A family of pickpockets who preyed on sleeping train passengers and stole property worth more than £60,000 have been jailed.

A teenager who admitted killing a pensioner in the most serious crime committed during last summer's street disturbances had previously taken part in a school trip to watch a police training exercise combating petrol bomb-throwing rioters.

A teenager who killed pensioner Richard Mannington Bowes during the London riots can be named as Darrell Desuze today after an order banning his identification was lifted.

Briefly

Nine more farms in England have been hit by the Schmallenberg virus, the midge-borne livestock infection that can cause birth deformities in lambs and calves.

A van driver who was killed when a huge beech tree crushed his parked van in high winds was named by police today.

A baby boy admitted to hospital is in a critical but stable condition, police said today.

Police warned they would deal robustly with any cases of vigilantism after an emotional vigil in Kent for a seriously ill baby taken to hospital four days ago.

High-speed Eurostar train services through the Channel Tunnel were severely disrupted today due to an electrical power supply problem near London.

Up to 80 swimmers taking part in a race to raise money for the RNLI had to be rescued after getting swept out to sea, a spokesman for the charity said today.

Police today named the crewman who died last week when a tugboat sank on the River Thames in London.

A 49-year-old man has died following a fire on a houseboat in the early hours of today, police said.

Departing flights at one of the UK's busiest airports were suspended today after lightning struck an air traffic control tower.

Millions of Britons basked in the sunshine yesterday as temperatures almost matched those in the Caribbean. A high of 32.8C was recorded in Gravesend, Kent, making it the hottest day of the year so far.