A police officer has been sacked after breaching professional standards during the restraint of a mental health patient who collapsed and died in 2011.Pc Paul Adey was found guilty of giving a false account to investigators in relation to the fatal collapse of Walsall man Kingsley Burrell, who went into…

An £825,000 training scheme will help police officers across Scotland deal with some of the more “insidious and damaging” forms of domestic abuse, the Justice Secretary said.Humza Yousaf (pictured) spoke out as Police Scotland began preparing more than 14,000 officers and staff for the introduction in 2019 of new legislation…

A prison officer at a young offenders' institution who was caught having secret "trysts" in a cleaning cupboard with a 20-year-old inmate has been spared jail.Stacey Sutherland, 27, said she looked for solace with convicted blackmailer Leon Shooter after her marriage to a fellow prison officer failed and a subsequent…

Two thirds of ex-prisoners with conflict-related convictions are still unemployed 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement, an academic said.Their family members have also been black-listed by some employers as an inter-generational legacy of the years of violence, Professor Peter Shirlow added.A wide-ranging bid to persuade employers and service-providers to…

A police officer who left a colleague waiting outside as he had sex with a vulnerable woman he had met while on duty has been jailed for two years.Both on and off duty, Met Police officer Scott Johnson failed to protect someone who was vulnerable and risked public trust in…

An independent report has urged ministers to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Scotland to 16 and set up a new youth justice system for offenders up to the age of 21.The work, commissioned jointly by the charity Action for Children and Bruce Adamson, Scotland’s Children and Young People’s…

A Muslim convert terrorist felt "justified" in assaulting hospital staff over a ban on communal prayers, an inquest jury has heard.Nicky Reilly, 30, was said to be furious after bosses at high-security Broadmoor brought in the policy following fears that Muslim patients were intimidating others by the way they were…

Play fighting involving staff as well as inmates is "widespread" at a youth jail, an inspection found.The issue was referenced in a report on Rainsbrook secure training centre near Rugby in Warwickshire.It said: "Unacceptable levels of 'play fighting', by both young people and staff, remain widespread across the centre."Attempts by…

Police have been left to pick up the pieces amid a national crisis in mental health care, a watchdog report has warned.Stretched forces are responding to tens of thousands of cases that would be better dealt with by other agencies, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS)…

Officers at Maghaberry Prison are making renewed efforts to identify the most vulnerable prisoners, the criminal justice inspector said.The high-security jail has a significant proportion of inmates with mental illness.Self-harming is an ever-present threat and five people have taken their own lives in recent years. Many are recovering from alcohol…

A prison once branded dangerous and Dickensian has made immensely encouraging progress, a report said.Maghaberry high-security jail in Co Antrim holds life prisoners convicted of the most serious offences including murder and paramilitaries.Many struggle with substance abuse, self-harm, lack of education and poor mental health and some are extremely vulnerable.In…

New guidelines surrounding the sentencing of all offenders are coming into force in Scotland's courts.For the first time in Scotland, the guidelines set down the fundamental principles and purposes of sentencing in a document.The guidelines, developed by the Scottish Sentencing Council, were approved by three senior judges at the end…