Author: Henry Caldwell

Customers at a Lidl supermarket in Croydon have been left packing their groceries into rubbish bin bags every evening for more than a week, after the store has repeatedly failed to stock adequate shopping bags for customers at the checkout. The ongoing issue has been reported at the Lidl branch on Whitehorse Road, CR0 2LG, where staff have been handing out green bin bags to customers at the self-checkout area in place of the standard carrier bags shoppers would normally expect to purchase. Unlike a one-off stock issue, the problem has now persisted across multiple consecutive evenings, suggesting a recurring…

A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to eight months in prison after carrying out a prolonged campaign of sexual offending against lone women travelling on the Bakerloo line, admitting in police interview that he repeated the behaviour because he enjoyed the adrenaline it gave him. Matheus Prestes, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to eight counts of exposure in November 2025 and was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on 13 February. The offending began on the evening of 21 June 2025 at Baker Street station, where Prestes stepped off a Bakerloo line service, stood on the platform and exposed…

A Metropolitan Police officer has been dismissed and permanently barred from working in policing after punching a man he was arresting and then deliberately omitting the use of force from his official statement to conceal what had happened. PC Peter Odusote, attached to the Central West Basic Command Unit, was found to have breached professional standards relating to use of force and honesty and integrity at a misconduct hearing that concluded on Thursday 26 February. The panel heard that on 15 August 2023, PC Odusote detained a man who had been committing criminal damage to a police car outside Charing…

Three men have been convicted of murder at the Old Bailey after a retrial, following the stabbing of a teenager whose body was found in a west London park in the early hours of the morning. Tyler Donnelly, 19, was found unresponsive in Hanworth Park in Feltham at around 7:40am on 25 January 2024. He had suffered multiple injuries including a stab wound to the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene. Keith Preddie, 34, of Feltham, Daniel Matos, 23, and Joshua Cowley, 29, both of Hounslow, were all found guilty of murder on Friday 27 February following a…

More than 50 swans have died from a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu at a site in east London, with authorities confirming the outbreak and urging the public to avoid contact with any dead or visibly sick birds in the area. At least 30 swans were recovered at West India and Millwall Docks on Monday, with a further 21 found at the same location on Wednesday. The Animal and Plant Health Agency confirmed through its dead wild bird surveillance scheme that the deaths were caused by H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza, one of the most severe strains of the…

Tube drivers represented by the RMT union have voted in favour of strike action in a dispute over Transport for London’s plans to introduce a four-day working week, raising the prospect of disruption to the London Underground network in the coming weeks. No strike dates have yet been set. Under trade union law, the RMT must give TfL a minimum of two weeks’ notice before any industrial action can begin, meaning the earliest possible disruption remains weeks away. The union has indicated it is willing to hold off if TfL changes course. At the centre of the dispute is a…

Millions of London commuters will face higher fares on the Tube, Overground, DLR and Elizabeth line from 1 March, with prices rising by 5.8 percent across the network in an increase that sits one percentage point above the current rate of inflation. The rise, confirmed by Transport for London, means a single pay-as-you-go fare within Zones 1 to 6 will go up by no more than 20p, with many journeys increasing by 10p. Peak travel within Zone 1 will move from £2.90 to £3.10, while off-peak and weekend journeys on the same routes will rise from £2.80 to £3.00. One…

Newham recorded approximately 921 knife-enabled offences in the most recent 12-month reporting window, placing it among the highest in London by volume. Croydon logged around 751 offences across the same period, continuing a pattern of elevated levels compared with many other outer London boroughs. Southwark recorded approximately 731 offences, with several serious incidents in the borough during early 2026 adding to existing community concern. The borough-level figures sit against a contrasting national backdrop. The most recent data for England and Wales showed an overall reduction in knife crime compared with previous years, a trend that has not translated evenly across…

British Transport Police have released CCTV images of a man they wish to identify following a sexual assault at Eastcote London Underground station in west London. The incident took place at around 6pm on Monday 12 January, when a woman was approached by a stranger on the station platform. The man assaulted her before walking away, only to return on multiple occasions despite her repeatedly asking him to leave. Detectives believe the man pictured may have information that could assist their investigation and are appealing for anyone who recognises him to come forward. Anyone with information can contact British Transport…

Peter Mandelson, the veteran Labour peer and former UK ambassador to the United States, was arrested at his north London home on Monday afternoon on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Plain clothes Metropolitan Police officers were seen escorting the 72-year-old from his address in Camden at around 4:30pm, placing him in the back of an unmarked car before taking him to a London police station for interview. The Metropolitan Police confirmed a man of that age had been detained and said the arrest followed earlier search warrants carried out at two properties, one in Camden and one in Wiltshire.…