A man who sexually assaulted his colleague has had an 18 month community order imposed after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, referred the original sentence for being too lenient.

Darren Riley, 44, groped his colleague on four separate occasions. First, he made a suggestive comment to the victim. Then, when she left the room, he followed her and squeezed her bottom. Following that initial incident, Riley proceeded to grope the victim in the same way on three other separate occasions.

In interview, Riley denied committing the offences, claiming that the allegations were a conspiracy by the victim in order to ‘usurp his position’.

The original sentence was a conditional discharge for 18 months. Following the intervention of the Solicitor General, Riley was ordered to undertake an 18 month community order, with an unpaid work requirement of 80 hours.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said:

“Riley abused the trust of his colleague in order to sexually assault her. His actions have had a continuing effect on the victim and it’s in the interest of justice that the sentence be increased.”

Leo Irwin has had his sentence increased to 10 years by the Court of Appeal

A man who violently raped a woman in her own home has had his sentence increased after an intervention by the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP.

Leo Irwin, 27, climbed through an unlocked window while she was out with a friend and waited in her bedroom. When she returned, Irwin took her to the floor by the throat and banged her head on the floor until she lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, he punched her in the face, covered her mouth with his hand and then a pillow, and raped her.

Irwin was originally sentenced to 8 years imprisonment at Newcastle Crown Court. His sentence has been increased to 10 years by the Court of Appeal.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said:

“This attack had an overwhelming effect on the victim aggravated by the fact that it took place in her home, somewhere she should have felt safe. I’m glad the higher sentence reflects this.”

As part of our ambition to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data, we are improving the process for lodging electronic applications. Our electronic Document Registration Service (eDRS) will be enhanced to make it faster and simpler to create or update registered titles.

Improvements include:

• providing guidance on the application process
• validating selected information as it’s submitted

Our aim is to reduce requisitions by developing services that help you to improve application quality and save time. We are speeding up the application process by asking for information once, helping you to reduce duplication.

Improvements will be delivered in a new way, initially focusing on a single title transaction. This will allow us to test the service and incorporate user feedback into future developments.

We will continue to develop our services with your support, to improve efficiency and data quality.

You can learn about this new initiative by joining our live webinar on Tuesday 14 May 2019 at 10am. 

The personnel and aircraft of IX(B) Squadron will be at the heart of the UK’s Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Force, ready to take off within minutes of an alert being triggered.

The Squadron was officially stood up at a ceremonial parade and flypast at RAF Lossiemouth today, but has been operational since 1 April. The standing up of the new Squadron coincides with RAF Lossiemouth marking its 80th anniversary.

Some of the Squadron’s aircraft will be painted in distinctive markings to identify them as training ‘adversaries’, in their role as ‘aggressors’. In this role, they will provide a sterner training test to RAF and NATO fast-jet pilots, as they will play the role of opposing aircraft which match their speed and manoeuvrability while using the latest real-world dogfighting and air combat tactics against them.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier said:

I’m delighted to be back at RAF Lossiemouth today, one day after the station celebrated its 80th Anniversary. RAF Lossiemouth has and will continue to play a key role in the Defence of the United Kingdom, being ready to intercept potential airborne threats 24/7 and in addition shortly becoming home to our nine new submarine hunting P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft. These will work with our Typhoon force to patrol far out into the Atlantic protecting the UK’s submarine-based nuclear deterrent and two new aircraft carriers.

Today’s transition of IX Sqn from Tornado to Typhoon is one important part of the expansion of RAF Lossiemouth which will see the number of service personnel here increase to some 2,300, supported by a further 1,800 MOD civilian and contractor staff.

I am proud to see our Combat Air capabilities continue to grow, a necessity as they will undoubtedly continue to be in exceptionally high demand on operations, here in the UK and across the world.

Quick Reaction Alert involves the entire UK Air Defence system on standby at immediate readiness, 24/7, 365 days a year, with aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby protecting northern and southern UK airspace respectively. In recent months, Typhoons from RAF Lossiemouth have been scrambled four times as long-range Russian bombers approached UK airspace.

Personnel and Typhoons from RAF Lossiemouth conducted a NATO Air Policing mission role in Romania in 2018, where they scrambled eight times in response to 20 Russian aircraft as part of assurance measures for eastern allies. Later this year, RAF Lossiemouth aircraft will deploy to Iceland to conduct a further NATO Air Policing mission, while other aircraft from the UK Typhoon force deploy to Estonia on a similar task.

The Typhoon has exceptional performance that makes it capable of intercepting aircraft from the smallest light aircraft to the largest of airliners.  The supersonic fighter has the ability of reaching all corners of the UK’s airspace within minutes of getting airborne.