Drug driving is more prevalent than drink driving, says the National Police Chiefs’ Council. Some 70% of more than 3,000 drivers tested now implicate drugs. Delays in obtaining blood test results mean that many potential drug drivers avoid prosecution, staffing shortages in laboratories being among the contributing factors. Blunders by National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service staff were these led by the discovery that alcohol breathalyser machines used in police stations across England and Wales are unreliable in cold weather. The machines measure levels of alcohol from samples of breath.
Mark Latham, a politician for the One Nation party in the New South Wales upper house, has had a fine for using his mobile phone while driving withdrawn by transport authorities. Latham had been accused of using his phone while driving, which was detected by a camera. He opted to challenge the infringement in court, but on Monday the charge was withdrawn. Latham currently faces removal from the One Nation party after a number of threatening incidents involving political colleagues.
UK citizens are being warned about the risks of using mobile banking apps, after discovering that fraudsters are using increasing sophisticated methods to hack into smartphones and gain access to banking apps. Detective Superintendent John Roch, head of economic crime at the Metropolitan Police in London, said that although banking app technology was secure, criminals were exploiting human behaviour and "shoulder surf" victims while they entered their PIN before stealing their mobile phone. Once thieves have access to bank apps, they can see the victim's bank accounts and their savings and investments. Roch commented: "If you start to think of it like that, would you walk into a bar, put it down and turn your back on it? Probably not. The potential outcome is devastating for victims."
A man in his 20s has been shot and killed in his car in suburban west Sydney. Emergency services were called to Elizabeth Hills at 4pm on 5 July following reports of shots. The shooting victim died at the scene in Hertfordshire Street. He has not yet been officially identified and no arrests have been made. Police say that they believe the shootings are not terror-related and that organised crime may have played a role in the killing.
Pub landlord Daniel Winward has been given a suspended ten-month sentence at Preston Crown Court after he repeatedly punched his neighbour, Simon Procter, in a quarrel about “smelly” bins outside the Morecambe Hotel pub. Winward, a former commando, served in Iraq and Afghanistan and has post-traumatic stress disorder. He had served three tours of duty. The CCTV footage shows him assaulting Proctor, a retired excavator. Winward had become agitated when his commercial bins were left on the street. He caused £1,000 of damage when pursuing Proctor into his home, and will pay the man and his wife his compensation along with £1,000 for damage and carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
German police searching for Madeleine McCann's body are set to search a remote Algarve reservoir that suspect Christian Brueckner previously visited. Meanwhile, the UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman says she is "confident that nothing untoward has happened" in the handling of her speeding offence. In other news, Ukrainian forces sponsored by the Ukrainian government have launched a cross-border tank raid, apparently the most significant cross-border activity by Ukraine-backed forces to bring the war against Russia to its soil. Russian volunteers fighting on Ukraine's side drove tanks and armoured vehicles across the border.
South Carolina's Department of Health and Environmental Control will be restructured into three separate agencies: a Department of Environmental Services, a Department of Agriculture, and another specialising in veteran nursing homes. The state is also scrapping its certificate of need program, which obliged hospitals to seek permission to build new facilities, buy equipment or expand, until the end of 2026. Supporters of the move claimed it would foster competition, whereas opponents said it preserved healthcare in rural areas and safeguarded against overspending. Governor Henry McMaster also signed a new law enabling South Carolina to keep secret details concerning anyone who supplies drugs necessary for lethal injections, as well as people who help executions take place. The regulation passed amid preparations to begin carrying out executions again after supplies of lethal injection drugs expired in 2011.
A review has found that hospital staff missed warning signs over paranoid schizophrenic killer Zara Radcliffe, who killed a church warden in a Co-op in Penygraig, Rhondda, South Wales. The review, which was commissioned by Cwm Taf Morgannwg Safeguarding Board, found that "warning signs" of Radcliffe's "rapid deterioration" were apparent months before the attack in May 2020, but were "not recognised or poorly processed." John Rees, 88, died trying to stop Radcliffe attacking other shoppers. Radcliffe admitted manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility and was detained indefinitely with a hospital order.
Republican legislators in Wisconsin have proposed legislation that would make it a felony offence to possess dolls resembling children for sexual purposes, punishable by up to 3.5 years in prison. A first offence involving three or more dolls would be punishable by 6 years, while subsequent offences that involve dolls resembling specific children could carry a penalty of up to 25 years’ imprisonment. According to the Child Rescue Coalition, some dolls can be built to look like specific children. The dolls are legal in the US except in a number of states including Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, South Dakota and Tennessee.
Riot police were deployed after a number of people gathered around a fire on a Cardiff road in what police described as a "large scale disorder". Videos shared on social media showed the crowd setting fire to a range of items, including furniture, as reports emerged of objects being thrown at police. The disorder occurred near the scene of a serious road accident earlier in the evening on Snowden Road. South Wales Police appealed to people not to speculate online about the cause of the collision but confirmed it had happened before officers arrived.
Victoria Police have released photos of 17-year-old Mayik Atem, who is suspected of being involved in the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Pasawet 'Tik' Pomphret in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine. The alleged homicide prompted Caroline Chisholm Catholic College to employ security guards and heighten security across its campuses over the weekend. The Catholic college has also been tied to the alleged attackers, reportedly leading to fears of retaliatory violence. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton denied that youth violence was out of control but did state that officers were “absolutely concerned” about the possibility of retaliatory violence.
Land Rover has been revealed as the UK's most frequently stolen car as the number of car thefts in the country increased by 25% in the year to March 2022. One in every hundred Land Rovers was stolen, and they were found to be three times more likely than Mercedes-Benz cars to be stolen. Of the 896,948 licensed Land Rovers in the UK, 8,284 were recorded as stolen – equivalent to 924 thefts for every 100,000 cars. Black cars proved the most vulnerable to theft, with 18,000 stolen last year.
Stop Scams UK, a group of banks, tech firms and telecos, is to begin a pilot scheme using members' phone numbers and email addresses to track and disrupt scams. The initiative, which aims to use scheme members to gather intelligence on scammers and their methods, is intended to help disrupt the flow of criminal proceeds from "money mules" who let scammers transfer stolen cash through their accounts. Fraud cost UK consumers £1.2bn ($1.6bn) last year.
