A dangerous driver who caused the death of a man in Tooting by careless driving has had his sentence increased after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, appealed it as too low.

Anthony Howell hit Adinajib Awale on the junction of Tooting Bec Road and Dr Johnson Avenue on 2 May 2015. Despite his car suffering damage because of the collision, Mr Howell did not stop at the scene. Instead, after returning home, Howell called the police for a crime reference number for insurance purposes. He said that the damage had been caused by someone throwing something at his car.

Howell was originally sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment suspended for 2 years at Kingston Crown Court. Today, following action from the Solicitor General, the Court of Appeal increased Howell’s sentence to 16 months, to be served immediately.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said:

“Anthony Howell’s actions are inexcusable; to cause a fatal collision because of careless driving is atrocious and to fail stop at the scene to help the victim was disgraceful. No sentence can bring back Mr Awale but I hope that the increase will bring his family some comfort.”

The Charity Commission is encouraging anyone who would like to share relevant information about the Presidents Club Charitable Trust and the charity’s fundraising event on 18 January to come forward, in order to help the Commission determine whether trustees of the charity have complied with their legal duties and responsibilities.

The Commission, the regulator of charities in England and Wales, opened a regulatory compliance case into charity on 24 January 2018, following media reports alleging that some staff were exposed to harassment and inappropriate activity at the event. The police have already stressed that any allegations of criminal behaviour should be reported to them.

Tracy Howarth, Head of Regulatory Compliance at the Charity Commission says:

It is important that anyone who attended or worked at the event knows they can come forward and raise concerns with us. We can’t provide any legal remedy or compensation to individuals. But what we can and must do, is to assess whether the trustees of the charity complied with important legal duties and responsibilities in managing their charity. We want to ensure we have all the information possible to make a balanced and reasoned assessment of the facts.

So I would like to encourage anyone with relevant information to come forward.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Commission at: rauemailteam@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk.

The Commission stresses that some the issues raised by the event are not within its regulatory remit and it is working closely with other regulators as appropriate.

The opening of the case is not in itself a finding of wrongdoing. When the case has concluded, the Commission will publish a report detailing what issues it looked at, what it found and what it did. Previous Commission regulatory case reports are available on GOV.UK.

Notes to editors

1. As a result of the media coverage arising from the event, the trustees of the Presidents Club Charitable Trust have decided to carry out an orderly winding up of the charity. They have confirmed they will not take any steps to dissolve the Charity until the Commission’s regulatory compliance case is complete.

2. The objects of the charity allow funds to be applied for such charitable purposes as the trustees may decide. The charity has made grants to a number of charities. Some of these have said that they now wish to return funds to the charity. The Commission has published guidance on its website for those charities who are considering whether or not they should, or can, return charitable funds insert link. In most cases, the Commission’s consent will be required to authorise the return of historic donations.

3. The trustees have established a separate contact point to deal with complaints and intend to appoint an appropriately qualified independent complaints assessor to consider those complaints received. No complaints have been made to date. The trustees have told the Commission that they are committed to the timely and efficient resolution of any complaints received.

Sellafield incident report – bottle spillage

During routine sampling work in a Sellafield drum filling area, a bottle containing uranium trioxide powder accidentally fell to the floor causing approximately 100-150g to spill out.

The operator handling the samples was wearing the correct personal protective equipment and the correct safety procedures were followed.

There was no personal contamination or ingestion by the operator and the contamination was contained in the immediate work area. An investigation has been carried out, and we are now considering the actions required to address the findings.

The event has been rated 0 (anomaly) on the International Nuclear Events Scale

Sellafield is regulated by the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency

See details of incidents at Sellafield before 1 August 2017

Speaking after a tour of the shopping centre, Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland said:

I am absolutely delighted to be here in Victoria Square enjoying the very best that Belfast has to offer. You just have to look at this view, look at what this city is today, and think about what has been achieved in 20 years. Think about how much more we can do, and how much we have to build on, to continue Belfast and Northern Ireland’s success.

I’ve just been hearing about how in terms of retail outlets, this centre is number one not just in Northern Ireland but in the island of Ireland, and it is number three in the whole of the United Kingdom in some categories. That is a fantastic achievement. It really goes to show what is bringing people to Belfast, why they are coming to Northern Ireland and why we want it to continue.

This has been a difficult week, I’m not going to make any pretence of that. We worked extraordinarily hard to do our very best to enable an Executive to be formed and I still believe that can be done, with the will of the politicians to deliver what the people of Northern Ireland want and need: their elected politicians doing the right thing and delivering devolved government for the people of Northern Ireland. The message I have had from the retailers and shoppers I have met downstairs is that that is what they want too. They want to exploit the opportunities that would come from a stable government being able to deliver the reforms and the transformation this country needs.

I am here to help them deliver that. I will do all I can to try and get devolved government back into Stormont because I genuinely believe that is the best thing for the people of Northern Ireland.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Talks will be held in Brussels, 19 and 20 February 2018