A man who grew and sold cannabis from his bedroom has been jailed today after the Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox QC MP, referred his sentence to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient.

During a police search of James Brooks’ Southend home, a false wall was discovered in the 24 year old’s bedroom. Inside this concealed room, police found 6 cannabis plants. Elsewhere in the room, they found large amounts of cannabis, cocaine, and paraphernalia relating to the sale of drugs. They also found weapons including a machete and pair of nun-chucks.

Brooks was originally sentenced at Basildon Crown Court in July, where he was given 18 months imprisonment suspended for 24 months. He was also made the subject of a 12 month drug rehabilitation requirement, and ordered to complete a rehabilitation activity and unpaid work. Today, after the Attorney General’s referral, the Court of Appeal increased his sentence to 32 months immediate imprisonment.

Speaking after the hearing, the Attorney General said:

“Drug production and dealing has severe impacts on a community and on individuals. Brooks was making a living from harming the lives of others, and it is important that this is reflected in his sentence.”

More than 300 dry-weather environmental incidents in summer 2018

The first person to be convicted under the Modern Slavery Act for human trafficking outside the UK has today had her sentence increased after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, personally argued that her sentence was too low in the Court of Appeal.

From her south London home, Josephine Iyamu, now 51, organised the travel of 5 women from Nigeria to Germany for exploitation through prostitution for her own financial gain.

The victims were all vulnerable young women who knew Iyamu could get them into Europe. In return for arranging their travel, Iyamu demanded they repay her up to £35,000 once they began working in Germany, and were told that breaking this promise would result in activation of a voodoo curse.

The victims travelled from Nigeria across the Sahara to Libya, where they boarded overcrowded inflatable boats to Italy, and finally entered Germany using false identification documents. The traumatic journey involved spending days or weeks in “transit houses”, the rape of one of the victims, and being rescued from the Mediterranean after their boat broke down.

After Iyamu’s arrest in 2017, she plotted to stop the case against her through intimidation of the victims’ families. This included arranging the unlawful arrest of one of the victim’s sisters remaining in Nigeria.

Iyamu was originally sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in July, where she was given 14 years imprisonment. Today, the Court of Appeal increased her sentence to 18 years imprisonment.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said:

“Modern slavery exists in all societies, and respects neither borders nor jurisdictions. It has no place in a civilised society and the UK government is committed to tackling this abhorrent crime wherever it originates, working with our partners across the globe.

The Court of Appeal’s decision today helps to show that crimes relating to human trafficking, such as Iyamu’s, will not be tolerated – regardless of where they are carried out.”

The USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently alerted consumers and healthcare professionals to the voluntary recall by HelloLife Inc.

While the products, manufactured in the USA by King Bio Inc., are not licensed for use in the UK and are not known to be available in UK outlets, they were distributed worldwide and may be advertised on online shopping or pharmacy websites and available to UK consumers.

The products affected are Neuroveen, Respitrol, Thyroveev and Compulsin. See the FDA alert for further details, including information about the specific contaminating organisms. According to HelloLife Inc, Neuroveen was tested and found to be contaminated with Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Burkholderia cepacia. Compulsin was tested and found to be contaminated with Burkholderia cepacia. Respitrol and Thyroveev are still pending bacterial identification.

People are advised to check if they have any of the batches thought to be affected, which are listed below. The products can be identified by the main label on the bottle and the lot number that is printed on the label.

HelloLife Inc. is advising consumers to stop using the affected products immediately. If you have taken any of these products and feel unwell, consult your doctor as soon as possible.

The voluntary recall of these products is part of a wider recall of a number of products manufactured in the USA by King Bio Inc. due to possible microbial contamination. A complete list of recalled products can be found in the FDA alert. People who think they may have used any products manufactured by King Bio Inc. should check this list.

Anyone who has bought unlicensed homeopathic products online should not use them and return them to your pharmacy for disposal.

MHRA advises members of the public not to buy unlicensed medicines online and has launched a campaign to help people safely purchase medicines via the internet. Read our eight top tips for buying medicines and devices safely online.

The Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) contracts will provide FM services across the UK defence estate, replacing existing arrangements when they come to an end.

The contracts are being procured as part of the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Workplace Services Facilities Management Marketplace framework. This is a new way of working for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and enables access to a more diverse supplier base, while improving value for money for the taxpayer by leveraging government buying power.

This phase of the FDIS programme will procure new Hard FM arrangements for 4 Regional Prime contracts and five contracts that will replace the current National Housing Prime. The contracts have a collective value of £2.9 billion, excluding additional works. A later stage of the process will procure a National Training Management contract to replace the current National Training Estate Prime.

DIO’s Commercial Director Jacqui Rock said:

DIO is not only one of the largest providers of housing in the UK, with a stock of nearly 50,000 homes, it is also responsible for managing land and buildings across hundreds of diverse MOD sites.

We are pleased to be working with CCS to procure these contracts. We want to make DIO easier to do business with and adopting this route to market is one of the ways that we hope to achieve this, while enabling us access to a wider, more diverse and increasingly resilient supply base.

CCS Strategic Category Director – Buildings, Sam Ulyatt said:

This procurement is a part of the FM Marketplace, which is changing the way in which central government and the wider public sector procure their FM deals, delivering great value for the taxpayer. We are proud to be working in partnership with DIO and supporting delivery against their commercial strategy for common goods and services.

The initial phase of the procurement process will see suppliers qualifying onto each of the lots in the framework, enabling them to participate in subsequent call-off competitions. The award of places to suppliers on each of the framework lots is expected to be completed by the end of February 2019, with call off competitions starting soon afterwards.

Each DIO call off contract will be 7 years in length, with options to extend up to a further 3 years, subject to satisfactory performance and other considerations.

An advertisement inviting supplier participation has been released in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and can be accessed via Crown Commercial Service