UK

Police have launched an appeal to find a teenager who vanished 53 years ago today when she was aged 15. Tina Whittamore was placed in the Whitaker Mother and Baby Unit in Grasmere Road, Luton, in 1971. She was last seen in the Bedfordshire town on 31 May the same year at about 2.30pm when

Leaning out the open door of a helicopter, 75-year-old photographer Donn Delson shows no fear as he clicks away on his camera capturing the buildings below. Taking up aerial photography in his 60s, the LA-based entrepreneur has since sold nearly £1m worth of artwork since switching careers. Image: Donn Delson. Pic: Elizabeth Callaghan Delson has

The housing market is showing signs of “resilience” with prices rising slightly, according to new figures from the UK’s largest building society. Nationwide said house prices were up 0.4% in May, compared to April. It said the average cost of a home was now £264,249 – with year-on-year prices also increasing by 1.3%. The figures

A woman who, along with her partner, lay undiscovered in a crashed car for days probably would have survived, but for “organisational failure” in police call handling procedures, an inquiry has found. Lamara Bell, 25, and John Yuill, 28, died after their car careered off the M9 near Stirling on 5 July 2015 as they

Diane Abbott is “free” to stand for Labour at the general election, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Labour leader on Friday told reporters: “The whip has obviously been restored to her now and she is free to go forward as a Labour candidate.” The veteran MP’s future appeared in doubt following reports she could

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of trying to purge general election candidates from the left of the Labour Party. Questions remain about whether veteran Corbyn ally Diane Abbott will be barred from standing again, while Labour suspended one candidate and declined to endorse another. Labour’s general election campaign has been overshadowed by the internal

A primary school teacher who murdered her boyfriend before burying him in their garden has been jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years. Fiona Beal, 50, from Northampton, stabbed Nicholas Billingham, 42, to death sometime between October and November 2021. After previously pleading guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter by reason of

A primary school teacher murdered her boyfriend in a “carefully planned domestic execution” after he sent her a letter declaring his love “until the day I die”, a court has heard. Fiona Beal, 50, has admitted the murder of Nicholas Billingham, who she stabbed to death before burying his body in their garden in Northampton.

The Home Office has “little to show” for the money it has used on the Rwanda scheme and “does not have a credible plan”, a group of MPs has warned. The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the government department had spent millions of pounds so far on the policy and its asylum accommodation plans.

A Singapore Airlines flight hit by severe turbulence experienced a rapid change in gravitational force and a 54m (178ft) altitude drop in four seconds, an investigation has found. It comes after a 73-year-old British man died from a suspected heart attack after the incident on 21 May on the London-Singapore flight. Dozens more were injured

Police will take no further action against Labour’s Angela Rayner after accusations surrounding her living arrangements in 2010. Officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) launched an investigation into the party’s deputy leader earlier this year, after reports suggested she may have lived primarily at her then-husband’s address in Stockport, despite registering to vote under her

Pro-Palestinian protesters have forced the University of Manchester to move exams after occupying a campus building. The university said demonstrators, linked to the nearby Encampment of Resistance for Palestine, “unlawfully barricaded” Whitworth Hall over the weekend. After the group “refused” to vacate the premises to allow student exams to proceed, and after police stopped more

Rishi Sunak has argued national service will “keep kids out of trouble” – and lots of parents are “worried” about what their children get up to at the weekend. The plan, which has faced criticism from some Tory ministers, would see 18-year-olds given the choice of a full-time military placement for 12 months, or a

The rate of price rises in UK shops has returned to “normal levels”, according to new industry figures. Overall annual shop price inflation eased to 0.6% in May, down from 0.8% in April, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NielsenIQ said. The figure is the lowest since November 2021. Please use Chrome browser for a

The King has been given the first seedling from the famous Sycamore Gap tree, which was cut down last year. The National Trust has presented the monarch with the first seedling grown from seeds collected from the felled landmark for Celebration Day. The event takes place on the last bank holiday Monday in May and

A search has been launched for a missing hillwalker who may have become “disorientated” during a trek on the Isle of Rum. Keen hiker Mary Molloy, 68, was last seen walking in the area between Trollabhal and Bealach an Fhuarain at around 2.30pm on Saturday. She later got in touch with her family at around

Manchester United have won the FA Cup after beating rivals Manchester City 2-1 in the final at Wembley. Alejandro Garnacho put the Red Devils ahead with a close-range effort in the 30th minute after a mix-up between City defender Josko Gvardiol and goalkeeper Stefan Ortega. Kobbie Mainoo then doubled United’s lead nine minutes later with

A total ban on under-16s owning smartphones should be considered by the next government, according to a report from MPs. The House of Commons Education Committee also called for a statutory ban on mobile phones in schools. It argued that screen time was harmful to children’s mental and physical health, and both schools and parents

An aircraft has crashed in a field in Lincolnshire, police say. Emergency crews are at the scene in Coningsby following reports the aircraft went down shortly before 1.20pm. A Lincolnshire Police spokesperson said a “single occupant aircraft” is believed to have crashed and nobody else is thought to have been involved. The Air Accidents Investigation

Migration has taken centre stage on the first day of the general election campaign, with the prime minister and Labour leader trading blows on the government’s flagship Rwanda policy. Sir Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of never believing in his deportation plan as he kicked off his campaign in Gillingham in Kent, a traditional Conservative