Babies and toddlers referred to counterterror scheme hundreds of times

Babies and toddlers have been referred to the government’s anti-terror scheme Prevent on hundreds of occasions since 2016, with infants under the age of one referred 45 times.

A freedom of information request submitted by Hyphen to the Home Office revealed that children aged between two to five were referred a further 500 times between 2016-17 to 2023-24.

Nearly half (46 per cent) of the Prevent referrals for children under the age of 10 during this period were for “Islamist” concerns, with the figure jumping to 70 per cent for under three-year-olds.

Prevent is one of the four strands of the national counterterrorism strategy Contest, which aims at identifying individuals at risk of being drawn into terrorism and offers them support to steer them away from extremism.

Overall, the scheme has received 2,989 referrals of concern regarding under-10-year-olds, with 1,390 of these being “Islamist” concerns.

The human rights charity Rights and Security International had raised concerns in January that the personal data of those referred was remaining in other databases indefinitely, even after being deleted from the Prevent database after six years.

They argued that this was “risking real long-term impacts on the person referred, including children who have since become adults”.

In response to the findings, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told Hyphen it was “shocking, saddening and utterly farcical” that babies and toddlers have been referred to Prevent.

He added: “These latest revelations expose how certain communities are criminalised for simply existing – to the point where even babies and toddlers are stereotyped and labelled as extremists.”

Independent MP Ayoub Khan said he would be writing to the Home Office to raise his concerns over our findings. Mr Khan said: “I am deeply concerned by reports that babies and toddlers have been referred to the government’s Prevent counterterrorism scheme.

“If accurate, this raises serious questions about how public funds are being used and whether such actions are proportionate, necessary, or in the best interests of children and their families.

“Referring infants and very young children, who clearly cannot pose a threat, risks undermining public confidence in Prevent and may contribute to the marginalisation of innocent communities.”

Last week, the Home Office released updated figures showing a record number of referrals since data began in 2015.

There were 8,778 referrals of individuals to the anti-extremism scheme in 2024/25 – up 27 per cent from 6,922 in the previous year.

The figures come as counterterrorism officials said earlier this week that there has been a significant increase in referrals since the Southport murders at a children’s dance class in July 2024.

Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana was referred to Prevent three times, but his case was closed due to a lack of a distinct ideology.

Following initial screening and assessment, Prevent referrals who are deemed at risk of radicalisation may be passed to a multi-agency “Channel panel”.

Chaired by local authorities, these panels determine the extent of a person’s susceptibility to radicalisation and whether a tailored package of support is necessary and proportionate to address the risk.

Individuals aged between 11 and 15 accounted for 39 per cent of all cases adopted as a Channel case.

Mahmood to scrap ‘failed experiment’ of police and crime commissioners

Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales are to be abolished in a bid to save tens of millions of pounds.

Ministers have declared the roles to be a “failed experiment” that has cost too much money and which the public are mostly unaware of.

First established in 2012 by Theresa May, these elected officials are currently responsible for setting police force budgets and appointing chief constables in their respective areas.

They were set up as part of efforts to increase accountability and standards of police forces, but critics have said they were ineffective.

Ministers intend to scrap the positions in 2028, coinciding with the next scheduled elections, a move projected to save at least £100m, which will be redirected to neighbourhood policing.

Their duties concerning policing arrangements will instead be absorbed by mayors and local council leaders.

The decision was confirmed by policing minister Sarah Jones in the House of Commons on Thursday.

In a statement, home secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “The introduction of police and crime commissioners by the last government was a failed experiment.

“I will introduce new reforms so police are accountable to their local mayoralties or local councils.

“The savings will fund more neighbourhood police on the beat across the country, fighting crime and protecting our communities.”

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp has accused the government of “tinkering around the edges”, which policing minister Sarah Jones has denied.

Mr Philp told the Commons: “The minister mentioned at the beginning the government’s plans to bring forward a police reform white paper, announced, from memory, about a year ago.

“But there hasn’t been a single sniff of that white paper since then. Perhaps she can tell us when we can expect it and why the government is so bereft of ideas, it has taken a year or more to publish that white paper.

“Now, today’s statement about police and crime commissioners represents, in my view, a tinkering around the edges from a government which is failing on crime and policing.

“If you like, it is simply rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, because this government is failing, police numbers are falling – they fell by 1,300 during Labour’s first year in office on a like-for-like March-to-March comparison – and not only are police numbers falling, they are continuing to fall and will drop even more this year.”

In her response, Ms Jones said: “Saving £100m, I think, is quite substantial and not ‘tinkering around the edges’ as he suggests.

“But what I would say to him is, if he waits a few more weeks, he will see the reform agenda that the home secretary [Mahmood] is designing in its totality.

“And it will put policing on a much better footing than he left it.”

Reacting to the announcement, Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) chair Emily Spurrell said the body is “deeply disappointed by this decision and the lack of engagement with us”.

She warned: “Abolishing PCCs now, without any consultation, as policing faces a crisis of public trust and confidence, and as it is about to be handed a much stronger national centre, risks creating a dangerous accountability vacuum.”

Ms Spurrell, who is also PCC Merseyside, said having directly-elected PCCs has “transformed policing accountability”.

Reform council leader defends party colleague who called police ‘British-hating scum’

A Reform council leader has jumped to the defence of a party councillor who was criticised over social media posts he made about the police and black women.

In now-deleted posts on X written before he was elected onto Staffordshire Country Council, Councillor Peter Mason called the police “a bunch of politically indoctrinated British hating scum”. In another post, from March 2024, he wrote: “What a surprise a statue of a fat arsed black woman.”

After the posts came to light, Councillor Mason, who is also the cabinet member for highways at the council, apologised and said he regretted his choice of words. In the statement, he sent to The Independent, he added that the posts were written during a difficult personal time when he was impacted by grief and redundancy.

However, political opponents at the council have called for him to step down, including Conservative group leader Philip White, who described the posts as “abhorrent”.

In response, Ian Cooper, leader of Staffordshire County Council, sent an email to Reform councillors to defend Councillor Mason, claiming he had come under “targeted political attack” since standing for Reform.

The memo, titled “Statement in Defence of Cllr Peter Mason”, appeared to then mistakenly be sent to every Staffordshire councillor, before it was seen by The Independent.

Councillor Cooper wrote: “These personal attacks are a deliberate attempt by Reform’s political opponents to distract from their failings and to politicise an individual’s right to express personal views.”

He continued: “Peter’s comment regarding a statue of a black woman was a critique of public art, not a personal attack on an individual. His views on policing also reflect concerns shared by many, including recent reporting that, the Metropolitan Police is expanding its “woke” workforce while facing a £250 million funding gap and cutting thousands of frontline jobs.”

Staffordshire County Council was one of 10 councils Reform gained control of at the local elections in May. Since then, the authorities, especially Kent County Council, have been under the spotlight amid speculation over the national party’s chances of winning the next general election.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer criticised the running of Kent council, where five councillors were reportedly expelled from the party last month after a video leak featuring its leader Linden Kemkaran raising her voice at colleagues.

In Staffordshire, Green councillor Jack Rose said: “What’s happening in Staffordshire is clear to residents that Reform are more interested in protecting themselves than taking responsibility for their posts and serving the county.”

Councillor White said: “This latest defence by the leader shows that rather than dealing with unacceptable behaviour, they wish to sweep it under the carpet and hope everyone can forget about it. Mr Mason should do the right thing and resign, not receive support from his leader over this.”

The Independent has contacted Councillor Cooper for a response. Councillor Mason said he would not resign, and hoped to move on from the episode. “We are all entitled to make mistakes, particularly when dealing with personal matters in our lives,” he said.

Staffordshire County Council referred the matter to Reform UK, which The Independent has approached for comment.

‘My mother-in-law spent years working for NHS. Last week she waited 10 hours outside hospital in an ambulance’

The family of an elderly woman forced to wait more than 10 hours in an ambulance outside a hospital have called for greater “compassion” from bosses.

Patricia Stain, aged 84, was rushed to Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham after suffering a fall at her home in Chelmsley Wood last Monday, 27 October.

But on arrival at the hospital at 10.50pm, Mrs Stain, who worked for more than 35 years as a hospital cleaner, had to wait 10 hours and 37 minutes with paramedics before finally being handed over for care at 9.27am.

University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust (UHB), which runs Heartlands, is among the worst trusts in the country for patient handovers, with the average time taken across its hospitals for a handover at 1hour 50min in October, compared to the standard of up to 45min, according to latest NHS figures.

Earlier this year, the trust was issued with enforcement measures by NHS England for breaching its licence conditions, including delays to ambulance handovers.

Ray Humphreys, Mrs Stain’s son-in-law, told The Independent: “We just couldn’t believe it when we got told [how long the wait was]. Patricia was in pain when she left her house, so you wonder how she managed for so long in an ambulance outside the hospital before going in the hospital for care.

“Younger people can cope with sitting in an ambulance for so long, but an older person who has just suffered a painful fall at home, it’s not good. There should be more compassion for the older generation.”

Scans at the hospital showed Mrs Stain suffered a fracture to her hip following her fall, said the family, who said she was due to be discharged this week.

Mr Humphreys said: “I have sympathy with the staff at the hospital as I saw them running around, having to do so much – but they need help with more investment and resources, especially as we enter the winter season.”

A spokesperson for NHS England called Mrs Stain’s wait “absolutely unacceptable”, and said the organisation was committed to reducing ambulance handover delays across the country.

They added: “All local health systems should be working jointly with ambulance, hospital and community services to ensure no one in an ambulance is left waiting outside a hospital for more than 45 minutes.”

In papers for its board of directors’ meeting in September, UHB, which also runs Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Good Hope Hospital and Solihull Hospital, said it expected to deliver an average handover time of 42min by March next year. In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson said the hospital was facing seasonal pressures caused by an increase in ambulance arrivals and a surge in flu cases.

They said: “We sincerely apologise for any delays our patients are experiencing, as we continue to face significant seasonal pressures in urgent and emergency care, including an 8% increase in ambulance arrivals and a substantial early surge in flu cases.

“Our teams are working tirelessly with partners across the region to manage these challenges and ensure our patients receive the safe, compassionate, and timely care they deserve.”

West Midlands Ambulance Service said was taking around half of patients to hospital to help the strain on wards, adding that ambulance arrivals make up only a quarter of patients at A&E departments.

A spokesperson said: “When ambulances are delayed handing their patient over at hospital, they are unable to respond to the next call, which impacts on the care of patients in the community. There is a direct correlation between hospital handover delays and our ability to get to patients in the community quickly.

“We rely on each part of the health and social care system to work together to allow our ambulances to get to patients quickly. We continue to work hard with our partners to find new ways to reduce the delays, so that we can save more lives.”

China uses ‘robot wolves’ for staged beach invasion in new war tactic

The Chinese army has revealed it has carried out staged ground invasions using ‘robot wolves’ amid growing fears that it is preparing for an invasion of Taiwan.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) revealed it is working on a new warfare tactic involving the military-purpose robots, which it first unveiled at an air show in 2024.

Footage on state television shows the ‘robot wolves’ being used as the first wave of attack in a drone-led assault. The four-legged robots are seen deployed in amphibious assault operations, as the PLA looks to develop its capabilities in “integrated manned-unmanned combat”, China’s CCTV state channel said according to Singapore-based news site Think China.

“What was the most dangerous 200 metres that soldiers risked their lives to breach is now accomplished by ‘wolfpacks’,” the report added.

The PLA said it is developing its tactics from employing a large number of soldiers to create a “human-wave” to instead use advanced technology as they look to carry out “intelligent-sea tactics”.

The dogs were able to clear barbed wire and other obstacles with ease, allowing the PLA to use the robots in a similar way to the ‘drone swarms’. These have become a critical tactical in the Ukraine war in which huge numbers of drones are used to overwhelm air defences, The Times report.

The exercise also reportedly featured swarms of first-person-view (FPV) kamikaze drones which launched precision strikes against mock defences, according to engineering website Interesting Engineering.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence issued a report saying it is training soldiers to shoot down drones and actively looking to procure new anti-drone weapons systems.

According to Chinese state media, these four-legged robots can fire precise shots and work in rough terrain. They are designed to assist in complex and dangerous battlefield conditions, with the aim to replace human soldiers to reduce combat casualties.

Weighing up at 70kg (154lb), the wolves can hit targets which are up to 100 metres away, Chinese media states.

“They’re suited for urban reconnaissance, breaching, or remote weapons but are limited by battery life, vulnerable communications, and small payloads,” Lt Col Jahara ‘Franky’ Matisek, a US Air Force command pilot and command centre director at the US Northern Command,” told The Independent last month.

“Their value hinges on robust sensors and secure networks, not just the platform. A lot of their drone tech in each domain looks impressive for parades, but is still too niche on battlefields – best for urban recon, not open-field charges.”

Mechanical animals cost thousands of pounds to produce, but they can come as cheap as the gun-toting robot dogs sold in China by tech company Unitree Robotics for as little as $1,600 (£1,300).

Travel photography how to: From diversity to detail, expert image tips

Travel means different things to different people – an escape from routine, a chance to explore the unfamiliar, or simply to experience life from a new perspective. My own trips often blend all of the above, and I believe the best travel photography reflects that diversity, whether that’s a misty morning on the moors, seeing (and smelling!) street food stalls, or towering city skyscrapers.

As a mobile photography workshop leader, I’m passionate about the potential of smartphones when it comes to taking these images. They’re light, quick, and let you capture the moment without fuss. I always say there are two types of shots: the raw, unfiltered, instinctive snap, and the more deliberate, curated photograph. Both are just as important and can show the real heartbeat of a place. The beauty of the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is that it can move seamlessly between the two, with its design, lens options, and AI-enhanced features.

When it comes to taking images on a trip, before I even press the shutter, there are two quick, simple tweaks I always make to my phone settings.

1) Turn on grid lines These help line up your shots perfectly, especially when photographing architecture or scenic horizons, and reduces the need for post-editing. On the Galaxy S25 FE you can find them under ‘Composition Guide’ in camera settings. Within the camera itself, touch the four dots bottom right (just above the selfie icon), and navigate to the settings icon on the far left. Scroll down until you find ‘Composition Guide’ and toggle this on.

2) Set aspect ratio to 3:4 This is ideal for most social platforms and print formats, giving your images a clean, balanced frame, with flexibility if you plan to enlarge shots. This can also be found in the 4 dots bottom right and the fourth option from the left.

The lightweight frame of the Galaxy S25 FE – even with a protective case on – feels great to hold. Although slim, it feels solid, and has excellent screen and picture resolution. All in all I can’t wait to try it out.

The Galaxy S25 FE offers three resolution options: 50, 12 or 8 MP. 50 MP is perfect for detailed daytime shots (you just need to be aware that this will create larger file sizes). While 12 MP is ideal for everyday snaps with solid quality and smaller file sizes.

It has three lenses on the rear: a 50 MP main, a 12 MP ultra-wide, and an 8 MP telephoto. You can zoom up to 30x, though the sweet spot is up to 3x for best quality. That said, the Galaxy S25 FE’s built-in AI does an impressive job of smoothing out graininess even at higher zooms.

Each lens opens new creative possibilities. Use 3x for discreet street photography or architecture details, and ultra-wide for sweeping landscapes or dramatic skies. Travel is as much about tiny details as it is about big vistas.

Of course travel is all about movement, whether it’s the journey itself, an activity or experience you’re enjoying while you’re there, or simply having the time to stay still and capture how a place moves around you. So it’s fun to play around with this in your photography. On the Galaxy S25 FE, the Motion Photo feature captures a short video (with sound) and lets you select the perfect still frame – ideal for action shots like skiing or jumping.

Even better, you can turn motion shots into stunning long exposures, giving movement a dreamy, artistic feel. For daytime shots, turn the video icon on (top right of the screen), keep still while the shot is being taken, then convert the image (go to your photo, touch the 3 dots top right, ‘Details’ and ‘Long exposure’ will come up as an option. Make sure you ‘Save a copy’ to keep it as a long exposure image). This gives amazing effects, and is a great feature for travel photography – allowing you to make moving scenes, like crowds of people or city traffic, look soft, dreamy and smooth, and actually capturing that sense of movement within the image.

At night, switch to Pro Mode (found in ‘More), lower the brightness ISO to 50, and change your shutter speed to either 1 or 2 seconds, and keep the camera very still for a second or two. Resting your phone on something solid like a wall helps avoid unwanted blurring of aspects, like buildings or landscape elements, that you want to stay distinct.

It’s the kind of feature that instantly elevates your shots from ‘nice’ to ‘wow’.

From night markets to moonlit streets, evening photography adds drama and contrast to your travel gallery. Many phones struggle in low light, but the Galaxy S25 FE’s AI Nightography mode (triggered automatically in low light) lifts shadows, reduces grain, and keeps your subject clear.

The 50 MP Wide Camera with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) works wonders in dim settings, helping keep shots sharp, even in low-light. You can also manually adjust exposure (touch the screen and drag the sun icon left) to get a more dramatic, high-contrast effect. Both methods give fantastic results, and offer different moods depending on the scene and the look and feel you want.

Travel memories aren’t just about views and buildings – they’re also about people, experiences, and moments. Portrait Mode on the Galaxy S25 FE allows you to play around with foreground and background elements, to allow your subject to stand out – whether it’s a person, plate of food, or flower – by choosing how blurry you want your background to be.

To do this, put your phone on to Portrait Mode (either using the selfie camera or the main camera). Touch the dot on the left-hand side of the screen and this gives you the option to change your blur strength from 1 (not blurry) to 7 (very blurry). When you are the right distance away from your subject, the word ‘Ready’ will show in yellow. To change the background afterwards, go to your photo, touch on the 3 dots top right, ‘Details’, then ‘Background effect’ will show. Group selfies can now have everyone in focus, not just the one holding the phone.

Once you’ve taken your shots, the Galaxy S25 FE’s built-in editing tools let you polish them directly on your phone, making this process incredibly easy and inexpensive (you just need a Samsung account to access some functions). My personal favourite? Photo Assist’s Generative Edit*. Simple tap, circle, erase – and goodbye photobombers, signposts, or traffic cones. The phone’s clever tech fills the empty spaces using AI to analyze the surrounding imagery and create the perfect fill. It’s a game-changer for travel images where you can’t always control what (or who) strays into your shots, and don’t always have the time or opportunity for a retake.

For more creative edits, Sketch to Image** turns your doodles into digital stickers. Draw a simple sketch (like a heart, flower, or bee), and the Galaxy S25 FE’s clever AI technology will transform it into a polished digital sticker that blends seamlessly into your photo.

You can also lean into current photography trends by using the built-in filters. Whether you want bright, bold tones or soft, muted vibes, these let you customise each look to match your style, and stay on-trend while doing it. They can easily be found under the pencil icon when viewing your images. Here you can straighten, crop, add your filters, or completely control the level of contrast, brightness, etc. I personally like big bold colours, although not necessarily on a person, so by using the more bespoke settings, I can control and set the editing to my personal style.

Finally, while I’m more into stills, the Galaxy S25 FE Audio Eraser*** feature might just convert me to video. It automatically adjusts background noise in videos – like toning down a crowd so your narration or subject stands out. This used to require expensive software, but now it’s built right into the phone’s software. By heading to the Edit function and touching on the last icon, you can choose which sound you want to make more prominent than the others. It really is a game changer.

A common worry when relying on phones to capture images on a trip is battery life. Travel photography is often about being ready – conditions change, and moments are fleeting. The last thing you want is a dead battery just as the sun sets.

The Galaxy S25 FE delivers all-day battery performance, and if it runs low, 45W fast charging gives you 60 per cent battery in just 30 minutes – perfect for a quick coffee between shoots.

From misty mornings to candlelit dinners, this device captures it all – vividly, effortlessly, and creatively. With versatile lenses, smart AI, powerful editing tools, and long battery life, it’s more than just a phone camera. It’s the ultimate travel companion.

Jeanette Lendon is a travel photographer – find out more at her website or on Instagram.

To find out more about the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE visit Samsung

*Samsung account login is required. Requires network connection.

**Samsung account login and network connection may be required for certain AI features.

***Samsung account login required. Six types of sound can be detected; voices, music, wind, nature, crowd and noise. Results may vary depending on audio source & condition of the video.

Sara Sharif’s stepmother and father ‘should never have been trusted’ with her care, review finds

Sara Sharif’s abusive father and stepmother “should never have been trusted” with her care, according to a damning review that also found she was failed by the safeguarding system.

The 10-year-old was found dead in a bunk bed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, in August 2023, after enduring months of horrific abuse at the hands of Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool.

A report published by Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership found that Sharif’s history as an abuser had been overlooked and underestimated, and that despite there being a “great deal of information available” to authorities, numerous opportunities to intervene were missed.

These included a home visit that was supposed to take place in the days before Sara was murdered, but council staff attended the wrong address.

“There are clearly several points in Sara’s life, in particular during the last few months, where different actions could and should have been taken and the system failed to keep her safe,” the 62-page report found.

Downing Street said Sara’s death was “heartbreaking” and that a review into her case had exposed “serious failings” which ministers would consider.

Sara was found to have suffered 71 recent injuries at the time of her death, including 25 broken bones, iron burns on her bottom, scalding marks to her feet, and human bites.

Sharif was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison last December, while Batool was jailed for a minimum of 33 years, for the couple’s “sadistic” crimes. Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death, and was jailed for 16 years.

Sara, who was described as a courageous and cheerful child, had been known to social services, with concerns first raised within a week of her birth in 2013. Her parents had been known to social services since 2010.

Surrey County Council repeatedly raised “significant concerns” that Sara was likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her parents.

There were three sets of family court proceedings involving Sharif and Sara’s Polish birth mother Olga, but allegations that Sharif was physically abusing Sara and her siblings were never tested in court.

Sara was repeatedly returned to her parents’ care, before finally being placed with her father and stepmother, four years before she was murdered.

The review found that her death was not caused by “one specific malfunction within the safeguarding system”. It stated: “Numerous factors came together over many years which cumulatively laid the foundations for the severe abuse she experienced at the hands of her father and stepmother.”

It found that there had been several occasions on which Sharif’s history as a serial perpetrator of domestic abuse was “overlooked, not acted on and underestimated by almost all professionals” who were in contact with the family.

Sharif had been granted custody of Sara in 2019, despite earlier allegations of child abuse and arrests for alleged controlling behaviour towards ex-girlfriends. This included two allegations of false imprisonment by other Polish women in 2007 and 2009, but he was never charged.

The review noted that text messages between Batool and her sisters, discovered during the police investigation, showed that Sara had begun being assaulted by her father “soon after she moved in with him”.

The report also found that there was nothing in the evidence provided by children’s services to demonstrate that race, culture, religion or heritage were properly considered. Sara’s birth mother was given inconsistent access to Polish interpreters, and was given no interpreter during the private law proceedings in 2019.

It stated that there were multiple occasions in the years leading up to Sara’s death when “more robust safeguarding processes were needed”, including a two-day school absence in March 2023 after which she returned to school “quiet and coy” and had bruising to her cheek, eye and chin.

While Sara’s school made a referral to social services, the case was closed within days, without police being contacted.

The following month, Sharif emailed the school to say he intended to educate his daughter at home – a move the review concludes was undoubtedly made “to keep Sara hidden from view in the last weeks of her life”.

A series of missed opportunities followed, with delays in correspondence and an old home address on the digital system resulting in a visit by a council worker to the wrong location – just two days before Sara died.

Sara began to wear the hijab in 2021, when she was eight years old. The review said this hid the bruising and injuries to her face and head during the last two years of her life.

It said that while the school had shown “appropriate curiosity”, there was no evidence in the children’s services or health records that race, culture, religion or heritage were “properly considered”, while expert advice since obtained from the local Muslim community suggested it would have been “highly unusual” for such a young child to decide to wear the hijab when other family members did not.

The review concluded that, despite the information available across the system, “opportunities were lost to join up all the dots and recognise the dangers faced by Sara once she moved in with her father and stepmother”.

Woking MP Will Forster said Sara had been repeatedly failed by the state. He said the safeguarding review “confirms exactly what I feared – that the state, especially Surrey County Council, failed Sara at every stage”.

Among 15 recommendations, the review authors called for improvements to be made in how referrals to children’s services are dealt with, including elements such as resourcing and capacity, and staff experience and qualifications. They also called for statutory guidance to require that where an application is made to homeschool a child previously known to children’s social care, a formal meeting with parents and professionals should take place.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said that the review “rightly highlights the glaring failures and missed opportunities across all agencies which led to Sara’s death”.

Surrey County Council said it was “deeply sorry” and insisted it had taken “robust action to address” the failings, adding that it would continue to work to implement all of the review’s recommendations.

Facial recognition vans to be rolled out in new areas

Seven additional police forces across the UK are set to deploy new fleets of facial recognition vans, marking a significant expansion of the controversial surveillance technology.

Home Office funding will enable Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and Hampshire police to adopt the new system.

These forces will join the Metropolitan Police, South Wales Police and Essex Police, which have already been using the vans for some time – to a mixed public reception.

The technology allows officers to identify individuals on watchlists by utilising cameras mounted on their vehicles, which film surrounding areas.

However, the rollout has drawn sharp criticism from civil liberties and anti-racism groups, who cite the software’s “well-documented history of inaccurate outcomes and racial bias,” particularly ahead of the Notting Hill Carnival.

In response, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley acknowledged the software was “limited” during its use at the 2016 and 2017 Carnivals but insisted it has made “considerable progress” since then.

A recent Met report claimed a remarkably low false alert rate of just 0.0003 per cent from more than three million scans projected between September 2024 and September 2025.

Ahead of the new rollout, Chief Inspector Andy Hill, of Surrey Police, was asked if he still harboured concerns about false readings from the technology.

He said: “There’s been a lot of development with the software, a lot of national testing to give us confidence in the software and at the last Notting Hill Carnival this year, their positive alerts were much higher.”

The police watchlists uploaded to the van are bespoke and will include details and photos of wanted people and people subject to court orders, such as sex offenders.

If their faces are scanned by the van’s cameras, it will alert the officer to the match, and they can verify whether the comparison is correct and take action.

“It’s a positive step in terms of using the latest technology available to us, and it’s about pursuing criminals, it’s about investigating crime thoroughly and also reassuring the public that we are out and about and we are visible and we’re doing our job,” Mr Hill said.

Across the seven new centres, 10 new vans are to be deployed, including one in Surrey and another in Sussex, which will at times be used in tandem.

The police have said that images of people walking past the van that do not set off an alert will be deleted in less than a second.

Mr Hill said: “We want to be as open and transparent about our deployments. We publish them on our website at least seven days in advance, and we’ll publish the results afterwards as well.

“And during the deployment, we’ve got signage up to inform people that they’re entering a zone of live facial recognition with information on that, and also they can talk to any of our officers at any time about the technology.”

Surrey Police will be deploying a facial recognition van in Redhill on 13 November.