May ‘killer’ in dock
A MAN has appeared in court accused of plotting to assassinate the Prime Minister.
Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, is alleged to have planned to bomb the security gates outside the Westminster residence before attacking Number 10 with a knife in a bid to kill Theresa May. Rahman has been charged with preparing acts of terrorism and appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court alongside Mohammed Aqib Imran, 21, who is accused of trying to join Islamic State. A “FARRAGO of failures” by senior police means it unlikely anyone is ever going to be prosecuted after a 13-month-old girl died following suspected sexual abuse, an inquest heard.
Poppi Worthington collapsed at home in Barrow, Cumbria, in the early hours of December 12, 2012, and was pronounced dead in hospital an hour later.
Her father Paul Worthington, 49, was ruled to have probably sexually assaulted her before her death, according to a judge during family court proceedings, the inquest into his daughter’s death at Kendal Coroner’s Court has heard.
Detectives at Cumbria Police, who dismissed initial suspicions of child abuse, botched their investigation, which meant vital evidence was lost and the Crown Prosecution Service has twice ruled there is now insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone over her death.
Mr Worthington, who is now in hiding, has never been charged with any offence and strongly denies any wrongdoing.
Home Office pathologist Alison Armour told police she suspected Poppi had been sexually assaulted before her death, but this is disputed by other medical experts. Yesterday, retired former detective superintendent Cath Thundercloud of Cumbria Police, who was head of the force’s Crime Command at the time, was questioned over her review in 2014 of the original police investigation two years earlier, carried out by former beauty queen, Detective Inspector Amanda Sadler and her boss Detective Chief Inspector Mike Forrester.
Gillian Irving QC, representing Poppi’s mother, said: “Was there no appropriate systemic investigation into Poppi’s death by this force between December 2012 and August 2013?” The witness replied: “No.”
Ms Irving said: “Do you agree, what there was, was a farrago of failures so fundamental that a prosecution is never going to be achievable?”
Mrs Thundercloud replied: “I don’t think I can comment whether a prosecution would ever be achievable. There was certainly failures.”
Ms Irving continued: “This little girl’s death was pronounced at 7.08am on December 12, 2012, but it was never, was it, even after Alison Armour’s report, treated as a murder inquiry?” “No,” Mrs Thundercloud replied. Ms Irving said police had a report from pathologist Dr Armour, who had raised the suspicion of child abuse, but were “not taking it very seriously”.
Officers failed to do even “common sense” things such as empty the washing machine or check the washing basket for blood-stained clothing. Ms Irving added: “It’s not rocket science.”
“No it’s not,” Mrs Thundercloud said, adding there was no “search strategy”.
A laptop, on which Mr Worthington told police he had been watching adult pornography, was also not seized by officers.
“Some of it beggars belief, given the relevance of it,” Ms Irving added.