Other News In Brief

Parkilife Festival Murder Suspect Arrested

A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering Parklife music festival goer Robert Hart, aged 26, in a row over an inflatable doll in Heaton Park, Manchester.

The suspect was arrested in Cheshire and taken to custody fro questioning.

Detective Inspector Richard Eales recognised a "huge amount of support by the public and the media for the appeal to help to find" the murderer.

However, he said the arrest does not mean "the investigation is at an end" and explained they are "continuing to investigate".

The 26-year-old was punched to the ground after an altercation over his girlfriend, who was being repeatedly struck by an inflatable doll. He was knocked unconscious and died later at hospital.

Two Arrested In Dawn Raids

A man and a woman are in police custody after three dawn raids were carried out across the Black Country this morning.

Drugs warrants were executed in West Bromwich, Tipton and Wolverhampton as officers acted on community information in a bid to clamp down on drug dealing.

The man and woman, both aged 31, were arrested at an address in Daisy Walk, Pendeford, Wolverhampton for being concerned in the supply of class A and B drugs. A significant amount of class A and B drugs, including what was suspected to be cocaine, were also recovered.

In Grace Road, Tipton more class B drugs were found and a large quantity of cash was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

In Lily Street, West Bromwich over 30 cannabis plants were discovered.

Inspector Akeel Najib, from Sandwell Police, said: "When we ask our residents what matters to them the most, they often say drug crime. We want them to know that we do listen to these concerns and we’re taking action to remove drugs from our streets. We'd urge anyone with information about drug crime to contact us."

Schools Urged To Promote British Values

The Department for Education today launched a consultation on strengthening powers to intervene in schools which are failing to actively promote British values.

Independent schools, including academies and free schools, are already required to encourage pupils to respect British values through the Independent School Standards. These proposals will strengthen this standard further, and provide a stronger basis for swift intervention in schools which are not actively promoting British values.

Currently there is no similar standard applied to local authority maintained schools. Ofsted will introduce an equivalent expectation on maintained schools through changes to the Ofsted framework later this year.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Keeping our children safe and ensuring schools prepare them for life in modern Britain could not be more important. This change is an important step towards ensuring we have a strong legal basis for intervening in those schools where this is an issue.

"The vast majority of schools already promote British values. This is about making sure we have the tools we need to intervene if children are being let down."

(CVS/CD)