Tuesday, 21 November
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Two men, convicted of serious sexual offences against children, have had their jail terms increased by the Court of Appeal.
Derrick Dobson, 80 and John Smith, 71 were sentenced in August at Nottingham Crown Court. Dobson was convicted on 5 counts of indecent assault and was originally given a 6 month jail sentence. Smith, pleaded guilty to committing sexual assaults including rape, and was given a 5 ½ year prison sentence.
The 2 offenders were also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and will be prevented from working with vulnerable groups, including children.
The Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP welcomed the extension of these sentences from 6 months to 4 years 6 months for Dobson and 12 years instead of the original sentence of 5 ½ years for Smith.
Speaking after the hearing the Solicitor General said:
“I am pleased the Court of Appeal has recognised that the original sentences handed down were unduly lenient. The 2 offenders attacked their victims over a number of years and this abuse led to long-lasting devastating impacts. The increased jail terms now really reflect the severity of the offences.”
A recent outbreak of Asian hornets has been successfully contained by bee inspectors who promptly tracked down and destroyed their nest in Devon.
The hornets were first discovered in the Woolacombe area in September, but the National Bee Unit moved swiftly to find the nest and remove it.
No further live Asian hornets have been seen since the nest was treated with pesticide and removed earlier this month.
Nicola Spence, Defra Deputy Director for Plant and Bee Health, said:
I am pleased our well-established protocol to contain Asian hornets has worked so effectively in Devon.
We remain vigilant, however, and will continue to monitor the situation and encourage people to look out for any Asian hornet nests.
Members of the public are a vital tool in spotting Asian hornets and we urge people to report any potential sightings through the Asian hornet app or online.
This included a two mile surveillance zone in Devon, with bee inspectors scouring the area to track the hornets and the nest. The Animal and Plant Health Agency also opened a local control centre to coordinate the response between the various agencies and teams involved.
Asian hornets pose no greater risk to human health than a bee, though they are a threat to honey bee colonies.
The hornet prey on honeybees, disrupting the ecological role which they provide and damaging commercial beekeeping activities. This is why Defra takes quick action to identify and destroy their nests.
The species arrived in France in 2004 and is now common across large areas of Europe. It was discovered for the first time in the British Isles in Jersey, Alderney and Gloucestershire last summer.
Asian hornets can be confused with their larger native European hornet counterparts; the Asian hornet abdomen is almost entirely dark while the European hornet’s abdomen is largely yellow.
It is possible Asian hornets could reappear in the UK and members of the public alongside the nation’s beekeepers are urged to report any suspected sightings.
Sentinel-5 Precursor is an important satellite for the joint European Commission–ESA Copernicus programme – which monitors the atmosphere to help us understand the spread of key pollutants and their impact on our changing planet.
The satellite, which was launched on a Rockot from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia at 10.37am BST, shows how important the UK contribution is to European space programmes.
Science Minister, Jo Johnson, said:
“The successful launch of the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite is a clear demonstration of the UK’s valuable contribution to improving global knowledge through satellite data, and the heights we can reach by collaborating with our European partners.
“Our ongoing investment in the UK space sector forms a key part of our Industrial Strategy, and we are committed to ensuring that we have the infrastructure and skills in place to support our ambition to capture 10% of the global space market by 2030.”
The UK provides investment into the Copernicus programme through the European Union as well as additional UK Space Agency investment through the European Space Agency for the development of the Sentinel satellite technology and instruments. Defra are the lead department for Copernicus, championing the use of the Copernicus satellite data for government policy making, scientific research and commercial services.
Graham Turnock, CEO of the UK Space Agency, with sixth form students from Drapers Academy in Romford who were invited by the UK Space Agency to the launch event in London.
Sentinel-5 Precursor features the TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument) instrument, developed by Airbus DS Netherlands for the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Netherlands Space Office. TROPOMI will measure ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, methane and other atmospheric pollutants at a higher resolution than previous instruments. Having more accurate atmospheric data will enable improved climate models and pollutant tracking and forecasting.
Professor John Remedios, Director of the National Centre for Earth Observation, who attended a launch event at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, along with a panel of experts from the UK, said:
“Sentinel-5P and successor satellites will give the public a consistent measure of the quality of our atmosphere over the next decades and monitor the success of the really significant steps society wants to take towards a healthier lifestyle and clean economy. It is encouraging to see the excellent UK participation with its expertise in this mission.”