David Beckham becomes a knight in ‘proudest moment’ of career

Sir David Beckham has disclosed that the King inspired the suit he wore when he received his knighthood, an honour the football icon described as the “proudest moment” of his career.

The former England captain and Manchester United star was recognised for his services to sport and charity during a ceremony at Windsor Castle.

His wife, Lady Victoria Beckham, who designed the grey suit, accompanied the 50-year-old footballing icon to the event.

Recalling his interaction with Charles, Sir David told the PA news agency: “He was quite impressed with my suit.

“He’s kind of the most elegantly dressed man that I know, so he inspired quite a few of my looks over the years and he definitely inspired this look.

“It was something that my wife made me.

“I looked at old pictures of him when he was quite young in morning suits and I was like, OK, that’s what I want to wear, so I gave it to my wife and she did it.”

He said he has felt emotional over the knighthood since he was recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours earlier this year.

“I’ve been very obviously lucky in my career to have won what I’ve won and done what I’ve done but to receive an honour like this, of a knight, is beyond anything that I ever thought that I would receive,” Sir David told PA.

“To be honest, a young boy from the East End of London, born in Leytonstone, and here at Windsor Castle, being honoured by His Majesty the King – the most important and the most respected institution in the world – it’s quite a moment.

“This is without doubt my proudest moment.”

He added that it was a “huge honour” to be recognised for both his sporting career and for the philanthropic work he has done since he was “probably 17”.

Speaking about his drive, Sir David said he realised early on that people listen to him and that that was a “powerful tool” in the world of charity.

“I think mostly it’s because of the career that I’ve had and the teams that I’ve played for and the things that I’ve won and the respect that I’ve gained throughout my career, and I think that that is why people listen to me,” he said.

“And I think it’s a very powerful tool to have in charity. I just found very quickly that we could make change with things that I said and things that I got involved in and I think that’s why it’s so important to me.”

Alongside his football career, Sir David has supported a number of charity causes, including serving as a goodwill ambassador for the humanitarian aid organisation Unicef since 2005.

“All the things that I do, I do out of love,” he went on.

“I don’t do it because I’m forced to do it, I don’t do it because I have to do it, I do it because it’s important.”

Also among the personalities honoured on Tuesday were Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sir Kazuo Ishiguro and West End performer Dame Elaine Paige.

Tommy Robinson found not guilty over border stop terror charge

Tommy Robinson has been cleared of a terror offence after refusing to give police access to his phone when he was stopped at the border in a Bentley with thousands of pounds in cash.

Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was driving a silver Bentayga SUV to the Spanish tourist hotspot of Benidorm when he was stopped by officers at the Channel Tunnel last year, a court heard.

Police were suspicious of the 42-year-old’s “vague replies” about what he was doing and demanded access to his iPhone under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, which gives police the power to stop anyone passing through a UK port “to determine whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”.

On Tuesday, district judge Sam Goozee found Robinson not guilty of failing to comply with the counterterrorism powers during the incident in Folkestone on 28 July last year.

Mr Goozee said: “I cannot put out of my mind that it was actually what you stood for and your political beliefs that acted for the principle reason for this stop.”

He also said that Pc Mitchell Thorogood’s decision to stop Robinson was based on a “protected characteristic”, adding: “I cannot convict you.”

There were cheers in the public gallery while Robinson left the dock with his hands in his hoodie pocket.

The far-right figure had faced a three-week wait for his verdict because he had a pre-planned trip to Israel.

As the two-day trial took place last month, the former English Defence League leader said in a video posted on X that billionaire Elon Musk had “picked up the legal bill” for “this absolute state persecution”.

Opening the case, prosecutor Jo Morris said officers “became concerned” about the activist’s “demeanour” after he drove alone into the police inspection area. “He gave short, vague replies and made no eye contact,” she continued.

Robinson, who was recognised by police, was led to an interview room and his phone was seized, the court heard.

On the way there, he tried to film a video of himself saying he had been arrested, and was told by officers to “relax”, the trial was told.

Asked to hand over the phone’s PIN, Robinson replied: “Not a chance, bruv … you look like c***s so you ain’t having it.”

“It’s my work, I’m a journalist,” he said, adding that the phone held information about “vulnerable girls”.

“The process by which journalistic material would be protected was explained to him,” Ms Morris said.

The court heard that while being interviewed, Robinson told the officers: “For me it’s a win-win, it’s going to be bad for yous.”

The campaigner had more than £13,000 and €1,900 on him when he was stopped and was travelling in a high-value car that was not registered under his name, the trial heard.

He had also booked his tickets to travel on the day, the court was told.

Under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, the person who is detained can be held for up to six hours, is legally obliged to answer questions and must provide the password or PIN for electronic devices, or be held to have committed a criminal offence if they refuse.

Alisdair Williamson KC, defending, had said the stop and detention was unlawful because officers had taken a “discriminatory stance” based on their knowledge of Robinson’s views.

Mr Williamson said the officers’ intervention was discriminatory because it was based to a “significant degree on a protected characteristic”.

He said the “predominant influence” on PC Mitchell Thorogood’s decision to stop him was “oh look, it’s Tommy Robinson”.

Mr Williamson added: “If MI5 didn’t think that Mr Lennon is a terrorist, what did PC Thorogood think he was going to learn by asking him about publicly available information?”

He suggested Robinson travelled to Benidorm regularly, which should have lessened the officers’ suspicions about him.

The lawyer said there was “no evidence that the stop was carried out diligently or expeditiously”, and that it was a “fishing expedition” as there was nothing to link Robinson to terrorism.

Why I’ve had the names of all my ex-lovers’ mothers tattooed on my torso

Harriet Richardson is not an angry person. Except, it seems, when it comes to art. “You could draw a line through most of my projects and find them founded in anger. Revenge. Fury.”

It was during her first Edinburgh Fringe that her newest idea blossomed. “I don’t know if you know much about the comedy circuit…” The 30-year-old asks, squinting her eyes at me. Male comedians? I’ve only ever heard wonderful things.

She nods and lets out a weary breath. “I have genuinely started to believe that God put them on the earth to annoy ideas out of me.” Ideas like her 2023 performance art piece, in which Richardson spent Valentine’s Day conducting 100 online speed dates with 100 people, including total strangers, close friends, and exes. The dates were livestreamed, so anyone could observe the awkward pauses and the flirting. Even then, she was interested in the art of endurance. While each person had a five-minute slot, Harriet sat at her laptop for 16 hours.

In Edinburgh, she started to think about the “Madonna-Wh***” complex: the distinction made between women who are seen as disposable versus women who are supposed to be revered and respected. What if the two opposites were combined? What if, in fact, they were brought intimately together? Harriet selected her own body to represent the former group. And for the latter… what better symbol than that of the mother?

The concept for ‘Temporary’ came from this dichotomy. Richardson would get a tattoo of the names of her 14 ex-lovers’ mothers, all the way from her first teenage boyfriend to her most recent (and most grown-up) break-up.

“I was very conscious not to use men’s names,” Harriet explains. “The people that are, arguably, more important to me than the men – are the women who raised them.”

Finding the names of her ex’s mothers was no simple task. For 12 of them, Richardson could rely on memory, her own diaries, or Facebook accounts – publicly available information which no one thinks twice about displaying on social media. (Until, perhaps, your ex-lover decides to get it tattooed on their body.)

One man who’d ghosted her before a date later told her over the phone that he’d done so because of his dad’s birthday. With the work for ‘Temporary’ already underway, Harriet asked him for a reminder of his dad’s name. And then, just out of interest: What was your mum’s name again? “As soon as he said it, I went and wrote the name down in, like, 10 places.”

Richardson didn’t tell any of her exes what she was up to: that, she says, would have felt like asking permission. “It’s an act of self, not a collaboration.”

Some required more painstaking research. To track down the names of two mothers of men whom she’d had fleeting encounters with, Richardson hired a private investigator, who assured her he would use only legal, above-the-board methods.

“It’s open access information and free will,” The artist says. “It’s not invasive. You can’t say it’s unethical. Or at least, it’s no more unethical than having sex with me and then not speaking to me again.”

Once the names were found, fact-checked, and organised, Richardson went to David Walker, a tattoo artist in Liverpool, along with Emily Lomas, who filmed and photographed the process. A few hours later, the deed was totally, irreversibly done.

But it would be another six months before Harriet showed the tattoo to the world. She loved the idea of it being just for her. “I was a bit hesitant. But somewhere along the way, I thought no, I’m really proud of it.

“And it is for me. That’s the full stop. I’ve believed that since I came up with the idea, and since I got it done.”

Harriet is not sure if any of the mothers have seen the tattoo, but she does know that one of their sons has. After posting ‘Temporary’ on Instagram on 20 October, one ex-lover reacted to her story with a “clapping” emoji. When she asked if he had any other comments, he mutely sent a smiley face. “An emoji.” She loves it. “The fact that it can’t even be written in, like, pen and ink. It’s so symbolic of that relationship.”

It’s no coincidence that Richardson got this particular tattoo during her newfound and painfully realised celibacy. “Every single addiction I’ve ever had is a moderation one,” Harriet says from her London flat, a statue of a naked woman’s torso sitting demurely behind her. “You can’t live without food, so you have to find a way to have a healthy relationship with it. It’s the same with people. You can’t just not see another human ever again.”

And after years of painful relationships with what she describes as “dismissive-avoidant” men, Richardson was in the market for a self-policing strategy. The tattoo is long term, not just in its existence, but in the artist’s dedication to maintaining it.

Harriet describes her vision to me: any potential new partner will be asked for their mother’s name upfront, and have the tattoo explained. If they go on to spend the night together, she will go to the nearest tattoo parlour the next morning and get the name added.

“It’s a hard boundary that I now have to exercise. It means they see the real me very quickly – they can’t have sex with me unless they know me. That’s a novelty. I’ve had full relationships with men who never got to know any parts of me that were worth knowing.”

It’s a good measure, the artist muses, of which people to let into her life. If they have a problem with the tattoo, then how likely is a sustainable relationship? “This piece will change who I sleep with. That’s the point of it. I have a sex and love addiction problem. I don’t want frivolous encounters that don’t care about me.”

Public reaction to the tattoo has been volatile. Some love it, while in others it seems to inspire passionate revulsion. She has been accused of being anti-feminist, self-hating, and attention-seeking. Those who dislike it are disturbed by the concept of a young woman marking her body permanently based on the men she’s had sex with, and choosing to continue the ritual throughout the rest of her life.

However, Harriet has noticed that people’s feelings seem to change with time. One comment called the work disgusting, only to return a day later and confess that they actually quite liked it. In response to the claims of anti-feminism, Harriet keeps it short. “I feel like I’m taking control and power back. I don’t really have much else to say apart from: it was my choice. There’s nothing more feminist than a woman making a choice about her own body.”

Especially illuminating is the discourse about the number. Under every comment which says 14 is far too many or too few people to have slept with by the age of 30, there will be a reply underneath, earnestly explaining that they thought the opposite. Richardson finds it comforting. “If 20,000 people think I’m a sl*t and 20,000 people think I’m a virgin, it must mean I’m somewhere in the middle, which is a person.”

Six months down the line, she loves the list of mothers, Harriet says, and finds the whole thing funnier than she had expected. “I have moments, like when I’m in the shower and imagine us all squished in there together, or on the treadmill and it’s all of us running, each mother complaining about being dragged along for the ride. I like that none of them chose to be connected, or for me to be connected to the rest of them – but now they are. I think it’s quite nice that we share something in common.”

The reaction Harriet was most scared of was of her own mother. Her parents were always strict and conservative, “which, by the way, explains absolutely everything,” and tattoos were an obvious no-go. Her mum’s reaction was straightforward: “You’re 30, it’s your body, you can do what you want. I don’t want to see it, I don’t want to look at it, please don’t tell me.”

Though the tattoo is, by design, never truly finished, Harriet finds satisfaction in imagining a metaphorical line under the list as it currently stands. “[The men] all have something in common, and it’s not necessarily something I want to entertain again. I didn’t have to put 19-year-old Harriet through all of that, but I obviously did, in a way, to become who I am today. I regret some of the relationships. But I just know I’ll never regret that tattoo. It’s so cool.”

It’s a wider symbolism which characterises the piece for Harriet. “It feels like I’m closing a chapter, not just on ‘straight white man who’s in control of me’, but on ‘straight’ and ‘white’ and ‘man’, individually, as concepts.” It ties into questions she’s been wrestling privately about sexuality, what sex means to her, and who she’s attracted to.

And what about the anger which fuelled the concept in the first place? Harriet no longer feels it. Her projects, though founded in provocation, are always the motor by which she processes things. “I forgive a lot of the people on the list, I forgive the people from Fringe, and in short, I’m over it. I’m not angry anymore.” She laughs. “I’m sure I’ll find something else to be angry about soon.”

‘Predatory’ ex-police officer accused of abusing girl and woman

A former police officer sexually abused a girl and a woman in a “pattern” of offending spanning years, a court has heard.

David Carrick, 50, is accused of repeatedly sexually molesting a girl on a number of occasions in the late 1980s.

On one occasion, she found herself “trapped” between a chair and a sofa and recalled trying to scream and get away, the court was told.

When she was 14, the girl allegedly told her mother what was going on after being found sleeping behind her bedroom door.

Carrick allegedly made admissions about what he had done to the girl in a letter recovered from his medical records and signed “Dave”.

In it, Carrick wrote that the girl was “not crazy” and that it was “true”, but he had stopped about four months ago.

He wrote: “I know how (the girl) must feel. That’s why I stopped and promised I would never go near her again and I have kept that promise and I always will.”

He offered to go away and never be seen again, adding: “Sorry to you and especially sorry to (the girl) but she does not have to worry ever again. Please do not try to talk about it.”

More than 20 years later, he allegedly raped and sexually assaulted a woman with whom he was in a “toxic relationship”.

Opening a trial at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, prosecutor Tom Little KC said: “This case that you are now trying is primarily about sexual offending committed many years apart by this defendant.

“But in respect of all the offending, whenever it was committed, the defendant was, we say, very predatory and controlling.

“This was not isolated offending but part of a pattern which the defendant perpetrated over many years.”

Mr Little said that, in 2022 and 2023, Carrick pleaded guilty to a “large number” of sexual and other offences relating to a significant number of other women, nearly all of whom he knew.

The first complainant in the trial was aged about 12 when she was sexually assaulted by the defendant, it was alleged.

The woman was raped “on a number of occasions” and subjected to a sex act to which she did not consent, Mr Little said.

He told jurors: “Much of this offending occurred during the course of what was a toxic relationship between the two of them and which was controlled by him.”

Mr Little added: “It is also relevant for you to know that he was at the time of that relationship, as he was for many years, a Metropolitan Police officer.”

Carrick has denied five counts of sexual assault relating to the girl in 1989 and 1990.

He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape, one of sexual assault and coercive and controlling behaviour towards the woman between 2014 and 2019.

Neither of the alleged victims in the case can be identified for legal reasons.

The Old Bailey trial continues.

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Unseen Virginia Giuffre interview to air after Trump comments on Prince Andrew fallout

Previously unseen footage from an interview with Virginia Giuffre in 2019 will be aired tonight amid the continuing fallout over Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s ties to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

In the interview, which featured on BBC Panorama, the late Ms Giuffre told the story of how she met Andrew in London in 2001, when she was 17 years old.

Ms Giuffre has claimed that Andrew had sex with her three times. She told the BBC: “He knows what happened, I know what happened. And there’s only one of us telling the truth.”

Andrew has strenuously denied all allegations.

It comes as US president Donald Trump said he feels “badly” for the royal family, lamenting that Andrew’s titles being stripped is a “terrible thing”.

When questioned about the King’s decision to remove Andrew’s prince title, the US president said: “It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the (royal) family.

“That’s been a tragic situation. It’s too bad. I feel badly for the family.”

Segments from the interview with Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, will air at 8pm on Tuesday on BBC One.

Flood alerts issued as parts of UK brace for heavy rain

Heavy rain is expected across parts of the UK for the next two days as a yellow weather warning has been issued by the Met Office alongside several flood alerts.

Following recent spells of wet weather, the rain is set to become more persistent and widespread once again, with the weather warning issued from midday on Tuesday to 8am on Wednesday.

The areas covered by the warning are Wales and parts of south-west England including Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Plymouth and Torbay.

The government has issued 11 flood warnings – meaning flooding is expected – for areas such as Brampton, Keswick, Carlisle, Warwick Holmes. Another 33 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, are also in place. More information can be found on the GOV.UK website.

A Met Office spokesperson said: “Breezy but mild weather continues this week with some heavy rain developing in places. Rain is expected to turn heavier during Tuesday afternoon with yellow warnings in place for parts of the South West and southern Wales until Wednesday morning, where 20 to 40mm of rain is expected widely.

“Some exposed south-facing hills of the Brecon Beacons and Dartmoor could see more than 50mm, with stronger winds expected on exposed coasts. Wednesday looks to bring a more settled picture, with autumnal showers and mild temperatures.”

The Met Office said drivers can expect journey times to be longer due to spray and flooding on roads, and public transport such as bus and train services are likely to be affected.

People are advised to check road conditions if driving, or bus and train timetables, to have the best chance of avoiding delays. They are also advised to amend travel plans if necessary.

The forecaster added that those living in an area covered by the weather warning should check if they could be at risk of flooding, and prepare a plan and emergency kit accordingly.

In case of power cuts, people are urged to carry torches, batteries, a mobile phone power bank and other essential items.

The Met Office recommends staying up to date with the latest weather forecast and flood alerts, and being prepared for conditions to change rapidly.

If you are trapped in a building by floodwater, you are advised to go to the highest level in the building (only go to a roof if necessary) and call 999 and wait for help. Avoid attic spaces to prevent being trapped by rising water.