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24 Jan, 5 tweets, 2 min read
Exclusive: The government has repeatedly criticised prosecutors for doing “no more than applying the law” in immigration cases, the head of the CPS has said

Max Hill QC defended recent decisions that drew the ire of the Home Office

independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
In one, the CPS dismissed charges against 69 Albanians who were charged by the Border Force with entering the UK illegally, but had not reached the country

The Home Office said it was “disappointed” and “working with the CPS urgently to resolve issues” independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/…
Then earlier this month, the Home Office said “the British people will struggle to understand” why the CPS dropped charges against Nigerian stowaways who had been wrongly accused of trying to hijack an oil tanker

They hadn’t endangered the ship or crew independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/…
“In both cases, we have done no more than apply the law, which is for parliament and not us to decide,” Mr Hill told me

“We’re absolutely clear that any prosecuting authority must be free, and is free, to make independent decisions following the law”
As Priti Patel continues efforts to crack down on migrant boat journeys to Britain, Mr Hill also said passengers who have no role in organising or controlling crossings should not be charged, and “can be dealt with perfectly appropriately by immigration scrutiny and removal”

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More from @lizziedearden

Lizzie Dearden Profile picture
22 Jan
Unsurprisingly, this happened at the same court where at least three members of staff did not intervene - just watched - as a defendant verbally abused me outside his own hearing, then refused to give statements to police in the resulting criminal case

independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/…
I made a complaint to Westminster Magistrates' Court over the incident, and wider security failings on a day that saw many journalists covering the hearing heckled and insulted amid a hostile crowd of far-right extremists

I never got a response. It was in March 2019
I escalated the complaint to the highest level on the automatic Resolver system - still nothing

Following James Goddard's conviction, I had to go through the MoJ press office to find an actual human to send a new complaint to
Read 4 tweets
Lizzie Dearden Profile picture
22 Jan
Firefighters were prevented from carrying out roles supporting the coronavirus response because their “hands were tied” by safety protections, a report has found

HM Inspectorate of fire services said FBU agreement “prevented or delayed” some deployments

independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
The inspectorate said firefighters were offered the same protections as other emergency workers, but "as a direct result of the position the trade union adopted, the ability for fire services to deploy firefighters into potentially life-saving activities was limited and delayed”
The FBU called the report a “political and biased attack on firefighters” and said it had not been spoken to by the inspectorate as it was drawing up the report

It said it had acted to protect firefighters from Covid infection and fully supported the pandemic response
Read 4 tweets
Lizzie Dearden Profile picture
15 Jan
Ukip is back in the news after accepting Katie Hopkins as a member

I've charted its slide into the far right, and how it caused the party to be obliterated in the polls

independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
In 2018, anyone at pro-Brexit or 'Free Tommy' protests would have seen placards, hats and signs with the logo 'Make Britain Great Again'

The group, organised through a Facebook page, was run by Ukip members. I interviewed its founder, who left and sought deradicalisation support
In the same year, Ukip leader Gerard Batten took on Tommy Robinson as an adviser and welcomed Paul Joseph Watson, Mark Meechan (Count Dankula) and Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) as members

The aim was to use their online reach to bypass the 'MSM' and get new members
Read 8 tweets
Lizzie Dearden Profile picture
13 Jan
The takedown of Parler is the latest blow to the British far right, which was unsuccessfully attempting to rebuild its online audience following waves of deplatforming by mainstream social networks

Extremists' reach has been "extraordinarily reduced"

independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
Parler was among a cluster of niche social networks that extremists have been forced to rely on after bans by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

The other popular fall-backs are Telegram (Twitter replacement), VK (Facebook replacement) and Bitchute (YouTube) replacement
But far-right figures have struggled to attract anywhere near the same audience as they had on mainstream networks

From a high of 1 million Facebook followers and 413,000 on Twitter, Tommy Robinson has now been left with under 100,000 followers on Telegram and Bitchute combined
Read 7 tweets
Lizzie Dearden Profile picture
13 Jan
Three terrorist prisoners, including the Parsons Green bomber and Manchester attacker’s brother, have been charged with attacking a prison officer inside HMP Belmarsh

The alleged assault happened in May last year

independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/…
Hashem Abedi, Ahmed Hassan and Muhammed Saeed, 22, have been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm

Abedi has also been charged with assault on an emergency worker, over alleged attack on a second prison officer

They will appear at Bromley Mags Court on 7 April
The incident came four months after the first Isis-inspired attack inside a UK prison, which took place at HMP Whitemoor in January 2020

Concerns have been raised about terrorist networking inside HMP Belmarsh after several high-profile cases

independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/…
Read 8 tweets
Lizzie Dearden Profile picture
11 Jan
One of the UK’s youngest terror plotters has been named for the first time after losing a legal bid to remain anonymous

Jack Reed, 18, was jailed last year for preparing neo-Nazi acts of terror, and given a new sentence last month for child sex offences

independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/…
His lawyers applied for a ban on identifying him a day before his birthday on Christmas Eve

The Recorder of Manchester, Judge Nicholas Dean QC, granted extension to the restrictions but dismissed application following a challenge by PA and admitted the extension was also wrong
Reed, of Durham, had detailed plans to firebomb synagogues and other buildings in the Durham area as part of what he believed was an upcoming “race war”

Before being arrested, he wrote a terrorist manifesto and said his upcoming 12 weeks of study leave would be “showtime”
Read 4 tweets

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