Arrests Over 'Islamist Plot To Attack UK'

Four men are still being questioned by police investigating an alleged Islamic extremist plot to carry out an attack in the UK, according to Sky sources.

A 27-year-old man was arrested at gunpoint in a car in the street in Southall, west London.

Two other suspects, aged 22 and 25, were detained at addresses in Hounslow and Uxbridge, also in the west of the capital.

The fourth man, 19, was detained at an address in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Armed police took part in the operations in Southall, Hounslow and High Wycombe but no shots were fired.

Police vans and tape could be seen outside two High Wycombe addresses

The arrests were made on Thursday evening and in the early hours of Friday - just two days before Remembrance Sunday.

Counter-terrorism officers were leading searches of various properties in Hounslow, High Wycombe, Uxbridge, Southall, Greenford and Hayes.

The properties include a terraced house on Desborough Avenue in High Wycombe, Sky's Tom Parmenter reported from the scene.

Parmenter said there was some concern in the community over the arrest of the man in the town and the alleged "disproportionate" use of force by anti-terror police.

Youth worker Saqib Deshmukh, who knows the suspect, told Sky News: "One of the concerns that we heard was that it was a disproportionate use of force and armed response. Did it necessitate that? Was there a need for that to happen?

"Was there an actual threat on the ground? And that's a concern - that the actual number of forces and the level of force used is disproportionate and it doesn't merit it based on the evidence."

Local shopkeeper Sutha Tangaraj works opposite the house and told Sky News he saw the armed police arrive.

"At about 7pm or 7:30pm at least half a dozen armed police surrounded the house, they knocked the door and no one answered.

"A lady in the house eventually opened the door and they went and have since been searching ever since."

He said police were at the same address six months ago.

Mr Tangaraj said the man who lives at the property "is a regular customer and lives in the house with his family - his mother is very chatty".

The four men were all taken to police stations in central London. 

Scotland Yard said the arrests and subsequent searches were part of an "ongoing investigation into Islamist-related terrorism".

Sky's home affairs editor Mark White said: "Scotland Yard are officially giving very little in the way of information on these arrests, but sources are suggesting it is linked to an alleged extremist plot against the UK."

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Call For Probe Into 'Cannibal' Killer's Release

An urgent inquiry must investigate why a man who murdered his victim in a reported act of cannibalism was not monitored when he was released from prison.

Cerys Marie Yemm, 22, died at the scene after an attack at a homeless hostel in the village of Argoed, South Wales.

Sources say she was found with substantial facial injuries.

Police fired a 50,000-volt Taser at Matthew Williams to try to stop the attack in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The 34-year-old was arrested but later became "unresponsive" and died in custody

Matthew Willliams is understood to have served time for violent offences

It is believed Williams had recently been released from jail after serving time for violent behaviour.

Welsh Assembly member William Graham said it was vital to look into the terms of the killer's release.

"It is now clear that Mr Williams posed a risk to the public and I am extremely concerned that monitoring appears to have been deemed unnecessary," he told the BBC.

"If true, a wider inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his release is urgently required.

The attack happened at a homeless hotel in the village

"Questions must be answered by authorities and a full explanation provided on the decisions taken in this extremely tragic case."

Gwent Police have said they are not looking for any other suspects in the murder investigation.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has also started its own probe into the suspect's death.

The post-mortem examination on Miss Yemm has started but Chief Inspector Paul Staniforth said it would "take some time".

He refused to be drawn on gruesome speculation over the attack, telling reporters it was "unhelpful and very upsetting for the family of the deceased".

It is believed Miss Yemm, who worked at Next, had met her attacker through mutual friends.

"I feel stunned, shocked and sick to my stomach," said a friend, who did not want to be named.

"It's horrific. She was a lovely person. She didn't deserve to die like that."

People in Argoed, 20 miles north of Cardiff, have told Sky News they are "sickened" by the apparent savagery of the attack.

The Sirhowy Arms Hotel - where Miss Yemm was discovered - is used by Caerphilly Council to house homeless people while they wait for permanent accommodation.

Local resident Susan Gibbs told Sky: "We have had a lot of problems up there. Every other week, well every other day sometimes, there are police up there."

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Tasered Man Dies After Valleys Assault Death

A man has died after being shot with a Taser by police at a hotel in the Welsh Valleys - where officers went on to find a woman's body.

Gwent Police say they were called to reports of an assault at the Sirhowy Arms Hotel in Argoed, Blackwood, South Wales, in the early hours.

A spokeswoman said: "A Taser was discharged and a man arrested.

"The woman was located with injuries and was later pronounced deceased.

"While under arrest the man became unresponsive. Officers and paramedics administered first aid, but he also died."

The force said it had referred the incident to the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is standard practice when anyone dies while in custody.

The Welsh Ambulance Service said they were called to the hotel at around 1.30am, sending a paramedic in a rapid response vehicle and a crew in an emergency ambulance.

A spokeswoman said: "The man and woman were both pronounced dead at the scene."

The Sirhowy Arms hotel is often used to house homeless people while they wait for council-provided homes.

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Fifty Years Of Drink-Drive Adverts Hit Home

Fifty years of drink-drive messages have dramatically changed the public's attitude, with nearly all drivers saying they would be ashamed to be caught over the limit, according to a survey.

But the Government's THINK! campaign found young people were seven times more likely to think it acceptable than 55-64 year-olds.

Seven percent of 18-24-year-olds said drink-driving was still okay, compared just 1% of their elder peers.

Deaths from drink-driving have fallen dramatically since adverts began

Overall, the poll of 2,000 people found 91% agreed boozing and driving was socially unacceptable, while 92% said they would be ashamed to fail a breath test.

The first drink-drive campaign, in 1964, used the setting of an office Christmas party to warn people over getting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol.

Video: Drink-Driving Advert From 1982

Half a century later a new campaign, contrasting the 1980 song Celebration with a dramatic crash scene and its aftermath, is hoping to remind people to never take the risk.

Drink-driving road deaths have fallen from 1,640 in 1967 to 230 in 2012.

But it took a while for it to become a social faux pas.

In 1979, more than half of male drivers admitted drinking and driving on a weekly basis, rising to two thirds for young male drivers.

More than 88% of people now say they would look down on someone who boozes and gets behind the wheel.

Video: Drink-Driving Advert From 1978

Some 45% of people surveyed said they would rather tell their partner they watch pornography regularly than confess to being caught drink-driving.

However, the decline in women drink-driving appears to be slower than in male drivers, according to separate AA research.

It said the number of men failing a breathalyser after an accident had dropped by 17.6% between 2010 and 2013 (2,992 compared to 2,466).

For women the drop was only 5.9% (853 to 803).

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "The change in attitudes to drink-driving over the last 50 years is a huge success story.

Video: Drink-Driving Advert From 1964

"It is hard to imagine now how shocking and ground-breaking the first drink-drive campaigns were when they launched. Clearly THINK! has had a significant impact.

"Most of us understand drink-driving wrecks lives but there is further to go. In 2012, 230 people were killed in drink-driving accidents - 230 too many.

"This makes the THINK! campaign as relevant as ever."

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Petrol Price Guarantees Demanded By Treasury

A failure by petrol firms and supermarkets to pass on the full benefit of falling oil prices to customers filling up at the pumps would be an "outrage", a Cabinet Minister will warn.

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander is to demand guarantees from fuel companies and distributors that they are doing all they can to pass on the price cuts to hard-pressed motorists.

Danny Alexander is seeking assurances on petrol prices

Mr Alexander will use a speech in Aberdeen to say consumers feel petrol prices rise "like a rocket" when oil costs go up, but fall "like a feather" when they come down.

And people would "rightly be angry" if they felt prices were not coming down as much as they should.

Video: Cuts: A Loss Leader Or Real Deal?

Brent crude slumped as low as $82 (£51) a barrel earlier this week, its lowest level in just over four years due to concerns about over-supply.

The Liberal Democrat frontbencher will say: "Especially in the current economic circumstances people would rightly be angry if they feel that pump prices don't fall as much as they should on the back of falling oil prices.

"I believe it's called the rocket and feather effect.

"The public have a suspicion that when the price of oil rises, pump prices go up like a rocket.

"But when the price of oil falls, pump prices drift down like a feather.

"This has been investigated before and no conclusive evidence was found.

"But even if there were a suspicion it could be true this time it would be an outrage."

Mr Alexander promises to write to the industry's major players "seeking their assurance that they are doing all they can to pass on the benefit of falling oil prices as quickly as possible".

He will say: "When the price of oil falls, the public have a right to expect pump prices to fall like a stone, not a feather."

Pointing to the Treasury's fuel duty freeze, Mr Alexander will say: "I have made sure over the last four years that Government has helped with the cost of fuel.

"And when the oil price falls, industry must do all it can to help too."

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London Protest March Violence Sees Arrests

Ten people have been arrested as thousands of anti-capitalist activists took to the streets of central London to protest against political oppression.

Demonstrators wearing Guy Fawkes masks and carrying banners and placards descended on Trafalgar Square before marching towards Parliament Square.

Comedian and actor Russell Brand was spotted among protesters outside the Houses of Parliament.

The Metropolitan Police said that as of around midnight 10 people had been detained, including three on suspicion of assaulting police officers, one of a firework offence, three for public order crimes and one of attempted GBH.

The protest, the so-called Million Masks March, was organised by activist group Anonymous, which said it was protesting against austerity, infringement of rights and mass surveillance.

Video: London Protest March Arrests

Scotland Yard had earlier warned Anonymous it had powers to remove face coverings ahead of the march.

Some of the marchers on their way to Buckingham Palace, kicked and dragged over security railings and chanted "one solution, revolution".

Met with a large police presence near the palace, they tried to drag railings away from officers.

Some missiles were thrown, including plastic cones and a road sign, at police who had their batons drawn.

Protesters also let off fireworks and threw firecrackers and missiles, hurling abuse at them.

After leaving Buckingham Palace hundreds of protesters made their way through central London.

Footage from the protest showed protesters pushing over bins, shouting at shoppers and commuters and hitting cars and people with yellow flexible tubes.

A Met statement said: "Whilst the majority of those taking part were peaceful, there were pockets of violence shown towards officers; with fireworks and traffic furniture including barriers thrown at them."

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Charles In Plea To Muslims Over Christians

Prince Charles has said Muslim leaders must warn their followers about the "indescribable tragedy" of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

The heir to the throne has recorded a video message insisting that faith leaders do not remain "silent" over a lack of respect between traditions.

His comments accompany the publication of a new report which concludes that Christians are the "most persecuted religious minority" in the world.

The report, by a Roman Catholic charity, said Muslim countries dominate the list of places where religious freedom is under threat. 

It argues that extremism has contributed to a decline in religious freedom in the UK and singles out the corrosive influence of Islamic State (IS).

Video: Sept 15: Special Report UK Jihadis

IS fighters pushed Christians out of Mosul, in northern Iraq, in July - ending a presence that began in the early years of Christianity. Shia Muslims and religious minorities have also been targeted by the Sunni Islamist group.

The report by Aid To The Church In Need also highlights the kidnapping of 200 Christian schoolgirls by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram in Nigeria.

In his video message, Charles said: "It is an indescribable tragedy that Christianity is now under such threat in the Middle East - an area where Christians have lived for 2,000 years, and across which Islam spread in 700AD, with people of different faiths living together peaceably for centuries.

"It seems to me that our future as a free society - both here in Britain and throughout the world - depends on recognising the crucial role played by people of faith.

"And, of course, religious faith is all the more convincing to those outside the faith when it is expressed with humility and compassion, giving space to others, whatever their beliefs."

Outlining his own suggestions to improve the situation, he said: "First and foremost, rather than remaining silent, faith leaders have, it seems to me, a responsibility to ensure that people within their own tradition respect people from other faith traditions.

Video: Nov 1: Boko Haram 'Marry Off' Girls

"We have yet to see the full potential of faith communities working together."

The report concludes that Christians are suffering the most widespread persecution but also points out that Muslims are coming under "serious" threat.

Charles said he did not want to be seen as Defender of the Faith, the title held by each monarch since Henry VIII, but as Defender of Faith in general.

But he maintained that this conviction was rooted in his own Christian faith.

"My own Christian faith has enabled me to speak to, and to listen to, people from other traditions, including Islam," he said.

Sky's Ashish Joshi said: "The Prince of Wales is no stranger to controversy - this is a highly unusual intervention.

"To record this video for the Roman Catholic charity (...) that will obviously be received as highly controversial in some areas, in some quarters." 

The Prince's comments came amid news that a Christian couple had been beaten to death in Pakistan after being accused of desecrating the Koran.

The report, launched in the House of Lords, suggested that the last two years had seen a serious decline in religious freedom in many parts of the world.

As well as the persecution of Christians, it also focuses on the plight of Muslim minorities in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East as well as Asia.

In particular, it highlights the case of the Rohingya group in Burma, facing official restrictions on the number of children families are allowed.

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Henning Murder 'Turned Tide' On IS Recruitment

By Mark White, Home Affairs Correspondent

The beheading by Islamic State of British aid worker Alan Henning may have led to thousands of lives being saved because it has deterred young Muslims from joining the jihad, a member of the government's top anti-radicalisation programme has claimed.

So brutal and callous was the murder of the Salford taxi driver that it has "turned the tide" of British people looking to join the fight in Syria and Iraq, Sky News has been told.  

In an exclusive interview, Sulaimaan Samuel, who works as a National Safeguarding Mentor for Channel, a Home Office scheme to tackle people judged to be at risk of radicalisation, told Sky News that IS propaganda tactics had "backfired".

It is the first time anyone who works as part of the project has given a detailed insight into IS tactics and the threat the group poses online.

Mr Henning was murdered by IS in October

Mr Samuel said the "grotesque" beheading of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff in August and September led the Muslim community to start to seriously question IS.

British aid worker David Haines was also beheaded later that month. But it was the murder of Mr Henning in October that was the "turning point", Mr Samuel said.

Video: IS Propaganda 'Backfiring'

"I would personally say to Alan Henning's family: do not think his death has been some type of waste because it hasn't, because his death at the hands of IS is the very thing that has caused the Muslim community to realise that what IS stands for is wrong and can never be condoned.

"In Alan's death he has managed to save thousands of lives now and in the future of people who might potentially have been drawn into going out. He will be saving lives in the future.

"What IS has done has backfired."

Video: Terrorists Are Embracing The Web

Security Minister James Brokenshire said he believed the relative effectiveness of the terror group's own brutal propaganda machine had opened people's eyes to the true nature of IS.

He said: "I think some of the shocking videos that we have seen, of brutalising murder, has underlined simply what IS is about and why it has prompted British Muslims to go online, post their own videos to underline their absolute abhorrence to this appalling violence and brutality."              

A senior Government security source has also highlighted a "discernible change in attitude" from mainstream Muslim society.

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1. Gallery: Profile: Alan Henning

   Alan Henning, 47, was born in Salford, Greater Manchester. Friends gave him the nickname "gadget" due to his love of technology

He was married for 23 years and he had a teenage son and daughter

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Lib Dem Minister Quits With Attack On May

Home Office minister Norman Baker has quit the Cabinet launching an attack on his Conservative boss, Home Secretary Theresa May.

The Lib Dem crime prevention minister is stepping down reportedly after a year of internal battles within the Home Office with Mrs May.

Last week, he became embroiled in a fresh disagreement over drugs policy and accused the Tories of suppressing a report which backed his case for a review of the current law.

He told The Independent the experience of working at the department was like "walking through mud" as he found his plans thwarted by her and her advisers.

Mr Baker said: "They have looked upon it as a Conservative department in a Conservative government, whereas in my view it's a Coalition department in a Coalition government.

Mr Baker accused the Tories of suppressing a drugs report

"That mindset has framed things, which means I have had to work very much harder to get things done even where they are what the Home Secretary agrees with and where it has been helpful for the Government and the department.

"There comes a point when you don't want to carry on walking through mud and you want to release yourself from that."

Video: Oct 30: Baker Denies Row With May

The Lib Dem MP also accused Mrs May of viewing her coalition colleagues as "a cuckoo in the nest rather than part of Government".

In his resignation letter to party leader Nick Clegg, he said: "I regret that in the Home Office, the goodwill to work collegiately to take forward rational evidence-based policy has been in somewhat short supply.

"I have concluded, therefore, that for the time being at least, my time is better spent out of ministerial office.

"You will of course continue to have my full support in the run-up to, and beyond, the next election which I anticipate is likely to produce another hung parliament."

In reply, Mr Clegg said: "Thank you for the brilliant job you have done as a minister over the past four and a half years, first at the Department of Transport and more recently at the Home Office.

"In both posts you have proved yourself as one of the most effective ministers in government: always determined to deliver a more liberal agenda for Britain."

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Theresa May Tells Abuse Victims: I'm Sorry

Theresa May has apologised to victims of historical child sex abuse after losing a second chair of an official inquiry.

The Home Secretary faced MPs to explain how she would proceed after Fiona Woolf resigned on Friday because of her links to Lord Brittan, who is accused of failing to act on abuse allegations while home secretary in the 1980s.

Mrs Woolf's predecessor, Baroness Butler-Sloss, stood down in similar circumstances in July.

Fiona Woolf, Theresa May, Lord Brittan and Lady Butler-Sloss

Mrs May said she would meet victims next week before deciding on a new chair - and would establish a liaison group.

She told MPs: "Almost four months after I announced my intention to establish a panel inquiry it is obviously very disappointing that we do not yet have a panel chairman and for that I want to tell survivors that I am sorry.

Video: Victims 'Relieved' As Woolf Quits

"I know some of you have questioned the legitimacy of this process. I am listening and to you I say this: I am as determined as you are to get to the truth.

"We have a once in a generation opportunity to do something that is hugely important.

"Together we can expose what has gone wrong in the past, we can prevent it from going wrong in the future.

"We can make sure people who thought they were beyond the reach of the law face justice."

The Home Secretary said the inquiry panel would continue to meet without a replacement chairman - starting next Wednesday.

She admitted that it would not be "straightforward" to find a chair who has both the expertise and no links to past events.

Video: Vaz: Woolf Resignation Embarrassing

But Mrs May added it was still possible to appoint someone who "can win the confidence of survivors".

Significantly, the minister also revealed that a separate report by NSPCC chief Peter Wanless would be made public next week.

Mr Wanless has examined how the Home Office in the 1980s dealt with - and potentially failed to act on - a dossier about alleged abuse.

His report and the official inquiry are looking into potential abuse and cover-ups by politicians and other senior figures between the 1970s and 1990s.

Speaking in the Commons, Mrs May rejected calls to make the probe a statutory inquiry with more formal powers.

Lawyer Alison Millar, head of the abuse team representing some of the victims, said she was disappointed by the decision.

Video: Rantzen Picks Inquiry Chair

She said: "We agree that this inquiry represents a once in a lifetime opportunity and welcome her more consultative approach on the future of the inquiry.

"However, we are disappointed that the Home Secretary will not give the inquiry the statutory powers it needs to compel the production of documents and the attendance of witnesses, as well as to ensure that anyone who gives false evidence will face criminal sanctions."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed Mrs May's recognition that things had "gone wrong".

"She is right, this is a once in a generation opportunity, but it is too important not just for survivors but also for our children today to make sure this historic opportunity is not lost," said Ms Cooper.

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