pushed

A YOUNG woman was pushed to the ground and “sexually assaulted” while walking down a road as a man, 27, has been arrested.

Detectives have arrested a man following the incident that took place in the early hours of Sunday morning in Liverpool.

A woman in her 20s reported that a man on a bike had been following her while she was walking down Crosby Road South at around 5.45am.

The suspect then proceeded to cover her mouth with his hand and push her to the floor.

After the victim desperately screamed for help, the man fled the scene.

Merseyside Police have arrested a 27-year-old man from Litherland on suspicion of sexual assault.

He currently remains in custody for questioning. 

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Suffield said that the incident is deeply concerning and left the victim “extremely shaken.”

In a statement he said: “This is a deeply concerning incident and our investigation continues.

“The victim was understandably left extremely shaken and we will support her through this process.

“A man has been arrested, but I would still urge anyone who lives in the area to check your own, CCTV, dashcam and any doorbell devices should there be anything which helps this work.

“Any information could be vital, so let us make the assessment.”

Extensive witness and CCTV enquiries are continuing.

Anyone with information on the incident should contact the Merseyside Police social media desk @MerPolCC on X and Facebook quoting reference 25000780190

STRICTLY alum Gemma Atkinson has just shared an update about when she will tie the knot with her fiancé, Gorka Marquez.

The pair met on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2017.

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But funnily enough Gemma, 40, and Gorka, 35, weren’t actually coupled up during their time on the show.

Their relationship blossomed off-screen, with the duo beginning to officially date in 2018.

They got engaged three years later and now share a son and a daughter – Mia, five, and son Thiago, two.

After years of being engaged, Gemma has revealed why the couple have been waiting so long to walk down the aisle – and why they plan to wait even longer.

In an interview Gemma said: “We’ve toyed about doing it in Spain so his [Gorka’s] family can come.

“We’ve even thought about doing it in a registry office or a hotel in Manchester, just the two of us, and then have a big party after.”

But what the lovebirds have settled on couldn’t be sweeter or more thoughtful.

“I think now we want to wait until Thiago is a bit older, so maybe next year or the year after, as he’s only two.

“If he’s a bit older, he could be involved in it, which would be really nice.”

Back in 2022 Gemma announced that herself and Gorka had to postpone their previously-planned wedding.

The cancellation came about due to incredibly busy schedules on both ends, with Gorka busy as a professional dancer and Gemma as a radio host.

The pair were also wishing to prioritise trying for another baby instead of splashing out on a lavish event.

The wedding update comes only months after Gemma and Gorka found out that their reality TV show Gemma and Gorka: Life Behind The Lens had not been renewed for a third season on Apple TV.

It was devastating news for the couple, as the show had performed really well.

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The administration of United States President Donald Trump has installed a right-wing researcher who pushed false claims about the 2020 election to a position in charge of election oversight.

As of Tuesday, a leadership chart for the Department of Homeland Security shows Pennsylvania activist Heather Honey serving as the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity in the Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans.

Honey’s appointment was first reported by the investigative news outlet Democracy Docket on Monday.

Her position has raised eyebrows among critics of the Trump administration due to her involvement in several efforts that resulted in misleading research about the 2020 presidential race.

Trump has pushed the false claim that his loss in the 2020 election was the result of massive fraud, and he has consistently refused to admit defeat.

Since returning to the White House for a second term in January, he has placed loyalists in positions of power, raising fears about the independence of certain offices.

He has also used his false claims of fraudulent elections to place pressure on the country’s electoral system, which is administered largely by state and local officials.

Critics have warned that overtly partisan appointments to posts overseeing elections could diminish confidence in the voting process.

“What I’m concerned about is that it seems like DHS [Department of Homeland Security] is being poised to use the vast power and megaphone of the federal government to spread disinformation rather than combat it,” David Becker, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research, told The Associated Press news agency.

“It’s going to really harm DHS’s credibility overall.”

Who is Heather Honey?

Honey’s appointment in particular has prompted election experts and local officials to speak out, given her prominent role in spreading misinformation about the 2020 election.

For instance, Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s secretary of state and a Democrat, told the news outlet ProPublica in a statement that Honey has a “well-documented history of spreading election lies”.

Honey leads a consulting firm called Haystack Investigations, which was involved in election “audits”, which experts consider flawed, as well as another organisation called Verity Votes, which also purports to conduct election research.

Trump and his supporters have drawn on some of her firms’ conclusions in their efforts to undermine the 2020 election results.

In the key swing state of Pennsylvania, for instance, Honey’s group misrepresented incomplete voter data to falsely allege that the state had more votes than voters in 2020.

Two years later, in 2022, Verity Vote claimed that Pennsylvania sent mail-in ballots to voters who failed to provide appropriate identification.

State officials, however, accused Verity Vote of misrepresenting the “not verified” designation in its voting system.

In public statements, the Pennsylvania Department of State explained that it uses the “not verified” tag to signal to local officials that a voter’s identification needs to be verified. The designation is a “security feature” for voter applications, it said – not an indication that voters could submit ballots without proper ID.

Trump narrowly lost Pennsylvania in the 2020 election, with Democrat Joe Biden edging him out by less than 1 percent.

In Arizona, another critical battleground swing state that Trump lost in 2020, Honey participated in a partisan audit of election results in Maricopa County, a populous area containing the city of Phoenix.

Despite searching for fraud for nearly six months, the audit turned up no evidence that the outcome in Biden’s favour was erroneous. Still, experts say that audit was filled with errors and biased methodology.

In the years since, former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, told The Associated Press that he had received dozens of public records requests related to elections from Honey.

Richer served in the role from 2021 to 2025, and said that such requests occupied “scores of hours of staff time”.

He told The Associated Press he was surprised to hear Honey was in a position of such “authority and responsibility” and said that she was “not a serious auditor”.

Honey is not the first Trump official to face public scrutiny for her role in his administration. Other appointees, like Emil Bove, have faced intense public questions about whether they would prioritise their loyalty to Trump over their commitment to government ethics.

Since his victory in the 2024 election, Trump has also opened investigations into critics and officials who probed his false claims about the 2020 election.

He has said he will do away with things like mail-in ballots and voting machines, demands shared by others who push anti-election conspiracies on the US right.

INDEPENDENT travel agency, InteleTravel, is answering questions about their business practices after The Sun’s investigation shined a light on the true cost of joining their organisation to sell travel.

With glamorous celebrities like Strictly’s Vicky Pattison and TOWIE’s Jess Wright promoting the scheme on their huge social platforms, it was revealed they could be earning over £200,000 as fans sign up to the scheme.

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However, our report showed that almost 90 per cent of people don’t make a single penny working as an Independent Travel Agent (ITA) – with many ending up out of pocket.

Those selling travel through the Vicky’s Vacay team will almost certainly have signed up with recruitment firm, PlaNet Marketing, who are a separate company to InteleTravel.

Even though they are different companies, The Sun could find no way of joining InteleTravel without signing up to PlaNet Marketing and paying an initial fee of £140 and then £30 per month thereafter.

Industry experts TTG, have reported that since The Sun called for clarity on how many Brits are affected negatively by joining the scheme, InteleTravel is now reviewing its partnership with the US-headquartered company that recruits agents on its behalf.

In our report, we looked at how likely it is for everyday women and fans of these glamourous celebrities to earn money selling holidays to their friends and family for a small commission.

Social media messaging flaunting a jet-set lifestyle and ability to ‘be your own boss’ is rife on platforms like Instagram.

And it’s not just the celebrities who are at it.

Many ITAs who say they make ‘big money’ from selling travel are, in fact, doing so with an elaborate recreruitment downline.

This means anyone they sign up to their ‘team’ must pay them a commission, as well as the commission to InteleTravel – an ABTA-approved travel agency – on anything they go on to sell.

InteleTravel came under criticism as recruiters for the network, appear to approach people, most-often women and mums, on social media.

Subtle messaging, which some women who spoke to The Sun allege they are trained for, is used to lure new agents in by telling them a glamorous lifestyle can be achieved while on their family holiday.

It’s heavily implied that a huge salary can be achieved while being a full-time mum or working in another job.

A recruiter told our reporter that she earned £27,000 alongside her full time job in a different sector.

Tricia Handley-Hughes, InteleTravel’s UK and Ireland managing director, insisted the agency’s partnership with PlanNet Marketing had “not run its course” but added: “discussions need to take place”.

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Senior industry agents also reacted to the story, calling it “deeply concerning”.

In a article published by trade publication, Travel Weekly, they raised concerns about InteleTravel’s recruitment methods and about the impact of the story on the professional reputation of other agents in the sector.

Advantage Travel Partnership chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said said: “It’s important to remember the vast majority of travel agents across the UK are highly professional and trustworthy”.

“Being a travel agent is not a hobby. It should never be treated as a casual side hustle to make some extra money”.

While marketing consultant Steve Dunne, chief executive of Digital Drums, said such stories “could push back the reputation of the travel agents a generation”.

A number of InteleTravel agents have reacted to our report in defence of InteleTravel.

They were keen to tell their followers that agents can ‘just sell holidays’ and do not have to sign up to be part of the business responsible for the recruitment of other agents.

James Pirie-Warsop said: “I’ve been with Intele for about two or three years and I’m glad I did [join them]. Yes, there’s a multi-level marketing side, but you don’t have to do it”.

Whilst no-one is forced to recruit a ‘dream team of travel agents’ like Vicky and Jess, official data from the Direct Selling Association reveals that 63 per cent of agents in the sector do go on to build a ‘team’.

InteleTravel’s own figures may differ from the UK wide average, but when asked directlt by The Sun, they declined to comment on the amount their agents earn.

Read our full InteleTravel report here.

Have you been approached to join InteleTravel or asked if you’d like to make money selling travel with a team of like-minded agents? Get in touch with us at

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