A man who sexually assaulted a 5 year old has had his sentence increased by the Court of Appeal following intervention by the Solicitor General, the Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP.

James Green who was 21 years old at the time sexually assaulted the 5 year old, making the victim promise not to tell anyone and threatening that they would get in trouble if they did.

However, in pain as a result of Green’s assault, the victim told a family member of Green’s actions who reported Green to the police.

At the time of the offence, Green was on a suspended sentence for a previous charge of sexual assault of a child under 16. He was also prohibited from having any contact with girls under the age of 18 or residing at any address where any girl under the age of 18 also lived.

On 8 November 2019 Green was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court to 8 years’ imprisonment and 2 years’ extended licence.

Today, the Court of Appeal increased this 12 years’ imprisonment with 3 years’ extended licence, after the sentence was referred as being unduly lenient by the Solicitor General, the Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP.

After the hearing the Solicitor General said:

“Green has on more than one occasion committed sexual offences against vulnerable children and therefore poses a high risk to society. He took actions to deter the child from telling anyone about the heinous crimes he had committed, and it is because of the incredibly brave victim that this offender has been brought to justice.”

Today (Wednesday 22 January) the government has announced the biggest increase in funding for the police system in a decade.

The amount of funding available to the policing system for 2020 to 2021 will increase by more than £1.1 billion, totalling £15.2 billion, if Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) take full advantage of flexibility to set the police precept.

This represents an almost 10% increase on the core (resource) grant provided to forces last year, enabling the police to cut crime and deliver on the people’s priorities.

It builds on a number of existing government commitments to bear down on the criminals who seek to do our communities and our country harm. It will enable forces to recruit 6,000 of the 20,000 additional police officers by the end of March 2021.

It will provide £150 million in funding to fight organised crime and continue to crack down on online child abuse. Tackling serious violence will be also backed with £39 million, which includes £20 million for county lines drug dealing, which is seeing abhorrent gangs terrorising our towns.

As announced by the Home Secretary on Tuesday 21 January, funding for counter-terrorism policing will total £906 million in 2020 to 2021, a year-on-year increase of £90 million.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

This government is delivering on the people’s priorities by giving policing the biggest funding increase in a decade.

It will mean more officers tackling the crime blighting our streets, so people can feel safe in their communities.

The police must now make full use of this significant investment to deliver for the public.

PCCs will have access to:

• £8,702 million in government grants, which is £667 million more than the previous year
• flexibility to increase local funding in England by setting the council tax referendum limit to £10 for a typical (Band D) property.
• if all PCCs in England maximise this flexibility and ask average households to contribute less than 20 pence per week, this would generate around £248 million in additional funding for forces in England next year.

The settlement includes the £750 million announced by the Chancellor last year to enable forces to meet their officer recruitment targets.

The bulk will go directly to PCCs (£700 million). The remainder will be spent nationally on capabilities and infrastructure to support the recruitment drive.

This includes investments to improve the recruitment process including training and specialist schemes to ensure the right officers end up in the right roles.

A woman from Kent whose family business was running an illegal waste operation has been given a total of 30 weeks’ custodial sentence. Lucy Mete, 26, helped her father and sister run the operation for two years at their farm near Faversham.

The Environment Agency prosecuted James Mete and his daughters, Lucy and Billie Mete, after obtaining evidence that 135 lorry loads of soil and builders’ waste were dumped and treated at Thirwell Farm in Drove Lane, Hernhill, between 2014 and 2016. The work needed an environmental permit, which it didn’t have.

Following a 6-day trial at Maidstone Crown Court in March 2019, a jury found James Mete, Lucy Mete and Billy Mete guilty of breaking environmental law. All 3 did not appear at court for sentencing.

At this hearing in January 2020, the court heard Lucy Mete, 26, owned part of Thirwell Farm, allowing her father, James, 56, of the same address, to use the farm to deposit and treat the materials against the law. Lucy Mete was given a 26 weeks’ custodial sentence for 1 count of breaching Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) 2010 regulation 12 and 38(1)b EPR 2010. For failing to appear at court for sentencing, she received 4 weeks’ custodial sentence; both to be served consecutively for a total of 30 weeks.

A warrant remains in force for the arrest of James Mete for failing to attend court for sentencing last March.

Alan Cansdale, Environment Manager for the Environment Agency in Kent, said:

This was a deliberate breach of the law. James, Lucy and Billie Mete all knew their actions amounted to a criminal offence, but still allowed waste to be dumped, kept and treated at Thirwell Farm for a number of years with no permit from the Environment Agency.

The Metes’ illegal activity affected the public’s enjoyment of the area, as a footpath ran through the site.

To help us take enforcement action, like we have in this case, we encourage legitimate waste operators and the public to report any suspicious waste operations on 0800 807060.

In April 2015, officers from the Environment Agency and Kent Police raided Thirwell Farm following a number of reports of waste being tipped there. Officers found many large piles of waste soils and rubble, as well as machinery for processing it. During the visit, environment officers turned back a lorry that had arrived to tip waste. During the trial in March 2019, the court heard from an expert witness that the volume of materials on the site had increased by over 40,000 cubic metres between January 2011 and September 2015. This equates to roughly 53,000 tonnes of material.

Both the lorry driver and the owner of a building supplies firm gave statements to the Environment Agency, saying James Mete was their main contact at the farm, despite him saying in interview he didn’t encourage firms to drop waste there.

On 10 July 2019, Lucy’s sister Billie Mete was sentenced to 6 weeks in prison, suspended for 2 years. She was also given 28 days in jail for breaching the terms of her bail by not attending court for sentence in March, but walked free from court having already served more than half this amount.

James Mete, Lucy Mete and Billie Mete were each convicted of one count of Regulation 38 (1) (b) contravening Regulation 12 (1) (a) of the EPR (England and Wales) 2010.

We have been carefully monitoring the coronavirus situation in Wuhan and are ready to put in place proportionate, precautionary measures.

From today, enhanced monitoring will be in place from all direct flights from Wuhan to the UK. The enhanced monitoring package includes a number of measures to provide advice to travellers if they feel unwell.

For those travelling back directly from Wuhan, this includes a Port Health team who will meet each direct flight aircraft to provide advice and support to those that feel unwell. The team will include a principal port medical inspector, port health doctor, administrative support and team leader.

They will check for symptoms of coronavirus and provide information to all passengers about symptoms and what to do if they become ill. Mandarin and Cantonese language support will be available to Public Health England (PHE) and leaflets will be available to passengers.

There are 3 direct flights a week that arrive at Heathrow from Wuhan. The enhanced monitoring of direct flights will be kept under continuous review and expanded to other Chinese departure points if necessary.

Leaflets and information will be made available across all UK airports, advising travellers from China on what do to if they feel unwell.

The risk to the UK population has been assessed as low, based on the emerging evidence regarding case numbers, potential sources and human to human transmission. This has been raised from very low due to evidence on the likelihood of cases being imported into this country.

There are no confirmed cases of this new infection in the UK.

DHSC has issued clinical guidance for the detection and diagnosis of Wuhan novel coronavirus, and PHE has developed a diagnostic test, making the UK one of the first countries outside China to have a prototype specific laboratory test for this new disease.

The UK is well prepared for new diseases and our approach is kept under constant review. UK public health measures are world-leading and the NHS is well prepared to manage and treat new diseases.

Dr Nick Phin, Deputy Director, National Infection Service, PHE, said:

This is a new and rapidly evolving situation where information on cases and the virus is being gathered and assessed daily. Based on the available evidence, the current risk to the UK is considered low. We are working with the WHO and other international partners, have issued advice to the NHS and are keeping the situation under constant review.

If you are travelling to Wuhan, you should maintain good hand, respiratory and personal hygiene and should avoid visiting animal and bird markets or people who are ill with respiratory symptoms. Individuals should seek medical attention if they develop respiratory symptoms within 14 days of visiting Wuhan, either in China or on their return to the UK. They should phone ahead before attending any health services and mention their recent travel to the city.

Minister for Asia and the Pacific Heather Wheeler held a meeting today (22 January) with London Ambassadors and High Commissioners of the member states of ASEAN to discuss strengthening the UK’s partnership with the region.

Areas discussed included deepening future UK-ASEAN cooperation and COP 26 and follows the Minister’s visit to Jakarta last week to officially open the UK’s first dedicated Mission to ASEAN.

Speaking after the meeting, FCO Minister for Asia and the Pacific, Heather Wheeler MP said:

I had the privilege of opening the UK’s first dedicated Mission to ASEAN on my recent visit to Southeast Asia. This meeting with the ASEAN Heads of Mission has been a great chance to strengthen further links with a region which will be a key partner for the UK after we leave the EU at the end of this month.

The UK has longstanding and enriching links with the ASEAN region. Two-way trade in 2018 was £37.2 billion and is ever increasing, over 3 million British nationals visit Southeast Asia each year and there are over 40,000 ASEAN students studying in the UK.

We collaborate on not only education, science and innovation, trade, security and climate, but so many other sectors. The possibilities are endless and continued dialogue will enable us to do even more.

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