points that have been raised by (the minister) privately,” the source said, echoing a report in The Times newspaper.

“Given that contracts for the 2021 extension to Help to Buy are being reviewed shortly, which overall is a great scheme helping hundreds of thousands of people into home ownership, it would be surprising if Persimmon’s approach wasn’t a point of discussion,” the source added.

No-one at Persimmon was available to comment.

Labour opposition lawmaker Clive Betts has called for a review of the funding scheme, which offers buyers the chance to buy a new-build home with a small deposit, amid what he called questionable practices at Persimmon.

Persimmon’s chief executive stood down last year after criticism of his 100 million dollar bonus package, after its corporate performance was helped by the public scheme.

Three UK ministers throw weight behind Brexit delay to stop no-deal

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::
Three British cabinet ministers have publicly indicated they will back plans to delay Brexit if lawmakers vote down Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for a new deal with the European Union, writing a column in a national newspaper on Saturday.
Business minister Greg Clark, work and pensions minister Amber Rudd, and justice minister David Gauke signalled in a Daily Mail column that they will side with rebels and opposition parties next week to stop Britain leaving without a divorce deal on March 29 if necessary, adding their weight to calls for May to rule out a no-deal departure.

May is struggling against the clock to get a deal with Brussels on Britain’s exit from the world’s largest trading bloc that will pass parliamentary muster. She will meet European Council President Donald Tusk on the sidelines of an EU-League of Arab States summit on Sunday, but EU diplomats are not expecting any imminent breakthrough.

In the column headlined “If we don’t get a deal next week we must delay Brexit”, Clark, Rudd and Gauke wrote that a no-deal exit was a risk to business, security and British territorial unity, and accused some parliament colleagues of complacency.

“Far from Brexit resulting in a newly independent United Kingdom stepping boldly into the wider world, crashing out on March 29 would see us poorer, less secure and potentially splitting up,” they said, referring to the threat of a new bid for Scottish independence.

“Our economy will be damaged severely both in the short and the long term. Costs will increase, businesses that rely on just-in-time supply chains will be severely disrupted and investment will be discouraged,” they wrote.

The ministers called on members of the European Research Group, formed by Conservative pro-Brexit lawmakers, to back the government’s deal in parliament or risk seeing Brexit delayed.

Both May’s Conservatives and the main opposition Labour Party are formally committed to delivering Brexit. In recent days Labour has appeared to soften its stance on a second referendum, although May has ruled such an option out.

Lawmakers from both parties, however, are deeply split over how or even whether Britain will leave, and no majority has so far emerged in parliament for any comprehensive Brexit strategy.

May has promised that if she does not bring a revised deal back by Feb. 27, parliament will have an opportunity to vote on the next steps. Some lawmakers are expected to use that to try to wrest control of the process from the government.