Champion jockey Oisin Murphy wins at Doncaster just a DAY after being charged with drink driving after 'serious road traffic collision' left a woman in hospital
Oisin Murphy was among the winners at Doncaster on Friday, with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) confirming the multiple champion jockey can continue to ride ahead of his court date next week.
Murphy was charged on Thursday with two drink-driving offences following a car crash on April 27 which left a woman in her 20s in hospital with serious injuries.
It is alleged that he was over the prescribed alcohol limit and failed to cooperate when asked to give a preliminary test at the scene.
There has been little disruption to Murphy's schedule since he was arrested at the scene in Hermitage, Berkshire where a grey Mercedes A Class smashed into a tree just after midnight.
The next day, he rode in five races at Windsor, picking up two wins and, last week, he had five winners at Royal Ascot.
Given he is the reigning champion jockey — a title he has won four times since 2019 — Murphy is much in demand and his wins in the last two months have been for figures including Sir Alex Ferguson and Michael Owen, Lady Lloyd-Webber and leading bloodstock operations Cheveley Park and Juddmonte.
On Friday, the BHA said there was nothing to prevent Murphy continuing to ride on an ongoing basis and he travelled to Doncaster for five mounts, winning the Doncaster Racecourse Supporting Racing Staff Week Handicap aboard the Andrew Balding-trained 8-13 favourite Displaying.
The four-time champion is due to be in action at York on Saturday where his six booked mounts include Formal in the Group Three Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Criterion Stakes.
Murphy, who leads the 2025 jockeys' championship by 17 from nearest rival William Buick, is due to appear at Reading Magistrates' Court on July 3.
Murphy has not responded to requests for comment about the car crash since his arrest. Thames Valley Police said in a statement that: 'It is vital people do not speculate on social media as this is a live investigation.'
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
William and Harry's former private secretary: 'Protect our courageous SAS soldiers or we will lose them forever'
Last summer I went back to Hereford for the funeral of a friend from 30 years ago. He had died climbing, which is what he loved most, apart from his family, his friends and his country. Other than a mesmerising twinkle in the eye and dark good looks, he didn't stand out as anything special on a crowded street. For he was a humble man: Kind, selfless and quietly confident. He had a drive within him to help others, particularly the vulnerable, the picked-upon and those living in fear of their lives. Normal traits, in fact, for a soldier of the Special Air Service. So much has been written about the SAS, so many films made, so many reality-TV botch-ups of our actions and even our selection processes. Apart from one or two post-war accounts written by early veterans, I recognise none of the recent fictional stereotypes in my friend the climber or anyone else I came across in my eight years in the regiment. At the wake after the funeral in Hereford, the regiment's home, I was buttonholed by George Simm, my Squadron Sergeant Major, Regimental Sergeant Major and benevolent scourge. Almost all the old friends I met with him were being persecuted for their brave actions in Northern Ireland many decades ago. They were phlegmatic, facing the storm as they've faced it before, but their courage could not conceal the sense of betrayal they felt. I left angry. It is an abhorrent injustice. Though bound by the SAS strict code of discretion, I can at least use the four unchanging principles of our founder David Stirling to tell you the reality of what I saw during my time. First, the principle that seemed so effortless to everyone but me (though I hope others may have felt the same): 'The unrelenting pursuit of excellence.' I have never known – nor will I again – such consummate professionalism as in the SAS. Within its ranks are some of the finest soldiers in the world, jacks-of-all-trades who have proved they can meet any threat – except perhaps the one they now face from lawfare, the threat from within. Next came 'the highest standards of self-discipline'. Physical and organisational, but especially moral. An oft-quoted line is that we would never transgress morally on operations because to do so would be to lower ourselves to the base level of our enemies, blowing our credibility and decimating our ability to achieve our mission. While this may be true, it is secondary. What guides SAS soldiers is the urge to do right by the innocent folk we have been sent to protect – as in Northern Ireland, where the SAS arrested more terrorists than they ever killed – and to do right in the eyes of our comrades and the British people. That might sound overly idealistic, pompous even, but it is how many of us felt. Some of us in the regiment did not even vote in general elections. This was not idleness and certainly not some petulant statement. It was because we had implicit faith in our system of parliamentary democracy, and in what Britain stood for in the world. To have voted would, in some way, have compromised that. We were there to do the will of the Government – any government – and not take party-political sides. That, of course, was when we believed the Government had our backs. Stirling insisted upon 'a classless but not a rank-less society', based on pure merit and no social preferment. We all did the same selection – officers and men – which meant that we had complete faith in one another. To reap the benefits of an egalitarian structure such as the SAS, as with any other successful human enterprise, still requires leadership and a rank structure. But, as a commander in the regiment, what I learnt very early on was that I was not always the leader. To have had me telling the climber what to do on a cliff-face would have been, literally, sheer lunacy. He was the leader then... and so on. Finally, Stirling recognised that hubris was the surest route to ruin. So, his quartet closes with a call for 'humility and humour'. Recognising that success in the past does not guarantee success for the future is often the most difficult of the principles to obey. But it is perhaps the most critical. The urgency with which SAS soldiers fought the temptation to be complacent and strove to remain ahead of our country's enemies simply astounded me. It still does. While an unforgivable conceit, I am going to add a fifth principle: 'Decency'. Three of my children have SAS god-fathers. They weren't picked for their extraordinary skills – hardly transferable – but because the moral compass of each is welded at true north. Enough said. It seems to me that the British have a decision to make. Either we move to protect our SAS soldiers – as they have protected us – or we do nothing and lose the SAS. In capability and character, this is a strategic asset that no other country has and which – any day now – the British people might sorely need. This is why I wholeheartedly support the Daily Mail's campaign to protect our veterans.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
How a camel herder from Qatar who can't speak a word of English ended up living in London's smartest street - then tried to rape a woman in a private heart clinic where HE was being treated
Standing in the dock at Southwark Crown Court this week was Nasser Al-Gherainiq who was convicted of two counts of attempted rape which left his victim 'frozen with fear'. Her words. The appearance of this foreign national in court – a scene replicated up and down the country – has become frighteningly common, with foreign offenders now representing nearly one in eight (12 per cent) prisoners in our overcrowded jails. But surely few have a story quite like 27-year-old Al-Gherainiq who was, until his arrest at least, a camel herder from a conservative Bedouin tribe in the deserts of Qatar. According to his barrister, he had little contact with the outside world or any experience of modern or urban life before his arrival in the UK to receive treatment for a rare heart condition at a private health unit linked to the renowned Royal Brompton Hospital in south-west London. Al-Gherainiq, dressed in standard prison 'greys' (grey sweatshirt, grey trousers), was effectively from a different age, in other words. It was the reason why, when asked how he was going to plead, Al-Gherainiq, who spoke no English, answered in Arabic and an interpreter next to him then replied: 'Not guilty.' Profound cultural differences, the defence argued, meant he did not know how to interact with women. He was 'equivalent to an immature and inexperienced adolescent' who 'completely failed to understand' his victim's 'true feelings'. Put bluntly, they argued that he did not know the woman had not consented to sex when he pulled her into a toilet cubicle at the medical centre and assaulted her. The jury flatly rejected that version of events. He might have come from a remote corner of the earth, but the judge told Al-Gherainiq: 'You knew perfectly well what you were doing,' before jailing him for seven years. The case left a number of puzzling and troubling questions. How did he get here? Who paid for his treatment and the trip? Where did he stay when he came to London? The last of these is perhaps the key to unlocking this quite extraordinary saga. Al-Gherainiq, who spent more than a year on remand before going on trial, came to the country sometime in 2023, the first time he had ever left Qatar. He appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court in August of that year following his arrest. His address was given as 79 Mount Street. Mount Street, currently perhaps the most glamorous address in London, is in the heart of Mayfair. It's home to Scott's restaurant as well as George, an ultra-exclusive private members' club, and Toteme, the chic Swedish fashion brand which has also opened a signature store there. It is also an area which is sometimes known as 'Little Doha' or 'Qataropolis' because of the number of multi-million-pound Qatari-owned properties in the highly exclusive enclave. Number 79 is a six-storey Victorian townhouse that was once the London residence of homeware tycoon David Meller, a former vice chairman of Watford Football Club. When he sold the mansion for more than £40million in 2015, it was among the most expensive domestic property deals in the capital at the time. The stamp duty payment alone was in excess of £4.7million. Hard to imagine then what connection an apparently lowly camel herder – and now convicted sex attacker – had with such a place. The connection, however, is revealed at the Land Registry where the current owners who purchased the property from the Mellers (for precisely £44.25million) are listed as the 'State of Qatar', effectively the Thani dynasty, the ruling family of the oil and gas rich Gulf state. Qatar is one of the few countries in the world that offers near free universal healthcare to all its citizens which includes sending them overseas if certain specialised services are unavailable at home. Among the foreign cities where Qatar has medical offices is London which is linked to the Hamad Medical Corporation back in the Middle East, Qatar's main not-for-profit health care provider. In 2023, 53,000 Qataris applied to receive treatment abroad. Al-Gherainiq was one of them. After a series of medical checks in his homeland, he was flown to London, a Qatari official with knowledge of the case revealed, and was initially given a daily allowance to cover his accommodation costs. His private housing arrangements fell through at the last minute, though, and the Qatari Embassy stepped in to help him. No 79 Mount Street, once a family home with a swimming pool in the basement, and now split up into separate rooms and apartments, is managed by the embassy and used for functions and events. On rare occasions, as in this instance, ordinary Qatari citizens can temporarily be given a room as 'emergency accommodation'. This is how a camel herder from the desert came to be living on Millionaire's Row. 'The Embassy of the State of Qatar in London is aware of a criminal case involving one of its citizens and his subsequent conviction,' the official said. 'The Embassy has had no contact with the individual since the time of his arrest and has not provided legal representation or support beyond standard consular assistance, in accordance with international consular norms.' Al-Gherainiq was evicted from Mount Street after the police contacted the embassy following his arrest. Locals say residents at the palatial property which occupies 10,000 square feet and is close to the private health unit in Wimpole Street where Al-Gherainiq was a patient, are not long-term, staying a maximum of a few months before moving on. They are often picked up by luxury cars such as Ferraris, Aston Martins and Lamborghinis. A team of security guards monitor comings and goings from the property next door, which the Qataris also own. Relations between the Qatari contingent and neighbours are often strained. 'They think they own the street,' said a builder carrying out work at a house on the opposite side of the road. They probably do, given that even a few years ago, a quarter of Mayfair's 279 acres and more than 4,300 residential properties, were reportedly owned by Qatari investors. The contrast between this world and the world Nasser Al-Gherainiq inhabited couldn't be more stark. He belonged to the Al Murrah tribe – the 'People of the Camel' – the largest and most powerful in Qatar, which has strong relations, including marital ties, with the ruling House of Thani. Qatar might combine Arab culture with Western luxuries epitomised by the bling, glamour and gleaming skyscrapers of the capital Doha, but it remains a deeply patriarchal society. Polygamy is legal, meaning a Muslim man is allowed up to four wives at once provided he treats them equally. Opaque male guardianship rules leave women without basic freedoms, such as travelling on their own with women needing permission to travel abroad from the male head of the household, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). And only 45 minutes from Doha and its surrounding suburbs is the desert. Many of the Al Murrah tribe, which is made up of various clans, have joined government sponsored resettlement programmes in urban areas. But a hardcore, like Al-Gherainiq, remain in the wilderness, claiming, among other things, historic nomadic rights. Many elders here still expect women to organise their lives around domestic chores, such as weaving, shearing sheep and crafting goat-hair tents and carpets for which they have become famous. Al-Gherainiq himself, the court heard, had almost no contact with women outside his family and his only really 'meaningful contact' with a female in the family was with his mother. 'Limited visits to Doha and a preference for a desert environment curtailed his exposure to urban and modern societal norms,' said Jane Bickerstaff, KC, defending. It might explain his unhealthy attitude to women but how could it possibly justify dragging a woman into a toilet cubicle and attempting to rape her twice? 'I was so scared,' his victim said in a statement read to the court. 'I felt frozen with fear. I couldn't go anywhere. Although the incident lasted a few minutes it felt like ages to me... my life has never been the same... I am not the outgoing woman I used to be. I am withdrawn and highly anxious and overly cautious, especially when I'm on my own in an unfamiliar environment.' The fact this incident happened in a top medical centre is particularly chilling. The woman, who is receiving therapy, still has difficulty sleeping and has nightmares and flashbacks. She has withdrawn from work and church, 'two things she loved', Judge Adam Hiddleston said. 'Clearly what you did has had a devastating effect on her,' he told Al-Gherainiq. 'There is evidence of severe psychological harm.' He added: 'I appreciate the cultural differences between the world in which you grew up and in the United Kingdom.' But he rejected any suggestion that his sentence should therefore be reduced. The judge made a recommendation that he should be deported to Qatar 'as soon as possible' once he has served his sentence. In fact, he wants to go back, his barrister said, because 'there is no reason for him to apply to remain here'. While it's not known if Al-Gherainiq got his heart treatment, this statement suggests it is not an outstanding issue. The Qatari Embassy, which housed Al-Gherainiq after he first arrived in London, has been at the centre of controversy itself in the past and has a history of claiming diplomatic immunity when staff bring legal actions. One sexual harassment case made headlines in 2019. Mother-of-two Deanne Kingson, 58, a personal assistant, recalled how she was pestered for sex, pressed to host orgies for diplomats and go on holiday to Cuba with one of them. She told the tribunal the then deputy ambassador Fahed Al-Mushairi repeatedly tried to sleep with her and then turned his attention to her 19-year-old daughter when she refused, even offering to marry her. The case was not contested by the Qatari Embassy. A panel of tribunal judges concluded that Ms Kingson – sacked after rejecting such advances and awarded £388,920 for unfair dismissal – was seen by diplomats as being 'liable to be willing to engage in sexual conduct with male employees' because she was not Muslim. Might this then have also been the reason why camel herder Nasser Al-Gherainiq tried to rape a woman at a private clinic before sexually assaulting her on his first trip outside Qatar?
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Ex-royal aide blasts betrayal of SAS heroes - former Special Forces officer backs Mail's campaign to protect Northern Ireland veterans from legal witch hunts
A former royal aide and SAS officer has backed the Mail's campaign to protect Northern Ireland veterans from legal witch hunts. Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, a godfather to Prince George, joined the call for an end to so-called lawfare that dates back to the Troubles. This week, the Mail launched the Stop The SAS Betrayal campaign to protect troops from being hounded by the threat of legal action decades after they served. This newspaper is demanding that ministers reverse their bid to repeal clauses in the Legacy Act that provide protections for Northern Ireland veterans, or produce a proper alternative. At the centre of the campaign is a case involving 12 SAS soldiers whose killing of four IRA terrorists in 1992 has been found 'unlawful' by a coroner. They could face murder charges. Last night, a petition backing the soldiers had gained more than 155,000 signatures. A parliamentary debate on the issue is scheduled for July 14. Mr Lowther-Pinkerton, a former SAS squadron commander and principal private secretary to Princes William and Harry, and latterly the Duchess of Cambridge, said such cases put the regiment's future in jeopardy. He added: 'This is an abhorrent injustice. Though bound by the SAS strict code of discretion, I know from my experience SAS soldiers have proved they can meet any threat – except, perhaps, the one they face from lawfare. 'It seems to me the British have a decision to make. Either they move to protect their SAS soldiers – as they have protected them – or they do nothing and lose the SAS. 'In capability and character, this is a strategic asset no other country has and which – any day now – the British people might sorely need. 'This is why I wholeheartedly support the Daily Mail's campaign to protect our veterans.' Mr Lowther-Pinkerton, who rarely speaks publicly due to his previous royal roles, has joined forces with other SAS commanders and MPs such as Sir David Davis and Mark Francois, as well as former veterans minister Johnny Mercer. The father-of-four was a British Army officer for 20 years, serving in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and Iraq. His first Royal appointment was as an equerry to the Queen Mother from 1984 to 1986. His intervention came as the Prime Minister's veterans' tsar branded plans to amend the Legacy Act 'immoral' and 'two-tier justice'. David Johnstone, the Veterans' Commissioner for Northern Ireland, said up to 70 former soldiers could be forced into the dock as a result. He told The Daily Telegraph: 'It's lopsided, it's two-tier justice, and if the Government thinks that they can reverse this and there not be push-back from veterans, well, I think they're in for a surprise, because veterans are just not going to stand for it. 'The pressure is on that this Government should not make reversals that will put soldiers in the dock for doing their jobs. 'The then-Labour government came to the society in Northern Ireland, and said, 'Look, in order to have peace, you must accept terrorists being let out of jail… royal pardons, effective amnesty for terrorists'. 'Then there was the decommissioning of weapons, which meant that the evidence that could have put terrorists in prison was destroyed. So society was asked to accept all of those things. 'And yet, 27 years on, we have this ongoing vexatious lawfare which is targeting and demonising those who wore the uniform.' The Mail can also reveal that SAS veterans facing a possible criminal probe over their killing of four IRA terrorists in February 1992 are to stage a re-enactment. The reconstruction of events at Clonoe, County Tyrone, is part of a bid by the Ministry of Defence to instigate a judicial review of the verdict at Northern Ireland Coroner's Court and have the ruling overturned. Coroner Mr Justice Humphreys found the soldiers' use of force was excessive, even though the terrorists had a heavy machine gun, a medium machine gun and AK47 assault rifles. Peter Clancy, Kevin Barry O'Donnell and Sean O 'Farrell (pictured left to right) were shot dead by SAS soldiers in 1992. They were all members of the IRA and had used a machine gun mounted on a lorry to shoot up a police station Former SAS Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) George Simm said: 'The reconstruction aims to provide a true account of what happened to balance the judge's version of events. 'The team as a whole are clear in their minds the IRA fired first. Some of the soldiers observed muzzle flashes through their night sights. 'There are also accounts of thumps into the ground alongside where they were hiding. 'Forensics say there were marks on the bushes and branches. And, one of the team got hit in the face. There was no 'subject-matter expert' [expert witness] at the hearing as the judge assumed his version of events was correct. 'He gave the appearance of choosing evidence to suit his narrative, rather than looking at the evidence objectively.' Following the coroner's decision earlier this year, files have been passed to Northern Ireland's Director of Public Prosecutions, which could lead to some of the SAS veterans being charged. The Legacy Act was introduced by then veterans minister Mr Mercer in 2023 to stop Troubles veterans being prosecuted decades after the conflict. Labour's manifesto last year included a pledge to repeal it. British soldiers were said to be constantly looking over their shoulders while based in Northern Ireland and that it was an 'extremely dangerous place'. Pictured is a British Paratrooper detaining a youth during riots on Bloody Sunday in 1972 The Act was found to breach the European Convention on Human Rights, which places an investigative duty on the state where its agents may have caused death or injury. Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has defended the move, telling the Mail that any government would have to repeal unlawful legislation. He said the Government was 'engaging with veterans and all interested parties over future legislation, and we will ensure there are far better protections in place'. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that it had lodged an application seeking permission to judicially review the coroner's recent findings and verdict in the Clonoe inquest'. A defence source said: 'We consider that the findings and verdict do not properly reflect the context of the incident nor the challenging circumstances in which members of the Armed Forces served in Northern Ireland. 'The MoD is funding the veterans in question to seek judicial review and providing them with welfare support.'
