A man has been convicted of blowing up an ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) camera in south-east London.

Kevin Rees, 63, was arrested by counter-terror police after what has been described as a low-sophistication improvised explosive device (IED) damaged the camera in Willersley Avenue, Sidcup, in December 2023.

Rees used a homemade bomb, a metal cylinder filled with explosive powder, to cause the explosion, which also damaged cars and property up to 100m (328ft) away, including a child’s bedroom.

He denied one count of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property and three counts of possessing prohibited weapons. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Det Supt James Derham said it was “remarkable” the explosion triggered by Rees did not result in people being seriously injured or even killed.

He said Rees had put the public at significant risk out of anger over the Ulez scheme.

“He showed a complete disregard for the welfare and safety of the people who live in or were travelling through the area at the time of the explosion, all because he was unhappy with the Ulez scheme,” Derham added.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court heard how Rees drove from his Sidcup home to Shuttle Close on 6 December 2023, where he planted and ignited an explosive device beneath a newly installed Ulez camera.

Rees, of Harcourt Avenue, was seen by a witness walking quickly away from the scene.

The explosion damaged a van opposite and blew out the tyre of a car as well as damaging a wall, front porch, shed and a Wendy house.

Shrapnel also shot through a passing car into a passenger seat, while another piece of metal damaged the window frame of a child’s bedroom.

Forensic tests showed the device used black powder. Officers found aluminium powder and other materials linked to homemade explosives at Rees’s home, along with three improvised stun guns.

Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s counter-terrorism division, said: “This was not an act of protest or momentary vandalism. This was a deliberate and dangerous attack involving a homemade explosive device, carried out in a residential street and designed to destroy public infrastructure.

“Whatever his views on the Ulez scheme, Kevin Rees crossed a serious line by constructing a homemade bomb and detonating it in a public place. It was pure chance that no-one suffered serious injury or worse.”

BBC News

The leader of a group which organised months of anti-immigration protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers has admitted swearing at and abusing a police officer.

Connor Graham, 28, pled guilty to breach of the peace after an incident outside the Hotel Cladhan in Falkirk on 6 December.

He was the organiser of Save Our Futures and Our Kids’ Futures (SOF) until he said earlier this week that he had disbanded the group.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that Graham admitted acting aggressively and shouting and swearing and uttering threatening and derogatory remarks to PC Nathan Wilson while he was on duty.

One of the “derogatory remarks” is said to have been a disablist slur against the officer.

His not guilty plea to a second charge alleging he was attempting to incite violence was accepted.

Graham has previous convictions for dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.

Solicitor Simon Hutchison, defending, said Graham had “not been in a lot” of trouble in the last four to five years and that his record was mostly for road traffic offences.

Sheriff Christopher Shead deferred sentence until 6 March for a justice social work report and an assessment of Graham’s suitability for a restriction of liberty order – a home curfew enforced by an electronic ankle tag.

SOF began weekly protests outside the Cladhan Hotel in August after an asylum seeker was convicted of raping a teenage girl.

Graham announced the dissolution of the group in a post on its Facebook page earlier this week.

He said he would no longer be involved in organising or attending protests due to the attendance of far right groups.

“Marching alongside groups like Patriotic Alternative or the Homeland Party completely derails the message,” he wrote.

“This has gone far beyond protesting a hotel and failed immigration policies, and into territory that will only damage communities, discredit legitimate concerns and hand authorities the excuse to shut protests down altogether.”

Anti-racism group Stand Up To Racism described the move as a “victory for anti-racists and anti-fascists”

BBC News

A man has been ordered to pay nearly £3,000 after an incident in which St George’s crosses were painted on homes and a woman was racially abused.

Footage, filmed by Alex Jones, was widely shared on social media and showed two shirtless men painting above a row of shops off Whitmore Way in Basildon, Essex, on 22 August.

He was believed to have encouraged the pair, before being heard racially abusing a woman who was walking past.

Jones, 34, of Jazz Lane in the town, admitted causing criminal damage and of causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress. He was ordered to pay £2,854 in compensation and fined a further £80 at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

The crosses were painted above a convenience store, a pharmacy and food outlets including an Indian restaurant, a Chinese takeaway and a burger bar.

In the video, a young girl could be seen watching, and racial slurs were heard being shouted as a woman wearing a head scarf walked past with a child.

Essex Police said it received “multiple reports” about the footage.

At the time, Ch Insp Paul Hogben said: “Regardless of anyone’s thoughts or views, causing damage by applying paint to people’s properties is clearly a criminal offence.

“Aside from that simple fact, some of the language directed towards a member of the public in this incident was disgraceful.”

Essex Police said a second man accepted a caution over the incident.

BBC News

Shirley Craughwell, 51, and her daughter Hannah, 27, were both jailed after their appalling posts were brought to light.

A Neo-Nazi mother and daughter who posted extremist anti-Semitic, racist and transphobic material on social media accounts have both been jailed.

Shirley Craughwell described non-whites as “a different species” and published comments including “Hitler was trying to save us” and “The need for a new holocaust is never more urgent than now”.

The 51-year-old used emojis connected to the Neo-Nazi movement, had links to publications including the Anarchist Cookbook and regularly used derogatory terms including “n*******” and “sand monkeys”.

She also encouraged and recorded a young child to perform Nazi salutes before posting the disturbing footage online.

Daughter Hannah – who used the online name ‘Hannah Hitler’ – labelled the Jewish race as “the devil’s children” and distributed posters publicising a Neo-Nazi white power movie in her local community.

She was found to have posted a mocked up image of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay shouting at Hitler with the words “Put them back in the oven” and shared racist and transphobic videos on her social media accounts.

The mother and daughter also linked the Israeli state to conspiracy theories including the 9/11 terror attack and Covid and made denials the Nazi Holocaust had taken place.

The pair pleaded guilty to hate crime offences aggravated by racial and religious prejudice committed between 2021 and 2024 when they appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in November last year.

Shirley Craughwell, of Galashiels, Scottish Borders, was sentenced to a 20 month custodial term backdated to November 27.

The sheriff noted Hannah Craughwell had continued to “minimise” her offending, had made “racist, anti-Semitic, transphobic and homophobic” comments online and distributed “highly inflammatory “ leaflets in public.

The 27-year-old mother-of-two was jailed for 16 months.

Sentencing, Sheriff Walls said: “The level of hatred, racism and anti-semitism expressed by you is deeply disturbing.

“You espoused conspiracy theories about white genocide and spoke repeatedly about your admiration of Adolf Hitler and other Nazis and called for another Holocaust.

“However your messages were not just offensive, they are violent and threatening in relation to people of the Jewish faith.”

The sheriff said involving the child in her offending was “a significant aggravation”.

The court was shown further video evidence of the racist and anti-Semitic material the pair had posted online.

Lawyer Simon Collins, for Shirley Craughwell, said his client was a grandmother and had “a long involvement in conspiracy theories leading her to act on them”.

He said she had experienced isolation during the Covid period and “expressed remorse and accepts responsibility” for her offending.

Richard Soutar, for Hannah Craughwell, said she had “gone down a wormhole” on the internet and had been “socially isolated” and suffered from poor mental health at the time.

Previously the court was told police received intelligence in May last year that both women had been posting “racist, anti-Semitic and threatening” material on their social media pages.

Prosecutor David Gallagher said officers raided their homes and Shirley Craughwell was found to have a Telegram account where she had posted thousands of extremist comments while in contact with others.

Mr Gallagher said the material showed Craughwell used emojis in the shape of the Nazi salute along with the slang term 88 – online slang for Heil Hitler.

She made claims to be “a proud racist” and posted comments such as “we must unite as a race”, “the borders are flooded by ni**ers” and “the police are run by Judean”.

Craughwell also operated a Facebook page under the pseudonym ‘Goyim AH’ where she published racist and anti-Semitic memes and web links.

She used the account to circulate material supporting the alt-right group Highland Division – a breakaway from the white nationalist organisation Patriotic Alternative.

The page featured a post from PA’s James Costello who was sentenced to a five year prison term for inciting racial hatred in 2023 but was released early on licence in December last year.

Police discovered Hannah Craughwell, of Gilmerton, Edinburgh, had an account on the US right wing extremist chat site Gab where she used the online persona ‘Hannah Hitler’.

She regularly shared extreme right wing content on the site with one message stating: “I am disappointed Hitler never killed six million even though there wasn’t that many Jews at that time.”

The court was told racist and transphobic material was openly shared on her Facebook and Instagram pages and she had distributed flyers in her local area publicising the Neo-Nazi propaganda film Europa – The Last Battle.

Daily Record

An off-shore worker shouted ‘free Tommy Robinson’ and directed abusive language at Kier Starmer during a racist tirade at a police officer who arrested him for lashing out after a family funeral.

James Sproat had thrown a chair, which hit a young mourner’s arm, smashed a glass and broke a window pane after drinking during the reception at Southwick Workingmen’s Club in Sunderland, last February (2025).

Newcastle Crown Court heard the daughter of the man whose funeral it was said it was “the worst day of her life” and she described the behaviour of Sproat, who is a relative, as vile and disrespectful.

Sproat was initially compliant when police arrived at his home afterwards but then started bragging about how much money he earned, before racially abusing the officer with a number of racial slurs and accused him of “living in the country for free”.

He stated he was “English and proud” then added: “Free Tommy Robinson, I can do what I want and you will never send me to jail”.

The officer said he was extremely upset and offended and added: “He took pride in what he was saying, you could see it in his eyes. He was repeatedly laughing.”

Sproat, 25, of Azalea Terrace South, Sunderland, admitted affray, assault by beating, criminal damage and racially aggravated harassment.

Miss Recorder Caroline Goodwin KC said Sproat’s behaviour at the funeral reception was “appalling and disgusting”.

The recorder told him: “No doubt you would have been someone to whom the people affected by your behaviour on that night would have looked to as being a bit of a success story, not been in trouble, having his own accommodation and frankly doing very well.

“But because of your thoughtless behaviour you have completely destroyed what was a terrible, upsetting day for those other members of your family who were there.”

Recorder Goodwinn said Sproat was “aggressive, arrogant, rude and appalling” towards the police officer.

Sproat was sentenced to 12 months suspended for 18 months with rehabilitation requirements, 100 hours unpaid work, a £1,000 fine, £350 compensation and costs.

Jennifer Coxon, defending, said: “He accepts it was disgusting behaviour
He is sickened and angry with himself. This has been a huge wake-up call.”

Sunderland Echo