Sir Keir Starmer has given up the Chagos Islands, handing the Indian Ocean territory to Mauritius.

The islands were British-owned from 1814 but have now been signed away by the Government in a deal that it claimed would safeguard global security by ending a long-running dispute.

The islands include Diego Garcia, which hosts a strategically important US-UK military base.

A joint statement by the Prime Minister and Pravind Jugnauth, his Mauritian counterpart, said: “Under the terms of this treaty the United Kingdom will agree that Mauritius is sovereign over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia.”

David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said in a statement on Thursday that the agreement would still secure the “vital” military base for future use.

He said: “This government inherited a situation where the long-term, secure operation of the Diego Garcia military base was under threat, with contested sovereignty and ongoing legal challenges.

“Today’s agreement secures this vital military base for the future.

“It will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security, shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner.”

All four Conservative leadership candidates – Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat – were quick to condemn Sir Keir’s decision.

Grant Shapps, a former defence secretary, said: “This is absolutely appalling. Surrendering sovereignty here creates read-across to other British bases. It’s a weak and deeply regrettable act from this government.”

Under Sir Tony Blair, Britain discussed a US request for permission to use Diego Garcia to house a Guantanamo Bay-style prison camp for hundreds of 500 terror detainees.

While the idea was rejected for being impractical, documents suggested that the CIA may have still used the island to fly suspects to secret “black site” prisons around the world.

The agreement was welcomed by Joe Biden, the US president, who said it would lead to “peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes”.

Mr Biden said: “I applaud the historic agreement and conclusion of the negotiations between the Republic of Mauritius and the United Kingdom on the status of the Chagos Archipelago.

“It is a clear demonstration that through diplomacy and partnership, countries can overcome long-standing historical challenges to reach peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes.

“This agreement affirms Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, while granting the United Kingdom the authority to exercise the sovereign rights of Mauritius with respect to Diego Garcia.

“Diego Garcia is the site of a joint US-UK military facility that plays a vital role in national, regional, and global security. It enables the United States to support operations that demonstrate our shared commitment to regional stability, provide rapid response to crises, and counter some of the most challenging security threats we face. The agreement secures the effective operation of the joint facility on Diego Garcia into the next century.

“We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Mauritius and the United Kingdom in upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

John Healey, the Defence Secretary, defended the deal on Thursday afternoon. He said: “This historic agreement highlights the UK’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific. The UK-US base on Diego Garcia has a vital role in protecting our interests.

“By providing long-term sovereignty over Diego Garcia, this treaty secures continued operation of this major military base.”

The Foreign Office said the UK will be “authorised to exercise the sovereign rights of Mauritius on Diego Garcia”.

‘Labour are making the world more dangerous’ 

Lord Kempsell, a Tory peer who tabled a number of written questions on the issue over the summer, said: “I repeatedly raised the issue of British Indian Ocean Territory in Parliament because I was suspicious the Labour Government was about to do exactly what it has announced today.

“Ministers declined to update Parliament properly before taking this decision to give up sovereignty.”

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader who has been sanctioned by China, described the agreement as “astonishing”.

He said: “At the heart of this lies the real threat from China and we have a government of Mauritius that is very pro-China.

“If China gets involved with Mauritius, I cannot see how you can continue to use that place as it is now or how the Americans can either.

“The whole thing is a shambolic mess and I’m as much blaming the previous Conservative government for this as Labour.”

Mauritius and China struck a free trade agreement in 2021, the first of its kind between China and an African country.

Exports from Mauritius to China rose by 73 per cent that year, while officials have said they expect it to form the basis of “enhanced collaboration” in the years to come.

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, told The Telegraph: “Giving up the Chagos Islands is a strategic disaster.

“Our American allies will be furious and Beijing delighted. Labour are making the world a more dangerous place.”

A starstruck Boris Johnson adopted a “South African” accent when he bumped into Leonardo DiCaprio and started quoting lines from his films back to him.

The former prime minister said he encountered the Hollywood actor and staunch environmentalist in November 2021 at the Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow.

However, after realising that DiCaprio was in a hurry, Mr Johnson burst out with quotes from the star’s film Blood Diamond, a dialogue his family knew “by heart”.

DiCaprio plays the “brusque, cynical” Danny Archer, a “hard-bitten white Rhodesian gunrunner and gem smuggler” in the 2007 hit, set during the Sierra Leone civil war.

“As he quickened his pace, I found myself speaking in a thick South African accent and quoting some of his greatest lines,” Mr Johnson writes in his book, Unleashed.

“At the sound of the UK PM impersonating DiCaprio impersonating a South African gunrunner, the film star checked his stride. He looked at me appraisingly. ‘I will see you later, my friend’, he said, and stalked off.”

Before the interaction, Mr Johnson describes recognising the star in the distance and finding himself running through numerous scenarios as to why the actor would be marching his way.

“He was ten yards away, striding towards me down the prefab corridor, right here in the convention centre where the world’s leaders had come together to stop the world from being fried,” he writes.

“He was getting closer. Yes, he seemed to have some business with us, little old us – the UK presidency of the UN conference on climate change, known as COP 26. What could he want?”

Mr Johnson and his team were then informed that the Titanic actor did not want “to sound the alarm about the iceberg ahead”, but wanted access to his toilet within the presidential suite.

It was only after he saw DiCaprio emerge from the bathrooms that he approached him. Mr Johnson describes the “real life” actor as seeming “taller and bulkier than the screen idol”.

It is the second time DiCaprio is mentioned in the book, the first being when Mr Johnson is handed an iPad full of films while in the ICU with Covid in April 2020.

Mr Johnson, who spent three days in intensive care as he battled the virus, writes about how he watched The Revenant – in which DiCaprio plays an eighteenth-century fur trapper in Canada who gets badly mauled by a bear – in an attempt to stay awake, terrified that he might fall asleep and never wake up.

Unleashed by Boris Johnson will be published by William Collins on 10th October (£30); books.telegraph.co.uk

Britain should hold a referendum on its membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, Boris Johnson has said, in an intervention over the most contentious issue of the Tory leadership race.

The former prime minister said there is now a “strong case” to give the public a say on the ECHR, which critics say is preventing Britain from having full control of its immigration policy.

Membership of the ECHR has become a key battleground in the Conservative leadership contest. Robert Jenrick has promised to take Britain out of it, while the other three candidates are not in favour of doing so.

Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, Mr Johnson suggested the ECHR does not “provide people with protections that they wouldn’t otherwise have”.

In a wide-ranging interview ahead of the publication of his memoir, Unleashed, he also said that Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if Donald Trump had been US president.

He claimed that Trump’s “sheer unpredictability” would have put Mr Putin off his plan, and that the world is a better place when America has strong leadership.

Mr Johnson also reveals in his book, published on Oct 10, that a listening device was found in his private bathroom in the Foreign Office after it was used by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

He says it “may or may not be a coincidence” that a bug was found in the bathroom during a regular sweep for covert devices some time later.

He does not rule out one day returning to Parliament, and possibly a second stint as prime minister, and begins his book with the phrase “hasta la vista”, which means “see you later” in Spanish.

Mr Johnson also writes that he is no longer certain that lockdowns were the reason for the downturn in infections during the Covid pandemic, saying that the number of cases might have come down in “the natural course of events”, though he remains convinced that the lockdowns saved lives.

He apologises to children whose education was irreversibly damaged by the months of school closures during the pandemic, writing in the book that “we should at all costs avoid doing it again”.

A newspaper serialisation of Mr Johnson’s book was timed to coincide with the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham this week, during which Mr Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat made their pitches to party members.

Mr Johnson does not intend to endorse any of the candidates and has not said which of them he might vote for when the membership has its say, but his comments on the ECHR will be seen as a boost to Mr Jenrick’s campaign. 

The former immigration minister is the only candidate who has said he would take Britain out of the ECHR if he became prime minister.

Asked if he would support a referendum on ECHR membership, Mr Johnson says: “I would. I think it has changed. It has become much more legally adventurist.

“It’s trying to second guess what national jurisdiction should do.

“There’s a strong case for a proper referendum, a proper discussion about it because I’m not certain that it actually provides people with protections that they wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Mr Johnson says he agreed with the assessment of Lord Sumption, the former Supreme Court judge, who wrote a magazine article last year arguing that human rights are well protected by UK domestic laws and said that the convention “makes us accept rights which we may not want and for which there is maybe no democratic mandate”.

Sir James Fawcett, Mr Johnson’s maternal grandfather, was president of the European Commission for Human Rights, which decided whether cases should be referred to the European Court of Human Rights.
He says matters have “really changed since my grandfather was president”.

The commission was abolished in 1998 when a new directive of the ECHR gave people direct access to the court.

Britain’s attempts to deport migrants to Rwanda under the Conservative government were thwarted by the European Court, which interprets the Convention.

Mr Johnson dropped heavy hints when he was prime minister that Britain could leave the Convention, and Mr Jenrick has said his party will “die” if it does not back his call to leave it.

He has said that any suggestion that the ECHR can be reformed is “fantasy” and used the language of Brexit to say the issue of membership boiled down to leave or remain.

Ms Badenoch has said that leaving the ECHR would not address “the root of the problem”, saying that other countries that are signatories to the Convention have higher deportation rates than the UK.

Mr Tugendhat has said that he would be prepared to leave the ECHR if necessary, but that Britain should first try to opt out of parts of the convention that are problematic.

The Rwanda scheme was ruled to be illegal by the UK’s Supreme Court, but only after flights had been blocked by the European Court at the 11th hour.

The convention and the court are both separate from the European Union.

Unleashed by Boris Johnson will be published by William Collins on 10th October (£30)

Two former police officers who stopped and searched Bianca Williams, the British athlete, after claiming that they smelled cannabis, have been given back their jobs.

Former Met Pcs Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks were dismissed in October last year after a disciplinary panel found that they had lied about smelling the drug when they pulled over Ms Williams and her partner, Ricardo Dos Santos, the Olympic sprinter.

The finding has been overturned by the Police Appeals Tribunal, which found that the original decision was “irrational” and “inconsistent”.

Former Pcs Clapham and Franks were “dedicated, hard-working and much respected officers” whose reputations had been “ruined” by the original findings, Damien Moore, the chairman of the tribunal, said.

“Both officers did not lie.

“Both officers will now be reinstated to the Met Police.

“They should receive back-pay.”

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) originally brought the case against five officers and said that the detention of Mr Dos Santos and Ms Williams was “because they were black” and was “excessive, unreasonable and unjustified”.

Mr Dos Santos spoke after the initial disciplinary hearing and said “very little has changed in policing in London since the Stephen Lawrence case”.

He added: “If you can’t trust the police to be honest and accept when they have done bad and stereotype black people, what hope is there?”

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, also said the panel’s findings would “anger and alarm many Londoners”.

In a statement following the Police Appeals Tribunal decision, Mr Dos Santos said: “The appeal decision is disappointing.

“Our drive home from training in 2020, with our baby, should never have turned into a violent incident where we were wrongly accused of smelling of drugs.

“We are professional athletes, we pride ourselves on not doing drugs.

“The actions and allegations of the officers were completely unacceptable.

“The IOPC were clear that all four officers lied.”

He added: “We shall challenge today’s outcome in the civil courts.”

Rick Prior, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: “Justice has been served. Why it ever got to this point however remains an absolute mystery.

“Pc Jonathan Clapham and Pc Sam Franks have today been fully exonerated and their reputations have rightly been restored. We are delighted for them.

“But this result is yet another damning indictment of the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Who holds them to account for what was a political witch hunt against two hard-working police officers?”

He added: “Londoners would want officers to act when they saw such behaviour on our roads… and it remains astonishing that officers lost their jobs for doing their job.”

Responding to the tribunal decision, Jon Savell, the Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner, said: “We know this has been an overly lengthy and horrendous process for Pc Clapham and Pc Franks, as well as their families and colleagues.

“The original, independently chaired panel found the officers were dishonest, which the PAT has now overturned as irrational.

“We also recognise the impact this case has had on all involved and have previously apologised to Mr Dos Santos and Ms Williams for the distress caused during this incident.

“Ultimately, the evidence has shown that the stop and search and the actions of the officers did not amount to misconduct.

“However, stop and search is most effective when used with the trust and confidence of Londoners.”

An IOPC spokesman said: “We note the outcome today of the officers’ appeal and await the written decision by the Police Appeals Tribunal.”

The force came under heavy criticism after footage of the stop was posted on social media, showing a distressed Ms Williams who was concerned about being separated from her baby.

In 2023, Ms Williams won bronze in the 4x100m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

At the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and 2018, she won 4x100m gold representing England.

Mr Dos Santos competed at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics in the 400m.

Private schools are drawing up plans to launch a legal challenge against the Government’s VAT raid on school fees, The Telegraph can reveal.

The Independent Schools Council (ISC), which represents more than 1,400 private schools across the UK, will seek to prove that Labour’s policy undermines some pupils’ human rights under the European Convention of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998.

It will hold a snap vote with seven of its constituent private school associations on whether to go forward with action in the High Court, but only once it has seen further details of the Government’s VAT legislation on Budget day, The Telegraph understands.

The groups, which represent half of all private schools in the UK, are also awaiting the Office for Budget Responsibility’s independent assessment of the VAT plans, which will be published alongside the Budget on Oct 30.

They are hopeful that the Government will make concessions over the policy. The private school groups are pushing for VAT exemptions for military families, faith schools and children with special education needs (SEND) who are not eligible for tailored care plans.

Private schools also want ministers to push back the implementation of the VAT policy from Jan 1 2025 to September next year. It follows widespread criticism after the Government announced in July it had accelerated its VAT plans, and that they would now come into effect in the middle of a school year.

The Telegraph understands that the ISC will vote on whether to launch a High Court challenge on behalf of private schools if ministers do not bow to these demands.

Even if successful, the legal challenge will not be able to stop the VAT policy from coming into effect. However, victory in the High Court would rubber-stamp private schools’ concerns that the policy is not fair for certain pupils, and would apply pressure on ministers to grant further exemptions.

It would ultimately be up to the Government what it chooses to do with this, and ministers could ignore any ruling.

Julie Robinson, the general secretary of the ISC, told The Telegraph: “No decision has yet been made by the ISC board about whether to take legal action. We are exploring all options to ensure any vote on the matter is fully informed.

“We remain concerned about a rushed January implementation date, alongside issues around particular groups impacted by this policy – including children with SEND, military families and small low-fee faith schools. 

“We welcome the opportunity to have constructive conversations with MPs, civil servants and the government ahead of the Budget about how to mitigate the impact of VAT on children’s education.”

It follows a separate High Court legal challenge brought forward by the law firm Sinclairs on behalf of a mother of a special needs child last month.

It comes as private schools brace for major financial pressure ahead of the VAT policy coming into force.

Data published by the ISC on Friday showed that private schools have already seen 10,000 fewer pupils enrol this academic year, with smaller and cheaper schools the most affected.

It has raised concerns the Government may have underestimated the effect of its policy on the state sector.

Ministers are relying on estimates drawn up by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggesting that the VAT plans could drive out between 20,000 and 40,000 private school pupils over several years.

However, private school heads are understood to be concerned about the number of pupils leaving before the VAT policy has even come into force.

Most private schools require a term’s notice before parents withdraw pupils, meaning many families will have also decided to pull their children out over the summer holidays.

The ISC surveyed almost 1,200 fee-charging schools and found that the biggest drop was in Year 7, with 4.5 per cent fewer pupils enrolling this year. The figures compared September 2023 data with the start of this academic year.

The IFS has insisted it expected the number of private school pupils to fall even without the VAT policy coming into force as a falling birth rate makes its way through the school system.

Labour hopes the plans to start charging 20 per cent VAT on school fees will raise an extra £1.5 billion. The Government plans to use the money to raise education standards across the state sector, including by recruiting 6,500 new teachers and 8,500 mental health specialists.

The Telegraph has seen minutes of an extraordinary general meeting held by the Heads’ Conference (HMC) group last month, in which private school leaders said they would support any legal action brought by the ISC.

The group, whose 351 member schools include Eton College, Westminster School and Harrow School, said it would also help fund the High Court bid if the ISC chooses to proceed.

A vote among HMC’s board members approved the move to support a potential legal battle by 10 votes to two.

HMC and the six other private school associations represented by the ISC will each be granted two votes in the poll on whether to launch legal action against the Government after Budget Day. The ISC will have a single vote through its chairman, Barnaby Lenon.

An HMC spokesman said: “Whilst we await the legislation to be published, we continue to have concerns about the haste with which this policy is being introduced.

“HMC is planning and preparing for all eventualities and outcomes. Independent schools are deeply committed to delivering their charitable objectives of partnerships and public benefit work and will continue to seek to work with the Government to deliver those for the benefit of all children.”

The Department for Education was approached for comment.

Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, has been accused of copying a script from TV series The West Wing for a speech to the United Nations.

Mr Milei appears to have lifted dialogue from Josiah Bartlett, the fictional US president, almost verbatim and used it for his maiden address to the General Assembly in New York.

La Nacion newspaper reported that Santiago Caputo, Mr Milei’s communication advisor, is a huge fan of The West Wing, which ran for seven seasons from 1999, and said the similarities were unlikely to be a coincidence.

“We believe in freedom of speech for all; we believe in freedom of worship for all; we believe in freedom of trade for all and we believe in limited governments, all of them,” Mr Milei said at the end of his 15-minute speech.

“And because in these times what happens in one country quickly impacts others, we believe that all peoples should live free from tyranny and oppression, whether it takes the form of political oppression, economic slavery or religious fanaticism. 

“That fundamental idea must not remain mere words; it has to be supported by deeds, diplomatically, economically and materially.”

In the 15th episode of the fourth season of the show, the US president, played by Martin Sheen, addresses his aides in the Oval Office of the White House.

He said: “We are for freedom of speech everywhere. We are for freedom of religion everywhere. We are for the freedom to learn… for everyone. And because in our time, you can build a bomb in your country and bring it into mine, what happens in your country is my business.”

“So we are for freedom from tyranny, everywhere, whether it comes in the guise of political oppression, Toby, or economic slavery, Josh, or religious fanaticism, CJ. That fundamental idea cannot be met simply by our support. It must be met with our force. Diplomatically, economically, and materially.”

La Nacion said Mr Caputo’s love for the show was well known.

“A fan of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, Caputo watched the entire series The West Wing between seven and nine times,” the newspaper said.

“He also suggested to the top brass at Move Group [the consulting firm he founded] that anyone who wanted to join the company had to watch the series as an essential condition.”

The fictional president Bartlet is, like Mr Milei, an economist and university professor who made the leap into politics.

But while Martin Sheen’s character is a Left-leaning Democrat, Mr Milei is a radical populist with a penchant for waving chainsaws and belting out rock songs to his supporters.

It is not the first time that Milei-watchers have spotted echoes of Mr Sorkin’s work in the president’s speeches.

Inauguration speech

In his Dec 10 inaugural speech, Mr Milei said: “The challenges we face are enormous, but so is our ability to overcome them.”

In one famous West Wing scene, Bartlet declared: “Whenever we think we have reached our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and remember that that capacity may well be unlimited.”

In an April speech, Mr Milei said: “The era of the present state is over.” Some detected echoes of a scene during which Bartlet’s spin doctor tells him that “the era of big government is over”.

Since he was elected in December, the Milei administration has used a lectern when addressing Congress, which had fallen out of fashion in Argentina.

La Nacion suggested that this was also a nod to the West Wing’s aesthetic.

In November, Mr Milei and Mr Caputo met with members of the Biden administration. After the meetings, they posed for a selfie at the door of the West Wing of the White House.

Iranian missiles hit a hangar and caused craters at Israel’s Nevatim air base, according to satellite imagery.

The Planet Labs image, published by the Associated Press, suggests Israel remains vulnerable to aerial attack from Iran, despite its state-of-the-art air defence systems and protection from the US military.

The satellite image shows four potential impacts at the base in southern Israel, one of three military facilities the Iranians claimed to have targeted.

Analysis of video imagery from Tuesday’s attack suggests the two other bases, one north of Tel Aviv, one south, may also have been hit or come close to being hit, say geo-location specialists. 

Nevatim is reported to be home to the Israeli Air Force’s most advanced aircraft, including US-produced F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets.

The image shows serious damage to the roof of an aircraft hangar, with a hole torn through it. Another impact appears to have hit a road on the base.

Aircraft are parked in the open and it does not seem from the image that any were damaged in the strike.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged that Nevatim was hit in a statement on Wednesday, but denied significant harm was caused.

The missiles damaged “office buildings and other maintenance areas” at air bases, the IDF said, but described the impacts as “ineffective.”

No soldiers, weapons or aircraft were hit, the IDF said.

Yet there is little doubt Tuesday’s missile strike by Iran caused some surprise in Israel.

Although the US warned it was coming several hours in advance, it was not telegraphed by days like Iran’s first drone and missile barrage in April.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had used Fattah missiles for the first time, which it claimed were “hypersonic” and therefore harder to shoot down.

This is refuted by the Israeli authorities but there is no doubt the missiles arrived quicker than many expected.

The IDF would not reveal on Wednesday what the missile interception rate was, saying this would aid Iran. However, it did say that the country’s air defences had “operated impressively, with high rates of interception”.

Nevertheless it seems unlikely Israel’s air defence system would have allowed the apparent impacts at or near Nevatim and the other two bases if it could have prevented them.
 

An Israeli military source who has worked in the Ministry of Defence for over a decade, told The Telegraph Iran struck the US by targeting the Nevatim base: “The air base isn’t just Israeli. The new one was built by the Americans and it often hosts US deployments as well as the Israelis. So, when the Iranians attack Nevatim, it’s like they’re attacking the USA.” 

He added that sophisticated fighter jets were unlikely to have been hit as, during his time at the base, they were kept in “underground in facilities”.

Israel has resolved to strike back at Iran for Tuesday’s attack and is consulting with the US which provides much of the country’s long-range air defence infrastructure on what that should look like.

On Wednesday evening Joe Biden, the US president, ruled out a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying that it would be disproportionate but has pledged to respond.

Although Israel has talked about “degrading Iran’s economy” by targeting oil export facilities and the country’s fragile power and water infrastructure, that may also be deemed an unacceptable escalation by the White House.

Iran’s missiles targeted Israeli military sites, suggesting a “proportionate” Israeli response would target similar facilities in Iran, say analysts.

Israel is also aware Iran could up the stakes further, using the same rapid ballistic missiles fired on Tuesday to target Israel’s densely packed cities.

“We have a big question mark about how the Iranians are going to respond to an attack, but we take into consideration the possibility that they would go all in, which will be a whole different ball game,” an Israeli official told Axios news service on Wednesday.

The world’s longest-running treasure hunt has been solved 31 years after a “Golden Owl” was buried somewhere in France.

The hunt for the Chouette d’Or – an owl statuette made from gold, silver and precious stones – has prompted such passion, even obsession, over the years that it is said to have led to financial ruin, divorce and even madness.

On Thursday, the man in charge of the hunt announced that the Owl, or at least a buried replica, has finally been found and that organisers are verifying the validity of the solution provided.

“We can confirm that the Golden Owl countermark was unearthed last night, at the same time as a solution was sent to the online verification system,” announced Michel Becker, the artist who designed the Golden Owl and who now runs the hunt and publishes the book of enigmas hunters must crack to find it.

“There is therefore no need to go digging at the location you assume to be the cache… we are checking the validity of the proposed solution,” he wrote on the game’s discord forum, in a message published at 8.26am on Thursday morning.

The hunt for the Chouette d’Or was launched in April 1993 when a French businessman who had adopted the alias Max Valentin said he had buried a bronze statue of an owl somewhere in France, and published a book of 11 enigmas as clues to its location.

The finder would be able to exchange the bronze bird for a statuette made from three kilos of gold, seven kilos of silver and diamonds on its head estimated at the time to be worth one ­million francs, the equivalent of €150,000 today, Valentin said.

Régis Hauser, the real name of the hunt creator, died in April 2009, sixteen years to the day after the countermark was buried.

Now in charge, Mr Becker has faced various lawsuits and claims by some disgruntled hunters that the riddles are impossible to solve. Earlier this year, he sued Yvon Crolet, a retired engineer who spent 20 years trying to solve the riddles before announcing that the whole thing was a fraud.

“When you study the evidence, you have to conclude there is nothing buried at all,” said Mr Crolet.

Mr Becker said: “He thought he’d found the solution but when he went there, he dug a hole that was empty. The plain fact is that his solution was wrong.”

After years of legal wrangling with Mr Hauser’s heirs, Mr Becker was able to recover the solutions in the early 2020s. But the mystery deepened when they sent him a floppy disk and he visited the spot where the statue should have been buried. Instead, in a hole 80cm below the surface, he found a plastic supermarket bag and inside it, a rusting bird made of ferrous metal but not bronze.

Perplexed, Mr Becker placed a new bronze owl marked 2/8 in the spot, so the game could go on.

While the winner has not yet been announced, the news sent shockwaves among “chouetteurs” – dedicated Owl hunters, who are said to number 200,000 – who logged on to the forum in their hundreds when the announcement was made.

Beyond learning the winner’s identity, they are now desperate for the publication of the solutions after decades of fruitless searching.

The book consists of eleven double-page spreads, each of which is a riddle composed of a title, text, and a painting. Each pair of pages is numbered with a wavelength associated with its colours, and with an owl face.

One enigma considered perhaps the easiest called OPENING, had already been solved:

There have been many armchair treasure hunts organised around the world ever since Kit Williams, the British artist, gave birth to the genre with Masquerade, his best­selling picture book of riddles in 1979.

However, few have prompted such passion as Sur la Trace de la Chouette d’Or (On the Trail of the Golden Owl) – the official name of the French hunt.

Some have dedicated so much time searching that their spouses have divorced them, it is said. Others have spent a fortune on travels across France. At least one is believed to have ended up in an asylum.

According to its creator, one hunter wanted to blow up a chapel after deciding the treasure was underneath. Another turned up in a bank with a pneumatic drill, convinced the owl was beneath the floor. A third was said to have located the treasure under a lake.

Last year, the mayor of one village in eastern France called Dabo issued a plea for hunters to stop digging holes around its chapel on a rock where many believed the treasure was buried.

Before his death, Valentin created more than twenty other treasure hunts, all of which have been resolved. To help hunters, he offered a few extra clues, such as the importance of maps and the existence of a final, hidden riddle that uses all previous ones to lead to the cache that contains the owl.

In 2021, Mr Becker launched another armchair haunt, this time to find the two halves of a key to a £650,000 golden casket celebrating the 1904 Entente Cordiale agreements between the UK and France, which sealed the end of almost 1,000 years of conflict between the two old foes.

Mr Becker said he bought the solid-gold casket at an auction and has had it authenticated by the jewellers who wrought it. The two halves are said to be buried in the UK and France.

One well-known “chouetteur” known only as Kaspius, 45, and who has spent 20 years hunting the owl statuette around France, said its discovery marks the end of an era.

“Régis Hauser’s riddles were brilliant, superbly written, a work of art in themselves. We won’t reach that level again… there may be other hunts, but this one will remain legendary,” he told France 3.

“It’s a relief, and at the same time a source of great frustration.”

Kaspuis, who has broadcast many videos on social media about the hunt, said he was convinced the replica was found at Les Bornes Saint Martin, near Dabo in Moselle, eastern France. “That’s where the solutions to the riddles converge… I was there last time in May. Today, I’ve been caught short and I’m a bit sorry, but it was a great quest.”

Israel is suspected of launching missiles overnight into Syria, striking close to a Russian air base believed to house weapons for Iran.

Up to 30 missiles were said to have targeted an area near to Khmeimim air base, near the coastal city of Latakia, triggering a series of huge explosions.

Video footage showed streaks of bright orange light in the night sky, as air defences attempted to intercept the missiles. A huge blaze could be seen for miles close to Khmeimim.

There also appeared to be secondary explosions, suggesting that weapons or munitions had been hit.

The strike could mean Israel, emboldened by its success in destroying Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, is stepping up its campaign against Iranian-linked assets in Syria, despite the risk of provoking Russia.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian and Syrian air defences attempted to intercept missiles for at least 40 minutes in Latakia.

Other reports in Syrian media suggested the strike targeted a warehouse inside the base following the arrival of an Iranian cargo plane, suspected of delivering weapons.

The strike, according to those reports, came an hour after an Iranian Qassem Fars Airlines plane landed. The airline has long been linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and has previously been accused of transferring weapons to terrorist proxies.

Rybar, an influential Russian war blogger, wrote on the Telegram app that the target was not the base but a warehouse nearer to Jebeh used by both Iran and Russia.

“Some of the missiles were shot down” by the Russian military, he said, “but some reached their target.” He added: “There are even more questions from the Syrians about why the Russian air defence is not helping to repel IDF attacks.”

It is not yet clear what damage has been done to either the base or the surrounding area.

Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communications also posted footage of the attack, saying it proved that “Russia’s red lines exist only in fairy tales”. It claimed, without providing evidence, that the air base had been “decimated”.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which frequently hits targets linked to Iran or its proxy militias in Syria, but rarely claims such strikes.

Michael Horowitz, a geopolitical expert and former IDF soldier, said that in the past Iranian planes have used Khmeimim to deliver weapon shipments to Hezbollah.

“Israel is bound to launch airstrikes against any Syrian airport that lets Iranian planes in. Tehran probably thought its best shot was to use Khmeimim because of the Russian presence,” he told The Telegraph.

Khmeimim is one of the most heavily fortified military bases in Syria. Its sprawling airfield is home to Russian fighter jets and bombers, as well as sophisticated long-range and short-range air defences.

It was built in 2015 when Moscow began intervening in the Syrian civil war in support of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and carried out large-scale bombing campaigns.

Moscow has a strong military presence in the province of Latakia, particularly around Khmeimim airbase and a naval facility in the city of Tartus.

Both sites are strategically important to Moscow, which is seeking to grow its presence in the area and has expanded Khmeimim to host bombers close to Nato’s southern flank.

If the strike successfully hit the base or a warehouse near it, it would be “very significant”, said Mr Horowitz.

Israel, he said, has largely not reacted as Russia deployed significant air defences across Syria – particularly in the area hit overnight – to avoid triggering Moscow into stepping up its support for Iran.

“The strike would suggest Israel has decided hitting the vicinity of the base was worth the risks,” he added.

On Wednesday, Israel struck a building in the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing four people, including a consultant for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and reportedly the son-in-law of assassinated Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Alaska’s annual Fat Bear Week contest got off to a delayed start because a female participant known as Bear 402, was killed by a male during a livestreamed fight.

Cameras set up in the park to capture footage of the bears recorded the killing on Monday.

The contest, which is in its tenth year, celebrates the resiliency of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula. It allows the public to vote for its favourite “fat bears” from a shortlist.

“National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities,” Matt Johnson, park spokesman said in a statement. “Each bear seen on the webcams is competing with others to survive.”

The nonprofit http://explore.org, which streams the uncensored bear footage and helps organise Fat Bear Week, hosted a live conversation about the death on Monday. Sarah Bruce, a Katmai National Park ranger, said it was not known why the bears started fighting.

“We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat, but the ferocity of bears is real,” said Mike Fitz, explore.org’s resident naturalist. “The risks that they face are real. Their lives can be hard, and their deaths can be painful.”

The contest this year features 12 bears that have been packing on the pounds all summer.

Adult male brown bears typically weigh 600 to 900lbs in mid-summer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feasting on migrating and spawning salmon — each eats as many as 30 fish per day — large males can weigh well over 1,000lbs. Females are about one-third smaller.

Bear 909 Jr, who last week won the Fat Bear Junior competition for the second time, will be up for a public vote against Bear 519, a young female, in the first round. The winner will face the defending champion, Grazer, described as one of the most formidable bears on the river.

Another first-round match in the popularity contest pits Bear 903, an 8-year-old male who was given the nickname Gully after he developed a taste for seagulls, against Bear 909, the mother of Bear 909 Jr. The winner faces a two-time champion, a bear so large it was given the number of the equally massive aeroplane, Bear 747.

In the other half of the bracket, the first-round match has Bear 856, an older male and one of the most recognisable bears on the river because of his large body, challenging a newcomer, Bear 504, a mother bear raising her second known litter. The winner will face perhaps the largest bear on the river, 32 Chunk, a 20-year-old male who once devoured 42 salmon in 10 hours. It is estimated to weigh more than 1,200lbs.

The last first-round match has Bear 151, a once-playful young bear nicknamed Walker now showing more dominance, versus Bear 901, a solo female who has returned to the river after its  first litter did not survive. The winner will face Bear 164, called Bucky Dent because of an indentation in his forehead.

Voting in this year’s tournament-style bracket is open through Oct 8.

More than 1.3 million votes were cast last year.

Bullseye is set to return to ITV with new host Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff.

Flintoff will reportedly take over the mantle of the late comedian Jim Bowen, who fronted the darts-themed game show from 1981 until 1995, for a Christmas television special.

Mr Flintoff said: “I love the darts and Bullseye was one of my favourite shows as a kid. I can’t quite believe I’ll get to host this Christmas special.”

Echoing Bowen’s catchphrase, he added: “You can’t beat a bit of Bully.”

Flintoff last appeared on television in August, presenting the BBC documentary Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams on Tour. The programme marked the first time he had spoken about the crash he suffered while filming Top Gear.

The incident, which left the former England cricketer with facial and rib injuries, happened at the motoring show’s test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey in December 2022.

The BBC later announced that it had “rested” Top Gear for the foreseeable future.

In the documentary, Flintoff admitted it had been “a lot harder than I thought” to shake off the crash, after he struggled with anxiety, nightmares, and flashbacks.

Flintoff has made a steady return to the public eye since, rejoining England’s backroom staff for the T20 series against the West Indies earlier this year, and as the head coach of the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred.

Bullseye tests contestants’ darts skills as well as their general knowledge as they compete for cash and prizes.

The game show was revived on Challenge TV in 2006, hosted by the comedian Dave Spikey, but was cancelled after two series.

Katie Rawcliffe, the director of entertainment and daytime commissioning at ITV said: “Bullseye is back and we can’t wait to welcome Freddie Flintoff back to ITV too.

“It’s a real treat to have both as key parts of our Christmas schedule on ITV1 and ITVX this year.”

The BBC has been forced to cancel a Laura Kuenssberg interview with Boris Johnson after she sent him her briefing notes “by mistake”.

Kuenssberg was due to meet the former Prime Minister for an interview to be broadcast on BBC One on Thursday night.

But in a statement on X, she announced: “While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team. That obviously means it’s not right for the interview to go ahead.

“It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked. But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy. See you on Sunday.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “Tomorrow’s interview with Boris Johnson won’t be going ahead. As Laura has explained, interview briefing notes meant for colleagues were inadvertently shared with him.

“This makes an interview tomorrow untenable. Under the circumstances, both the BBC and Mr Johnson’s team have agreed this is the best way forward.”

The interview was to promote Mr Johnson’s new memoir, Unleashed.

The book has already been heavily trailed in the media. In it, Mr Johnson says he is no longer sure that lockdowns – which he described as “literally medieval in their savagery and consequences” – played a decisive role in defeating Covid.

He accuses Rishi Sunak of ending his political career by assassinating him like Brutus killing Julius Caesar, saying that he had previously considered Mr Sunak to be a “friend and partner”.

Mr Johnson also claims that he was asked by Buckingham Palace to stop ‘Megxit’ by persuading the Duke of Sussex not to leave the UK, and agreed to give him a “manly pep talk”.

Sources close to the Duke confirmed that Mr Johnson did suggest that the couple stay in the UK, but sources with knowledge of such meetings insisted that the Palace did not ask Mr Johnson to intervene.

The Duke of Sussex has returned to Lesotho for the first time in six years, meeting with the country’s King, Queen and prime minister for a solo trip during which he called for “people from the top” to “start listening”.

The Duke, 40, returned to southern Africa to visit the Sentebale charity he co-founded in 2006, for what his office described as a “series of impactful events”.

Travelling with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and Sophie Chandauka, chairman of Sentebale, the Duke took part in a “fireside chat” in which he praised the charity’s work so far.

“It’s making a massive difference, and it is this surge of energy and optimism and the voice of young people ranging from six to 25 – and the biggest difference of which really needs more work, is when people from the top start listening,” he is reported to have said.

Addressing a group of young people and others connected to the charity, the Duke added: “We are building a force of young advocates and when they are empowered to use their voices, the strength of their impact will be immense.

“You might not always realise how significant your influence is, but if it changes even one person’s life, it’s worth it.”

On his second day in the country, he travelled to the Leribe region where he met with international funders as well as locals, visiting a health facility which provides care to young people.

He went on to meet a group of teenage girls and young women who have taken part in Sentebale’s programme to complete vocational courses in dressmaking and hairstyling and, his office reported “proudly showcased their skills and entrepreneurial spirit”.

The Duke also saw a climate resilience project where community members told stories and performed in celebration of their cultural heritage.

The previous day, Tuesday, the Duke’s office reported that he was “warmly welcomed by The King and Queen in a private meeting”.

The occasion was intended to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lesotho, they said, adding: “The Duke holds a special place in his heart for this nation.”

The Duke made “heartfelt remarks” with the visit to the Basotho people, “reaffirming his dedication to initiatives that uplift communities and foster lasting change”.

The visit was photographed, with a daily report written by the Sussexes’ staff posted on their website.

“As the celebrations for Lesotho’s bicentennial unfold, Prince Harry’s presence signifies deep respect for the country’s heritage and its people,” they said.

“He concluded the evening feeling uplifted by the dedication and determination of everyone involved, reinforcing the belief that, united in purpose, they can forge a brighter tomorrow.”

The Duke spent two months in the kingdom of Lesotho during his gap year when he was 19 in 2004, which inspired him to establish the Sentebale charity two years later, which now also works in Botswana.

It is his first visit to the country for six years, with his last taking place in 2018, the year he married the Duchess of Sussex.

This time, the Duke is expected to continue his solo trip to Lesotho with a visit to Johannesburg in South Africa.

The fiancé of a woman missing for five days has spoken for the first time, saying his daughter wants her mother back.

Victoria Taylor, 34, was last seen at her home in Malton, North Yorkshire, around 9am on Monday.

A specialist underwater search team combed the riverbanks in Malton on Wednesday, and detectives said members of the public should expect to see an increased police presence in the town.

Speaking on Friday, Matthew Williams said he and Victoria were due to get married, having just returned from their first family holiday in Majorca.

Holding their two-year-old daughter, he said from their home: “I hope she comes back safely.

“Obviously, this one is missing her mam. We are all hoping she comes back.

“She was dedicated to her job, dedicated to us, and we had just returned from a lovely holiday.”

‘Just back from holiday’

Ms Taylor is described as white and around 5ft 6in tall, and was last seen wearing blue jeans, a black Adidas original puffer jacket with white stripes down the sleeves and a grey Jack Wills hooded jumper.

She was also carrying a pink Vans backpack.

He added: “As soon as we reported her missing, knowing her very well we went looking around the area where the police had been.

“Since then, with the weather and everything, I just want to be here for this one.”

The couple were engaged to be married but had not set a date yet.

Matthew said: “We had just got back from holiday.

“I am just heartbroken for this one. I know Vikki wanted this one to have the best opportunities in life – the opportunities she never had.

“It breaks my heart.

“We live in hope. She was such a good mother to this kid and I hope she can be a good mother again.”

‘Too emotional’

Missing chef Claudia Lawrence’s mum Joan Lawrence, who lives just half a mile away, had also heard of the disappearance, which has echoes of her daughter’s case.

She said: “I have an awful lot of views but I cannot discuss them over the doorstep – it is too emotional.”

Meanwhile, members of the local community and Victoria’s family gathered at the Derwent Arms pub this afternoon for a fresh search of the tangle of footpaths and walks by the river.

The searches are being organised by next-door neighbour Charlotte Cundill, 30, who works at the pub and has recruited 4,000 members to a Facebook page co-ordinating the community effort.

She said: “I am tired and very exhausted. We are just doing what we can. I have been around a lot of Milton. A lot of care homes have printed out posters for lamp posts.

“Vikki is lovely, a very very caring woman, brilliant nurse, brilliant mum and brilliant girlfriend to her partner Matthew.

“I just want her home. We all want her home. Even people from Huddersfield where she is from have come to spread awareness.”

Dan Snow has joined an appeal to stop a Sutton Hoo ship replica from being built using French wood.

A £1 million reconstruction of the Anglo-Saxon longship, which was uncovered in East Anglia in 1939, is currently being made by volunteers in Woodbridge, Suffolk.

The 160-strong team is attempting to create a working version of the seventh-century vessel, in which East Anglian king Raedwald is thought to have been buried.

However, the project, which has only used English timber to date, is at risk of being forced to look abroad for its final planks because of a shortage of high-quality homegrown oak.

“We need big oak trees to get this awesome vessel on to the water,” said Snow, the television historian.

“Please spread the word. Don’t make them ask the French.”

The volunteers, supported by Oxford and Southampton universities, started work on the handmade replica in 2018 and aim to complete it by 2026.

However, those behind the project have now launched an appeal to find three more oak tree trunks which are of at least six metres in length and have no knots or other defects.

Similar projects have been forced to look overseas to find the right timber.

Mr Snow said there was a “shortage of the right kind of British oak” compared to seventh-century England when there was greater forest cover.

“Well, it would make it British, completely,” Mr Snow, 45, said. “It’s just such a wonderful thing to see return to our ports and water.”

He added: “There’s magic in bringing something back from beyond the grave.

“We can learn so much from building these ships – how they can sail, what they can carry, it’s so exciting.

“It reconnects us with water. It’s just wonderful, it’s human beings using their creativity and their love of history and their love of building.”

The original Sutton Hoo ship was unearthed just before the Second World War and remains one of the most remarkable Anglo-Saxon archaeological discoveries in British history.

It was discovered by self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown and the events of its unearthing were dramatised in the 2021 Netflix film The Dig, which starred Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan.

The ship had been dragged half a mile inland on the Suffolk coast before being used in the burial of a warrior king, probably Raedwald of East Anglia.

He was the first East Anglian king to convert to Christianity and was buried with a trove of ornate treasures, including a decorated iron helmet.

At the time, Great Britain and Ireland were both divided into a patchwork of rival kingdoms which would eventually coalesce into the larger kingdoms of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Jacq Bernard, manager of the Sutton Hoo Ship Company, said: “We’re not asking anyone to cut down their beautiful trees. It’s a bit of a labour of love…

“We would love it to be built with English wood. The original ship was made for one of the first English kings. It would be nice to do this with our ship.”

She added: “There’s just less oak than they would have been in Anglo-Saxon times.

“What it boils down to is whether they need to bring any oak trees down at the moment and these take hundreds of years to grow so you have to get what’s around now.”

The project has planted 400 oak saplings and 1,600 of other species to replace the wood used during the construction of the ship.

Ms Bernard said: “None of us are going to be alive [by the time the saplings have grown] but other people will be. We want to be able to put this oak back.”

Several timber offers have been made since the appeal was launched but the quality of the wood needs to be inspected first.

The team are searching for three more trees for the hull planing, as well as more timber for the internal fitting and sheer strake.

A £22 billion taxpayer-backed carbon capture scheme will be successful despite years of setbacks for the green technology, Sir Keir Starmer has insisted.

The Prime Minister announced funding for three projects in northern England that will capture the carbon dioxide emissions from energy production and store them under the sea.

It is the fourth time a major carbon capture and storage (CCS) project has been tried in the UK, amid doubts that the technology can ever be commercially viable because of the costs involved.

But Mr Starmer insisted this time would “absolutely” be different, saying the technology was crucial for industries that were difficult to electrify, such as glass and cement.

He said: “We have got a unique opportunity for carbon capture, using literally the same pipes we have got in Scotland, using the same infrastructure where fossil fuels came down the pipes that will now be used in reverse.”

The first carbon capture project in the UK was proposed in 2005 by BP but the plan, for a gas power plant with CO2 storage near Peterhead, never moved past concept stage.

A competition for projects two years later collapsed after one of the bidders withdrew. David Cameron cancelled a major £1 billion CCS project at the last minute in 2015, citing its affordability.

Although the technology for capturing emissions from industrial processes or energy production is well established it is expensive to do, raising questions about how the industry can be viable without permanent taxpayer backing or onerous costs on businesss.

Of the 42 carbon capture projects in operation worldwide, the vast majority are used in the oil industry where the carbon is injected into wells to free trapped oil, making them more commercially viable.

The remaining 12 projects that are intended to store carbon permanently to reduce overall emissions have never been proven to be profitable.

Professor Peter Styring, the co-founder of a company that backs new CCS techniques, says the older technology, which uses chemcials known as amines to extract CO2, is unlikely to ever be viable at scale.

He said: “This is the fourth time we have tried to use amine capture technology at scale to capture CO2.

“This time there is a proposal for a pipeline, which is great, but it still doesn’t address the fundamental problem that the amine technology is expensive, both capital and operational costs, it is very big in terms of land area usage and the amine solvents evaporate, degrade and have to be recovered.”

The £21.7 billion of investment will be spread across five years. It will come from a mixture of taxpayer and additional charges on bills, through a model similar to offshore wind.

Of the three projects given backing in Friday’s announcement, two will create energy that will feed into the grid from a new gas-fired power station and a plant that will burn non-recyclable waste.

Future projects are expected to focus on decarbonising industry using blue hydrogen, or factory carbon capture. But it remains unclear whether the cost of these projects would also be passed on to households or taxpayers.

Energy debt has reached record levels and bills remain high in the aftermath of the crisis in Ukraine.

Green groups argue that CCS represents a poor return on investment in terms of emissions saved per pound spent, and say money should be focused on easy wins such as insulating homes.

Paul O’Grady’s widower has put his countryside mansion on the market despite winning a planning row with his neighbours earlier this year.

Andre Portasio, who married the late television star in 2017, listed the Kent farmhouse for sale for £3.5 million on Thursday.

The former professional dancer inherited Knoll House from O’Grady when he died at the age of 67 in March 2023.

Portasio became embroiled in a planning dispute with his neighbours earlier this year over plans to turn a hut in the house’s 50-acre grounds into a holiday let.

The Brazilian widower submitted proposals to turn an existing groundskeeper’s house into a two-bedroom cottage that would be rented out to tourists.

Neighbours claimed that the plans would “cheapen” the area and were not what O’Grady “would have wanted”.

Others said a likely “constant stream of visiting car drivers unfamiliar with the property’s awkward access” would lead to car accidents.

Despite the backlash, Ashford council approved the plans in July after other residents made supportive comments.

Sally Hodgson, a planning officer, said at the time: “Central government guidance supports sustainable business, enterprise and tourism in rural areas, both through the conversion of existing buildings and well-designed new buildings.”

Just three months after his victory, Portasio has now decided to sell the house.

The Edwardian seven-bedroom mansion, which was previously owned by comedian Vic Reeves, was bought by O’Grady in 1999 for £650,000.

In his book Country Life, O’Grady recalled his excitement at moving away from London to the Kent countryside.

“I couldn’t quite get it to sink in that the house was mine,” he wrote. “On my first night in the house, I couldn’t sleep I was so excited.”

He died from sudden cardiac arrhythmia on March 28 2023.

The house is situated in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and comes with four acres of woodland.

Its estate includes a swimming pool and several outbuildings, including two self-contained cottages, a barn, and stables

Strutt and Parker, an estate agent, said: “Knoll Hill House sits in a breathtaking position at the top of the escarpment above the Romney Marsh which affords the most sensational far-reaching views, looking across the marsh to the coast and the sea in the distance.

“Built in 1910, the house has much charm, providing a comfortable and spacious space in which to live and entertain against this stunning backdrop.”

A two-year-old beaver named Nibi who was at the center of a court battle has been saved from being released into the wild.

The animal is to stay with the rescuers she has known since she was a baby after the Massachusetts governor stepped in.

The state has issued a permit to Newhouse Wildlife Rescue for Nibi to remain at the rehabilitation facility and serve as an educational animal.

The center had been ordered to release Nibi into the wild, but they were concerned that she would not survive. The battle reached the state courts before the governor intervened.

“Nibi has captured the hearts of many of our residents, mine included,” Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said Thursday. “We’re excited to share that we have issued a permit for Nibi to remain in Newhouse’s care, continuing to educate the public about this important species.”

A judge on Tuesday had said that Nibi would be allowed to stay in her home at the rescue center in Chelmsford, located northwest of Boston. A hearing had been set for Friday in a case filed by the rescuers against MassWildlife, the state’s division of fisheries and wildlife, to stop the release.

Nibi’s rescuers at Newhouse Wildlife Rescue said on their Facebook page that they were “beyond grateful” for Gov. Healey’s decision.

Nibi has been a hit on the rescue group’s social media since she was a baby, and posts about her impending release garnered thousands of comments.

An online petition to save Nibi from being released into the wild has received over 25,000 signatures, lawmakers have weighed in, and earlier this week Gov. Healey pledged to make sure Nibi is protected.

“We all care about what is best for the beaver known as Nibi and all wild animals throughout our state,” Mark Tisa, director of MassWildlife, said in a statement Thursday. “We share the public’s passion for wildlife and invite everyone to learn more about beavers and their important place in our environment.”

Jane Newhouse, the rescue group’s founder and president, has said that after Nibi was found on the side of the road, they tried to reunite her with nearby beavers who could have been her parents but were unsuccessful. After that, attempts to get her to bond with other beavers also did not work.

“It’s very difficult to consider releasing her when she only seems to like people and seems to have no interest in being wild or bonding with any of her own species,” she said.

‘Educational beaver’ permit

Nibi has a large enclosure with a pool at the rescue operation, and will also wander in its yard and rehabilitation space, Ms. Newhouse said. “She pretty much has full run of the place. Everybody on my team is in love with her,” she said.

Ms. Newhouse said she had asked MassWildlife if she could get a permit for Nibi to become an educational beaver, allowing her to take the beaver to schools, libraries, and town halls. Ms. Newhouse said she feared a release would mean certain death for her beloved “diva” beaver, who does not know how to live in the wild.

“It doesn’t give her much time… to figure out how to build a lodge for the first time, how to build dams for the first time, how to store all of her food before winter sets in,” she said.

Ms. Newhouse said that beavers usually leave their parents between the ages of two and three, so it is possible that over the next year Nibi will show more interest in wanting to be in the wild. But unless that happens, she wants to keep her safe.

Beavers are common and abundant throughout Massachusetts. A keystone species, beavers play an important role in fostering biodiversity of ecosystems, according to state officials.

By damming rivers and streams, and forming shallow ponds, beavers are vital for creating healthy wetlands that support a tremendous diversity of plants, bugs, and wildlife, and store floodwaters during storms.

They are also North America’s largest native rodents, weighing between 35 and 80 pounds (16 and 36 kilograms) and reaching 2–3ft (0.6–0.9 meters) in length as adults.

Adult beavers have very few predators and can live for 20 years or more.

In almost all cases, it is best to leave wildlife alone, officials said, so they do not come to rely on humans for food and shelter.