Man Dies Sleeping Rough In Cold For Documentary

A young documentary maker has been found dead while sleeping rough in freezing temperatures to highlight the plight of the homeless.

Lee Halpin, 26, had planned to spend a week living on the streets in his home city of Newcastle.

He began the project on Sunday but was apparently found dead three days later in a derelict building in the West End of the city.

How he died has not yet been confirmed but it is believed he may have died from hypothermia.

Speaking earlier on a YouTube video, he said the project was part of an application for an investigative journalism course to give an example of fearless reporting.

He said he had spoken to a homeless charity about the rise in the number of people on the streets and the possible repercussions of the bedroom tax.

"I'm about to go and spend a week being homeless in the West End of Newcastle.

"I will sleep rough for a week, scrounge for my food, access the services that other homeless individuals use," he said.

"I will interact with as many homeless people as possible and immerse myself in that lifestyle as deeply as I can."

He concluded the video by saying he hoped it showed his willingness to get to the heart of a story.

Mr Halpin's friend Daniel Lake told the Evening Chronicle: "No-one knows how he passed away, but we think it could have been hypothermia.

"He made the ultimate sacrifice trying to raise awareness about what was happening to other people."

A statement from Northumbria Police said: "Officers have arrested two men aged 26 and 30 on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug. They have been bailed pending further enquiries. A report is being prepared for the coroner into the death of the man."

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London Shooting: Man Charged With Murder

A man has been charged with the murder of a teenager who was shot in the chest in north London, Scotland Yard has said.

Mohammed Hussein, 19, died in Edmonton on Monday after neighbours heard shouting in the street and then gunfire about an hour later.

Paramedics fought to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Natneal Tefsay, 20, from Bounds Green, north London, is charged with Mr Hussein's murder.

He will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court today.

After the shooting, a witness, who did not want to be named, said: "Earlier in the night a group of guys chased after the victim, who was in a car with a mate, and smashed a window.

"He then came back later and that's when the shooting happened.

"He was with three of his friends and I think they ran off when he was shot."

A post-mortem examination found that Mr Hussein died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Last night police said they had also arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of murder.

They are continuing to appeal for information about the shooting, which happened in Bounces Road, Edmonton, at around 9.45pm on Easter Monday.

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Hospital Patients Should Be Offered Nicotine Gum

Hospital patients who smoke should be given nicotine patches or gum as soon as they are admitted, health officials have said.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said hospitals have a duty of care to help people quit the habit.

In its new draft recommendations, Nice also called on all hospitals to implement smoke-free policies in their grounds.

In some trusts around the country, patients can be seen outside buildings wearing hospital gowns while smoking - meanwhile other hospitals have zero tolerance policy.

In the new guidance, which is now open for consultation, Nice says that such a policy should be implemented across England.

It is also calling on trusts to give all patients information about their smoke-free rules and support to help smokers kick the habit.

Professor Mike Kelly, director of Nice's Centre for Public Health, said: "The benefits of stopping smoking are well known, and people are already required by law not to smoke inside enclosed or mostly enclosed buildings.

"This draft guidance sets out proposals on supporting people in a hospital environment not to smoke, as well as supporting the smoke-free policies in hospitals.

"Secondary care providers have a responsibility to protect the health of people who use or work in their services.

"The draft recommendations propose that this duty of care should also routinely cover providing advice on how to improve health, including stop smoking interventions."

Treating smoking-related illness costs the NHS £2.7bn every year.

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HBOS Bank Bosses Life-Ban Call In Report

Exclusive: Ex-HBOS Banker Gets Ban

Updated: 8:00pm UK, Wednesday 12 September 2012

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

One of the former executives who led HBOS to the brink of collapse in 2008 is to be hit with a massive fine and a lifetime ban from the industry, I can exclusively reveal.

Peter Cummings, the head of corporate lending at HBOS until its rescue by Lloyds TSB, is to be fined £500,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) following a long-running investigation into his stewardship of the bank's vast balance sheet.

I am told that the City regulator plans to disclose the details of its probe tomorrow morning, although it is conceivable that a statement will be made this evening.

Mr Cummings was well-known in the City for leading the aggressive growth of HBOS' corporate lending activities, counting Sir Philip Green, the Top Shop billionaire, and Mike Ashley, the Sports Direct tycoon, among his most important clients.

He also presided over HBOS' acquisition of shareholdings in prominent businesses such as McCarthy & Stone, the retirement home-builder, and David Lloyd Leisure, the health and fitness club operator.

Since HBOS' rescue by Lloyds, the enlarged group's share price has tumbled, leaving taxpayers nursing a multi-billion pound paper loss.

In a statement in March, the FSA confirmed that it had been conducting an enforcement investigation into HBOS, saying that the bank "was guilty of very serious misconduct, which contributed to the circumstances that led to the UK government having to inject taxpayer funding into HBOS."

The lender, now part of Lloyds Banking Group - which is 41% owned by British taxpayers - escaped a fine from the regulator because (in the FSA's words) "public funds have already been called on to address the consequences of Bank of Scotland's misconduct, levying a penalty on the enlarged Group means the taxpayer would effectively pay twice for the same actions committed by the firm."

In the same statement, the FSA detailed a litany of failings at HBOS between 2006 and the early part of 2008.

"Between January 2006 and March 2008, Bank of Scotland's Corporate Division pursued an aggressive growth strategy that focused on high-risk, sub-investment grade lending."

Over the period, the division's transactions increased in size, complexity and risk.

Its portfolio was high risk with highly concentrated exposures to property and to significant large borrowers.

This strategy was highly vulnerable to a downturn in the economic cycle, yet the Corporate Division continued with the strategy even as markets began to worsen in 2007.

Rather than re-evaluating its business as conditions worsened, the division set out to increase its market share as other lenders started to pull out of the market.

In addition, its internal culture was focused on revenue rather than assessing the level of risk in transactions.

Bank of Scotland did not have systems and controls that were appropriate to the high level of risks that its Corporate Division was taking on.

And there were serious deficiencies in Bank of Scotland's control framework which provided insufficient challenge to the Corporate Division's strategy; the framework for managing credit risk across the portfolio; the distribution framework which did not operate effectively in reducing the risks in the portfolio; and the process for identifying and managing transactions that showed signs of stress.

From April 2008, as it became apparent that high value transactions were demonstrating signs of stress, it should have been apparent to Bank of Scotland that a more prudent approach was needed to mitigate risk, yet it was slow to move such transactions to its High Risk area within its Corporate Division.

There was a significant risk that this would have an impact on the firm's capital requirements.

It also meant the full extent of the stress within the corporate portfolio was not visible to the Group's Board or auditors.

In addition, while the firm's auditors agreed that the overall level of the firm's provisioning was acceptable, in relation to the Corporate Division provisions were consistently made at the optimistic rather than prudent end of the acceptable range, despite warnings from the divisional risk function and Bank of Scotland's auditors."

The fine for Mr Cummings is the latest in a string of punishments meted out by the City regulator in recent times.

The FSA was itself criticised strongly, not only for its lax supervision of Britain's biggest banks, but also for failing to anticipate the public and political appetite for a full report on the reasons for their collapse.

Last December, the FSA produced such a report on the failure of RBS, but said it would not begin a corresponding piece of work on HBOS' collapse until enforcement proceedings had been completed.

Assuming no other former HBOS executives will be subject to such actions, the fine for Mr Cummings is likely to mean that work will begin shortly.

The regulator is expected to face further questions about whether Mr Cummings has been made a scapegoat for HBOS' failure.

Andy Hornby, the ex-HBOS chief executive, and Lord Stevenson, its former chairman, were at the helm at the time the bank had to be bailed out.

There is no suggestion that any of Mr Cummings' actions or lending decision were unauthorised.

The FSA supervised the rapid expansion of HBOS' balance sheet during the economic boom years but, by its own admission, did nothing to curtail it.

There is also likely to be scepticism about the FSA's decision to hand Mr Cummings a lifetime ban from the banking sector because he has already retired.

The regulator was similarly criticised at RBS for pronouncing no sanction against Fred Goodwin, the bank's former chief executive, but instead pursuing Johnny Cameron, who ran its investment banking arm but was widely felt to have been unjustly singled-out.

The FSA declined to comment on Wednesday, while Mr Cummings could not be reached for comment.

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Pakistan Aid 'Should Be Linked To Taxes On Rich'

Britain should withhold extra aid to Pakistan unless the country boosts the amount of tax it collects from its own elite, a group of MPs has said.

Pakistan will become the largest recipient of UK aid next year, a controversial move given the backdrop of corruption, tax avoidance and political instability.

And members of the Commons International Development select committee said British taxpayers must not be left to foot the growing bill unless Pakistan's wealthy are made to pay their fair share.

"Any increase in the UK's official development assistance to Pakistan must be conditional on Pakistan increasing its tax collection and widening the tax base," its report states.

"We cannot expect the people in the UK to pay taxes to improve education and health in Pakistan if the Pakistan elite is not paying income tax.

Many of Pakistan's rich pay no taxes as millions live in slums

"In the past, donor money has not been spent effectively in Pakistan for a variety of reasons. Corruption is rife in a social order based on patronage and kinship networks.

"Pakistan's rich do not pay taxes and exhibit little interest in improving conditions and opportunities for Pakistan's poor."

The Government plans to increase its  £267m bilateral aid programme in Pakistan, which has one of the smallest tax bases in the world, for the financial year that ends today to £446m in 2014/15.

During their inquiry MPs were told that while one in three people in Pakistan live on less than 30p a day around 70% of the nation's MPs do not file a tax return.

The committee indicated it wants Prime Minister David Cameron to push for action on corruption and tax evasion with Pakistan's leadership.

It also called for the Government to use its influence within the International Monetary Fund to press for urgent reform of the tax system.

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Hate Crime: Goths, Punks And Emos Recognised

By Rhiannon Mills, Sky News Reporter

Greater Manchester Police have become the first in the country to officially recognise hate crimes against goths, emos, punks and metallers.

Attacks on those who belong to alternative subcultures will now be recorded as a crime by GMP in the same way as disability, racist, religious, sexual orientation and transgender hate crime to provide better support to victims and repeat victims.

The move is a response to the 2007 killing of Sophie Lancaster, who was attacked by a mob for being a goth.

Aged 20, she and her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, were brutally beaten as they walked home through Stubbylee Park in Bacup.

She suffered horrific head injuries after she was repeatedly stamped on and kicked in the head.

Miss Lancaster died in 2007

Mr Maltby survived the attack, but Miss Lancaster never regained consciousness.

Her killers were sentenced in 2008 and the judge recognised her death as a hate crime because they were targeted for being goths.

Her parents set up the Sophie Lancaster Foundation to create respect and understanding of subcultures.

The charity works with police forces and politicians to ensure individuals who are part of subcultures are protected by the law.

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, GMP's lead on hate crime, said: "The launch of this new strand of recordable hate crime is a major breakthrough.

"We are able to officially recognise that people who wish to express their alternative subculture identity freely should not have to tolerate hate crime - something that many people have to endure on a daily basis.

"Sophie's tragic death brought forward a need to recognise that there are many other victims of hate crime that should be protected by law.

"While we have worked with the foundation for some time, I am proud to say we are now the first force in the country to officially record alternative subculture as a sixth strand of hate crime motivation."

Mr Maltby was also brutally beaten in the 2007 attack

Sophie's mum Sylvia Lancaster said: "It is a very proud day for me personally and the rest of the team.

"It is a validation of the work we have undertaken in the past five years and hopefully other forces will follow GMP's lead.

"A big thank you to Greater Manchester Police and all our supporters."

Further work will also be carried out to educate communities and officers will be trained so they are able to provide support for individuals and victims of hate crime who are part of an alternative subculture community.

Greater Manchester Police say they recognise "alternative subculture" as a broad term to define a strong sense of collective identity and a set of group-specific values and tastes.

This typically centres on distinctive style, clothing, make-up, body art and music preference.

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Fans' Plea To FA Over Homophobic Chants

Fans of Brighton and Hove Albion have appealed for action to tackle homophobic abuse which they say is levelled at them by opposition supporters because of the city's large gay community.

Together with the Gay Football Supporters' Network (GSFN), they have compiled and filed a report to the Football Association detailing evidence and a log of the level of homophobic chanting at both home and away matches.

It also highlights two instances of opposition players making homophobic gestures at supporters in the terraces.

On one occasion, the language used by opposition fans was so bad that a radio station was forced to turn off a microphone and apologise several times on air, the report said.

It said fans have been subjected to homophobic abuse by at least 72% of opponents they have faced this season, in at least 70% of away games and in at least 57% of all their fixtures so far.

It said the chants varied from "fairly mild" and "more unpleasant", to those meant as a "joke", and others "as terms of abuse".

"It is the view of the Brighton and Hove Albion Supporters' Club and GFSN that neither is acceptable," it said.

"For us it is really simple. If the words relating to a person's sexuality were replaced with words relating to someone's race or skin colour, would those chants be acceptable? In all these cases they would not and appropriate action would be taken."

Sarah Watts, Brighton and Hove Albion Supporters' Club secretary, said: " Brighton fans have been the subject of 'banter' about the city's gay community for as long as many of our fans can remember.

"We hope this report will increase public awareness and help educate our fellow members of the football family of the issues faced, to address them and, ultimately the need to treat each other with basic respect."

Chris Basiurski, GSFN chairman, said: "This report clearly shows the shocking extent of the abuse to which Brighton supporters are subjected on a regular basis.

"It is not acceptable and we call on the football authorities to do more to eradicate homophobia from the terraces."

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Derby Fire: Philpotts Face Jail Over Deaths

A couple who killed their six children in a house fire are due to be jailed, after both were convicted of manslaughter.

Mick and Mairead Philpott triggered the blaze at their Derby home in the early hours of May 11 last year in a bid to frame Lisa Willis, Philpott's former girlfriend.

Philpott was fighting a custody battle with Miss Willis, who had lived with the couple and slept with Philpott on alternate nights while living at the house.

Both women were said to have lived happily with one another for a decade but Miss Willis left Philpott three months before the deadly fire taking her five children, four of whom were fathered by him.

Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, Jayden, five, and Duwayne, 13 - all died as a result of the petrol-fuelled blaze that tore through their three-bed council house in Victory Road.

Jurors at Nottingham Crown Court returned guilty verdicts on manslaughter charges for the pair and co-defendant Paul Mosley, 46, after an eight-week trial.

Many sobbed and hugged one another while Mairead Philpott's sister, Bernadette Duffy, clapped her hands and shouted out: "You murdering b*******.

"You heard me. I told you didn't I?"

Back (L-R) Duwayne and John, Front (L-R) Jack, Jessie, Jade and Jayden

Mick Philpott, 56, stood in the dock staring straight ahead with his hands clasped in front of him as the verdicts were delivered.

He shook his head and his wife looked down at the floor and fought back tears while clutching a tissue in both her hands.

Before leaving the dock Philpott crossed himself and was heard to say: "It's not over yet."

During his evidence he appeared emotional and slumped forward sobbing in the witness box as the court was played the frantic 999 call he and his wife made on the night of the fire.

The trio had planned to get all six children into one bedroom at the back of the house so Philpott could play the hero and rescue them with a ladder stationed in preparation.

Mick Philpott tried to frame his former partner over the blaze

He had previously told police that Miss Willis was harassing him and had threatened the family.

The fire was far bigger than the trio expected and unemployed Philpott - father of 17 children from five women - climbed up a ladder at the back of the house to discover he was unable to smash a large enough hole in the bedroom window.

Firefighters found the youngsters' lifeless bodies in each of the three upstairs bedrooms.

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Cashpoint Explosion: CCTV Of Thieves' Attack

Thieves used explosives to blow up a Hampshire petrol station's cashpoint in an attack captured on CCTV.

Police issued a warning after the blast at the Texaco in Weyhill, which they say mirrors similar raids on cash machines in mainland Europe.

Officers were called after a resident reported hearing a loud bang in the early hours of Sunday.

Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Murray said they found the cashpoint on the forecourt blown open and money from inside stolen.

"Although this was a relatively contained explosion and fortunately no-one was injured, the unpredictable nature of this type of offence means we could easily have been dealing with serious injury or death," he said.

"Our priority is to keep the public safe and by showing this CCTV footage, we hope it highlights how potentially dangerous an explosion of this type can be.

"We are aware of crimes of this nature occurring in mainland Europe which have had serious consequences and our advice to anyone using a cashpoint is to be extremely vigilant of any suspicious activity nearby.

"If you notice anything unusual, or see any wires or cables running from the machine, do not attempt to touch it and call the police immediately."

He said detectives were following up a number of enquiries and appealed for anyone with information that may assist the investigation to contact police.

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Windermere Lake Deaths: Woman And Girl Die

A 36-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl have died and a man is being treated in hospital after they suffered breathing difficulties on a boat.

The alarm was raised at around 4pm when Cumbria Police and an ambulance were called to a private vessel at a jetty on Lake Windermere in the Lake District.

The woman and young girl, both from the Leyland area of Lancashire, were treated at the scene and then airlifted to Royal Lancaster Infirmary, where both later died.

The man, who was also on the boat near Bowness, was taken to the same hospital where he is still receiving treatment, Cumbria Police said.

Officers said they were unable to confirm reports that the deaths were the result of carbon monoxide poisoning.

A Cumbria Police spokeswoman said: "(We) can confirm that at approximately 4pm today, they attended an incident at Lake Windermere, where it was reported that three people on a private boat on Lake Windermere were having serious breathing difficulties.

"Police attended along with an ambulance crew.

"A 36-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl, both from the Leyland area, were treated at the scene and then airlifted to Royal Lancaster Infirmary. Unfortunately both have since tragically died.

"A man, who was also on the boat, is still receiving treatment at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary."

The spokeswoman continued: "Police are currently investigating the circumstances of this tragic incident and trying to establish the full facts about what has happened. The coroner has been informed."

The unfolding incident, at a jetty near Bowness, was witnessed by Dragon's Den star Duncan Bannatyne who posted a photograph of the scene on his Twitter account, saying: "Tragic accident over there I am afraid."

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