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DRIVING Home For Christmas singer Chris Rea left a £12million final gift to his family, documents show.

The hitmaker, who died three days before Christmas last year aged 74, passed the sum into a trust for his wife Joan.

Court records seen by The Sun show Rea left £14,435,894, reduced to £12,063,178 after taxes, debts and costs were removed.

A grant was issued by the High Court earlier this week.

He had signed his final will in October 2025, just two months before his death.

In the 19-page document, Rea asked to be cremated.

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Joan will also collect all of her husband’s personal belongings and future royalties from her husband’s hits being played on the radio.

Rea was born in Middlesbrough in 1951 to an Italian father and Irish mother.

He joined local band Magdalene in 1973 before launching his solo career by performing in local bars and clubs.

His 1978 debut album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?, spawned the US hit Fool (If You Think It’s Over), which landed him a £15,000 payday and a Grammy nomination for best new artist.

Rea produced 25 studio albums in a lengthy career, scoring two UK Number Ones – The Road to Hell in 1989 and follow-up album Auberge in 1991.

But it was his festive track, 1978’s Driving Home for Christmas, that made him a household name.

Rea had been dumped by his manager and banned from driving when his then-girlfriend Joan was forced to drive down to London in a Mini to drive him back up north.

He later recalled coming up with the melody and lyrics during the lengthy trip home.

The track only reached Number 53 when originally released in 1986, but has since become a staple of the festive season.

It has returned to the UK Singles Chart every year since 2007 and peaked at Number 10 in 2021.

Rea was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at just 33 and went through nine operations in a decades-long health battle, spending more than 32 weeks in hospital.

He lost his pancreas, gallbladder and part of his liver to surgeries, and later developed type 1 diabetes.

At one stage, the star was taking 34 pills a day.

He suffered a stroke in 2016, prompting him to give up cigarettes, before collapsing on stage in Oxford the following year.

Chris said of his health battles: “The original illness hit me hard. I almost had a nervous breakdown with the shock of it. That was the Mount Everest to climb.

“When they said it was pancreatic cancer, I could not believe it. It seemed that if your DNA says you are going to have cancer, then you can.

“They did not think I would recover from the first operation, but I was determined to do so for my wife and the girls.”

The star continued performing despite his illnesses, and made his final TV appearance in a 2020 Christmas special of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, filmed in his home city of Middlesbrough.

Chris met wife Joan when they were both teenagers growing up in Teesside and they stayed married for 57 years.

They had two daughters, Josephine, born in 1983, and Julia, born in 1989.

Comic Mortimer and TV host Jools Holland led tributes to Chris after his death last year.

Bob, recorded a cover of Rea’s Let’s Dance with Middlesbrough FC in 1997, wrote: “A lovely brilliant funny giant of a bloke… RIP Chris.”

His record label, BMG, said: “Over a remarkable career spanning more than four decades, Chris Rea created an extraordinary and deeply human body of work, defined by emotional honesty, restraint, and craft.”

Sound engineer Stuart Epps, who worked with the singer for decades, remembered him as “an amazing guy and an amazing musician”.

And Squeeze pianist Holland said: “Sad we’ve lost dear Chris Rea. A brilliant musician and the kindest of men.”

Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman returned to screens to explore Victorian Britain at a crucial moment

A devastating discovery was made during a new documentary series.

Last year, Channel 5 introduced Rich Lives, Poor Lives, a new history documentary series where presenters Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman investigate key moments in British history from the perspective of both the rich and the poor.

Rob and Ruth returned to screens on Tuesday (August 4) to front a new instalment of the series, which saw them travel back to the 1840s when railway mania swept Britain and transformed the fortunes of the rich and poor.

During the episode, Rob followed wealthy Victorians who poured their money into the railway boom. They included George Hudson, known as the “Railway King”, who seized on the craze to build a vast personal empire, and Lord Morpeth, an aristocrat who embraced the railways.

Meanwhile, Ruth investigated the lives of those who built and worked on the railways. The presenter uncovered the stories of railway worker Thomas Eaton and Mary Arguile, Britain’s first female station mistress.

Later in the episode, Rob and Ruth compared the differences between first class and third class on one of George Hudson’s trains.

Back in the 1840s, hundreds of third class passengers were jammed into small cattle wagons, leading to many people reporting injuries, including black eyes, bruised faces, and bloody noses.

“Oh my goodness. You go on a nice day out and you end up coming out like you’ve been boxing,” a surprised Rob said.

The pressure to squeeze more and more money from the railways took its toll, something the unskilled laborers up at the Woodhead Tunnel, including Thomas Eaton, knew all too well. Reports of terrible accidents at the tunnel soon reached the desks of the government.

On the 23rd of June 1846, Thomas Eaton was one of 32 witnesses summoned to Westminster to give his testimony to a committee.

Ruth revealed what happened as she stood in a courtroom alongside Rob. Reading out Eaton’s testimony, Ruth said: “Several were killed, sometimes when the engine was drawing them up, sometimes striking at the side. It threw them out and killed them.”

Eaton saw about 40 people killed in the 18 months that he worked on a particular section of the line. The death toll on that area of the line was at 3% of the workforce, a revelation that stunned Rob.

Ruth went on to say: “It was pretty sobering stuff, but the men running the inquiry didn’t seem as sympathetic as you’d expect.”

The members asked if the accidents were caused by the workers’ “carelessness”, suggesting that it was the fault of those who died.

“The worst was yet to come,” Ruth then noted, before reading the testimony of an engineer called Purdon. When asked if there was a safer way to work, he replied: “Oh, well, perhaps it is safer, but it is attended with such a loss of time, and the difference is so very small, I would not recommend the loss of time for the sake of all the extra lives it would save.”

A horrified Rob then said: “Gosh, that’s an admission. Profit over lives.”

The Victorians with Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman is available to stream on Channel 5

A FAMILY has been left distraught after they missed their flight – but it wasn’t their fault.

A father along with his family including his severely disabled teenage daughter has claimed that they were abandoned by budget airline Ryanair.

Daniel Laws, from Bournemouth commented that Ryanair told them to make their own way home after waiting in the wrong airport for hours, adding that the treatment from the airline’s staff was “abominable”.

When at Alicante Airport, the special assistance bus took the family to the wrong plane and resulted in them missing their flight back to Bournemouth.

According to the Bournemouth Echo, Daniel said: “I said to them this is the wrong plane, this is a TUI plane.”

However, by the time the family were back at the terminal, their plane had left without them.

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The family was then taken to the Ryanair help desk, where they were left “sitting on the floor for two hours”.

After waiting for a few hours, the family was then told they could be rebooked onto a flight that would head to Stansted Airport.

He added: “I responded would they also be able to help us get back to Bournemouth and they seemed to laugh at that and walk away from the window.”

After landing back in London, the family headed to the Ryanair desk at the airport to seek further assistance to travel back to Bournemouth.

After an hour of waiting passed, the staff hadn’t spoke to the family and when they eventually did, they told the family that “Ryanair believe it has nothing to do with them and we must organise our own way home”.

To make matters worse, the family hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

Daniel added: “We were abandoned in Stanstead and none of us had eaten.”

The family eventually travelled home via train, but have stated that they want a refund for the flights and all expenses incurred.

He added: “It was a life changing event for them [the children]….they were so worried about my eldest.”

A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Special assistance services at Alicante Airport (and all other airports) are provided by the airport but are paid for by Ryanair.

“We regret that Alicante Airport’s special assistance provider, Alyzia, failed to bring these passengers to the aircraft prior to this flight from Alicante to Bournemouth departing on 31 July.

“Following Alyzia’s error, Ryanair reaccommodated these passengers free of charge onto the next available flight from Alicante to Stansted, which departed later that the same day.

“We are working with Alicante Airport to ensure this does not recur.”

Harry Poulton enjoyed his first steak meal in Benidorm, despite living in Spain for around 10 years, and left people completely shocked with the way he ordered his food

Moving to Spain from the UK can be quite the transition. The pub culture and food is very different from one another since us Brits will happily devour a fish and chippy, while our Spanish friends turn to paella and tapas.

One man who swapped the England for sunny Spain is Harry Poulton – and he hasn’t looked back. Harry has become quite the local where he uses his social media platform to share advice and urge travellers to avoid three ‘no go’ areas. The Brit moved to Benidorm around 10 years ago after a lads’ holiday and vowed to never return back home.

Now after sinking his teeth into the Spanish culture for a decade, Harry revealed he hasn’t had a steak since he was back in England.

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In a bid to find the best steakhouse in the area, he ventured to the Old Town’s back streets where he came across a glorious food option called the Entrecôte Steakhouse Salsa Café de Paris.

The Spanish restaurant opened its doors last month and serves up a variety of charcoal-grilled premium meats from Galicia, located in the northwestern region, with a signature sauce.

Speaking with his 67,300 TikTok followers, Harry said he was “on the hunt for a decent steakhouse in Benidorm” as he thinks he finally found one.

First he checked out the entire menu where he saw starters and mains with a strong selection of meats aged up to 21 days. Before his food turned up, Harry had to enjoy a bottle of Coca Cola which is when a waiter arrived.

Inside the Menu Choices at Benidorm’s Newest Steakhouse

Offering a range of meats, Harry was stunned as he said: “Oh my goodness I was not expecting this.” The waiter shared the selection of cuts, which included a 500g Ribeye steak, 1kg Ribeye on the bone, fillet steak and the Entrecôte steak, known as their sirloin.

A pork rib was also on offer, the only cut matured for 21 days. Harry didn’t hesitate in going for the Entrecôte, requesting it well done – something his fans weren’t keen on.

Then in a second clip, he gave a proper lowdown on the entire meal.

Harry confessed: “Now I’ve not had a steak in a proper long time and I’m not even sure I’ve had a steak in Benidorm.

“But here I am and I’m about to tuck into this and it looks insane. We also have a lovely side salad and they also dished up a burger in their signature sauce.”

Upon tucking in, Harry simply declared: “Wow, absolutely unbelievable.”

He added: “The meat itself is very very juicy, full of flavour, it’s been cooked to perfection and covered in their signature sauce.

“With the sauce, I’m detecting a bit of butter, pepper and I think there might be a bit of brandy as well and it’s really different, I’m really liking the taste. For me, the meat is really soft and juicy. It’s incredible.”

Harry also confessed to feeling slightly nervous about the meat as he dislikes seeing it raw or bloody, however the restaurant did a “really good job”. Once the main course was cleared away, he was presented with dessert – a Pain Perdu, a brioche soaked in milk with cinnamon then caramelised in butter and orange juice, along with a tiramisu.

Wrapping up the whole experience, Harry said: “And just like that I’ve finished the meal. It was incredible, mouth-watering.

“I think what makes this place stand out is that you get to choose the meat that is cooked which I think makes it 10x better because you know what you’re getting.

“The food was cooked very very well and the staff are friendly, the service is quick and I think the prices are reasonable. So if you’re looking for a decent steakhouse in Benidorm in the Old Town this is the place to go to.”

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Since he shared the clips, many people fled to the comments section to share their opinion.

One admitted: “Went here last night! And not going to lie, best steak I’ve eaten in years!” Another fumed: “Well done c’mon you’re having a laugh.”

A third pointed out: “Way too expensive.” While a fourth mentioned: “Well done? Nahhhh that’s the only thing I’m going to judge you for.” And a fifth joked: “Well done? Surprised you didn’t get kicked out?”

It was at 11:21 a.m. on Sunday, June 21, that things started to fall apart. Aliyu Muhammad was in the Malali area, Kaduna, northwestern Nigeria, working underneath a car when he missed a call from his wife. When he called back, someone else answered and asked him if he knew the owner of the phone. 

“He said whatever he would tell me are just unconfirmed suspicions,” he recounted. “Then, he told me some women saw my wife and suspected she was a child kidnapper. I told him that I left her at home and she was supposed to attend an event. He said that’s exactly what she told them, but the people, seeing a stranger with a hijab and niqab talking to some children while there is a high rate of kidnapping, were suspicious. He asked me to send a representative since I wasn’t around.”

The man who called introduced himself as the Mai Anguwa (community head). Aliyu sent his friend, Suleiman Isa, to fill in for him. Fortunately, the man knew the friend.  

Ummulkhairi left her home in Sabon Gari Marraraban Jos, Kaduna, that morning to attend an Islamic lecture in Madrasat Tashiyhul Iman, an area she wasn’t familiar with. This led her to ask a group of children for directions. However, being a fully covered Muslim woman with a hijab and a face veil (niqab), some of the residents profiled her as dangerous. They mistook her for a child kidnapper. Within a short time, a mob gathered, and they eventually killed her, then set her body on fire, despite attempts to save her life.

The Kaduna State Police Command claimed that officers attempted to save her life, but the mob stormed the police station, overpowered them, and forcefully took Ummulkhairi out. However, eyewitness accounts tell a different story. 

Zainab Musa, Ummulkhairi’s sister-in-law, who was at the scene, said it was the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP Abdullahi S. Akai, who handed her over to the mob, and that she tried to pull Ummulkhairi away from him but to no avail. Other witnesses, including Ummulkhairi’s co-wife, Hussaina Sani, corroborated this account. 

HumAngle visited the police station in Marrarraba Jos, where sources said the DPO “had been transferred to the Force Headquarters for investigation”. On the afternoon of Jul 16, we met DSP Mansir Hassan, the Kaduna Police spokesperson, who said he could not answer any questions because the case is under investigation and officers were not allowed to comment outside the earlier press statement.

After she was lynched, the DPO visited her house with some journalists, who interviewed him right in their compound at the centre of the family’s grief. 

“[The DPO] lifted his trousers to show us the injury he sustained from the mob. He even told us that his car was damaged, and all I could think was how any of that concerns us,” said Aminatu Isa Abdullahi, Ummulkhairi’s mother-in-law.  

On the day it happened 

As Aliyu struggled to reach the scene after the phone call, each passing second deepened his fears. “It was hard to get a bike from where I was in Malali Low-cost, so I had to walk,” he recalled. “While I was walking, I was anxiously calling my friend [Suleiman], but his number wasn’t connecting. I rushed to get my brother-in-law in Kawo Park, and we flagged down a bike.” He also called Zainab, his sister, who in turn contacted Ummulkhairi’s colleagues, who were also supposed to attend the event. 

The bike ride felt slow that day, and Aliyu’s anxiety worsened as he started receiving calls from people asking where he was as the crowd was becoming more erratic. When they reached the Marrarraban Jos Bridge, he saw cars and lorries parked on the road. The motorcyclist dropped them on the other side, and they continued on foot. 

He saw smoke from a distance. Then, as if on cue, his second wife called.

“They have killed her,” she said. 

Those words echoed in Aliyu’s head. He was struggling to hear what she was saying because she couldn’t stop crying, and when he started to ask questions, she couldn’t respond. Instead, she ended the call. 

“When I arrived there, I saw her friend. They were all crying,” he said.

Eventually, he saw his sister and second wife returning with a piece of clothing he immediately recognised as his wife’s hijab. The lemon-green fabric was torn. 

Aliyu had spent the previous night with Ummulkhairi. Every evening, even on the nights he stayed with his second wife, he would stop by to see her and the children. Every morning, before leaving for work, he did the same.

The evening before Ummulkhairi was killed was no different. She told him about her day, served him tuwo and vegetable soup, and they talked as they usually did. 

“I will always remember this as the last meal I had from her,” he said. 

The following morning, when he returned for his daily greetings, he found her seated at her favourite place, with her Qur’an open in front of her. “She reminded me to greet a sick neighbour who was her friend. I told her I would do so when I return,” he recalled.

It was then she informed him about the programme in Madrasat Tashiyhul Iman to which she was invited. He wished her well, and she asked the children to pray for him. 

Neither of them knew they were saying the final goodbye, nor did he know that hours later he would be standing at the police station, where her remains were. 

“I saw my wife’s body, burned and covered with a leaf,” Aliyu recounted. 

That day, he granted some interviews to journalists before the police released Ummulkhairi’s body to the family. “We returned her home and buried her,” he said. It was only afterwards, he said, that another loss struck him. “The phone you saw me give my daughter earlier was her phone, and something that further triggered me was when it was returned to me, I realised that I didn’t even think where her things were. The Mai Anguwa sent someone to give it to me, but he returned her shoes to me himself.”

Witnesses to tears 

When Suleiman Isa answered Aliyu’s call for help that morning, he didn’t know how the day would fracture his friend’s life. He arrived before the situation spiralled, helping to secure Ummulkhairi inside the police station. Believing she was safe, he stepped out to answer a phone call and meet a potential business customer. When he returned to the police station, he didn’t know she had already been dragged out and handed to the mob. 

“I started asking people where she was, and they told me that she had already been killed. At that point, my head turned, and I just started crying,” Suleiman recounted. 

He walked through the back entrance to the main gate, where Ummulkhairi’s body lay. “Some of us tried to stop the burning, after which we covered her body in leaves and put her on a stretcher,” he said. The family later took her home for burial. 

Although Suleiman and Ummulkhairi were not particularly close, he said the events of that afternoon left him shaken.

Grief was the last reason Ummulkhairi visited Hussaina Sani, her co-wife. Now, it is the reason Hussaina spends her day in the family compound, where Ummulkhairi lived, helping to hold together the space she left behind. 

Though the two women lived in different neighbourhoods and rarely saw one another, their relationship was warm whenever they met, Hussaina recounted. 

She had rushed to the police station after their husband called to tell her what had happened. When she arrived, Ummulkhairi had already been placed in a separate room. Inside the station, Hussaina encountered two women accusing her co-wife of being a child kidnapper. 

“They seemed angry, saying that they would not tolerate what happened. One of them got into a scuffle with the police officers,” she recounted. Unable to stay silent, Hussaina confronted one of the women herself. “I got upset and asked her if she saw her kidnapping any child. The woman said her child was kidnapped before. I asked her if it was Ummulkhairi who was responsible, and we kept going back and forth.” 

Outside, the crowd grew increasingly restless. Police officers fired tear gas over the station walls in an attempt to disperse them, but it did little to calm the situation. Soon, stones began raining into the compound. 

The officers moved the women into another room for safety and told them that reinforcements had been called. They also said Ummulkhairi would be transferred to Kaduna. Then the DPO arrived. 

“The first thing he said was, ‘Where is the culprit?’ Our sister-in-law then said, ‘Do you mean to say the suspect?’ and pointed to the room she was kept in. However, he came out dragging her, and my sister-in-law demanded to know where he was taking her. When she couldn’t stop her, she helped Ummulkhairi remove her niqab, and the DPO reached for her hijab, but Ummulkhairi held onto it tighter.” Despite the sister-in-law’s attempt to pull her back, he still pulled her outside and handed her to the mob. 

They heard her scream as the mob descended on her, but none of them could intervene because of the overwhelming crowd. Hussaina’s voice started rising as she recalled the events of the day.

She rejected the police’s account that the crowd had stormed the station. 

“I have no idea how many people there were,” he voice cracked. “There were hundreds, including men, women, and even children. At one point, both roads were filled with people; how could she even fight them?”  

Their sister-in-law, Zainab, ran into the streets pleading with the crowd to listen, explaining that Ummulkhairi was innocent. No one did. At one point, a police officer grabbed Zainab and warned that if she didn’t lay low, the mob might turn on her as well. Zainab was later taken out through a backdoor. 

The ones left behind 

On the morning of July 2, when HumAngle visited, Ummulkhairi’s home was thick with grief. In the midst of it, her children were playing about. Nearby, her mother-in-law, sister, and co-wife were moving around the hearth, trying to fill in the space her absence had left behind. The grief had thickened into the walls, but its weight was evident, even when they welcomed me with a warm smile. 

If Ummulkhairi were there, she would have woken up for dawn prayers, swept the house, and ensured her children were bathed and fed. She would have thrown danwake (bean dumplings) into a pot over the fire, like she did the day she was killed, and sliced pieces of onions into the hot oil. She would have plated it on the colourful plates her sister was now washing. 

Afterwards, she would have taken down her bag from the wall and revised what she would teach her students in her next class or left for school. If she did go to school, she would have returned around 2 p.m. Had I visited then, she would almost certainly have insisted on serving me a plate of food, even if it meant going without herself.

“Tell me about Ummulkhair,” I asked as I sat across from her younger sister, Ruqayyah Abbah, on the multicoloured mat in the sitting room. Ruqayyah had travelled from Gombi, Adamawa State, in northeastern Nigeria, after the news wrecked their home. She paused, as though weighing the question, before she started to speak. 

“Ummulkhairi had always taken care of the people around her. Ever since I knew her, she had always been one to feed and take care of any child. I can confidently say she is the kindest among us all,” she started. “But in a span of a day, all that was taken away when she was wrongly accused. I know she is innocent because I have known her all my life, and even if she wasn’t my sister, I would have said the same.” 

Ruqayyah recounted memories from when they were kids, how Ummulkhairi, who is fondly called Ummi by her family, always stayed away from fights, even when she was teased. As a child, she often preferred to play alone. 

Ummi Abba Gambo was her maiden name. She attended Gombi Primary School and Government Girls Secondary School, Gombi, for her secondary school. After marrying and relocating to Kaduna State, she enrolled in an Islamic school. Upon graduating, she was retained as a teacher due to her diligence. She taught both the children and adult sections. She last visited her family home nine months ago for her father’s funeral. 

“I would say she was the most easily terrified person I know. She always avoided things that would put her in scary or uncomfortable situations. After how she was attacked that day, even if they had left her alive, I don’t think she would have avoided being traumatised by the whole situation,” Ruqayyah said. 

When the news of Ummulkhairi’s death reached Gombi, it landed first in Ruqayyah’s ear. That morning, she and their mother had been trying to reach Ummulkhairi to talk about her youngest daughter’s education. 

“She hasn’t been put in school yet due to financial problems, and our mother wanted to send her the money. After Zuhr (midday)  prayers, I tried her number to let her know, but I couldn’t reach her,” she recalled. “I informed my mother, and we decided to call her later in the day, not knowing that she had already been killed at that point. By the time he called me, they were either about to go bury her or were coming back from it.” 

The details came in bits and pieces, because the grief hit before she could hear the rest of it. She learnt about the gut-wrenching details from their older sister, whom she called after she managed to stop crying. 

Ruqayyah arrived at Marraraban Jos on Tuesday, June 23, two days after the incident, but the reality of her sister’s death did not fully settle until she reached the family home. The first sign of absence was the lack of phone calls from her sister, who often called en route to see how her journey was going and to ask what she wanted to eat when she arrived. That had been the routine every time she travelled to Kaduna in the past. 

This time, the phone never rang, at least not from Ummulkhairi. 

“To think she couldn’t find safety in the police station. What’s the point of authorities that can’t protect someone in that situation?” The anger found its root in her voice. It wasn’t just that her sister died; it was that the system designed to protect her failed to. Her voice softened as one of Ummulkhairi’s daughters walked into the room. 

Seeing her nieces and nephews the day she arrived, she said, was the moment the reality of the loss finally overwhelmed her.

“I just hope the government gets us justice, so that these children and their father can get some peace. I feel so bad for the children. I know how much their mother loved them and how she could breathe for them if she could,” she added. 

Ruqayyah reached for a lemon-green storage box filled with the things her sister treasured. Inside were photographs from her youth and with her family. In one, she was holding one of her children, her eyes looking straight into the camera. In another, she was with friends, her face glowing with the promise of youth. 

As we looked through the pictures, three of her children gathered around, adding the little they knew to the history her sister was sharing. It was then that her second son, Usman Aliyu, brought me her favourite Qur’an, its battered pages, evidence of her love. 

Ummulkhairi is not the only victim of mob violence in Nigeria. It has become a recurring feature of public life in Nigeria, fuelled by distrust of formal justice systems and the widespread belief that communities must protect themselves. 

Suleiman Usman Yusuf, a security consultant and human rights advocate, said the roots of the problem lie not simply in public anger, but institutional failure. 

“The biggest reason is institutional failure compounded by deliberate impunity. When citizens repeatedly watch genuine criminals walk free, whether because evidence disappears, witnesses are intimidated, prosecutors receive phone calls, or judges grant bail to [people] who return to terrorise the same communities, a dangerous conclusion takes root in the public mind: that the formal justice system is not for them,” he said. 

He added that mob justice is not primarily a product of ignorance or barbarism. It is a deeply wrong response to a system that has consistently failed to deliver consequences. 

“People do not burn suspects because they enjoy violence. They do it because they have been taught, through repeated experience, that violence is the only language that produces results,” he added. “The second layer is impunity for the mobs themselves. When a crowd kills someone, and nothing happens, that crowd becomes a template. The next community that is angry enough simply follows the same script.”

He pointed to a pattern stretching across more than a decade. “We saw it with the Aluu Four in 2012. We saw it with Major General Idris Alkali in 2018. We saw it with Deborah Samuel in 2022. We are seeing it now with Malama Ummulkhairi in 2026.”

Although the incidents occurred years apart and in different parts of the country, he said, they shared a common thread. 

“Nobody was ever made to pay a price serious enough to deter the next mob,” he said. 

Suleiman believes legislation remains necessary, but it must be matched by visible accountability. He argues that Nigeria needs at least one high-profile conviction that would send an unambiguous message across the country to stop the cycle. He has been advocating for the Prohibition and Protection of Persons from Lynching, Mob Action, and Extrajudicial Bill passed by the Senate in 2017 to be signed into law. He has written formal letters to the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and others.

Amnesty International recorded at least 555 victims of mob violence in Nigeria between 2012 and 2023, with 33 people burnt to death. The regions with the highest cases were the North West (100) and the South West (98), mostly as a result of being accused of witchcraft, theft, blasphemy, or taking part in rituals. 

In Ummulkhairi’s family, however, mob violence is no longer a mere figure. It is a loved one, whose absence is felt every second. Her mother collapsed after hearing the news of her daughter’s death. Family members in Gombi said she remained in a state of deep distress, unable to eat or move normally after the incident. Due to pre-existing issues with hypertension and back pain, the journey was impossible for her to make down to Kaduna, but every time she remembered how her daughter died, the memories triggered another health crisis.

The last meal Ummulkhairi prepared for her family was danwake, but it was forgotten when the news reached the family. The next day, it was thrown into a basket as it had started to spoil. What happened next will haunt their paternal grandmother, Aminatu Isa Abdullahi, forever.

Twelve-year-old Usman, Ummulkhairi’s second son, attempted to eat the spoilt meal. “He looked at us and vowed that he must eat it even if it was spoiled,” Aminatu recounted. They watched him as he shoved handfuls into his mouth, an attempt to save his mother’s last meal, further breaking their hearts. 

“One day I was sitting with her youngest daughter, and she said to me: ‘Will you stay with us until our mother comes back?’” That was another exchange that shattered Aminatu’s heart, and recalling the memory made her break down in tears. She promised her she would stay as long as she was needed, not having the heart to explain that her mother was never returning. 

Aminatu called for justice. Her prayers echoed through the wall, her pain spreading through it. When she arrived at Marraraban Jos after she got the news,  the town was in uproar. As they tried to get a bike to take them to the house, someone warned her to stop crying so hard in case people suspect they are Ummulkhairi’s relatives and try to attack them too. 

“We couldn’t even do the funeral bath for her; we just had to sprinkle water on her burnt body,” Aminatu said. She had declined to see the body, afraid of what would stick in her memory. “They bought some security personnel with guns around the house, and all I could think was what they thought they were trying to protect when we had already lost her.” 

Hamza Dantani, a human rights lawyer, has since submitted a petition calling for a thorough investigation into the circumstances of this case. The alleged negligence contravenes the Police Act 2020 and violates Sections 33 and 34 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, which protect the fundamental rights to life and dignity. 

A history of violence 

About seven years ago, Marraraban Jos started having security issues; before then, stories like that were tales coming from far-away places. Sometimes, others from neighbouring villages would call residents to ask if they saw kidnappers approaching their side. This earned the neighbourhood its nickname, Sambisa. 

Things have eased up a little for the neighbourhood, as it was a lot worse three years ago. They hardly went a week without someone being kidnapped there. The men formed a night neighbourhood watch to protect what they could. The women at home live with anxiety every time their husbands and sons go out, not knowing how the night would end up for them. Aliyu was among the men who used to patrol the community.

Ummulkhairi’s family moved to the neighbourhood in 2020 and had lived in their current house for about two years. Right behind the house stretched acres of empty land, extending beyond what the eyes can see. 

“The men usually go out around 11 p.m. to start their patrol. Sometimes, they come back with wounds as a result of hiding in the bushes. I sometimes hear gunshots from my room, especially when one of our neighbours was kidnapped. I started to sleep fully dressed; I would wear trousers and keep a hijab beside me just in case I get kidnapped,” said Habiba Muhammad, Ummulkhairi’s friend and neighbour. 

Recently, residents said kidnapping rates had reduced, but cattle and animal rustling still happens often around that area. Still, they have never seen security personnel posted to their neighbourhood. Years of living with fear had made residents increasingly suspicious of strangers. There were times when people fled their homes simply because they feared an attack was coming.

“We can’t leave because we don’t have money to go elsewhere, and even if they kidnap us, they won’t get much. When we used to run, I would go to my grandmother’s place in Kaduna town. It disrupts our children’s education too; sometimes, they close up the schools when the kidnappings worsen. But now, I have accepted this fate; I don’t want to run anymore,” Habiba said. 

This anxiety is shared with several other people HumAngle spoke to in the area. However, some unanimously agreed that even though kidnapping was common in their part of Marraraban Jos, child kidnapping on its own rarely happens.

 “Sometimes when they can’t find the men, they will kidnap their wives, except in some circumstances where they would kidnap an entire family,” she said. Habiba recalled the experience of one neighbour whose family was attacked. “Because his wife was pregnant and couldn’t walk, they beat her up and abandoned her on the way. They also threw down one of her children when he peed on their body, and he even broke his arm.”

Retracing memory 

Aliyu has a lot to say about Ummulkhairi; her loss is overwhelming. 

“She was very kind to me, and there were many times I would be in distress, and she would offer warmth and support, even when we were going through hard times,” he recalled. “This place you are sitting in used to be her favourite place, and when she is not busy with other tasks, she prefers to sit there and study her books. Sometimes, other women from the neighbourhood come in so she can help them with theirs.” 

As he dug into his memory to answer the questions, his second son lay down the mat as he slyly tried to take his father’s phone as he spoke. When he succeeded, his legs swung in an upward motion as he lay on his stomach, playing with the phone as we spoke about his mother, a contrast from the young child who shoved pieces of spoiled food in his mouth over a week ago. 

“There are so many things I can tell you about Ummulkhairi, but I don’t even have the words. God knows I have suffered such a great loss; the only thing I can do now is pray for her,” he said. 

Uba Sani, the Kaduna State Governor, has claimed that “about 41 persons have been charged with culpable homicide. And about 41 went through investigation also; that’s 82. Thirty suspects have also been charged with unlawful assembly”. 

A June 24 report shows that 24 alleged suspects – 20 males and 4 females – have been arraigned on charges of criminal conspiracy, inciting public disturbance, mischief, mischief destruction of public and police property, and culpable homicide. 

This news reached Aliyu and his family through social media. “They said they were taken to court, but I don’t know much about that. The video I saw showed some people lined up, but I couldn’t really see their faces clearly; I only recognised one face, an old man that I see around,” he explained. 

The family, still waiting for answers about the circumstances surrounding Ummulkhairi’s death, felt excluded from the process meant to deliver justice. “No one briefed us; we have to depend on rumours for information. Her youngest son told me yesterday that if they get justice for what was done to their mother, he thinks he will be better, and I could only try not to cry,” Aliyu’s brother, Abubakar Muhammad, added. 

The recorded videos of the lynching are also a huge wound to the family, and they couldn’t bring themselves to watch them. “I cannot watch these kinds of videos. I avoid social media for that reason. I usually only go in to respond to condolence messages,” Aliyu said. He wished people cared more about how things like this would affect them.

Abubakar said Aliyu often told him that he was worried about his wife during the past few months due to the loss of her father, as it seemed to be taking a toll on her. But even then, she had continued to live life as she always had.

“The most painful part was hearing what the oldest son was saying about taking vengeance for what was done to his mother. I tried to placate him. I even tried to close his mouth, but he pushed my hand away. Things like this can only be solved by justice; only that can give us relief. And if this keeps happening, no one is safe,” Abubakar said. 

Ummulkhairi did not disappear with the smoke that burned her alive in broad daylight that day. She is present in the edges and corners of the house, on the walls where her bag lies, in the kit where she once kept everything that matters,  and in the memories of her loved ones.  

Passengers at both terminals of Gatwick Airport are being affected by a water supply issue, with toilets reported to be out of order and restaurants closed.

In a statement on X, the airport in West Sussex apologised for the disruption, external and said a problem in the Horley area was affecting supplies and was under investigation.

Bottled water is being made available to passengers and staff and contingency measures have also been put in place, it said.

SES Water, which covers parts of Kent, Surrey and south London, as well as the airport, has said its service is resuming after an earlier power outage at its treatment works.

It said complications caused by a power outage at its Bough Beech water treatment works meant some customers had experienced low water pressure or a temporary loss of supply.

A spokesperson had earlier confirmed that Gatwick Airport was affected.

In an update just before 13:45 BST, they said: “Our Bough Beech water treatment works are back up and running.

“We now need to treat the water before returning services to normal as quickly as we possibly can.”

Gatwick said the supply issue was continuing to cause disruption on Sunday afternoon.

In a statement, it said: “There is currently no water supply in either terminal.

“Our staff are on hand to support passengers and provide assistance where needed, some restaurant partners have opened to provide additional seating.”

The airport said it was working closely with the water company to restore supplies as quickly as possible.

Celebrity Gogglebox viewers were left less than impressed as the Channel 4 programme began airing on Friday.

Gogglebox viewers have been left furious minutes into the episode airing on Friday, July 24.

The beloved Channel 4 series returned with a repeat episode of the celebrity edition.

The likes of Stephen Mangan and his sister Anita, Martin and Roman Kemp, Vicky Pattison and Pete Wicks, and Jordan Banjo and fellow Diversity dancer Perri Kiely appeared in a ‘best bits’ special.

Channel 4 had teased: “The best moments of series 7 as a rolling cast of famous faces tune in for The 1% Club for Soccer Aid, Coronation Street, Open House: The Great Sex Experiment and Match Me Abroad.”

However, viewers were left fuming as they realised the episode was a repeat, with one writing: “This is boring. #CelebrityGogglebox is always c**p. And this is a repeat. So it’s double c**p.”

Another said: “Having déjà vu on this #gogglebox like I’ve seen it before.”

Someone else wrote: “Why don’t you realise we want to watch current shows not old versions – fuming as could have started a film an hour ago instead of waiting for this.”

“Urghhh a repeat,” another echoed.

The new series of Celebrity Gogglebox aired earlier this year, and featured a fresh batch of famous faces.

Joining the programme were the likes of Love Island star Olivia Attwood with her mum, Strictly’s George Clarke and his podcast co-host Max Balegde, and Gladiators Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Matt Morsia.

Ahead of their debut on the show, Olivia shared: “It’s not often that we agree on things, which I think the viewers may find entertaining. My family are huge fans of the show so it’s a real honour to be a part of such an iconic British programme.”

Matt, known as Legend on Gladiators, added: “Everyone knows how good I am at being on TV, but turns out I’m even better at watching it. Wow. Absolutely incredible sofa performance.

“I had a great time on the show and I need to say a massive thank you to Gogglebox for literally paying me to watch TV. What a time to be alive.”

Celebrity Gogglebox is available to watch on Channel 4.

POLICE have been called to Jade Goody’s mum’s home after her son Freddy’s dog viciously attacked her twice in four days – before turning on the model.

Freddy Brazier spent around eight hours in hospital yesterday, getting stitches, following the second terrifying attack.

The alarm was first raised during an attack on July 16 by a concerned neighbour who heard screams of agony as the Pocket Bully, Pablo, gripped onto Jackiey, 68, leaving her requiring medical treatment. The fire brigade was also called out.

But just four days later the dog struck again, in a more severe attack. Freddy had returned to help his frantic gran before he, too, was launched upon by Pablo.

There are now questions over whether the dog could face questions over safety – following a growing concern over illegally bred dogs including the now infamous XL Bully which has since been outlawed – and is a similar sort of animal to Freddy’s.

Last night a source said: “It’s been a shocking few days.

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“During the first incident Jackiey home alone and she was mauled – on this occasion one of her panicked neighbours raised the alarm.

“Both the police and the fire brigade attended, but fortunately it wasn’t too serious – and they agreed not to pursue criminal charges.

“But a few days later the incident was repeated, and this time it was worse.

“Jackiey has been very upset – she is devastated as she views that dog as a grandson.

“Freddy came back to take Pablo but caught up in it all as the dog was clearly still frenzied.

“Freddy went to A&E immediately, but discharged himself after complaining that the waiting time was too long.

“But yesterday he was forced to return and his injuries couldn’t be ignored. He was still night was still in hospital receiving significant treatment.

“It’s been an awful view days and Freddy is devastated as he absolutely adores that dog and Pablo is a huge part of the family.”

Troubled Freddy has now moved back in with Jackiey Budden at her flat in Bermondsey, South London, following a string of family disputes including a fiery war with his father, TV presenter Jeff Brazier.

He got the dog last summer, and the pup went on to cause him and his now ex- girlfriend problems.

He reportedly dumped his ex Holly Swinburn, 22, after their on-and-off relationship ended in a row involving his dog.

He is said to have called it quits with the blonde before she “tried to take his dog from him” in a furious argument.

ANOTHER family missed their flights home and were forced to spend nearly £2,000 due to massive airport queues abroad.

Matthew Wilson, his wife and their son were travelling home to Manchester from Milan back in April.

They were returning to the UK after a nine-night holiday when they got stuck huge passport queues due to the new European entry rules.

Talking to the iPaper, Matthew said that despite easily getting through security, they were then stuck in another queues for 90 minutes, in which they only moved about 10m in that time.

Frustratingly, he family were then told by ground staff that their luggage had been removed from the plane as the flight was going to depart while they still stuck in the queue.

They were then forced to wait three hours before easyJet, who the family were flying with, offered the family a flight back home – but this was six days later than the original flight.

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Rather than waiting, Matthew spent £1,969 on new flights from Barcelona, taxis, food and accommodation.

This was on top of the money they had already paid on the flight they missed which had cost £377.

Not only that, but their travel insurance provider also said they were unable to recuperate his costs.

Matthew said: “It was very stressful – we will think twice before travelling in Europe again.”

The airport operator apologised, adding that EES “requires more complex operations than before and longer processing times”.

Not only that, but it said that on the day the Wilsons were due to fly home (April 12), there were malfunctions at the automatic gates due to issues connecting to the border systems.

This resulted in “particularly long waiting times” as passengers had to be manually checked at passport control.

The Wilsons weren’t the only ones to miss their flight on this day – in fact 100 easyJet passengers were left behind in Milan Linate Airport.

The flight to Manchester had been held for nearly an hour “but it had to then depart due to crew reaching their safety regulated operating hours”, explained easyJet.

There have been warnings over wait times because of EES – and it’s only set to get worse.

Rafael Schvartzman – the vice-president for Europe at the International Air Transport Association (Iata) – warned queue times could stretch to as much as six hours this summer.

Mr Schvartzman said: “What we are seeing is a very hard risk of really challenging times or waiting times, talking about expectations of three, four, five, six hours which is unacceptable.

“We know for a fact there are many cases where people have lost flights or their connectivity.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently launched a public attack on the International Criminal Court (ICC), vowing to “dismantle the ICC—brick by brick.” Washington’s position is that the ICC has no authority to try officials from non-member states—such as the US itself—or their allies, and that it will not accept any international court exercising jurisdiction over American citizens without US consent. Washington therefore intends to use diplomatic pressure and sanctions to counter the Court.

If one still believes in the international community’s definition of war crimes, this looks like a political move to absolve the United States and Israel of war crimes committed in the Middle East. To that end, Washington is pressuring allies — including states that are parties to the Rome Statute — to withdraw from the ICC.

“Trump said in January, ‘I don’t need international law’ to highlight his ‘America First’ policy. He is now keeping that promise, and the ICC is just one example.”

The day before Rubio announced his intent to dismantle the ICC, fourteen countries, including the United States, publicly reaffirmed their support for the ten-year-old ruling in the South China Sea Arbitration—a decision handed down by another international arbitration body: an ad hoc Arbitral Tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Ironically, of the fourteen countries, only the Philippines—the actual party to the case—has a direct stake in South China Sea rights. The other five countries with genuine interests in the South China Sea did not join this “cheerleading squad”: Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and Indonesia. Of these, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei are, like the Philippines, “principal claimant states.”

Aside from the US and the Philippines, every other country among the fourteen marking the tenth anniversary of the ruling is an ICC member state: Australia, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Romania, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.

These 12 ICC member states have no stake whatsoever in South China Sea affairs, yet they support an international arbitration body — and are now being pressured by the United States to boycott another international arbitration body they themselves belong to. Fourteen countries are happy to use international law to pressure China, but when international law becomes inconvenient for the US and Israel, is that suddenly a different matter?

The Philippines finds itself in the most awkward position of all. Manila withdrew from the ICC in 2019, yet after Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office as president, it allowed Interpol and Philippine airport authorities to arrest former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2025 and hand him directly over to the ICC for trial.

The real story behind this episode is domestic political rivalry within the Philippines, combined with Washington’s long-standing displeasure with Duterte. International institutions have played the role of “witch-hunt enforcer,” helping the US and Manila nail a political opponent to the cross.

In the past, the international community could invoke Rome Statute standards to brand Duterte’s “war on drugs” a crime against humanity. But what now?

The ICC cannot prosecute non-member states, but it can prosecute individuals—such as Benjamin Netanyahu. Moreover, under the Rome Statute’s territoriality principle, the Court has jurisdiction if the alleged crime occurred on the territory of a member state. In the Middle East case, Palestine is a state party. In the Philippine case, although Manila withdrew from the ICC in 2019, crimes committed before that withdrawal remain within the Court’s reach.

The reason the US can attack the ICC so freely is that other international arbitration bodies do not follow this same “detour through territoriality” to claim jurisdiction over non-member states, nor do they try individuals—they adjudicate sovereign states (or transnational corporate entities). As such, they strictly adhere to the most fundamental principle of international law: the principle of state consent.

Interestingly, the tribunal that presided over the South China Sea arbitration itself violated the principle of state consent by ruling on a case brought against China, which refused to participate. This is precisely why China has never recognized the ruling as having any legal basis. Yet the fourteen countries that support the ruling seem untroubled by this violation of a core principle of international law.

In other words, both the ICC and the ad hoc tribunal behind the South China Sea arbitration suffer from the same flaw: overreach. The ICC has been accused of an “idealism” that oversteps state sovereignty, while the South China Sea tribunal has been criticized for “procedural overreach”—under UNCLOS, an ad hoc tribunal has no authority whatsoever over land territorial sovereignty, yet the tribunal accepted the Philippines’ framing that “downgraded” what were really sovereignty and maritime-delimitation questions into a simple matter of “the legal status of islands and reefs” and used that framing to assert jurisdiction for itself.

Taiwan was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of the South China Sea arbitration. Itu Aba (Taiping Island), which is under the actual control of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and has both fresh water and the capacity to sustain human habitation, was nonetheless ruled to be a mere “”rock”—stripping it of any 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

Given that both international arbitration bodies suffer from the same problem of overreach, if one follows the US in opposing the ICC, shouldn’t one logically also oppose the South China Sea ruling? This month, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs launched an “urgent assessment” to awkwardly grapple with exactly this dilemma, since Manila has skin in both games—the Duterte case and the South China Sea ruling.

If Manila agrees to help dismantle the ICC, what happens to Duterte, still awaiting trial in The Hague? And if China then uses that same logic to reject the South China Sea ruling, what then? The other twelve member states that joined this “witch hunt” find themselves in an equally awkward spot.

Second only to the Philippines in embarrassment is Japan. Tokyo is the ICC’s largest financial backer; the Court’s current president, Tomoko Akane, is Japanese; and Japan has long been one of the ICC’s staunchest supporters. Is Tokyo now expected to help the US dismantle the ICC or to withdraw from it altogether?

Japan also finds itself in a glaring contradiction over the South China Sea ruling. If Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island—with an area of 510,000 square meters (roughly the size of 71 standard football pitches), fresh water, and the capacity to sustain habitation)—was ruled a mere “rock,” then how can Okinotorishima, an outcrop Japan claims sovereignty over that covers just 9.44 square meters (about the size of a double bed), possibly qualify as an “island”?

By that logic, Tokyo’s support for the South China Sea ruling effectively concedes that Okinotorishima has no exclusive economic zone at all — a self-inflicted contradiction that China has been quick to mock.

One could, therefore, say all fourteen countries backing the South China Sea ruling are applying a double standard, and that thirteen of them have no connection to the South China Sea whatsoever. Aside from the Philippines, the only country with any real claim to South China Sea interests is the United States — and the US holds international law in contempt, going so far as to vow to destroy an international arbitration institution outright.

This episode symbolizes the unraveling of the international order—a world reverting to the law of the jungle. The United States is dismantling the very international order it built, and the ones hurt most are precisely its own allies.

The Philippines and Japan have been given the responsibility of encircling China on the front line by the United States, but the footholds of the two countries are also being dismantled by the United States. In front of them, there is only the risk of opposing China and the weakening guarantee.

Above all, the United States has proven, by its own actions, that the so-called international order was never fair and never operated on a fixed standard — it was merely a temporary tool for an empire to rule the world. And when the tool stops being useful, it gets discarded, leaving its followers staring, embarrassed, at the tool still in their hands.

Casualty fans were left both surprised and baffled on Saturday’s episode to see a returning face

Casualty aired explosive scenes involving Dylan Keogh on Saturday night.

Viewers will recall that only recently, recovering alcoholic Dylan, played by William Beck, relapsed after struggling with the news that his colleague, Stevie Nash, had been having an affair with his son Dr Matty Linlaker.

Since relapsing, Dylan has pushed his loved ones away, including son Matty, and he has caused concern in recent scenes after he was seen driving erratically with a bottle by his side.

At the start of Saturday’s episode, Dylan headed to a care home to visit his father, Brian Carroll. However, alcoholic Brian didn’t recognise his son due to his years of drinking and things soon got unpleasant when Brian said some horrible things about his son, claiming he never loved Dylan.

Taking to Twitter, now X, viewers were quick to do a double take over Brian as they quickly spotted that he had been recast with a different actor. Brian made his first debut in 2015 and he was last seen on the BBC medical series in 2018.

In the earlier episodes, Brian was played by actor Matthew Marsh but on Saturday’s episode, the character of Brian was being played by actor David Beames.

Viewers were quick to share their reaction to Brian’s return after eight years, especially as it was a new actor playing the character. One person said: “Woah that is a different Brian? What happened to Dylan’s little sister with Hazel? #Casualty”

Another person wrote: “Dylan’s father is back?! #Casualty”, a different viewer put: “they’ve recast dylan’s dad! oh! #casualty” while another fan added: “Hang on… That’s not Matthew Marsh… Dylan has a new dad? #Casualty.”

Later in the episode, upset by his father’s cruel words, Dylan rushed out of the care home and started drinking from the clear bottle as he drove off, leaving his son Matty a voicemail saying: “Things are going to change”, adding that he’s not like his own father and that he cares about Matty.

Upon listening to the message, Matty and Stevie were concerned to hear a crash at the end, where it looked as though Dylan had been involved in a serious car crash.

However, thankfully, Matty discovered his dad uninjured and upon confronting his father for drink driving, Dylan insisted he hadn’t drunk since his initial relapse. A breathalyser later confirmed that he was telling the truth.

The emotional episode ended with Dylan vowing to make things right again and start AA meetings, as well as therapy to tackle his addiction.

Casualty continues on BBC One.

Irish actor Brenda Fricker, who won an Oscar for her role in “My Left Foot” and whose Pigeon Lady befriended Macaulay Culkin‘s Kevin McCallister in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” has died. She was 81.

Her talent agent Phil Belfield confirmed Fricker’s death in a statement shared with The Times on Friday. The actor died peacefully Thursday evening in Dublin after a “period of ill health,” he said.

“We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her,” Belfield said in the statement. “I was honored to know, love and work with her and she will always have a place in my heart and in the heart of so many film and TV fans the world over.”

Fricker, who was born Feb. 17, 1945, in Dublin, appeared in nearly 100 TV, film and short projects since the mid-1960s. She reached international acclaim for her work in Jim Sheridan’s 1989 comedy-drama “My Left Foot,” based on the life of Dublin-born painter Christy Brown, who only had control over the titular limb due to cerebral palsy. Daniel Day-Lewis starred as Brown and Fricker played his supportive mother. She earned the Academy Award for supporting actress, becoming the first Irish female actor to win an Oscar, and Day-Lewis took home the prize for lead actor.

“My Left Foot” was also nominated for best picture, director and adapted screenplay.

In her review of the film for The Times in 1990, film critic Sheila Benson praised a “magnificent” Fricker for her portrayal of motherly love. “She plays [Mrs. Brown] like the rock she must have been, without a jot of martyrdom or a flicker of complaint and without an actressy moment,” Benson wrote.

The ‘90s brought Fricker additional roles in productions including “The Field,” “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” “Angels in the Outfield,” “A Time to Kill” and “Veronica Guerin.” She counted Cate Blanchett, Joe Pesci, Tim Curry, James McAvoy, Fiona Shaw, Sean Bean, Richard Harris, Christopher Lloyd and Tony Danza as co-stars, to name a few.

For generations of movie audiences, however, Fricker will most likely be remembered as the Pigeon Lady from “Home Alone 2.”

A sequel to the hit “Home Alone,” Fricker’s Pigeon Lady was a source of unexpected tenderness for Culkin’s Kevin, now stranded during the holidays in New York. He first encounters Fricker’s odd character in Central Park, dressed in oversized, dirty clothing with city birds resting on her head and shoulders. Though a terrifying sight at first, the film later reveals Fricker’s character has a heartbreaking past.

“The man I loved fell out of love with me,” she tells Kevin one evening, adding, “whenever the chance to be loved came along again, I ran away from it. I stopped trusting people.”

Kevin later gifts his new friend a turtledove ornament after learning the animal represents friendship and love.

Fricker continued acting through 2015 — with roles in numerous TV movies, miniseries, more than 70 episodes of the show “Casualty” and films such as “Conspiracy of Silence” and “Rory O’Shea Was Here” — but her career tapered off. She was last credited for the 2024 film “The Shallow.”

Fricker attended Catholic school but drifted away from religion in her late teens. She suffered injuries from a car crash at age 14, prompting her parents to spend their life savings on plastic surgery as part of her recovery. She also suffered other health issues during childhood and spent two years in a sanatorium.

“The positive side is, it taught me about self-sufficiency,” she told The Times in 1993.

She was a journalist for the Irish Times, where her father had also worked, before she started acting. She graced the stage at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, and never looked back.

Amid her mounting fame in the 1990s and early aughts, Fricker did not heed the call to move Stateside and lived in the U.K. before ultimately returning to Dublin. “I didn’t like Los Angeles,” she recalled in 1993. “I don’t like the heat and I found it uninteresting. I wasn’t comfortable there.”

Before her death, Fricker penned a memoir, “She Died Young: A Life in Fragments,” about her upbringing and experiences with sexual violence and mental illness. In February, Fricker was awarded Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Daryl Barron honored Fricker in a statement shared Friday.

“She was a proud Dub with a sharp wit and warmth that exuded to all who knew her and experienced her work,” Barron said. “She will be sorely missed.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday convened leaders from more than 60 countries to take part in the Trump administration’s latest effort to quell what it calls “left-wing” political terrorism, a marquee issue for Republicans heading into the midterm elections.

This focus comes even as studies show that there are very few reported cases of such incidents in the U.S., especially compared to historically higher levels of far-right violence.

With sweeping statements about the “alarming rise” of political violence by the left, Rubio and other U.S. officials painted a dark image of the future if the “communists and Marxists” perpetrating these supposed acts are not defeated. He urged officials in attendance — mostly from European and Latin American countries — to unite to address the issue, which he says has been a “blind spot” in counterterrorism doctrine.

“So many people in positions of power have repeatedly dismissed acts of violence and even terrorism as legitimate forms of political expression, so long as they served a left-wing cause,” Rubio said in opening remarks. “A bomb planted by a neo-Nazi group was ‘a nefarious and murderous act of evil.’ It is, but a bomb planted by a Marxist revolutionary, well, that’s just merely a tragic excess of idealism.”

A report published last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that left-wing terrorism attacks as of July 4, 2025, had surpassed those from the far right for the first time in more than 30 years. However, a closer look at the data reveals that the uptick reflects a very low starting level and a concurrent drop on the far right.

There was an average of 0.6 left-wing incidents annually from 1994 through 2000, compared with an average of 20.6 on the right, the report shows. From 2016 to 2024, there was an average of four per year on the left and 22.7 per year on the right. Those numbers had dropped dramatically on the right as of early July 2025, with only one incident. Meanwhile, there had been five from the left.

But the report’s authors note that right-wing terrorism could easily return to elevated levels and that it is important to fight terrorism on both sides of the political spectrum.

President Trump and his allies have prioritized talking points against the far left ahead of the congressional elections this November. Trump has repeatedly stated that the Democratic Party’s ascendant left are communists who want to “completely destroy the traditional American way of life” and even engage in assassinations.

Vice President JD Vance has similarly called out communism as a political shift that is “something we haven’t seen in the U.S.” House Speaker Mike Johnson has decried “radical candidates” who are “self-described, self-identifying Marxists.”

For Rubio, his worldview on this issue has been largely shaped by his own history: he is the son of Cuban immigrants who arrived in Miami in May 1956, a few years before communist leader Fidel Castro rose to power in Havana. The former Florida senator said Thursday that it was that same government’s sprawling intelligence and ideological network that “helped to build the far left in our country and in our hemisphere.”

Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and main architect of the administration’s immigration policy, followed Rubio’s remarks, aiming to drive home the immediacy of the perceived threats he saw to American institutions coming from the left, and what response is needed in return.

“If your civilization is your home, you must defend it with the same passion and force as if an enemy intruder is inside your own house where your family lives,” Miller said. “That is the level of dedication and urgency that is required.”

This ideological focus has repeatedly conflated democratic socialism — which often centers on securing universal healthcare, higher taxes on the wealthy and stricter corporate regulation — with communism, under which private ownership is largely eliminated.

It has only intensified in the last year, after the election of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani to become New York City mayor and several of his proteges who won their New York City congressional primaries last month, beating out incumbents.

One of the ways the administration has started to target left-wing efforts is through sanctions. In November, the State Department designated four antifa or anti-fascist groups in Europe as foreign terrorist organizations. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in his remarks Thursday that targeting these entities’ financial networks is the best way to circumvent their efforts.

“We have spent decades developing the world’s most sophisticated financial counterterrorism capabilities, and now we are mobilizing some of the same tools that we have deployed against terrorists abroad to confront this emerging threat here at home,” he told the conference.

Amiri and Kinnard write for the Associated Press. Amiri reported from New York and Kinnard from Columbia, S.C. AP writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed to this report.

Love Island fans think they have figured out exactly why Ellie Chadwick left the show before the latest dramatic scenes on the hit ITV2 dating show have even aired

Love Island fans think they have figured out exactly why Ellie Chadwick left the show. The real estate videographer, 24, had been taking part in the hit ITV2 reality dating series and was enjoying a blossoming romance with Finley Maddock but it all started to go wrong when he fell for a bombshell who entered the villa.

It recently emerged that her decision to quit the programme all together reportedly stemmed from hearing the results of a viewer poll for favourite boy and favourite girl, and, in dramatic scenes set to air tonight, viewers will find out exactly what happened – but bosses have already teased the action with a clip posted to YouTube and Instagram.

In the preview clip, host Maya Jama tells the contestants: “The public have been voting for their favourite girl and favourite boy. The Islanders with the fewest votes will be at risk of being dumped from the villa tonight,” as the stars all look on in shock and horror as they await their fate.

Maya adds: “The girl and boy with the fewest votes are…” before the trailer cuts off, creating suspense for it all to play out in Thursday night’s episode. Now, fans are sure that Finely was the one who got dumped by the public and Ellie chose to walk out shortly after.

In the comments section on social media, one fan said: “Marta, Jordan Elicia and Finley get voted off. Ellie walks,” whilst another said: “Ellie would’ve won if she just binned Finely!”

A third wrote: “Finley likely is gone to the vote so Ellie left walked out of the villa, the rest is up to guesswork but we can make educated guesses as to who is at risk.

Last night, the contestants had to play a brand-new game called If You Know, You Know, in which they all adorned blindfolds and headphones. When their phone vibrated, each couple had to make their way to a podium to read out a controversial statement and then guess who it was who said it in the first place.

One couple read out the claim that “One half of this couple is secretly bored but too polite to admit it” and it was then that Finley said he was “a bit bored.”

The dramatic scenes aired shortly after it was reported that Ellie had walked out of the villa for good, and shocked fans instantly took to social media to predict it was the catalyst. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one fan said: “Finley has said he is bored of Ellie ??” and another said: “I don’t want to believe Ellie self-evicted for a man who literally said he got bored of her.”

Another said: “Omg Finley said that and they were all in ears to take Ellie back woow see how they are all in each other’s business but will be coming for Julia!”

Another wrote: “Oh was that boring comment to do with why Ellie left?” and a fifth said: “Finley said he’s bored with Ellie! That boy just keeps humiliating her!” On Facebook, one fan explained: “The received a statement that said this couple is one sided and one person is bored, which Finley had said to Kav in private apparently and it never came out, Ellie was clearly upset.”

Another replied: “OMG that heartbreaking for Ellie” and left a sad face emoji to emphasise how they felt. Just before the episode aired, it was reported that Ellie chose to quit the programme altogether, reportedly stemming from hearing the results of a viewer poll for favourite boy and favourite girl, even though she was not dumped by the public.

A source previousky said: “Viewers have seen Ellie threatening to leave across recent episodes, so the news of her now quitting won’t feel like a surprise.

“But in real time, her and Fin reconnected at the recoupling a few days ago so her decision to now leave is a shock. Viewers will see the dramatic action play out in an episode soon.”

The reality star had threatened to quit before, when it looked like Finley had begun to take an interest in Elicia Bailey. In Tuesday night’s episode, she was apparently back together with him, but that was all filmed days ago, and now Ellie has actually left.

Speaking to The Sun, the source added: “The whole fallout of the vote was electric and is going to make for amazing TV. Everyone was devastated that Ellie left, and viewers will definitely be left scratching their heads.”

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A 15-YEAR-OLD girl was stranded in Rome and missed six weeks of school because of confusing new passport rules.

The new dual nationality rules meant that she was unable to return home for over a month.

The British girl had been visiting her grandmother in Italy in April of this year.

When it was time to return home, she was turned away at the airport because she didn’t have a valid British passport.

The new passport rules that came into play in February mean that British nationals have to carry a valid British passport to return to the UK – they can no longer use their foreign passport.

An alternative is to have a “certificate of entitlement” costing £589.

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Rowan Somerville, the father of the 15-year-old stranded in Rome, sought help from the Home Office and the Foreign Office.

But he told The Guardian: “The embassy, the Home Office and the Foreign Office bounced us from one to another.

“They are playing with people’s lives, a child’s education. It is loathsome.”

Rowan Somerville said that the Home Office couldn’t give his daughter a temporary passport because she didn’t have a British passport in the first place.

The girl’s school and local MP Joe Powell contacted the Home Office and the FCDO who eventually issued an emergency travel document.

Joe Powell said that “changes to Home Office rules resulted in her being stuck in Rome and missing six weeks of school.”

Joe Powell added: “Thankfully, we were able to help and she’s now at home and back in school, but unfortunately this was not an isolated case.”

A Home Office spokesperson told Sun Travel: “This individual was granted an Emergency Travel Document in May, enabling them to return to the UK.

“We also remained in contact regarding a passport application, and once the required information was received and checks were concluded, a passport was issued within eight days.

“Since 25 February 2026, all dual British citizens have needed to present either a valid British passport or Certificate of Entitlement when travelling to the UK.

“Without one, carriers cannot verify British citizenship, which may lead to delays or refused boarding.” were concluded, a passport was issued within eight days.”

There are thought to be as many as 1.2million people who can no longer use their foreign passport to enter the country.

Despite the rules being outlined on the Gov.uk website, they are continuing to catch people out.

In another case, a woman who has lived in the UK for 28 years, but had been staying in Copenhagen attempted to return to the UK with her six-week- old and 23-month-old for a friend’s wedding.

But the family was refused boarding because her two children only had Danish passports which meant they didn’t have valid travel documents for returning to the UK.

Erling Haaland is a character.

Hardcore soccer fans already knew that about the Premier League’s top scorer. Casual fans certainly found out during Norway’s run to the World Cup quarterfinal round, where they lost 2-1 to England on Saturday.

Case in point: After the team’s plane landed at Oslo Airport on Monday, the 6-foot-5 striker with flowing blond hair stepped out with a rather unusual carry-on tucked under his left arm.

It was a taxidermy raccoon clutching an empty liquor bottle.

“It followed me home,” Haaland wrote in an Instagram post that also included a photo of himself carrying his new prized possession.

The stuffed creature was one of many purchases Haaland made during his team’s stay in Dallas for its round of 32 game against Ivory Coast on June 30. Following the 2-1 victory at AT&T Stadium, Norway’s all-time leading scorer decided he wanted to add a little Texas style to his look before departing for East Rutherford, N.J., for the next round.

“I want just a cowboy hat,” Haaland said at the time, as seen in a video posted on his YouTube channel. “That’s all I want.”

He ended up getting much more during what ended up being a 90-minute visit to Wild Bill’s Western Store with some team staff members just hours after the game.

Norway’s Erling Haaland wears a viking helmet after his team’s World Cup round of 32 game against Ivory Coast on June 30 in Arlington, Texas.

(Jessica Tobias / AP Photo)

“Just every department: boots, hats, belt, buckles, T-shirts, Western shirts,” store co-owner Julie Newport told The Times of Haaland’s purchases. “It was such a fun time for all of us because they were all chill and relaxed, and our team was just doing their job, you know, getting in the right sizing and having some fun with them.”

At some point while roaming the store, Haaland noticed the hard-partying raccoon and had to have it. His haul ended up including two taxidermy squirrels as well — one dressed as a sheriff and the other posed to look like it is drinking out of a Budweiser can.

The so-called Whiskey Raccoon sells for $750, and the squirrels go for $450 each. Because of their price tags, the taxidermy items weren’t typically huge sellers. Instead, Newport said, folks mainly liked coming by and posing for pictures with them.

Now, however, they are sold out and in high demand. Newport said three of the raccoons are on order and should be in-store by next week. After that, she said, the availability depends on whether they can talk the man who makes them out of retirement.

Other items that Haaland purchased and featured on his YouTube video have also been flying off the shelves. Those include a gray Stetson Brenham cowboy hat, Dan Post python boots and a T-shirt that proclaims “Y’all Can Kiss My Dallas.”

“We opened up international shipping for the first time ever, and so we started shipping to Norway, to Germany, to the UK,” Newport said. “I added Brazil and Australia this morning, and luckily our supplier is able to keep us with it.”

She added: “We’re so grateful because we’re one store. We’re locally owned, you know? So this is an incredibly exciting time for us, and we’re learning how to pivot and handle this kind of exposure and traction with sales. It’s just been a really wild ride.”

Born to Norwegian parents in Leeds, England, Haaland moved with his parents to their hometown of Byrne at age 3. He has played for Manchester City since 2022 and has won the Premier League’s golden boot for most goals scored in three of the last four seasons, including his 27-goal effort in 2025-2026.

During the World Cup, Haaland garnered a stateside fan base with his seven goals in five matches, as well as his quirky social media posts and fun personality. Few were likely surprised when Haaland asked on his Instagram Story for help naming “my new buddy” (a.k.a. the Whiskey Raccoon). The choices were Cowboy, Ranger, Tex or R.O.W. (Raccoon On Wheels).

“I think it’s a good thing because I like the Americans,” Haaland said of his newfound U.S. popularity during a team news conference last week. “I think they are kind of hilarious as well. They are funny. I like the way they are.”

She wasn’t even aware to begin with

A woman was bitten by a bat on holiday and ended up seeking rabies treatment thanks to AI.

Laura Horton, 53, was on a two-week birthday trip to Lesbos, Greece, in May 2026 when she found a bat drowning in the swimming pool at the apartment complex where she was visiting a friend. She grabbed the animal from the water and let it sit in her hand for 10 minutes to “dry off” – unaware it had bitten her before flying away.

Laura wanted to know what type of bat she had rescued, so she uploaded a photo of it sitting in the palm of her hand to Google Lens. As well as identifying it as a pipistrelle bat, the AI programme alerted her to seek medical treatment immediately due to the risk of contracting rabies from handling the animal.

She also claimed Google Lens warned her that she would be unable to feel a bat bite as their teeth are too small, and on closer inspection, Laura noticed two tiny pin-prick bite marks. According to the NHS website, rabies is a rare but serious infection that is usually caught from an infected animal’s bite or scratch, and it is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.

Laura went to the Hospital of Mytilene, Lesbos, the following day, May 8, where she started a course of preventative rabies post-exposure vaccines. She had a total of three jabs in Greece, followed by her fourth and final jab when she returned to the UK on June 1 at the School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool.

Laura, a personal trainer from Mossley Hill, Liverpool, who spoke to Talk to the Press, said: “I had no idea you could catch rabies from a bat. I grabbed it from the water on instinct because it was drowning – I had no idea of the risks.

“It sat on my hand for about 10 minutes, drying off. We all thought it looked cute, so I took a photo of it.”

After uploading the image to Google Lens to determine the species of bat, Laura was met with a series of questions from the AI tool.

She said: “It started asking questions like, ‘are those your hands?’ and ‘have you washed your hands for 15 minutes after handling it?’ It warned me of the risk of rabies and said I wouldn’t feel a bite, as their teeth are too small.

“I thought it was all a bit dramatic. But when I took a photo of my hand, I saw two tiny bite marks.”

Laura was four days into her two-week holiday in Petra, a village on the Greek island of Lesbos, with friends when she was bitten. She rang her insurance company the following day, May 8, which confirmed she should seek medical attention.

She needed to undergo a course of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) – a life-saving treatment given immediately after a potential bite or scratch from a rabid animal. Later that day, Laura went to the hospital, but claims a language barrier nearly prevented her from getting the correct treatment.

“At first, they tried to send me away with antibiotics,” she said. “I’m not sure they understood what happened.

“I was sent to a travel clinic and a nurse was furious I hadn’t been given the first dose yet. I went back to the hospital and found the infectious diseases department – they were brilliant.”

She returned on May 11 and May 15 for two more jabs while in Greece and had a fourth when she returned to the UK on June 1.

She said: “My GP didn’t actually know what to do. Luckily, we have the School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool and I was able to get my fourth injection arranged with them very easily.

“I later found out there is a dedicated rabies hotline in the UK that would have delivered it to my doctor’s surgery. It was lucky Google Lens told me to go to hospital – who knows what might have happened.

“I read the tragic case about the boy in Canada who died after a bat landed on his face. A lot of people aren’t aware of the dangers of these wild animals and the risks. Hopefully I can help raise awareness.”

CAROL Vorderman has revealed that she was recently rushed to hospital after a horror fall.

The I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and Countdown legend was left unconscious after she tripped over a tree root.

Carol, 65, was then rushed to hospital in an ambulance before being discharged and then rushed straight back to A&E.

She also revealed the condition she was left battling for weeks after the fall.

Taking to Instagram to share a video about her ordeal, Carol said: “I’ve got a bit of a story to tell you about my concussion, which might also explain why I was a bit offline in June.”

She then explained: “So right at the very end of May, I was walking just outside my house on a public footpath, and I tripped over a tree root, which I didn’t see.

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“And I went smash here on the tarmac path, and I was unconscious.

“I can’t remember what happened then, but I do know that an ambulance came, and I was taken to the BRI, Bristol Royal Infirmary.

“By the way, I also know that they were playing the final countdown in the ambulance on the way. It’s another story, but it did make me laugh.”

Carol then went into detail further, noting how she was: “Discharged next day, massive vomiting, all the bad signs.

“Straight back into hospital, they were wonderful. The A&E did all the CT scans and everything.

“Out again. I had the biggest black eye or bruises all down my face for three or four weeks.

“But what it did leave me with after about two or three weeks was dizziness. So I felt as though I was kind of walking on a moving ship, like sort of knocking into the wall a little bit.”

She explained how when she was in bed, it felt like the room was spinning.

But Carol swiftly revealed how this was soon remedied thanks to the “Epley technique” and a lady called Sophie who introduced her to it.

Carol urged: “I am not a doctor. I am not advising people about this, but I’m just telling you what’s happened to me.”

She then explained how it is BBPV adding how “it’s all about the inner ear and this little sort of sack of crystals that gets dislodged, and she puts it back together again”.

After three sessions with physio Sophie doing the Epley technique, Carol says she has been discharged from the service and “couldn’t be happier”.

Fans rushed to the comments to support Carol, with many sending their love.

One person said: “Hope you’re doing well now.”

While another said: “Oh blimey! Glad you’re ok.”

STUDENTS have been left thouands of pounds out of pocket after a UK travel company unexpectedly went bust.

Customers have called the news “gut-wrenching”, as bosses say they “deeply regret” the decision to shut close after nearly three decades.

UK gap year students may lose thousands after volunteer travel company, Global Vision International (GVI), cancelled all its holidays.

The Exeter-based company offered a range of conservation and “voluntourism” placements all over the world, becoming especially popular with school leavers and gap year students who paid to take part.

On July 1, after 28 years, the company was plunged into liquidation in a move that bosses say they “deeply regret”.

CEO of GVI, Andrew Valentine, said in a statement: “It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I write to share that GVI is today closing its doors.”

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“I deeply regret the effect that GVI’s closure will have on staff, projects and customers, and we are committed to providing clear information to those affected as GVI goes through a formal liquidation process.”

GVI states on its website that “all current and future GVI programs have been cancelled”.

It continues to inform customer that “all impacted participants will receive formal correspondence detailing the liquidation process and instructions on how to lodge a claim”, and how to get their money back.

Amy Taylor, 21, a wildlife conservation and zoo biology student from Manchester, told BBC Newsbeat that GVI’s closure was “gut-wrenching”.

The student forked out £4,000 to pay for her once in a lifetime South Africa internship, hoping it would help her “stand out” on the job market -but now she is just filled with “disappointment”.

Linus Rowland-Bell, 23, from Liverpool worked two days a week alongside his university studies to pay for a programme in Peru.

Advertised as an internship in the Amazon rainforest, he found out about it through his university careers fair, paying £2,258 in total for his trip.

“The thought of all that money, all that time that I’ve saved up, that excitement completely vanishing into the ether, it was terrifying,” he told Newsbeat, after receiving the news of the liquidation.

Rowland-Bell received a full refund, but many more are waiting for more information from the liquidators.

Taylor further said she was relying on her bank to reclaim the money, as her insurance was booked through GVI.

“If I don’t get the money back, I can’t go anywhere else and I don’t really trust anyone at the moment to be able to go anywhere else.

“It didn’t seem like they were struggling – everything looked professional.”

The Sun reached out to RG Insolvency, who are overseeing GVI’s liquidation, that declined to comment.

TWO sisters were left stunned after they found a picture of themselves in an Airbnb they had never stayed at before.

When Aubrey Birrell and her sister Libby entered their Airbnb in San Diego, California, USA, they spotted a large photo canvas on the wall.

In a video that has now gone viral on social media, Aubrey points at the picture of their family holiday 10 years prior, showing a group of swimmers at the beach.

Stunned, she says: “That’s my dad” before then pointing out Libby and their brother Brady.

Shocked Aubrey, who posted via her TikTok account @aubsbirrell, said they found the discovery “crazy” and “unsettling”, especially because they had never stepped foot in the Airbnb before.

Her description of the video stated: “We can’t make this up….. this is the craziest thing.”

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The two sisters never learnt how the picture ended up there.

Social media users took to the comments to share their own similar experiences.

One said: “I flew to India, then travelled up the Himalayas to my old boarding school where is was teaching for the summer.

“On the first day I was looking at the school photos in the cafeteria and another lady was also looking at photos.

“We met in front of one and I said I’d gone to boarding school here 40 years ago and this was the first time I’d been back.

“She said she’d gone to boarding school here 40 years ago and was back on vacation.

“Turns out she was Cathy, my best friend in school!

“We lost touch after we left the school and hadn’t spoken since.”

Another added: “This literally happened at our rented beach house TODAY.

“I had seen this TikTok days ago and something made me look at the giant canvas hanging in the primary bath[room].

“I immediately see my daughter and her high school friend group in the pic – one of whom is with us on this trip!

“We live two hours away and have been coming to this beach for decades. CRAZY.”

Christina Boyd on Coronation Street could face an uncertain future on the ITV soap, as her shocking secret has finally been exposed to several Weatherfield residents

Christina in Coronation Street may need to watch out, after making an enemy of two characters.

Her secret was finally exposed during Friday’s episode, after weeks of shifty behaviour. There’s been mystery meet-ups, secret messages and cryptic phone calls.

George Shuttleworth feared his partner might be cheating on him, while his sister Glenda Shuttleworth told him that Christina was conning him and others. She’d found some credit card statements in Christina’s handbag.

In a twist though, they were not cards that belonged to her. Christina had taken out credit cards in the names of Mary Taylor and Christina’s ex-husband Lenny.

On Friday, George prepared to confront his partner, while he also followed her, after she claimed she had to pop out again. When George tracked her down he saw her with a man, and demanded answers.

Christina explained that the man was Lenny, her ex, and Lenny had found out that Christina had taken out a credit card in his name. Lenny found this out on the night that Theo Silverton died, and this is why Christina lied about her alibi, because she was meeting with Lenny.

It was Lenny she had been messaging too. That’s not all though, as Christina confessed she’d also got a credit card in Glenda’s name. George demanded answers and Christina finally confessed to the credit cards, before explaining she had a spending addiction.

George was unsympathetic at first, as Christina claimed it was “a disease”. As she detailed the addiction and the impact it had on her life, she revealed that Lenny had asked her to go a support group.

Christina confirmed she had attended the meetings before, as the addiction was something she had battled previously before managing to overcome it. Recent stress led to a relapse, she claimed, with her spending so much money, she felt she had no alternative but to get credit cards to continue her sprees.

Christina begged George not to leave her, and he attended the meeting with her where she explained her addiction further. George encouraged Christina to take ownership as he vowed to stand by her.

But other characters were not so forgiving. Glenda blurted out to Todd Grimshaw and Mary that Christina was a scammer, before she exposed what Christina had done. Christina then explained the full story, and opened up about her addiction.

As everyone listened, Glenda fumed at George for forgiving Christina, before making it clear she did not buy her story. She tried to get the others to agree, but Mary was trying to process it all.

Then, Mary told Christina that she would not take legal action against her, as Christina vowed to fix things. Mary did say Christina had broken her trust however, and that she did not accept her apology.

So with Mary and Glenda refusing to forgive her, and Glenda not saying she would not call the police, does this mean Christina could face legal action? Could it also force her to leave the cobbles for good after her betrayal, and will George really stand by her?

Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

MADISON, Wis. — Over the last month, Democratic socialists have notched victories in the liberal strongholds of New York City, Washington, D.C., and Denver.

Now Francesca Hong, a single mother who has worked as a dishwasher and line cook, is trying to do the same with her campaign for governor in Wisconsin, a swing state known for razor-thin election margins where winning over moderate, independent voters is crucial.

Hong’s candidacy has turned the Democratic primary on Aug. 11 into the latest test of just how far left voters are willing to go in the November midterms.

“We do this in Wisconsin, we’re going to change politics across the country,” the 37-year-old Hong said as she headed into the final month of campaigning. “People who are frustrated and have a lot more to lose — and I’m one of those people — are ready to coalesce around someone they can believe in.”

John Ravdabaugh, an undecided independent voter, came away impressed after hearing Hong speak at the retirement home where he lives. Even though the democratic socialist label concerns him, Ravdabaugh said he would consider voting for Hong.

“Every system reaches a point where change is necessary,” he said.

Whoever wins the primary will advance to almost certainly face Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, one of the most conservative members of the House, who has President Trump’s endorsement. Tiffany has only token opposition in the primary.

The governor’s race is integral to Democrats’ hopes of earning full control of Wisconsin state government for the first time since 2010, and it will send a signal about where the country’s politics are headed by shaping a key political battleground that helps decide presidential campaigns.

Trump-backed Republican derides Democratic rivals as ‘crazy’

Tiffany has focused much of his criticism on Hong and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, another Democratic candidate for governor.

“This November, the choice is common sense or crazy,” Tiffany posted on social media in June. Tiffany included screenshots of a Barnes post where he voiced support for cutting prison populations by half and Hong’s posts where she advocates for defunding and abolishing the police.

As a candidate, Hong has not backed away from her calls to defund and abolish the police. Hong also supports increasing taxes on the wealthy and creating a state-owned bank to help pay for free health care and free child care, a $20 minimum wage, and a moratorium on data center construction.

Hong dismisses concerns that she’s too liberal to win over key independent voters in a state Trump carried twice and narrowly lost a third time.

“I worry that’s a miscalculation of where voters are at in our state, that we’re underestimating what people want,” Hong said in an interview.

There’s a history of socialism in Milwaukee

Last month, democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic primary for mayor of Washington, setting herself up to clinch the office in November.

Then three congressional candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, another democratic socialist, defeated establishment-backed politicians.

And just last week, democratic socialist Melat Kiros beat U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in the Colorado primary, a stunning victory for the 29-year-old, first-time candidate against an incumbent who took office before she was born.

But those victories have been in either congressional or mayoral races in large urban centers, a far different landscape than Wisconsin.

In 1910, during socialism’s heyday in the United States, Milwaukee sent the first socialist to Congress and was the first major American city to elect a socialist mayor. Milwaukee elected two more socialist mayors before 1960.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, perhaps the best known democratic socialist, won all but one county in Wisconsin in the 2016 Democratic primary. In 2023, two state lawmakers from Milwaukee revived the socialist caucus in the Legislature, which had been dormant since 1935.

Hong, the first Asian American elected to the state Assembly in 2020, is one of four members of that caucus.

Barnes, 39, served four years in the state Assembly before his four years as lieutenant governor under Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. In 2022, Barnes came within 27,000 votes of ousting Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

“I’ve been around longer than anybody fighting these fights,” said Barnes, who grew up in Milwaukee and is vying to become Wisconsin’s first Black governor.

He played down the idea that democratic socialists are surging.

“People aren’t looking for labels, necessarily,” he said. “People are looking for bold solutions.”

Longtime Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki, who is not working for any of the Democrats running this year, said Barnes has an advantage as the most well-known candidate in the race.

“I have believed from the day since Mandela Barnes got into the race, he’s the favorite,” Zepecki said. “It is his race to lose.”

Hong rival leans into electability argument

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a former nurse and health care executive who is also running for the Democratic nomination, said she’ll have broader appeal in November. She cites her experience in the private sector and her flipping of a state Assembly seat in a conservative Milwaukee suburb, and she emphasizes her ideas for lowering costs for working people.

“I’m not worried about other candidates in this race,” Rodriguez said in an interview. “What I’m worried about is making my argument to Wisconsinites about why I’m the best person to lead the state, how I am going to fight for them.”

She launched a $1 million television ad campaign this week that features her in nursing scrubs talking about taking on Tiffany and lowering health care costs.

Other Democratic candidates are state Sen. Kelda Roys, who has the endorsement of the statewide teachers union, and Joel Brennan, a former top aide to Evers.

Missy Hughes, the state’s former economic development director, dropped out of the race in June and endorsed Rodriguez. David Crowley, the top elected official in Milwaukee County, dropped out this week and also backed Rodriguez.

Mainstream Democrats worry about winning in November

More moderate Democrats worry that nominating Hong could hurt them in the general election, especially in Wisconsin where independent voters are key in statewide races that are often decided by tiny margins.

Neera Tanden, who leads the Center for American Progress, said “it’s especially important in the age of Trump” to select viable candidates.

“In Wisconsin, whoever wins the general election will be the person overseeing elections in 2028 and whether people are seated in 2029.”

Evers won his two races for governor by just over 1 percentage point in 2018 and just over 3 points in 2022. Trump won Wisconsin by less than a point in 2024, and lost by less than a point in 2020.

Dave Smith, 72, a retired doctor from Madison who heard Hong speak Tuesday, said the democratic socialist label will be tough for voters of his generation to accept.

“The platform, much of that resonates well,” said Smith, who is undecided whom he will vote for in the Democratic primary. “My vote will likely go to who is the most electable in the fall.”

Bauer writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.