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Daily Mail
2 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Top detective Colin Sutton who caught serial killer Levi Bellfield and Night Stalker rapist becomes police and crime adviser to Reform UK
A detective who caught some of Britain's worst rapists and murderers has joined Nigel Farage 's mission to clean up 'lawless Britain', the Mail can reveal. Colin Sutton, who led the hunt for serial killer Levi Bellfield and 'Night Stalker' rapist Delroy Grant, has been appointed Reform UK's first police and crime adviser. The former detective chief inspector will develop the party's pledge to halve crime in five years by hiring 30,000 extra police and investigating every reported offence. Leader Mr Farage said: 'Colin Sutton will be a huge asset to Reform UK.' In an interview with the Mail, Mr Sutton - who was played by Martin Clunes in the TV drama Manhunt, about the investigations into Bellfield and Grant - set out more of the measures he believes will clean up Britain's streets, restore public trust in police and make joining the force a more attractive career. He would give all frontline officers Tasers, reopen 300 mothballed police stations, and stop police investigating online spats. Mr Sutton, 64, said: 'Absolute respect to the young men and women who serve their communities and do the job, but do they actually do it because they want to be policing Twitter, or because they want to catch burglars and rapists and robbers?' He said 'a police station with a blue lamp' would be a reassuring sight for people walking in boarded-up town centres at night. He said he would even consider scrapping some of the laws against online abuse, adding: 'I don't mean hate or incitement, but people who are abused, let's make it like a watered-down version of defamation, then you can sue in the civil court. 'Don't give them legal aid and see how many feelings are hurt then. 'I accept that persistent and horrible abuse on social media can be very distressing and cause real problems psychologically. 'There's got to be better ways of dealing with it than sending half a dozen officers round.' Mr Farage said he wanted 'big, strapping' officers, but Mr Sutton said the best two police officers he ever worked with were women, and that at one stage 14 out of the 30 detectives in his murder squad were female. Mr Sutton joined the Tory Party as a teenager in Enfield, north London, but like all new recruits he was required to cease political activism when he joined the Met. He said he and many fellow officers would never forgive the Tories for the cuts imposed by Theresa May when she was home secretary, saying she and former prime minister David Cameron's government did 'more harm to policing than anybody ever'. He claims some chief constables would 'breathe a sigh of relief' under a Reform government. Mr Sutton joined Reform when Mr Farage returned to lead the party at last year's general election. He said: 'It's not about power, it's not about status or anything like that - it's about actually making a difference.'
The Sun
2 minutes ago
- The Sun
The writing's on the billboard, PM — nothing works and Labour isn't listening
IT is one of the most iconic images in modern political campaigning — and it could soon be back to haunt Sir Keir Starmer. Giant billboards showing a long dole queue snaking out of a Job Centre with the slogan 'Labour isn't working' captured the nation's attention nearly half a century ago. 3 3 Back before Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, it was used to depict rising unemployment. But today the line could illustrate a myriad of problems engulfing the government. The endless stream of illegal migrants arriving on small boats, for instance. 'Petty' criminals waiting outside stores to begin organised shoplifting sprees. The 6.2million patients on NHS waiting lists or the 1.3million families in England in the queue for social housing. Mass migration's strain on public services is clear for all to see. But in the past few days, people have drawn a more alarming conclusion — that illegal migration and rising crime are linked. This has created a toxic mix of anger, frustration and fear which triggered a series of demos. Women say they no longer feel safe and there is a deepening sense of unease about the large numbers of undocumented young men being moved into local hotels. France claims migrants crossing the Channel on small boats see Britain as an 'El Dorado' — but it's become Hell Dorado for many living here. Growing suspicion Convicts are freed early from overcrowded jails, 90 per cent of bike thefts go unsolved, and shoplifting is up 20 per cent in a year to a 20-year high. Retailers say this is because police refuse to investigate theft of items worth less than £200. That's probably because they are too busy combing through our social media accounts looking for 'hate crimes'. All this, along with the whiff of cannabis on almost every street corner, has led many people to conclude that Britain has become lawless. It is truly staggering that our Prime Minister — a former public prosecutor who prides himself on the rule of law — is presiding over this. Discontent is being fuelled by the growing suspicion that we are importing crime. Migrants staying in taxpayer-funded hotels have joined organised shoplifting gangs which have stolen thousands of pounds worth of designer clothes from top stores. Fury came to a head after an Ethiopian asylum seeker staying at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. He has denied the offence. Today, The Sun reveals that four in ten people charged over sex attacks in London in the past seven years are foreign nationals. Ministry of Justice figures show Afghans and Eritreans — among the top nationalities arriving by boat — were at least 20 times more likely to account for sexual offence convictions than Brits. Taxpayers footing the £5.7million-a-day bill for migrant hotels face a double whammy when lawyers use legal aid to block the deportation of foreign offenders. It's not just that Labour isn't working. Nothing works and Labour isn't listening A Lebanese man accused of murdering his beauty queen wife, who entered Britain on a small boat, was jailed for nine months for attempting to arrive without valid documents last week. But when he completes his sentence, he is unlikely to be deported as human rights laws will forbid his return home where he could face execution. The public's sense of injustice is magnified when they stage a peaceful protest and hear MPs branding them hard-right agitators. Or when they see cops escorting far-left counter demonstrators to the same migrant hotel. Yet the Government's response to the protests is to set up a police team to monitor social media for anti-migrant comments. People are beginning to make a link between the undesirables coming into Britain unchecked and rising crime Nigel Farage What is different about these demos — and should be ringing alarm bells in Downing Street — is that they are being attended mostly by mums, who are genuinely worried about their own and their children's safety. This is the silent majority who have had enough and think it is time to speak out. Nigel Farage has been quick to spot this simmering resentment and has launched a six-week campaign to highlight rising crime. The Reform UK leader declared: 'People are beginning to make a link between the undesirables coming into Britain unchecked and rising crime. There is also a mounting sense of anger that the establishment is always trying to stop us from having a reasonable debate.' Politics is broken He has promised to spend £17billion on new prisons built on military bases, hire 30,000 extra police and send murderers and paedophiles to serve their sentences in El Salvador. Labour scoffs it is an uncosted plan drawn up on the back of one of Farage's fag packets — but their hoots of derision won't convince those mums protesting outside migrant hotels. They've endured 14 years of Tory rule, and after less than 14 months of Labour have concluded that politics is broken. It's not just that Labour isn't working. Nothing works and Labour isn't listening. Farage now thinks women could win him the next election. Most people joining his bandwagon in the past few days have been female. It was 58 per cent men and 42 per cent women at the general election but now it's a 50-50 split, he says. This is one reason why his party has topped the last 65 opinion polls. The other is a breakdown in trust among voters. They have lost faith in the police. And they feel betrayed by politicians who they perceive as closing down any debate on their concerns and putting the rights of illegal migrants ahead of hard-working Brits. The social contract is in danger of breaking down as all they get in return for paying record taxes is platitudes and promises. Successive governments vowed to 'take back control', 'stop the boats' and 'smash the gangs'. The former human rights lawyer in No10 may not have his heart in tackling the migrant crisis. But he knows if he doesn't, the next line of people he sees will be those queuing up to vote him out of office. THE nanny state is throwing its protective arm around even more aspects of our daily lives. It now offers advice that goes far beyond the familiar 'mind the gap'. Walking through a London rail terminal the other day, I was dazzled by three video screens urging me and my fellow travellers to 'remember to keep drinking water in the hot weather'. A few steps further on another message cautioned: 'Please watch your step. The floor may be wet'. It was probably caused by panicking passengers rushing to rehydrate. While another flashing sign advised those with heavy luggage to use the lifts instead of struggling up and down stairs. Who'd have thought of that? Well, I've got some advice for Network Rail. See it. Say it. Stop it.
The Guardian
2 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text review – do we really need to see these criminals on the toilet?
Sure, they may be trafficking drugs and firearms and plotting murders, but – really – organised criminal gangs are just like you and me. Operation Dark Phone: Murder By Text opens with a reconstruction of a British gang leader texting one of his crew (some scenes have been dramatised, we are told, but all SMS messages are real). 'You OK bro?' asks the associate. 'Yeah, just making brekkie,' our fearsome crim replies, sending a picture of what appears to be a bowl of porridge and cucumber. Very weird breakfast but, look, that's not the point. The point is that Operation Dark Phone – Channel 4's new four-parter about how police infiltrated a shady encrypted phone network – is littered with so-bad-they're-actually-just-bad reconstructions of this smug, shirtless character swaggering around his greige Dubai penthouse. As well as snaps of his food, we must watch him on the bog with his Calvins around his ankles; taking mirror selfies of his tattooed gym bod; and reclining in bed with an LED tooth-whitening kit in his mouth. It's less Tony Soprano, more Joey Essex. Channel 4 provided one episode for review, which is a shame because the other half of the programme is pretty interesting. Away from the reconstructions, this is a documentary about how the UK's National Crime Agency gained access to that encrypted network alongside their European counterparts for 74 days. It was, says the NCA's Marni Roberts, 'like being down a dark pipe, and suddenly putting a bright light on.' Elsewhere, her colleague Matt Horne describes EncroChat as 'the LinkedIn of organised crime'. However, it was also totally anonymous: once inside, it was down to the NCA to piece together clues such as addresses and photos to work out who the gang members were. (Luckily, our man – codenamed Live-long – sent a selfie to a group chat, which helped things along nicely). EncroChat offered a treasure trove of information, but that data was also delivered to law enforcement with a 24-hour delay. As such, when it came to thwarting the very real threats to life discussed in the messages, they were often operating on borrowed time. Sometimes, they were too late. As investigator Mick Pope puts it after a particularly shocking few days in north-west England: ''Eckin' hell, Warrington's turned into the fuckin' wild west over the weekend.' If soundbites like that make Operation Dark Phone sound less than serious, then rest assured there are some truly heinous characters at the centre of it. As well as swapping pictures of their porridge, Live-long and his gang casually arranged acid attacks as if they were ordering takeaways. His rival, Ace Prospect, was also on EncroChat; when one of his underlings expressed his reservations at launching a grenade into an enemy's garden, Ace said it would be fine, because their child was six months old, so too young to pick it up. When the documentary zooms in on just how dangerous these people are, it is chilling. But it also makes the dramatic parts feel even tackier. Another problem: an alias of one of the criminals was Top Shag, another was Ball Sniffer. I know, I know, the texts are all supposed to be real and verbatim. But surely they could have changed those names a little? Watching NCA agents keep a straight face while discussing Ball Sniffer's activities feels like something only Chris Morris could have masterminded. The real tragedy here, though, is that Operation Dark Phone would have been interesting enough in its own right, without a cringey sideshow. The series was made by the team behind 24 Hours in Police Custody, notable for finding the drama and discomfort in the everyday. Not every series can be a fly-on-the-wall affair, but this goes too far the other way, and risks glamorising these men. If that sounds far-fetched, consider that Ace Prospect is shown enjoying sushi and acupuncture at an 'unknown location' in Asia, which looks amazing. As we learn, of course, crime does not pay, especially when you are as incompetent as this lot who – as well as sending selfies – also ended up selling weapons to their rivals by mistake. But in trying to make this into a piece of millennial-friendly true crime, it feels as if Operation Dark Phone gives the bad guys too much of a starring role. The NCA clearly did all the hard work here – here's hoping we get to hear some more about it. Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text is on Channel 4.
