Two teenagers are killed and seven other people injured in a collision involving two cars in East Yorkshire.[1]
The cap on bus fares in England rises from £2 to £3 per journey.[2]
West Midlands Police announce they have located Sheila Fox, missing from Coventry since 1972, and say she is safe and living in another part of the country.[3]
Graham Sheldon resigns as leader of Oldham Council's Conservatives, and from the Conservative Party itself, after police were called to a heated council meeting on 18 December.[5]
Rapper Stormzy is given a nine-month driving ban by Wimbledon Magistrates' Court after he was caught using a mobile phone while driving in March 2024.[6]
A baby boy is killed when a car hits a tree after leaving the A1 dual carriageway near Grantham, Lincolnshire.[7]
3 January – Data from NHS England shows the number of people being treated in hospital for flu in the week ending 29 December was 5,000, a fourfold increase from November, and was continuing to rise "at a very concerning rate".[9]
A fire destroys a historic building housing the Dorset Burger Company in Weymouth, Dorset.[11]
6 January –
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer outlines plans to reduce hospital waiting lists in England, including setting up more community hubs and greater utilisation of the private sector.[12]
Former prison officer Linda De Sousa is sentenced to fifteen months in prison for having sex with an inmate at Wandsworth Prison.[13]
7 January –
Police launch a murder investigation after a 14-year-old boy, subsequently named as Kelyan Bokassa, is stabbed to death on a double-decker bus in Woolwich, south east London.[14][15]
The Crafter's Companion store, a business owned by Dragons' Den panellist Sara Davies, in Barlborough, near Chesterfield, is closed by administrators, leaving 10 people redundant. A second store in Evesham, Worcestershire base, remains open, along with the company's head office in County Durham. Davies was a previous shareholder in the business, but reacquired it from the administrators.[16]
10 January – Ten Reform UK councillors in Derbyshire resign from the party in protest at Nigel Farage's leadership, claiming the Reform is being run in an "increasingly autocratic manner" and "has lost its sense of direction" since Farage took over as leader. In response, Farage says the members were put forward by a "rogue branch" of the party and that "none of them passed vetting".[17]
11 January – An off-duty police officer, subsequently named as PC Rosie Prior, is killed when she is struck by a lorry on the A19 at Bagby in North Yorkshire after stopping to help at the scene of an earlier crash. Ryan Welford, a driver who was involved in the first crash, is also killed in the incident, while a passenger is taken to hospital for treatment.[18]
12 January – A man is arrested for attempted murder after a female member of staff, reported to be a nurse, was stabbed in the A&E department of the Royal Oldham Hospital and suffered lifechanging injuries.[19]
13 January –
A man is charged with the attempted murder of a nurse who was stabbed at the Royal Oldham Hospital on 11 January.[20]
Ryan Wellings, who became the first defendant to stand trial for the unlawful killing of his partner after she committed suicide following prolonged domestic abuse, is cleared of her manslaughter, but found guilty of assault and prolonged domestic violence.[21] He is subsequently sentenced to six and a half years in custody.[22]
At Birmingham Crown Court, five men who used dating app Grindr to target and rob a series of men are given prison sentences of between 12 and 17 years.[24]
14 January –
The NHS is to extend bowel cancer screening in the form of home test kits to everyone over the age of 50 in England, bringing England in line with Scotland and Wales.[25]
MPs vote to back a one-month cap on advanced rents in England as part of the Renters' Rights Bill.[26]
16 January –
Convicted murderer Jake Fahri, sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2008 murder of schoolboy Jimmy Mizen and released on parole in 2023, is recalled to prison after "shamelessly boasting" about his crime, the Probation Service says.[27]
Hassan Sentamu is found guilty of the September 2023 murder of Elianne Andam in Croydon.[28]
17 January – White supremacist Callum Parslow, who stabbed an asylum seeker at a hotel near Worcester in what a judge described as "undoubtedly a terrorist attack", is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 22 and eight months after being convicted of attempted murder.[30]
18 January – A further three people are charged with the murder of Michelle Sadio, who was shot dead outside a church in Harlesden, north west London, on the night of 14 December.[31]
21 January –
Three men who stabbed motorist Sadiq Al-lami to death in a road rage attack in Didsbury, Greater Manchester in January 2024, are sentenced to life imprisonment.[32]
A murder investigation is launched following the fatal stabbing of a 12-year-old boy, subsequently named as Leo Ross, in the Hall Green area of Birmingham.[33]
24 January – Deveca Rose, whose four children died in a house fire after she left them alone in December 2021, is sentenced to ten years in prison for manslaughter.[35]
25 January –
West Midlands Police confirm that a 14-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of Leo Ross in Birmingham.[36]
West Yorkshire Police confirm that three teenagers were killed in a crash near Wakefield the previous evening when a car left the road and hit a tree.[37]
A police officer is injured after he is struck by a vehicle in Greater Manchester; a suspect is subsequently arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.[38]
26 January – Police are investigating the vandalism of two memorials to police officers who died in the line of duty in West Yorkshire, which happened on subsequent days.[39]
30 January – During a hearing at the Old Bailey, Steve Sansom and Gemma Watts plead guilty to the murder of Sarah Mayhew, whose dismembered remains were discovered in locations around London in 2023; both are sentenced to life imprisonment, with Sansom, who was on licence for committing a previous murder, given a whole life sentence.[41]
31 January – UK drill rapper Digga D is sentenced to three years and eleven months in prison for supplying 99lbs of cannabis.[42]
February
1 February – Four people are killed when the vehicle they are travelling in crashes into a building in Colchester, Essex.[43]
3 February – New Ofsted report cards are launched for assessing schools, with government intervention for struggling schools to take place much sooner than under the previous system.[44]
4 February – Robert Jenner is sentenced to 30 years in prison for attempting to kill a police officer by stabbing him in the head with a pair of scissors at a flat in Maidstone, Kent, in 2023.[45]
6 February – Two couples tell the BBC that they went through with aborting healthy babies after doctors at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust told them the unborn children had serious genetic problems.[46]
9 February – A BBC News investigation discovers that Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire failed more than once to disclose the burning of wood from primary forests.[47]
10 February –
Simon Vickers is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 15 years for the July 2024 murder of his 14-year-old daughter Scarlett Vickers, after a jury rejects his claim that he stabbed her with a kitchen knife during a play fight and that her death was "a freak accident".[48]
The UK government agrees a new funding deal with Drax Power Station that will reduce the amount of subsidies it receives by half.[49]
11 February – James Garnor resigns as a member of Whittlebury Parish Council after a video was shared that appeared to show an explosive device being triggered by a cat.[50]
12 February –
The UK government unveils a £300m project to build more affordable housing in England. Part of the plans will also curb the amount of housing benefit rogue landlords receive if their properties are substandard.[51]
The Parole Board confirms that Michael Steele, one of two men convicted over the 1995 Rettendon murders and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998, will be released from prison on licence.[53]
David Newton is convicted of the 2013 murder of retired postmistress Una Crown, who was stabbed to death at her home in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. Originally a suspect at the time of the murder, he was re-arrested in April 2024 following advances in DNA technology.[54]
The UK government publishes a list of 100 proposed locations for potential new towns in England, with Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook saying work on them will begin before the next general election.[55]
14 February –
David Newton is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years for the 2013 murder of Una Crown.[56]
Around 100 people are rescued after fire breaks out at the five-storey Chiltern Firehouse hotel in Marylebone, Central London.[57]
Kent Police launch a murder investigation after a woman, who is subsequently named as 43-year-old Lisa Smith from Slough, is shot dead outside the Three Horseshoes pub on Main Road, Knockholt.[58][59]
Lottery winners Patrick and Frances Connolly, from Hartlepool, have acquired a 25% stake in Championship side Durham Women FC with the aim of reaching the Women's Super League.[60]
15 February –
BBC News reports that the convictions of Jack Whomes and Michael Steele for the Rettendon murders are being reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission following an application.[61]
Netflix are forced to move their BAFTA Awards afterparty, scheduled to be held at the Chiltern Firehouse the following day, to a different venue after a fire at the hotel.[62]
16 February – A man is charged with the murder of Julie Buckley, a woman from Christchurch near March in Cambridge, who disappeared in January. Charges have been brought even though a body has not been found.[63]
17 February –
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the UK government met a key election target to provide an extra two million GP appointments, with the target being met between July and November 2024.[64]
Logan Burnett is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 23 years and 173 days for the murder of his partner, Courtney Mitchell, who was stabbed to death in front of her friends in Ipswich on 6 August 2024.[65]
18 February – Jack Bennett is sentenced to 28 weeks in prison by Exeter Magistrates after pleading guilty to sending malicious communications to MP Jess Phillips, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and a Metropolitan police officer between February 2024 and January 2025. He is also given a restraining order preventing him from contacting his victims for five years.[66]
19 February – County Durham Police begin a search for keen long-distance runner Jenny Hall, 23, who was last seen the previous afternoon. Her car is discovered parked on the B6278 on remote moorland.[67]
20 February – Kent Police announce that they believe a man who they suspect of shooting his wife dead on Valentine's Day is dead. Edward Stockings is said to have entered the River Thames after shooting dead Lisa Smith outside a pub.[68]
21 February – Former Bedfordshire police officer Natasha Conneely, who removed a burglar's electronic tag so they could have a sexual relationship, is sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to corruption or other improper exercise of police powers and privileges.[69]
A three-year-old girl is killed in a crash between a van and a tram in Greater Manchester.[71] A man is subsequently charged in connection with the death.[72]
The M4 is closed between the Severn Crossing and Junction 21 after the body of a 40-year-old male is discovered on the carriageway.[73]Avon and Somerset Police subsequently confirm the deceased man had been arrested the previous day after accusations against him were livestreamed online by a vigilante group.[74]
23 February –
Police searching for Jenny Hall, missing since 18 February, find a body in forest in a remote part of Teesdale.[75]
A number of residents in the Wythenshawe area of Greater Manchester are evacuated following a fire involving a lorry on an industrial estate.[76]
A 17-year-old boy is taken to hospital after being stabbed in the chest at a Primark store in Nottingham.[77] A 16-year-old boy is subsequently arrested, charged and remanded in custody over the incident.[78]
24 February –
The UK government publishes a list of 750 schools to establish breakfast clubs for pupils from April, with the pilot scheme paving the way for an England-wide initiative.[79]
At Luton Crown Court, 19-year-old Nicholas Prosper pleads guilty to the murders of his mother and two siblings, who were shot dead in September 2024; it is also reported that Prosper planned to carry out a mass shooting at his school.[80]
A pedestrian is killed and two others injured in a crash involving a bus and a car in Harrow.[81]
An 84-year-old man is taken to hospital with critical injuries following an attack by a suspected American XL bully in Warrington, Cheshire; the dog, along with another suspected XL bully, are shot by armed police.[82]
Actor Alexander Westwood, who appeared in the Netflix series Sex Education, is sentenced to fifteen and a half years in prison after he was convicted of 26 crimes against children and two pupils who went to him for acting tuition.[85]
27 February – Police confirm that a 19-year-old woman, subsequently named as Morgan Dorset, has died following an attack by a suspected American XL bully at a property in Bristol the previous evening. Two people have been arrested in connection with the incident, while the dog has been destroyed.[86][87]
28 February –
A new agreement with the UK government will provide an additional £889m to general practice, enabling surgeries to provide more appointments and for patients to request an appointment with their usual doctor, as well as an end to the "8am scramble" for appointments.[88]
Molly Bury, a former police officer with Lancashire Police who shared information about the disappearance of Nicola Bulley with her family and gained unauthorised access to police computer systems over a number of years, is given a suspended sentence.[89]
Charity worker Omar Wilson is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years for the murder of acclaimed chef Mussie Imnetu in August 2024.[90]
The London Fire Brigade announces that Sherlock, a cocker spaniel who has served as its longest fire investigation dog, is to retire after 12 years.[91]
Philip Foster, an actor who appeared in Channel 4 soap Brookside, is sentenced to eight and a half years in prison at Sheffield Crown Court over a £13.6m fraud involving fake model agencies.[92]
A 17-year-old boy is taken to hospital with serious injuries after being stabbed in Nottingham City Centre.[93]
March
1 March – Three teenage girls are charged with the manslaughter of a 75-year-old man, named as Fredi Rivero, who was attacked in Seven Sisters Road, Islington, London, on 27 February and died in hospital the following day.[94]
2 March – A four year old girl dies following a suspected arson attack at a house in Manchester.[95]
4 March – Police begin a murder investigation after a 16-year-old boy, subsequently named as Lathanlel Burrell, is killed in a shooting incident near Stockwell tube station in south London.[96][97]
5 March – A child is killed and a second injured after a car is driven onto a sports pitch in Kendal, Cumbria; a man is arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving.[98] She is subsequently named as 10-year-old Poppy Atkinson.[99]
6 March – At Cambridge Crown Court, Kyle Clifford is convicted of the rape of his ex-girlfriend, Louise Hunt, during an attack which killed her along with her mother and sister in July 2024.[100]
7 March –
Giant trolley scales – designed to weigh trolleys at the checkout to identify errors when scanning goods – are introduced on a trial basis at a Tesco store in Gateshead.[101]
Belgrave Road, a coastal road in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, is closed after part of the cliff collapses, with police describing it as a "significant rockfall".[102]
8 March –
Police searching for a suspect in the Valentine's Day shooting of Lisa Smith confirm a body was found in the River Thames near Rainham, Kent, the previous day. Police suspect Edward Stockings entered the water near Dartford on the day of the shooting.[103]
A man is charged with the murder of Lathaniel Burrell, who was shot near Stockwell tube station.[105]
11 March – NHS England confirms that as many as 5,000 people missed routine screenings for cancer and other illnesses because of a technical error dating back to 2008.[106]
12 March – A 13-year-old girl appears in court holding a teddy bear as she is accused of the murder of a woman whose body was found following a house fire in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire two days earlier.[107]
13 March – At a hearing at the Old Bailey, Hassan Sentamu is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 23 years for the murder of Elianne Andam in Croydon, South London, in September 2023.[108]
14 March –
Mark Ross, who killed Amazon delivery driver Claudiu Carol-Kondor while the latter was trying to prevent his van from being stolen in August 2024, is sentenced to life imprisonment by Leeds Crown Court with a minimum term of 30 years.[109]
Daniel Bannister is sentenced to 16 weeks in prison for stalking Cheryl Tweedy after breaking a restraining order over previous incidents in which he harassed the singer.[110]
Denise Fergus, the mother of murdered toddler James Bulger, launches a helpline for families affected by crime ahead of what would have been his 35th birthday.[111]
The High Court rules that former Home SecretarySuella Braverman acted unlawfully by housing three asylum seekers at MDP Wethersfield in Essex between July 2023 and February 2024, where they lived in "prison like" conditions.[112]
An 18-year-old man is killed and three teenage boys injured in a car crash near Shifnal, Shropshire.[113]
15 March – A spokesperson for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust confirms a "small number" of patients have received incorrect text messages as a result of an error in its patient messaging system.[114]
16 March –
A 17-year-old boy becomes the second teenager to die following a crash near Shifnal, Shropshire, two days earlier.[115]
Toxicator, Alton Towers's newest ride, opens to the public, but is forced to close on its first day after a pipe starts leaking brown liquid. It reopened later in the day.[116]
An appeal for a commemorative playground at Churchtown Primary School, attended by two of the victims of the 2024 Southport attack, reaches its £250,000 target.[117]
17 March – Following a trial at Chester Crown Court, Richard Burrows, who stole a terminally ill man's identity and spent almost three decades on the run, is convicted of 54 child sex abuse charges.[119]
19 March – Police launch a manhunt after a prisoner, named as Jamie Cooper, escapes from a prison van travelling along the M55 motorway near Catforth, Lancashire, after faking a medical emergency while being escorted to court.[120]
20 March –
Figures show that 30,000 housing projects were approved in England in 2024, a fall from 2023, and the lowest annual number since records began in 1979.[121]
Police begin a murder investigation following the fatal shooting of a man in Tottenham, north London.[122]
The UK government announces the creation of a new national forest in the west of England, with the planting of 20 million new trees and the creation of 2,500 hectares of woodland.[124]
Following a trial at Manchester Crown Court, Marcin Majerkiewicz is found guilty of the murder of his housemate, Stuart Everett, whose body was then dismembered and dumped in various locations. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for 28 March.[125]
Far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon loses a High Court challenge to the conditions of his imprisonment at HMP Woodhill, where he has been segregated from the main prison population.[126]
Police launch an investigation after a newly built Greggs store in Exhall, Coventry, is targeted in an arson attack days before it was scheduled to open.[127]
Escaped prisoner Jamie Cooper is recaptured by police in Blackburn, Lancashire, where he was a passenger in a car.[129]
25 March –
Police begin an investigation after they are called to the discovery of the body of a newborn baby left in a bag outside a church in Notting Hill.[130]
Ex-footballer Joey Barton receives a 12-week suspended prison sentence after he is found guilty of assaulting his wife at their home in June 2021.[131]
28 March –
Brothers Robert and Mark Evans, who groomed and raped girls as young as 13, are sentenced to 17 and 14 years in prison respectively following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court.[132]
29 March – Three Bolsover District Councillors resign from the Labour Party in protest at Keir Starmer's leadership, and will sit as independents.[134]
30 March – The UK government announces that women in England will be able to get the morning after pill free at pharmacies from later in the year.[135]
31 March –
The UK government agrees a new funding package with pharmacy negotiators in England, the announcement coming on the eve of plans by some pharmacies to cut their opening hours in protest at their limited financial resources.[136]
Richard Cook, chairman of West Midlands Police Federation, is found in breach of professional standards over his actions, which included a suggestion that claims of racism in the force were "nonsense".[137]
Three people are killed following a collision between a car and a bus in west London.[139]
April
1 April –
At a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, Kyle Shaw is sentenced to 20 months imprisonment suspended for 20 months after pleading guilty to stalking Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, who he believed was his aunt.[140]
2 April – A 13-year-old girl, subsequently named as Layla Allen, is killed in a housefire in Prescot, Liverpool; a man, woman and five other children escape the property unharmed.[142]
3 April – West Yorkshire Police begin a murder investigation after a 16-year-old boy, subsequently named as Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim, is stabbed to death in an incident in Huddersfield. A man is subsequently arrested, and appears in court charged with murder.[143][144]
4 April –
Following a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, Joanne Sharkey, a mother who killed her newborn baby in March 1998 and dumped the body in woodland, is given a two-year suspended sentence for the child's manslaughter, and after the presiding judge said the case "called for compassion". Sharkey was identified as the baby's mother following the arrest of her son on separate charges in July 2023, and when a DNA match was found.[145]
Anti-abortion campaigner Livia Tossici-Bolt is given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £20,000 for two charges of breaching the Public Spaces Protection Order on two occasions in March 2023, when she protested outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth.[146]
Stephen Hartley, a Reform UK candidate for the local elections to Oxfordshire County Council, is suspended from the party after it was revealed he had posted comments in support of child abuser Jimmy Savile on social media.[147]
Plans for the UK's first deep coalmine in three decades at Whitehaven, Cumbria, have been dropped by the company that planned to open the facility.[148]
A 15-year-old boy dies after getting into trouble while swimming in a lake at Beckenham Place Park in south east London.[149][150]
5 April –
A man in his 40s and a 10-year-old girl, subsequently identified as a father and daughter, are killed in a fire at a caravan park in Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire.[151][152] An investigation later concludes the fire to be accidental.[153]
Durham Police launch a murder investigation after a man, subsequently named as Barry Dawson, aged 60, dies following a shooting incident at a property in Stanley.[154][155]
The Metropolitan Police begin a murder investigation following the death of 17-year-old Keiron Charles, one of two boys stabbed in an incident at Shepherd's Bush, west London. A 16-year-old boy is subsequently arrested in connection with the stabbings.[156]
6 April – Cyclist Esme Moore has completed a 15,534 mile sponsored cycle ride from the Somerset village of Shipham to Singapore, raising £10,000 for charity.[157]
7 April – Lichfield District Council says it will help clear the backlog of rubbish which has built up in Birmingham since refuse collectors went on strike there, beginning from 9 April.[158]
8 April –
A 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl are convicted of the murder of 80-year-old Bhim Kohli, who was attacked while walking his dog in a park in Leicestershire on 1 September 2024.[159]
Following a two-week trial, former prison governor Kerri Pegg is convicted of two counts of misconduct in public office over an affair with a prisoner.[160]
Following a four week trial at the Old Bailey, Shakeil Thibou is found guilty of the murder of Cher Maximen at the 2024 Notting Hill Carnival.[162]
Four men are charged with the murder of Jacqueline Rutter, who was shot in the chest at her home in Moreton, Wirral, in October 2022.[163]
10 April – Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has elicited a critical response from union leader Sharon Graham after urging striking refuse workers in Birmingham to accept a "significantly improved" offer.[164]
11 April – Kara Alexander, aged 47, who killed her two young sons in December 2022 by drowning them in the bath at their home in Dagenham while she was in a cannabis-induced psychotic state, is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years after being found guilty of their murder.[165]
A 25-year-old woman is killed and a further two people injured after being struck by a car outside Crawley Leisure Park in West Sussex.[167]
13 April –
Emergency services confirm that a man was killed in the previous day's explosion at a property in Worksop. Several properties have been damaged in what authorities are treating as a suspected gas explosion.[168]
Military planners are called in to help deal with mounting rubbish in Birmingham, where refuse collectors have been on strike for a month.[169]
Birmingham City Council says it is on track to clear the backlog of uncollected rubbish by the upcoming weekend despite the ongoing strike by refuse workers.[171]
During a hearing at Luton Crown Court, Jazwell Brown pleads guilty to the murder of his partner, Joanne Pearson, and their neighbour, Teohna Grant, at a block of flats in Milton Keynes on Christmas Day 2024.[172]
A 62-year-old woman, named as Suzanne Cherry, dies in hospital after she was struck by a van involved in a police pursuit at a golf course in the Staffordshire village of Little Aston. Three men are subsequently charged with her manslaughter.[173]
18 April – Tom Simons, a former chief superintendent with Essex Police, is dismissed from the service after engaging in sexual behaviour without consent.[174]
Hoteliers in Liverpool vote to introduce a "tourist tax" for people staying overnight in the city.[176]
Paul Butler is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years for the murder of his estranged wife, Claire Chick, who was stabbed to death in Plymouth in January 2025.[177]
26 April – A man is arrested and anti-terrorism police are investigating after two women were injured in an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm in the Headingley area of Leeds.[178]
Archaeologists digging at a car park in Cambridge ahead of land redevelopment unearth an unopened Victorian soft drink bottle.[181]
28 April – Edward Spencer, aged 19, who killed three teenagers in April 2024 after crashing while "showing off" as he drove them home from school, is sentenced to two years in prison.[182]
29 April –
A block of flats in Maida Vale, London, is evacuated after fire breaks out at a neighbouring electricity substation.[183]
Police announce the death of Owen Lawrence, the suspect in a crossbow attack in Leeds a few days earlier, who died in hospital of self-inflicted injuries.[184]
Three people are taken to hospital following a suspected gas explosion that destroyed a house in Yate, near Bristol.[185]
Fourteen children are arrested following the death of a 14-year-old boy as a result of a fire at an industrial unit in Gateshead the previous evening.[191] A further two arrests are later made. The boy is subsequently named as Layton Carr.[192]
Danny Cahalane, who was attacked with acid at his home in Plymouth on 21 February, dies in hospital.[193]
4 May – A wildfire breaks out on Dartmoor, requiring firefighters to attend.[194]
Daniel Michael Graham and Adam Caruthers, who cut down the Sycamore Gap tree in September 2023, are found guilty of two counts of criminal damage following a trial. They will be sentenced on 15 July.[196]
Police are investigating an alleged attack on a prison officer by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, which is reported to have happened the previous day.[197]
12 May – Abdirahman Ibrahim is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years for the murder of Liam Jones, an e-cyclist who Ibrahim killed with his vehicle after Jones did a wheelie on a road in Birmingham in August 2023.[198]
14 May –
Reece Galbraith is sentenced to 14 years in prison after his cannabis factory exploded, destroying a block of flats and killing a seven year old boy.[199]
A man suspected of a double stabbing in Huyton, Liverpool, is being treated in hospital after he was shot by armed police.[200]
15 May –
Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Northamptonshire councillor, who was sent to prison for inciting racial violence over an online post during the 2024 England riots, begins an appeal hearing against her sentence.[201]
Shakeil Thibou is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 29 years for the murder of Cher Maximen at the 2024 Notting Hill Carnival.[203]
At a hearing at Preston Crown Court, former prison governor Kerri Pegg, who was convicted of misconduct in a public office over a relationship with a notorious criminal, is sentenced to nine years in prison.[204]
Rapper Chris Brown is remanded in custody over an alleged attack at a London nightclub in 2023.[205]
Lucy Connolly loses her appeal against her sentence.[208]
Two teenagers—a boy of 17 and a girl of 16—plead guilty to torturing two kittens to death at Ruislip Golf Course on 3 May.[209]
An inquest into the death of Kyra Hill, an eleven-year-old girl who drowned at Liquid Leisure, a water park in Berkshire in August 2022, finds she was unlawfully killed following gross breaches in health and safety.[210]
A bid to reopen the Crane club, a nightclub that was the scene of the Boxing Day 2022 murder of footballer Cody Fisher, is rejected by Birmingham City Council.[211]
21 May –
US singer Chris Brown is released on £5m bail, enabling him to begin an international tour on 8 June.[212]
The legal right to wild camping on Dartmoor is upheld by the Supreme Court following a case brought by two landowners, who had argued people should not be able to camp without permission from landowners.[213]
An inquest into the death of Sean Fitzgerald, who was shot by police during a drugs raid in Coventry on 4 January 2019, concludes he was killed lawfully.[214]
Three teenagers are found guilty of the murder of 17-year-old Reuben Higgins, who was stabbed during an altercation at a vape shop in Marston Green, West Midlands, in October 2024.[215]
Doctors and teachers in England receive a 4% pay rise after the UK government accepts the recommendation of pay review bodies.[217]
Two people are injured following a crash between a train and a tractor at a level crossing near Leominster, Herefordshire; a man is arrested following the incident.[218]
The British Medical Association threatens strike action over the UK government's 4% pay increase for doctors in England, describing the offer as "derisory".[220]
Two teenagers plead guilty to the murder of 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa, who was stabbed multiple times with a machete as he stepped from a bus in Woolwich, south east London on 7 January.[221]
24 May –
A man is arrested following the deaths of a woman and three children in a housefire in Brent, north west London.[222]
Rawal Rehman, who crashed his car into a tram then killed a three-year-old girl in Manchester City Centre after taking 20 lines of cocaine in February, is sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to death by dangerous driving.[226]
Indigo Rumbelow, Margaret Reid, Leanorah Ward and Daniel Knorr, four Just Stop Oil members who planned to glue themselves to the taxiway of Manchester Airport in August 2024, are sentenced to between 18 and 30 months in prison, and each fined £2,000.[227]
England goalkeeper Mary Earps announces her retirement from international football five weeks before the start of Euro 2025.[228]
28 May – Ricky Sawyer, a self-styled "beauty consultant" who specialises in liquid Brazilian butt lifts, is banned from carrying out cosmetic procedures across England and Wales after it was found he had carried out risky procedures.[229]
30 May –
A 60-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl are killed in a housefire at Bletchley near Milton Keynes.[230]
Two adults and a teenager are killed in a crash on the M5 motorway in Gloucestershire. A second child is being treated in hospital.[231]
31 May – Four people are injured after a vehicle is driven into pedestrians in Leicester City Centre.[232]
June
3 June –
An inquest into the February 2017 death of Jodey Whiting, who was housebound, concludes she took her life after the Department for Work and Pensions wrongly stopped her disability benefits. The inquest is the second into the death after her mother campaigned for the role she said the Department for Work of Pensions played in her death to be taken into account.[233]
England midfielder Fran Kirby announces her retirement from international football ahead of Euro 2025.[234]
4 June –
An investigation into the Leominster train crash initially concludes that a passenger train was travelling at 80mph (129 km/h) when it struck a trailer on the track.[235]
England defender Millie Bright says she is unavailable for selection for England's Euro 2025 team because she is unable "to give 100% mentally or physically".[236] She undergoes a knee operation the following day.[237]
The UK government announces that any child in England whose parents receive Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals from September.[238]
A 16-year-old boy, subsequently named as Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Al Yazidi, is killed in a suspected hit-and-run incident in Sheffield. On 8 June it is reported that two men have been charged with murder, as well as three counts of attempted murder.[239]
5 June – A 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl are sentenced for the manslaughter of 80-year-old Bhim Kohli, who died a day after he was racially abused and assaulted in a park in Braunstone, Leicestershire, in September 2024. The boy receives seven years in custody, while the girl is made subject of a three year rehabilitation order and given a six month curfew.[240]
6 June – Simon Clark, a 46-year-old teacher who posed as a teenager online to ask girls for indecent images of themselves, is sentenced to eight years in prison by Chester Crown Court.[241]
9 June –
North East London NHS Foundation Trust and a staff member are found guilty of health and safety failings over the death of a young woman in a mental health unit in 2015.[242]
Engineering work begins on overhead power cables in the Severn Tunnel linking England and Wales by rail, reducing train services until 20 June.[243]
13 June – Seven members of a grooming gang are convicted of abusing and raping two teenage girls in Rochdale.[244]
16 June – Nursery worker Roksana Lecka is convicted of abusing 21 babies, including kicking one boy in the face and stepping on his shoulder.[245]
17 June –
Police begin a murder investigation following the death of a 46-year-old woman, named as Annabel Rook, at a property in Newington, north London.[246]
Jazwell Brown is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 39 years after being convicted of the murder of his partner, Joanne Pearson, and a neighbour, Teohna Grant, at a block of flats in Bletchley on Christmas Day 2024. Brown, who also attacked his son, was high on crack cocaine at the time.[247]
BBC News reports that organisers of the Notting Hill Carnival have expressed fears for its future without "urgent funding" from the UK government.[248]
25 June – Drina Gray, who made death threats to neighbours who lived in a flat above her own, is sentenced to three years and four months in prison following a trial at Kingston upon Thames Crown Court.[250]
Several rail lines are closed causing widespread disruption and delays to train services after a London Northwestern train derails near Milton Keynes. No passengers were on board at the time, and no injuries are reported.[252]
Edward Vines, who breached an order not to contact journalist Emily Maitlis while serving a sentence at HMP Lowdham Grange, is sentenced to a further five years in custody.[253]
27 June – Police searching for Reanne Wilson, a sex worker missing from Coventry since May, discover a body in Binley Woods. A man is also charged with her murder, while a second is charged with assisting an offender.[254]
30 June – Ryland Headley, a 92-year-old man, is convicted for the 1967 murder of Louisa Dunne, which is believed to be the UK's longest-running cold case ever to be solved.[255]
July
2 July – Stephen Carr, who in September 2024 tried to murder his wife with a crossbow, as well as stabbing her multiple times at their home near York, is sentenced to 17 years in prison.[256]
5 July – A four-year-old boy is killed after a gravestone fell on him at a cemetery in Haslingden, Lancashire.[259]
8 July – Resident doctors in England, previously known as junior doctors, vote to take strike action after being offered a 5.4% pay increase for the current financial year.[260]
9 July –
Hassan Jhangur is convicted of the December 2023 murder of Chris Marriott, who was killed when Jhangur crashed his car into a group of people at a wedding in Sheffield.[261]
Eight residents of a Sunderland care home are taken to hospital after a BMW involved in a police chase crashes into the building. Two men are arrested over the incident.[262]
10 July –
Police launch a murder investigation following the death of a man who was stabbed outside a hotel in the Knightsbridge area of London.[263] The victim is subsequently named as Blue Stevens, aged 24.[264]
Department for Education figures indicate school suspensions and exclusions in England have reached their highest since 2006, with 954,952 suspensions in state schools in 2023–24, a 21% increase on the previous year, while exclusions rose by 16% to 10,885 over the same period.[265]
11 July – Northumberland Police confirm that two women, one in her 80s and one in her 90s, have died in hospital after a BMW crashed into a care home in Sunderland.[262] Two men, aged 21, who were arrested over the incident, are re-arrested on manslaughter charges. They are remanded in custody by magistrates the following day ahead of an appearance at Newcastle Crown Court on 11 August.[266]
13 July –
An investigation is launched after a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Avro Lancaster PA474 bomber experienced an engine problem during a families day at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.[267]
An Amazon driver is killed at a level crossing following a collision between a train and an Amazon delivery van in Teynham, Kent.[268]
15 July –
Chris Weston, the chief executive of Thames Water, tells MPs the utility company is "extremely stressed" and will take "at least a decade to turn around". Thames Water reported a £1.65bn loss for the 2024–25 financial year.[269]
An elderly couple, subsequently named as grandparents Peter Eric Greener and Sheila Jackson, are killed died in a housefire at their home in St Helens, Merseyside. A man is subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder.[271]
16 July – Fake doctor Mohammed Alazawi, who carried out a number of unsafe and illegal circumcisions across the UK, is sentenced to nine years in prison by Southwark Crown Court.[272]
The Court of Appeal clears Errol Campbell and Ronald Da Souza, wrongfully convicted of separate offences during the 1970s following allegations made by corrupt British Transport Police officer Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell.[274]
BBC News reports that the Metropolitan Police plans to close half the front desks at its police stations as part of budget cuts.[275]
20 July –
England say they are working with police after footballer Jess Carter revealed she had been the target of online racist abuse.[276]
Six people are arrested following a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping, which erupted into violence.[277]
21 July –
A double-decker bus has its roof torn off after crashing into a bridge in Eccles, leaving 15 people injured.[278]
Plans to expand the site of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club can proceed after the High Court rejects a legal challenge from a local group in Wimbledon that sought to block the expansion.[279]
Police searching for 38-year-old Rachel Booth, missing from Barnton, Cheshire, since the early hours of 19 July, find a body in a lake at Oakmere.[281]
Melissa Wilband, who was convicted in April of killing her four-month-old daughter by shaking her in 2020, is sentenced to 15 years in prison by Bristol Crown Court.[282]
22 July –
Habibur Masum is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 28 years for the murder of his wife, Kulsuma Akter, who he stabbed as she pushed their infant son through Bradford City Centre in April 2024. She had been staying at a women's refuge at the time of her murder.[283]
The British Medical Association announces that resident doctors in England will begin a five day strike on Friday 25 July after talks with the Health Secretary failed to reach a conclusion.[284]
23 July – Essex Police reject allegations that officers bussed pro-refugee protestors to a hotel in Epping housing asylum seekers.[285]
24 July –
David Gunter is convicted of the murder of his two-week-old son, Brendon Staddon, at the premature baby unit of Yeovil District Hospital in March 2024.[286]
Epping Forest District Council votes to urge the government to stop using the Bell Hotel to house asylum seekers following a string of anti-immigration protests at the site.[287]
Two teenage boys are sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years and 10 months for the murder of 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa, who was attacked with machetes on a bus in south east London on 7 January.[289]
26 July – Around 350–400 anti-immigration protestors hold a demonstration at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Norwich.[290]
27 July –
A large fire involving 20 tonnes of tyres breaks out on an industrial estate in the West Midlands.[291]
Eight children and one adult are taken to hospital after falling ill at a summer camp in Leicestershire. All are subsequently discharged from hospital, while a man is later charged with child cruelty.[292]
30 July –
Thousands of people line the streets of Birmingham to watch a funeral procession for Ozzy Osbourne.[293]
31 July – Nursing leaders in England warn of potential strike action unless the UK government gives their members a pay rise worth more than the 3.6% on offer for 2025–26.[295]
August
1 August – Greater Manchester Police begin a murder investigation following the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old man in a car park in the Bury area.[296]
2 August –
A man is remanded in custody charged with child cruelty offences in relation to sweets alleged laced with sedatives after children fell ill at a summer camp in Leicestershire.[297]
Fifteen people are arrested following a series of anti-immigration demonstrations across England.[298]
A number of flights to and from Birmingham Airport are subject to delays or cancellations after a light aircraft makes an emergency landing on its runway.[301]
Roy Barclay is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years for the murder of Anita Rose, who he attacked while on the run from prison in July 2024.[302]
A 15-year-old boy is found guilty of the murder of Harvey Willgoose, who was stabbed at Sheffield's All Saints Catholic High School on 3 February.[305]
9 August –
A number of anti-immigration protests take place across England, including one at Nuneaton attended by several hundred people.[306]
A major event is declared after 100 firefighters are called to tackle two heathland fires at Holt Heath in Dorset.[307]
10 August – The Grade II listed Raven Hotel in Droitwich Spa is severely damaged by an arson attack.[310][311]
12 August –
Following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, US citizen Aimee Betro, who was hired to carry out a hit on a Birmingham shopkeeper and travelled from her home in Wisconsin to carry out the unsuccessful killing, is found guilty of conspiracy to murder.[312]
Epping Forest District Council applies for a High Court injunction to prevent asylum seekers being housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping, which has been the seen of anti-immigration protests.[313]
West Yorkshire Police launch a murder investigation following the death of a 13-year-old girl who was found unresponsive at a flat in Huddersfield the previous evening and died in the early hours in hospital.[314]
13 August – Langdale Moor wildfire: A major incident is declared as firefighters continue to battle a blaze that broke out on Langdale Moor in North Yorkshire two days earlier.[315]
14 August – An inquest rules the February 2022 death of Ruth Szymankiewicz, a 14-year-old girl who was left alone to self harm at a psychiatric hospital in Berkshire, as a case of unlawful killing.[316]
15 August –
Following a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Labour councillor Ricky Jones, who called for far-right activists' throats to be cut at an anti-racism rally, is found not guilty of encouraging violent disorder.[317]
Hit-and-run driver Ashir Shahid, who struck a pregnant woman on a zebra crossing causing her to lose her baby, is sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and serious injury by dangerous driving.[318]
A dozen people are arrested at a demonstration in Norwich City Centre for showing support for Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terror group by the UK government.[321]
Police begin a murder investigation following the death of a woman at a property in Chadwell Heath, London. Three men are subsequently arrested in connection with the death.[322]
17 August – Several hundred people take part in an anti-immigration protest in Dudley, West Midlands.[323]
18 August – Javon Riley is convicted of his part in a shooting in Dalston, London, that left a nine-year-old girl with a bullet in her brain in May 2024.[324]
19 August –
Epping Forest District Council wins a temporary High Court injunction against asylum seekers being housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping, meaning they have been removed from the premises.[325]
Evan Forde pleads guilty to causing the death of Maria Carolina Do Nascimento in a high-speed car crash in north London on Christmas Day 2022.[326]
Five police officers from the Greater Manchester Police are being investigated following the death in custody of Ellis Rocks, a 26-year-old male arrested on drugs charges on 31 July.[327]
Firefighters are called to tackle a fire at the 18th century Grade I listed Woolton Hall in Liverpool.[328]
Police begin a murder investigation following the fatal stabbing of an ice cream man, subsequently named as Shazad Khan, in Wembley, north London.[329]
20 August –
Former priest Chris Brain, who led a cult-style church group during the 1980s, is convicted of 17 counts of sexual abuse against nine women following a trial at Inner London Crown Court.[330]
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch begins encouraging Conservative controlled councils to launch legal challenges against hotels housing asylum seekers in their areas following the legal case involving the Bell Hotel in Epping.[331]
21 August –
A man is charged with the murder of ice cream seller Shazad Khan.[332]
The RMT announces a week of rolling strikes on the London Underground from 5 September.[333]
24 August – Bradford hosts the first Great Northern Day, a day celebrating all things northern.[339]
25 August – The Metropolitan Police confirm they have made 423 arrests over the two days of the Notting Hill Carnival, but say there were "far fewer" incidents of serious violence than in previous years.[340]
26 August – Transport for London launches a campaign to target the "disruptive behaviour" of passengers playing music through their mobile phone speakers on public transport, and encourage them to wear headphones.[341]
28 August –
Former Metropolitan Police special constable James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, is found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl following a trial at Amersham Law Courts. The offences occurred prior to Bubb undergoing the transitioning process.[342]
Reform UK's Mick Barton, the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, has banned journalists from the Nottingham Post and its online version, Nottingham Live, from speaking to him or any of his councillors following a dispute over a story the newspaper printed about reorganising local government.[343] A few days later Barton says that his councillors are not banned from speaking to journalists from the newspaper.[344]
The Court of Appeal overturns a temporary injunction that prevented asylum seekers being housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping.[346]
Three arrests are made as protestors gather outside the Bell Hotel following the court ruling.[347]
Elias Morgan is convicted of the February 2024 murder of former prison officer Lenny Scott, who was shot outside a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire. The killing was in revenge for confiscating a mobile phone from Morgan's prison cell four years earlier.[348]
During a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court, Chao Xu pleads guilty to sexual offences against six women, including a case of drugging and raping one of his victims.[349]
30 August –
Five people are arrested after masked men tried to enter a hotel housing asylum seekers in the London district of West Drayton.[350]
A number of councils say they still intend to mount legal cases to prevent asylum seekers being housed in hotels in their areas despite the previous day's Court of Appeal ruling.[351]
A Section 60AA order, under the Public Order Act 1986, is put in place in Epping, allowing Essex Police to compel protestors outside the Bell Hotel to remove face coverings.[352]
NHS vascular surgeon Neil Hopper, who had his own legs removed then claimed they had been amputated as a result of sepsis, is sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for insurance fraud and possessing extreme pornography following a trial at Truro Crown Court.[361]
Ethiopian Hadush Kebatu, whose arrest led to protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, is found guilty of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman.[362]
Warwickshire County Council's Reform cabinet votes to strip the chief executive of responsibility for deciding what flags can be flown outside its building, handing it to the council chairman.[363]
5 September – Matthew Crossland, who was filmed stoking a fire outside a Holiday Inn in Rotherham on 4 August 2024 during the 2024 United Kingdom riots, is sentenced to nine years in prison.[364]
9 September – West Midlands Police launch an investigation following the rape of a Sikh woman in Oldbury, and are treating the incident as a racially aggravated crime.[366]
Javon Riley is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 34 years for his part in a shooting in Dalston, London, in May 2024 that left three people injured, including a nine-year-old girl who was left with a bullet lodged in her brain. Riley had acted as the getaway driver in what was a gangland shooting.[368]
13 September – Five people are injured following an explosion at a house in Bradford, West Yorkshire. A man is subsequently arrested in connection with the incident.[369]
19 September – At a hearing at Preston Crown Court, HGV driver Neil Platt, who drove his lorry into the back of a car on the M58 in Lancashire while scrolling through pornography on his phone, killing the car's occupant instantly, is sentenced to ten years in prison, and banned from driving for a further seven upon his release.[371]
20 September –
A man is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a shooting at the Mango nightclub in Birmingham which left four people injured, one of them critically.[372]
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