At least 800 dead as powerful earthquake hits Afghanistan

At least 800 people have died and hundreds more were injured following a magnitude 6.0 earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan.

Officials said reports of damage were still coming in from the worst-hit mountainous region close to the Pakistan border, and there were fears the death toll could climb higher.

The powerful quake hit the Jalalabad area around midnight local time, but its impacts were felt as far as Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, which is more than 300km (186 miles) away.

The quake occurred at a shallow depth of 10km (6.2 miles), the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said. Aftershocks were being felt on Monday morning in several districts.

Most of the damage is reported to be in Kunar province as helicopters rushed injured people to hospitals.

The Taliban has urged international aid agencies to provide assistance.

The country is often struck by earthquakes as it lies in a seismically active zone in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which sits near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Vicar involved in ‘Eunuch maker’ extreme body mutilation group jailed

A retired Church of England vicar has been jailed for three years after admitting to carrying out an extreme body modification.

Geoffrey Baulcomb, 79, pleaded guilty in June to causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, after the incident involving a man in January 2020.

The former clergyman, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, appeared at the Old Bailey on Monday for sentencing.

The court heard that Baulcomb was a long-time associate of Norwegian national Marius Gustavson, who styled himself the “Eunuch Maker”.

Gustavson was jailed for life in 2024 after an investigation known as Operation Viktor.

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said Baulcomb had been a subscriber to Gustavson’s website, and exchanged thousands of messages with him between 2015 and 2022.

Police also uncovered evidence linking him to other defendants and victims in the case.

During a search of his Eastbourne home in December 2022, officers seized surgical tools, medical supplies and drugs.

Baulcomb submerged his iPhone in a toilet during the raid, but it was recovered and the download revealed material across two indictments.

He had previously admitted seven further offences relating to indecent images of children and extreme pornography, including distributing an indecent video of a 16-year-old being harmed by Gustavson, to co-defendant David Carruthers.

Matthew Gowen, mitigating, said Baulcomb had been a respected figure in his community and within the church, where he carried out pastoral work with vulnerable people.

He told the court: “A number of people have known Mr Baulcomb for a considerable period of time.

“Those that have known him within the church environment know of the good work, the exemplary work he has done, not just as a vicar but also in the wider community.”

Mr Gowen said that the procedure had involved only “two small cuts”, not the removal of body parts, and that Baulcomb had previously carried out the same procedure on himself without adverse effects.

Sentencing him, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said the case fell into the most serious category given the nature of the procedure, the planning involved, and the fact that it had been filmed.

“The procedure and resulting injury is something that is serious,” the judge said.

“It is an aggravating feature that the procedure was filmed, bearing in mind the obvious sexual nature of this offence.”

The judge said Baulcomb had no previous convictions, but told him: “When interviewed you sought to distance yourself from what was done and downplay the significance of your offending.

“You sought to minimise the potential for harm of what you were doing.

“As I observed over the course of this hearing, the extreme pornographic images here are concerning.”

Baulcomb was sentenced to two years and six months for the GBH offence, with a further six months for the indecent images offences, making a total of three years.

The former vicar, wearing a black suit and tie, showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.

Rayner ‘unable to explain housing arrangements due to court order’

Angela Rayner is unable to explain her housing and tax arrangements because of a court order, Downing Street has said, insisting she is “urgently working on rectifying in the interests of public transparency.”

It comes amid continued criticism of the deputy prime minister’s purchase of an £800,000 flat in Hove, with the Conservatives calling for her to face an ethics inquiry over her tax affairs relating to the purchase.

On Monday, the prime minister’s official spokesman said Sir Keir retained full confidence in Ms Rayner, adding: “There is a court order which restricts her from providing further information, which she’s urgently working on rectifying in the interests of public transparency.”

Later in the day, Sir Keir launched a defence of Ms Rayner, saying she is a “great story of British success” and adding that she “had people briefing against her and talking her down over and over again”.

“It’s a big mistake by the way”, he told BBC 5Live.

Describing her appointment as deputy prime minister as “an incredible achievement”, Sir Keir told BBC 5Live: “Angela came from a very humble background, battled all sorts of challenges along the way, and there she is proudly – and I’m proud of her – as our deputy prime minister.”

Adding that the country should be “proud” of Ms Rayner, he said: “What a great story of British success that we are a country where Angela Rayner could be our deputy prime minister.”

Ms Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, is reported to have saved £40,000 in stamp duty on the flat because she removed her name from the deeds of a family property in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, meaning the Hove property is the only property she owns.

However, Ms Rayner also previously indicated the Greater Manchester home remains her primary residence, according to the Telegraph, saving some £2,000 in council tax on her grace and favour home in central London at Admiralty House.

The Mail On Sunday reported she split the ownership of her £650,000 constituency home with a trust administered by law firm Shoosmiths.

The newspaper suggested the legal manoeuvre would be consistent with Ms Rayner placing some of the house’s equity in trust for her three children, but the Tories questioned whether the move was intended to avoid potential inheritance tax liabilities.

Allies of Ms Rayner rejected the suggestion the move had anything to do with inheritance tax.

Ms Rayner divorced her husband and no longer owns a stake in the Greater Manchester home but still considers it her primary residence because her children live there.

Asked if Ms Rayner had been the victim of a briefing war, Sir Keir said: “Angela has had people briefing against her and talking her down over and over again.

“It’s a mistake.”

The Tories have called for the prime minister’s ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, to examine whether she has breached the ministerial code.

Tory Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said Ms Rayner should “come clean on the litany of accusations of tax avoidance, be it stamp duty, council tax or inheritance tax”.

He had originally called for Sir Laurie to investigate after it was reported Ms Rayner paid £30,000 stamp duty instead of £70,000 on the Hove property because it was the only one she owned, but then said the independent adviser on ministerial standards should also look at the Ashton-under-Lyne trust.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “I think people would appreciate clarity from Angela Rayner.

“I don’t know the details of the house purchases, but the reason why people are asking, as they have been in my constituency, is that they’re worried about hypocrisy.”

Before the 2024 election, the Conservatives had urged HMRC to investigate Ms Rayner over whether she had paid enough tax after selling her former council home almost a decade earlier.

But it is understood that HMRC looked into the matter at Ms Rayner’s request and concluded there was no capital gains tax liability.

Isak proves Liverpool have changed the Premier League’s power dynamic

It is a show of where power lies. That’s not just in how Liverpool finally added the signing of Alexander Isak to a statement 1-0 victory over Arsenal, but also the manner in which the deal was finally struck.

It was, to quote someone who said similar about the Super League, “an ownership thing”. Fenway Sports Group have a good relationship with the Public Investment Fund, going right back through LIV Golf, and a deal was eventually struck. That is the level we’re talking about. Business and geopolitics came into it.

Sure, pride might initially have been pricked, especially with Isak’s notorious statement. Yassir Al-Rumayyan might similarly be the most powerful official to have ever operated in football, given that he is the chair of Saudi Aramco. The PIF, however, isn’t yet able to exert that power through Newcastle United. Liverpool are still the bigger club, able to spend more money.

Realism had to take precedence over emotion. Isak’s great gambit, and the playbook he followed, eventually paid off. No one can say he was badly advised now. He got the move he wanted.

The reality for the Premier League has also shifted.

The champions are now also the true power. With this signing, Liverpool have done even more than spend around £420m from a position of strength. They have broken the English transfer record twice in this window, to form a Galactico-level attack.

There’s first of all the big names but then their levels and trajectories. In Mohammed Salah, at 33, Liverpool have one of the best players from the last generation. In Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, at 22 and 23 respectively, they have two of the most exciting players from the next generation.

And now, given Isak turns 26 in three weeks, there’s a world star in his prime right now. Arne Slot has both Salah and his successor together in the same team. The very thought is exhilarating for Liverpool and frightening for everyone else.

Some connected to both Manchester City and Newcastle were already referencing Jurgen Klopp’s words from three years ago, that “there are three clubs in world football who can do what they want financially” – referring to Newcastle, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

He was talking about state ownership but nothing like Liverpool’s window has really been seen in the English game, at least in relative terms. It’s true top-of-the-food chain spending, in the way Real Madrid used to do. Liverpool would of course have some obvious ripostes.

For one, Klopp’s side repeatedly lost out to City’s financial superiority over six years, but the very spirit of the team ensured they became one of the most admired in the world. That in turn made them one of the most commercially attractive in the world, which has allowed them to “organically” develop this position of financial power. They can claim they’re “due”.

Astute player trading has also ensured they still have a lower net spend than Arsenal in this window in terms of fees, even after Isak arrives. Liverpool’s last published wage bill was £80m higher, but there has also been considerable change there.

Much of this is also from the fact they spent barely anything over 2024. This window would look a lot less bombastic had they signed any of Isak, Wirtz or Ekitike last summer. Liverpool have consequently built up a lot of PSR headroom.

This is a victory of supreme planning, from perhaps the best-run club in football, who have only amplified what was already one of the best teams in football.

Liverpool haven’t done anything like this since the end of the 1980s, and it might offer the symmetry of setting off another glory era. They will surely be going to win both the league and the Champions League in the same season, for the first time since 1984.

This is a project coming to “maturation”. It may not feel very “moneyball” but that is exactly what moneyball is supposed to evolve to. You initially spend cleverly, so you get to the point you can eventually spend more; that you can compete. It is about evolution and growth. A capitalist fund like FSG has successfully grown a prize asset.

There are wider points to be explored. Multiple things can be true at once. You can laud Liverpool’s planning, and how well they’re run, and also have wider discussions about how the game is run.

Financial disparity remains a problem. This, it should be stressed, is not an argument against PSR. That is just a financial constraint, that is essential to the sustainability of the sport.

The problem, as The Independent has long argued, is the system that PSR sits in. It is one where distribution of revenue and talent is grossly unequal, creating this self-perpetuating cycle where there is an ever narrower concentration of wealth.

You only have to look at the way Champions League prize money has been distributed over the past two decades, and especially between the eight crucial years of 2016 to 2024 that traversed the Super League.

As the most prominent example, Leicester City would have been guaranteed a mere £1.5m had they qualified for the Champions League at the end of the 2020-21 season. Chelsea instead pipped them to fourth, and were guaranteed at least £30m. That crowned a period from 1992 to 2018 where over a third of all Champions League prize money went to only 12 clubs – the Super League clubs. The figure is of course even more striking if you include Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

And all this in a world where a series of competition law cases are now questioning both Fifa and Uefa about competitive balance in the sport. Football’s authorities have overseen this system that has fostered such financial disparity. Hence a theme of this summer, where the old big six have signed so many stars from the Premier League’s previously burgeoning middle classes. The Isak transfer represents the culmination of all that. Newcastle are left working around it.

This is consequently something much bigger than Liverpool’s spending this summer, and there are other counter-arguments there, too.

They haven’t even retained the Premier League yet. They’ve still had to make strategic calculations, from who to sell and where to buy. Slot hasn’t got that No 6 midfielder he would have loved in Martin Zubimendi. The imbalance of the squad has already been repeatedly pointed out this season, and this signing further front-loads that sensational attack.

Marc Guehi might also arrive to shore up the defence, but Slot is clearly going for goals; for risk, for rolling the dice. There is a lot to be admired in that.

Rivals like Arsenal or City could have apportioned their budgets in different ways. City instead went for a refresh. Arsenal went for depth. Liverpool have gone for game-changers.

In doing so, they may well have changed the very power structure of the Premier League. That is about more than these famous old clubs. It’s about a new world of owners, and where the power really lies.

Boris tried to meet Queen when he had Covid – the most explosive claims in new royal book

The late Queen’s political leanings and Queen Camilla’s experience of fighting off a sexual assault on a train as a teenager are among several eye-opening claims made in a new royal book.

Penned by former Times royal correspondent Valentine Low, Power And The Palace aims to expose the behind-closed-doors relationship between the monarchy and the government through interviews with a series of senior politicians, civil servants, and royal aides.

Released on 11 September, the book is already making headlines after a number of claims have emerged through excerpts printed in The Times ahead of publication.

Queen Camilla fought off a sexual assault by a stranger on a train when she was a schoolgirl, according to Low’s new book.

Disclosed in a conversation with Boris Johnson, the Queen told of how she took off her shoe and “whacked him in the nuts” with her heel before reporting the incident to the police when she arrived.

Mr Johnson’s former communications director Guto Harri told Mr Low: “She was on a train going to Paddington — she was about 16, 17 — and some guy was moving his hand further and further…”

Mr Harri said after Mr Johnson asked what she did next, Camilla had replied: “I did what my mother taught me to. I took off my shoe and whacked him in the nuts with the heel.

“She was self-possessed enough when they arrived at Paddington to jump off the train, find a guy in uniform and say, ‘That man just attacked me’, and he was arrested.”

One of the biggest claims to emerge from Mr Low’s new book is her account of Queen Elizabeth II opposed Brexit.

In the book, Mr Low includes details of a conversation between the late Queen and a minister during which she reportedly said: “We shouldn’t leave the EU,” before adding: “It’s better to stick with the devil you know.”

It’s a weighty claim to make due to the monarch’s duty to stay politically neutral at all times, and also contradicts previous reports of her attitude towards Europe.

In 2016, The Sun splashed the headline “The Queen backs Brexit,” reporting that in 2011 she allegedly told then-deputy prime minister Nick Clegg: “I don’t understand Europe.” Press watchdog IPSO later ruled the headline as “significantly misleading” after the Queen complained.

Writing in Power and The Palace, Mr Low said: “On a fundamental level, she saw the EU as part of the post-war settlement, marking an era of co-operation after two world wars.

“If the Queen had had a vote, she would have voted Remain.”

Claims in the book suggest Queen Elizabeth II did not support her son’s campaigning approach to issues such as climate change, including his writing letters to ministers.

Mr Low quotes a palace source who claims her view of the letters was: “Just don’t do it. As soon as you engage in politics, you have an opinion and you pick a side – you cause a part of the population who disagree to take a partial view of you.

“The view of those who want to protect the monarchy was that it had to be even more elevated from the politics. Anything that dragged her into the mud was an unhelpful development.”

It is well known that the monarch is duty-bound to be politically neutral. But in the book, sources told Mr Low the late Queen was more politically outspoken behind closed doors than would be expected.

George Osborne told Mr Low: “I was constantly astonished by how candid she was and that none of this ever came out.

“She’d be very forthright in telling you what she thought of individuals, including members of her own family, and what she thought about things going on in the country.”

Then-prime minister Boris Johnson reportedly tried to meet with Queen Elizabeth II while he was in the early stages of infection with Covid, according to the book.

A previous account of the incident told by Mr Johnson’s adviser Dominic Cummings reported he had told the PM the move was “insane”.

But a source told Mr Low that Mr Cummings’s exact words were: “You will f***ing kill the Queen. Are you f***ing mad?”

Buckingham Palace have declined to comment.

Make the most of London this summer with this stadium experience

Whether you’re experiencing London for the first time or you’re a family with kids keen to create unforgettable memories during the holidays, a visit to this world-famous stadium in North London is a must.

After 90 years at their beloved Highbury stadium, Arsenal’s ambitions outgrew their original home and in 2006, the club opened the Emirates. With a seating capacity of over 60,000, the Emirates stadium is one of the largest in England. The sheer scale of this field of dreams must be seen to believed — and thanks to its easy-to-reach location, you can hop on a bus or train and get there in no time.

Once there, Arsenal’s award-winning tours open the doors to parts of the stadium that are usually off-limits to the public. For sightseers who prefer to go at their own pace and for those with little ones who tire easily, the club’s self-guided audio-visual tour is a great option.

Fans and families can take their time to soak in the atmosphere and stroll in the footsteps of footballing legends, imagining the roar of the crowd as you step into the players’ tunnel. Afterwards, feel the tension rise in the dugout and experience the best seats in the house in the directors’ box.

It’s a rare opportunity to glimpse the inner workings of a prestigious football club and explore normally restricted areas that also include the home and away dressing rooms, the media lounge and the exclusive members-only Diamond Club.

Available in seven languages on a state-of-the-art handheld device, the tour is narrated by Arsenal presenter David Frimpong, otherwise known as ‘Frimmy’, as well as featuring commentary from Arsenal legends Alex Scott and David Seaman.

As well as audio, the tour recreates the electric atmosphere of matchday using 360-degree augmented footage and includes brand new interactive elements. You can also take souvenir photos with iconic Arsenal trophies, including that of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

The Arsenal Legend Stadium Tour is a more bespoke alternative to the self-guided tour, where visitors can explore the stadium for 90 minutes alongside an Arsenal hero. Tour guides include Nigel Winterburn and Perry Groves, as well as former women’s captain Faye White MBE.

During the tour, the Arsenal legend will share memories, anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories from their time on the pitch, offering a unique insider’s perspective on life at the club. Expect plenty of humour, fascinating insights and a chance to hear back-room gossip straight from the legends themselves. There’s also a chance for a Q&A and photo opportunity with your Arsenal legend of choice.

Included with every tour ticket is entry into Arsenal’s interactive museum situated right next door to the stadium. Chart the club’s evolution from humble origins in Woolwich in 1886 to its modern powerhouse status with a global following of over 100 million fans.

The museum features two impressive video theatres, showing highlights from the club’s origins to the present day as well as twenty major displays of Arsenal’s proud history. Feast your eyes on silverware from the club’s most successful eras, Michael Thomas’s boots from Anfield 1989 and Jens Lehmann’s goalkeeper gloves worn for every league match of the unbeaten Invincibles season in 2003/4.

For lifelong Gooners, it’s a trip down memory lane. For families and tourists, it’s an eye-opening lesson in why football matters so much to the UK and is the perfect outing to experience London at its most authentic.

This content is brought to you by Living360, a digital lifestyle destination keeping you up to date with health and fitness, food and drink, homes and gardens, beauty, travel, finance trends and more.

Israel plans to detain Greta Thunberg in terrorist-level conditions

An aid flotilla bound for Gaza carrying Greta Thunberg was forced to return to port in Barcelona on Monday due to a storm – just a day after it set sail.

The Global Sumud Flotilla left the Spanish city on Sunday, carrying food, water and medicine in what activists claimed was the largest civilian maritime mission to Israel of the war so far.

But just hours into the journey, the flotilla returned to port due to adverse weather conditions, and it remains unclear when it will set sail again.

The Independent looks at who is taking part in the flotilla and the challenges it faces en route to the war-torn region.

The Global Sumud Flotilla consists of dozens of boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists who are aiming to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza and deliver food and supplies to the enclave.

Organisers say the flotilla is the largest maritime mission to Gaza so far. According to Al Jazeera, it is made up of more than 50 ships and delegations from at least 44 countries.

Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau are also part of the flotilla.

The first convoy had been due to arrive to meet with a second wave of vessels in Tunisia on Thursday.

Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is said to be drafting up plans for the arrest of Thunberg and the seizure of the flotilla, Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported. There are plans to convert the ships into a police fleet.

Sources close to Ben-Gvir told the newspaper: “Following several weeks at Ktzi’ot and Damon (Israeli prisons), they’ll be sorry about the time they arrived here. We must eliminate their appetite for another attempt.”

They added that Thunberg could be detained in “terrorist-level conditions”.

Israel Hayom reported that a meeting was set to take place at prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence concerning their strategy against the more than 200 people who are part of the flotilla.

The newspaper reported that last Thursday, Mr Ben-Gvir developed a strategy he was to present to Mr Netanyahu, which would see the detainment of activists in the Ktzi’ot and Damon detention centres for females.

Gaza is currently in the grip of famine, according to the United Nations and other major humanitarian organisations.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the 23-month war has killed more than 63,000 Palestinians, with at least 332 dying of malnutrition, including 124 children.

Ms Thunberg said they hoped to “deliver humanitarian aid and break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and open up a people’s humanitarian corridor”.

She said: “This project is part of a global uprising of people standing up… when our governments fail to step up, the people will take their place, and that their atrocities and their complicity in the genocide in Gaza right now… is not something that we can stand for.”

On 9 June, a flotilla carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg on a weeklong journey to Gaza was boarded by Israeli military forces and transported to Israel.

The 12-person Madleen vessel was intercepted off the coast of Gaza in the early hours, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) that manages the boat. It had left Catania, Sicily on 1 June, carrying a nominal amount of humanitarian aid.

In a statement on social media, they said Israeli forces had “rammed and boarded” the vessel. An hour prior to the statement, they claimed they were “drones overhead”.

The group was taken to the port of Ashdod, from where they returned to their home countries. Israel Katz, the country’s defence minister, said he had instructed the military to show the flotilla passengers videos of the 7 October massacres when they arrived in Israel.

He claimed it was necessary for “Greta and her fellow Hamas supporters to see exactly who the Hamas terrorist organisation they came to support and for whom they work is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself”.

Named after Gaza’s only female fisher, Madleen Kullab, the vessel was carrying Thunberg and French-Palestinian member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, among others.

Ms Thunberg shot to fame in 2018 when she decided to skip school as a 15-year-old in an attempt to persuade the Swedish parliament to take more action on climate change.

BA wrongly turns away passenger at Gatwick and then says she was late

At 7.15am on Thursday 5 June, Claire Hannington, 45, and three friends arrived at Gatwick airport. They were booked on a British Airways flight two hours later to Ibiza.

Ms Hannington, an interior designer from Hertfordshire, had verified in advance that her passport was valid.

But BA ground staff at the Sussex airport once again chose to invent their own rules on passport validity, and she was wrongly turned away.

“I was removed from the queue without time to process what was happening, ask questions or have the matter properly verified,” she told The Independent.

“I was overwhelmed and in tears. I trusted the BA staff as the experts in these matters. I was told, emphatically, that my only option was to go to the Passport Office, get a same-day passport and buy a brand new flight.

“I felt deeply guilty, wrongly believing the error might be mine and that I had jeopardised my friends’ holiday as well.”

Later that day, British Airways staff at London City airport confirmed Ms Hannington was entitled to travel on her existing passport. A flight was available that afternoon – but to board it she would have to pay an additional £780.

Ms Hannington instead paid £392 for an evening flight on BA from Gatwick. As her passport was valid, she proceeded through the airport without a problem and joined her friends later that night on the Spanish holiday island.

The post-Brexit rules on passport validity for the European Union took effect in 2021. Because there was some scope for misunderstanding, The Independent clarified them with Brussels and shared the rules with the leading UK airlines.

For a trip to anywhere in the EU (except Ireland), a British passport must meet two conditions:

Ms Hannington’s passport, which The Independent has seen, met both stipulations, which are independent of each other.

Unfortunately, ground staff at airports working for a range of airlines – in particular easyJet – have created a condition of their own, wrongly insisting that UK passports “expire” after nine years and nine months.

While British Airways has followed the rules at its main base, London Heathrow, BA staff at Gatwick have wrongly turned away passengers in the past.

Ms Hannington said: “The decision to deny me boarding was made far too hastily, without taking the necessary time to triple-check the actual entry rules or passport validity.

“In that moment, I accepted what I was told as fact. But the decision was wrong. Nobody took the time to calmly go through the detail with me. Had someone done so, it would have been clear that my passport met all the requirements — and I would have boarded my flight.

“Instead, I was left humiliated, crying, and trying to navigate a way forward on my own.”

Following the recommendation of BA staff, Ms Hannington caught a train to London to go to the Passport Office. But during the journey to the east London location, she received confirmation her document was valid. So she went to nearby London City airport in the hope that British Airways would allow her to travel on the afternoon flight to the Spanish island.

BA staff at the Docklands airport told her that although she was fully documented, she could not travel without paying nearly £800. They had been told by colleagues at Gatwick that Ms Hannington had missed the flight, which was false: at the time the airline’s deadline for check-in expired, she was already speeding away from the airport by train to try to obtain another passport, as British Airways staff had advised.

After having paid £1,250 for a package holiday, Ms Hannington spent a further £392 for the last seat on the evening’s Gatwick-Ibiza flight.

At the end of her unexpectedly short holiday, she contacted British Airways – expecting to be promptly reimbursed and compensated for denial of boarding as the law demands.

Yet for many weeks BA failed to respond adequately. After almost three months The Independent became involved. The airline then contacted Ms Hannington – but doubled down and blamed her once again for turning up late at check-in.

British Airways customer service staff told her in a letter: “The airport records show that you arrived after the check-in deadline for flight BA2680. Regrettably, this means I am unable to accept liability on behalf of British Airways for the denied boarding.”

She was offered a refund for the extra ticket she had bought, but the airline made clear in the letter “this offer does not represent an admission of liability”.

The Independent believes Ms Hannington is entitled to reimbursement of all the extra costs she incurred, as well as £220 in denied-boarding compensation. She is also likely to have a claim against the package trip subsidiary of BA, British Airways Holidays, for the loss of part of her trip.

Ms Hannington said: “After 12 weeks of chasing, I’m left deeply disheartened that BA still refuses to own their mistake. A flight refund doesn’t even begin to cover the extra travel, a day’s lost holiday, and the stress I endured, for nothing.

“Most troubling of all, they’ve even falsely claimed I wasn’t at check-in on time, despite clear evidence and witnesses.

“BA’s own motto is ‘To Fly. To Serve.’ Yet here they’ve served nothing but denial. Mistakes happen, but trust is earned by owning them.”

A spokesperson for British Airways said: “We have apologised to our customer for their experience, and we are in touch to make things right.”

Read more: Your rights if you are wrongly denied boarding