PC jailed over sexual relationship with girl

A police sergeant who “fell in love” with a 14-year-old girl and had her initials tattooed on his wrist has been jailed for a year. Dominic Liversedge, 27, befriended the girl’s family when he played a lead role in a production of Oklahoma! in an amateur dramatic group in Cambridgeshire in January.

A friendship progressed from texting to kissing and Liversedge intimately touching the girl. The tattoo was of initials followed by “best buddies till the very end”.

Sentencing him after he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child under the age of 16, Judge Barbara Mensah told him: “You should know, more than anybody else, that what you were doing was totally unacceptable.”

New taxi allegations

The driver of a black London taxi accused of drugging and sexually assaulting female passengers faces a further 12 charges, involving eight women, in addition to 11 earlier charges.

John Worboys, 50, of Rotherhithe, southeast London, is accused of rape, sexual assault and administering a substance with intent. A number of women had told police that a driver plied them with drugged alcohol. Officers will fly to Australia and Spain to take more statements, Croydon Crown Court was told.

Wedding list crisis

Couples will have to wait a week to know the fate of their wedding gifts as the present-list service Wrapit struggles to secure a rescue deal. Wrapit, which handles up to 3,000 wedding lists a year, said that it was doing all it could to stay in business and there was a “realistic chance” that it would be able to complete orders. The company said that its bank, HSBC, “withheld £1 million of our money”, leaving it in a cash crisis. It blamed the credit crunch and problems in the retail market for its troubles.

Bin bag fine dropped

A shop manager has criticised a council after she was issued with a fine for using the wrong coloured bin bags. Haringey council in North London issued Dora Panagi with a £300 fine after she put rubbish in black bags. The council encourages shopkeepers to put rubbish in grey sacks. Mrs Panagi, 41, who manages a boutique in Muswell Hill, said that she used black sacks after the council failed to deliver the grey sacks. A spokesman for the council said that the fine would be cancelled.

First Tory MP enters into civil partnership

Alan Duncan, the Shadow Business Secretary, has become the first Conservative MP to enter into a civil partnership. Two hundred guests, including George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary and a former flatmate of Mr Duncan, and Lord Lamont of Lerwick, the former Chancellor, celebrated Mr Duncan’s civil union with James Dunseath, 39, his partner of 18 months, at Marylebone Register Office, Central London.

Mr Duncan, 51, who came out as gay in 2002, helped the Civil Partnership Bill to go through Parliament by persuading some Tories on behalf of Michael Howard, the Conservatives’ leader at the time.

Soldier and dog killed

A soldier of the Royal Veterinary Corps, attached to 2nd battalion, the Parachute Regiment, and his sniffer dog were shot dead when insurgents ambushed a patrol in Helmand, southwest Afghanistan. The soldier is expected to be named publicly today. It was the first forces’ animal to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Fraudsters’ legal aid

John and Anne Darwin, jailed this week by Teesside Crown Court, are to receive legal aid to fight police efforts to recover the proceeds of their insurance scam, the Legal Services Commission said. An operation has begun to recover the money they claimed after John Darwin, 57, supposedly died in a canoe accident.

Strike leaves backlog at passport offices

A backlog of up to 150,000 passport applications has built up during a three-day strike at the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), it was claimed yesterday.

The Public and Commercial Services Union said that the effects of the walkout over pay and office closures would take “well into August” to clear, and members would embark on a work to rule. The union claimed that more than 2,000 passport staff left their posts in the strike, which affected seven regional passport offices and 68 interview offices. The IPS put the number of absent staff at about 1,000.

Key-fob gunman jailed for 9 years

A man was jailed for nine years for shooting a fellow clubber with a key-fob gun. Police say that about 100 of the four-inch Bulgarian-made weapons are still believed to be in circulation. Marcus Henry, 27, of Clapham, South London, fired two shots, one of which hit Yaw Darko-Kwakye in the shoulder. It followed a row over the victim’s girlfriend in the Departures nightclub in the City of London.

Murder charges

Two men were charged with the murder of Freddy Moody, 18, who was stabbed to death last week near his home in Stockwell, South London. Jeffrey Adu-Sarfo, 18, of Clapham, and Shane Isaacs, 21, of Lambeth, will appear at Camberwell Magistrates’ Court today.

Vorderman quits

Carol Vorderman is to leave the Channel 4 game show Countdown. The presenter, 47, has been with the programme since it began in 1982. Her move follows the news that Des O’Connor, 76, the current host, is to go.

Microlight death

A British man died after his microlight plane crashed in Majorca. Royce Sutton, 47, died instantly after the aircraft hit the ground in woods near Petra. A 33-year-old Argentinian whose girlfriend had paid for his flight as a birthday present survived.

Otis Ferry case

Otis Ferry, son of the pop singer Bryan, denied attacking a hunt monitor and robbing another of a camera when they tried to film him at Heythrop Hunt. At Gloucester Crown Court, Mr Ferry, 25, was told he would stand trial in September.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Time-worn Freddie gives up Test matches
• Brighton company 'involved in cyber attack'
• The art of survival: it’s all in the mind