Trump deletes video depicting Obamas as apes after outrage

President Donald Trump has shared a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes in a late-night Truth Social posting spree — and drew quick rebuke across the political world for his social media post.

Some described it as “disgusting” and “racist” and condemned the president for the messaging. There is also confusion about who made the post, leading to more questions regarding the video post on Trump’s account.

Initially, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the post and called the outrage toward it “fake.”

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” Leavitt said. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”

Hours after her comments — and 12 hours since it was first posted — the video was taken down. A senior White House official said a staffer posted it “erroneously.”

One unnamed official told The Hill that Trump was unaware when the video went up, and the employee “really let the president down.”

The clip of the Obamas appeared at the end of an unrelated video that allegedly debunked claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, which Trump has claimed was stolen from him, despite evidence to the contrary. A minute into the video, the clip was inserted, showing the faces of the Obamas superimposed on the bodies of two great apes, animated and dancing against an apparent jungle background to the soundtrack of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

The Obamas left the White House nine years ago, and Trump ran against then-President Joe Biden in 2020. Despite that, he has frequently included the Obamas in his attacks on Democrats.

Trump was an early champion of the birther conspiracy theory against Obama, claiming that he was not born in the United States; even after Hawaii verified Obama’s birth certificate, Trump claimed many did not believe the birth certificate was legitimate.

Comparing Black people to apes is a racist trope that has been used for centuries to dehumanize people with African heritage.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has emerged as a frequent foil to the president, slammed his “disgusting behavior” in a post on X.

“Every single Republican must denounce this,” Newsom wrote. “Now.”

Other X users quickly reacted with horror to the video, which was shared during Black History Month.

Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who has backed Trump and appeared with him at rallies, condemned the post.

“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Scott said. “The President should remove it.”

There was also swift outrage across social media about the post.

“Let’s be clear. If you are defending Trump over his Obama ape video. You are a racist,” one X user wrote. “It is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen posted by a public figure.”

“In 2026, after nearly 250 years of the formation of the nation, for an American President to depict the nation’s first Black President as an ape is racism which crosses a red line. Donald Trump should resign,” another added.

“There’s absolutely no way that any black Trump Supporters can defend this. How do you defend a white man posting images of Black people as, Monkeys,” another said.

Trump’s slew of posts around midnight canvassed a wide range of his pet topics, including multiple claims of voter fraud in various elections; video clips relating to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks; sharing a screenshot of an X post claiming Democrats were “anti-Christ, anti-family, anti-Black and anti-life”; and a video about trash collection in New York City.

Amid the barrage of grievances and conspiracy theories, he also reshared a Super Bowl ad for his Invest America initiative, the so-called “Trump accounts” for children, which will kickstart savings programs for them with the help of the federal government.

The ad shows several young people discussing their future plans, including buying homes and studying.

The clip was shared on X by billionaire Michael Dell, who is investing $6.25 billion in the program with his wife, Susan; Dell said it was “time to give every child a stake in the American Dream.”

Trump shared a screenshot of the X post on Truth Social without additional commentary, then immediately returned to posts about voting, and a claim that Obama had been “spying on him.”

The president’s fixation on voting processes saw him call earlier this week for Republicans to “take over” elections and “nationalize” them.

“We should take over the voting in at least 15 places,” the president suggested.

Leavitt — when asked by reporters about Trump’s comments on Tuesday — assured them that the president “believes in the United States Constitution.”

Trump has been insistent that he only lost the 2020 election due to massive voter fraud. His allegations have been tested and found false over and over, but he remains convinced that fraud — and not a rejection of him and his ideology — is to blame for his electoral losses.

Suffolk Strangler jailed for 40 years for kidnap and murder of Victoria Hall

Suffolk serial killer Steve Wright has been sentenced to life with a minimum of 40 years for abducting and murdering teenager Victoria Hall 26 years ago, after he prowled the streets like a “predator stalking for his prey”.

The 17-year-old sixth former was walking home from a night out with her best friend at a club in Felixstowe in 1999 when she was kidnapped by the killer, then aged 41.

Her naked body was found by a dog walker five days later in a ditch in Creeting St Peter, around 25 miles from where she was last seen.

Her horrific murder remained unsolved for 26 years until Wright – known as the Suffolk Strangler – shockingly changed his plea and admitted his guilt on Monday. He also admitted attempting to kidnap Emily Doherty, 22, the night before, who fears Ms Hall would still be alive today if police had taken her ordeal more seriously.

It is the first time Wright, who is already serving a whole-life sentence for murdering five women in Ipswich seven years later, in 2006 – has taken responsibility for any of his crimes.

At his sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, the serial killer, now 67, wore a grey Nike tracksuit and was flanked by three dock officers as details of the harrowing crimes were laid out.

He appeared emotionless as Mr Justice Bennathan told him he would almost certainly die in prison.

He told Wright: “Victoria Hall was a typical, bright, lively teenager. Her father described her as having been a happy, loving child. She spent hours on the phone with her best friend. She was studying for her A levels, she had a part-time job and loved to go out dancing.

“For reasons only you know, and most people will never start to comprehend, you snatched Victoria away and you crushed her young life.”

He was further sentenced to nine years for attempting to kidnap Ms Doherty, who the judge concluded he would have killed if she had not escaped, and 12 years for the kidnap of Ms Hall, to be served concurrently.

Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC said: “On the weekend of 18-19 September 1999, the defendant, driving his burgundy Ford Granada Scorpio, was on the prowl in Felixstowe, a port town on the Suffolk coast.

“Almost undoubtedly sexually motivated, he was a predator stalking for his prey: looking for a young woman to kidnap.”

The Old Bailey heard that Wright, who was employed on the mooring team at Felixstowe docks at the time of the attacks, was “very physically strong”.

Ms Doherty, who was a newlywed and due to travel to India for her honeymoon the next day, sensed danger and armed herself with a stick when she saw Wright in the early hours of 18 September 1999. She sprinted away and escaped the killer by frantically knocking on the front door of a couple, who let her inside.

However, in the early hours of the following morning, he did not allow Ms Hall, aged 17, to “escape his predatory clutches”, Ms Ledward said.

The schoolgirl, from Trimley St Mary, had left home for a night out at the Bandbox nightclub in neighbouring Felixstowe. She and her best friend left the venue at around 1am and walked back singing, saying goodnight at 2.20am, just 300 metres from Ms Hall’s home.

“Having separated from her best friend Gemma Algar only 300 metres from her front door, she never made it home, and seemingly vanished, the only clue to what happened to her a scream in the night, on the small housing estate where she lived in the village of Trimley St Mary, not two miles from where the defendant has made his attempt on Emily Doherty,” Ms Ledward said.

“But Victoria had not simply vanished into thin air. The defendant had abducted, and within a very short time, murdered her, as well as sexually violating her in some way.”

The prosecutor said Ms Hall’s body was discarded naked but for her jewellery “as if she were no more important than a disposable commodity”. She likely died of asphyxia, pathologists concluded.

The fact that her body had been left in the open had caused “untold” distress to her family, including her mother, who tragically died before Wright was brought to justice.

Following the murder, Wright reported an injury at work and sold his Ford Granada Scorpio as he prepared to leave the country, the court heard. In November 1999, he travelled to Thailand for two months.

In 2001, police accused an innocent businessman of Ms Hall’s murder, but he was acquitted by a jury in less than 90 minutes.

In a victim impact statement read by the prosecutor, Emily Doherty said she was stalked for what seemed like 40 minutes by the killer.

“I had never been so scared in my life,” she said. “When a couple finally let me in their house to call the police, I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest.”

However, when officers arrived, they did not take her seriously, and the first question they asked was “how much have you had to drink tonight”.

“To this day, I am furious,” she added. “I wasn’t taken seriously. I was made to feel like a silly little girl.”

She questioned whether Victoria would still be alive if police had responded differently and taken her statement, which included a partial number plate for her attacker.

“For 25 years, I have wondered what if,” she said. “What if they had taken my statement? Could Victoria still be alive right now? Or at the least, they could have found the murderer sooner.”

Ms Ledward revealed Wright had been identified as the keeper of one of 56 cars which matched Ms Doherty’s description – and his details printed out on 14-15 October 1999. This shortlist was further narrowed over the following year, after Ms Doherty recalled a further digit of the number plate, reducing the number of matching vehicles to 10, including Wright’s car.

Excluding those owned by women, only two vehicles were registered to owners in the Felixstowe, Trimley or Stowmarket area. One of them was Wright.

However, astonishingly, he was not formally identified as a suspect in Ms Hall’s murder until a cold case review in June 2020.

Suffolk Police will consider holding an inquiry into the missed opportunities to catch the killer after today’s sentencing hearing, Ms Ledward added.

Fighting back tears in the court, Ms Algar said she and Ms Hall were “inseparable” and were excited to turn 18.

But life “changed forever” on that fateful day, adding she will never forget the “sick feeling” in her stomach after she realised her friend never made it home safely.

She added: “I have replayed countless ‘if only’ and ‘what ifs’ over the years. We felt safe in our hometown and that sense of safety was taken away forever.”

Ms Hall’s grieving father said he will miss her “every day for the rest of my life”.

In a statement read by his son Steven, he added: “Steve Wright robbed us of seeing her grow into a woman”, including “fulfilling her dream” of going to university.

In his own victim impact statement, Steven said that their family had been forced into “an exclusive club that nobody wants to be part of” as a result of the horrific murder, which turned their world upside down.

“Victoria was only 17 years old, with so much life left to live – uni, a career, marriage, kids,” he continued.

“It’s an unbearable pain to know that my mum and dad never got to see her do any of those things.”

He added: “I have had 26 years of not knowing what happened to my sister. I have had a life sentence in itself. The conclusion of this doesn’t bring closure, it only answers the question of who did it.”

Wright is already serving a rare whole-life order after he terrorised Ipswich in a six-week killing spree in 2006, targeting five women who he snatched from the town’s red light area.

Tania Nicol, 19, vanished on 30 October that year, followed by Gemma Adams, 25, around two weeks later, triggering a major inquiry. Ms Adams’s body was found in a stream on 2 December, followed by the discovery of Ms Nicol’s remains in a pond on 8 December.

The remains of Anneli Alderton, 24, were found two days later in woods, and sex workers in the town were urged to stay off the streets. On 12 December, the bodies of Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, were also discovered.

Samantha Woolley, a specialist prosecutor who led the CPS case against Wright, said: “Much attention will be made of Steve Wright being convicted of another murder, attention he does not deserve. Quite simply, he represents the very worst of humanity and I hope he will now be forgotten.”

Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison routine revealed in new jail cell video

Newly released footage has lifted the lid on convicted child sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell’s routine in prison.

Maxwell, who was found guilty of child sex trafficking in 2021 in connection with her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, was being held at Brooklyn’s infamous Metropolitan Detention Center when the video was taken.

The eerie footage of Maxwell wandering around her prison cell was released after a huge tranche of documents related to Epstein were made public last week.

Taken by a surveillance camera on July 1, 2020, just before 2pm, the video begins with Maxwell casually cleaning something in her sink.

Dressed in an orange prison uniform, she trudges back to her bed, where she begins folding her thin duvet and bedding. A spare orange jumpsuit is near her pillowcase.

Eventually, Maxwell, also wearing reading glasses, lies down on her bed and picks up a book. The scene ends when the convicted sex offender takes a deep yawn and continues to recline.

The Metropolitan Detention Centre, where Maxwell was detained, is famed for its alleged poor conditions. Cameron Lindsay, a former warden at the jail, told The Telegraph that the prison was “one of the most troubled” in the United States.

Currently, the detention facility holds Luigi Mangione and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Since the video was first filmed, Maxwell has been moved to a low-security prison in Texas nicknamed, “Club Fed.”

She was moved to the facility after a nine-hour meeting with Donald Trump’s deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, which unfolded over two days.

Although she bragged about feeling as though she had “dropped through Alice in Wonderland’s looking glass” when comparing the Texas prison to her New York one, Maxwell’s life behind bars is radically different from her life as Epstein’s accomplice.

While helping Epstein run his sex trafficking ring, Maxwell was a regular on the pedophile’s island, Little St James, and regularly jetted around the world with him on his private jet.

She was photographed with politicians and celebrities, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew).

Since being jailed, Maxwell has repeatedly lobbied the Trump administration to pardon her for her crimes, or for a commutation.

In October last year, Trump acknowledged that he had the power to release Maxwell and claimed he would “take a look” at the possibility of doing so.

“You know, I haven’t heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I’d have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look,” he told reporters.

However, Trump has yet to comment further on the possibility of Maxwell’s release and has branded Epstein a “creep.”

The president has repeatedly downplayed his connection to Epstein, with whom he was photographed many times in the 1990s. He has long denied any wrongdoing in connection with the case and has not been accused of any crime in relation to the pair’s friendship.

‘My son went out on a run. I found him dead using a phone tracker app’

The father of a man killed when he ran into a low-hanging electricity line has described the moment he found his son’s body.

Harry Oates, 29, an aerospace engineer who worked in Bristol, was visiting his parents’ home in Lonsdale, Cumbria, for the weekend, where the family had planned fun activities such as golf and cycling that they never got to do together.

What began as just a “nice, regular kind of day” filled with admin tasks like car servicing turned into a traumatic and grave loss.

Harry decided to go out for a two-hour jog as part of training for a charity half-marathon to mark his upcoming 30th birthday.

When Harry didn’t come home on time, the family began to worry that something had gone wrong. His father, Malcolm Oates, said at first: “One thing that we thought was on his route that he was going on, he would pass two or three houses where old school friends lived.

“So we thought maybe he’s bumped into somebody and stopped for a chat, or, you know, he’s been waylaid. But after two and a half hours, we started to get concerned, so phoned him.”

He added: “After a while of him not answering, we thought he possibly dropped his phone, and he was backtracking on his run, looking for it, because it was still ringing. It was still active, but not being answered anyway.

“When it got to about 4.15pm his brother Charlie got home from work, and I used ‘Find My iPhone’ on his phone. So we tracked Harry’s phone to be in a field fairly close to the house here, only a 10-minute walk away, so Charlie and I set off in Charlie’s car to go and see if we could locate his phone.”

That’s when Mr Oates saw his son. He said: “As I got closer and closer, it started to dawn on me that it was Harry lying prone on the floor, face down. And as I got closer and closer, I could see there was an 11,000-volt cable across him.”

He discovered his son’s body just a three-minute drive from their home, in Lupton, near Kirkby Lonsdale.

“That image of him there, is the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning when I wake up,” Mr Oates said.

The father immediately phoned his wife, Ros, in horror and said: “You’ve got to get down here right away. It’s the worst possible outcome.”

Harry had been electrocuted to death by a low-hanging wire.

He will forever be remembered by his family as a “kind”, “popular”, “caring” and “compassionate” son who was taken from them far too soon. His mother Ros shared that he had the “ambition to visit 30 countries by the time he was 30, and he exceeded the 30 countries, but unfortunately, he didn’t reach his 30th birthday”.

Harry’s former colleagues in Cambridge decided to commemorate him with a Harry arts boardroom and hung a plaque in his honour.

An inquest ruled that Harry had died from “rare and complex” circumstances and that the line manager, Electricity North West (ENWL), was not responsible for his death. However, the coroner did ask the Energy Networks Association (ENA) to take action to improve safety practices and prevent future deaths.

In her prevention of future deaths report, coroner Kirsty Gomersal said Harry had come into contact with a line that had come away from its usual position two days previously, but had not touched the ground and remained unreported.

She wrote: “There was no automatic means of detection of the low-hanging line.”

Harry’s family has called for greater accountability, accusing ENWL of “hiding behind their maintenance record, saying that they’ve carried out all maintenance they should have done, and that the sequence of events was unforeseen”.

Ms Gomersal wrote that the line fell out of position due to a failure of two insulators that suspended the wire. After its investigation, ENWL has stopped using that type of insulator and was planning a programme to replace them at around 8,000 locations.

In the meantime, when maintenance work is required at those locations, the insulators are replaced. The coroner raised concern over a risk of future deaths due to the fact there are still locations across the UK which use the older type of insulators.

Mr Oates called for a mandatory replacement of the older insulators.

He said: “There should be a programme in place now where every single porcelain disc insulator should be removed and replaced. It could happen tomorrow. It could be happening right now. They haven’t done anything about it.”

A spokesperson for ENWL said: “Our heartfelt sympathies remain with Harry Oates’ family at this time. This was a tragic incident which both the coroner and Health and Safety Executive noted involved a rare and complex sequence of events that were unforeseeable.

“Safety is our number one value, and we will continue to work with other distribution network operators and the industry trade body, ENA, on learnings from this immensely sad accident.”

A Health and Safety Executive spokesperson said: “We extend our sincere condolences to the Oates family. This was looked at by a coroner who concluded it was a tragic incident caused by a rare and complex sequence of events. No material breach of law was identified by our investigation.”

Teenager charged over murder of student Khaleed Oladipo

A man has been charged with the murder Leicester student Khaleed Oladipo.

Harper Dennis, 18, of North Road, West Drayton, London, has been charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, Leicestershire Police said.

De Montfort University student Mr Oladipo, 20, died after he was stabbed in the chest in Leicester city centre on Tuesday.

Mr Oladipo was living in Leicester and studying cybersecurity at the university.

He was described by his family as an “extremely loved son, brother, uncle, boyfriend and friend” with a passion for football.

Dennis is due to appear at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.

The force said he has also been charged with two counts of possession of an offensive weapon in a private place, which are unrelated to the murder investigation.

Nordic flavours: Discover culture and cuisine on an enriching cruise

Norway’s food is more than just something to eat; it tells the story of a coastline shaped by freezing seas and centuries of being resourceful. It’s rooted in preservation, seasonality and local pride, and is a cuisine best understood not by crossing the country, but by tracing its edges, sailing from port to port.

With more than 130 years of experience along Norway’s rugged coast, Nordic cruise operator Hurtigruten knows these waters better than anyone, as well as the culture, community and cuisine you’ll find en route. On board, food is not an added extra, but an integral part of the journey itself, and as the ship sails north, so do the menus, reflecting the regions, communities and producers met along the way.

On a Hurtigruten voyage, ingredients are sourced directly from the coastline, picked up as ships travel between ports, with around 70 local farms, fisheries, bakeries, and producers in its network, and a focus on small-scale, homegrown suppliers.

Menus are chock-full of melt-in-your-mouth cod from Vesterålen, award-winning goat’s cheese from family-run Aalan Farm in Lofoten, and craft beer brewed in Bergen. Dining rooms are designed with floor-to-ceiling windows, so as fjords glide past outside, you’re eating dishes made from the very waters and landscapes you’re sailing through.

Each Hurtigruten ship has a main restaurant, a bistro-style eatery and a fine dining option, all guided by the line’s food philosophy, Norway’s Coastal Kitchen, with super seasonal menus grounded in local traditions.

On The Coastal Express, Torget is the heart of onboard dining, with mornings beginning with freshly baked bread, saxlmon and porridge, and evenings with three-course dinners with just-caught fish, Norwegian meats and plant-based dishes, best finished with traditional desserts and local berries.

For something more casual, Brygga reflects the bustle of Norway’s working wharves, serving hearty favourites such as soups, salads and the much-loved Norwegian shrimp sandwich, piled high with prawns, eggs, dill mayonnaise and lemon.

The ship’s à la carte restaurant, Kysten, offers a more refined take on Norwegian cuisine, with fresh seafood, wild herbs and carefully sourced meats, paired with thoughtfully selected wines, including Hurtigruten’s own sparkling wine, Havets Bobler.

Aged deep beneath the Norwegian Sea rather than in a cellar, Havets Bobler matures more than 30 metres below the surface, gently rocked by ocean currents in cold, dark waters. The result is a wine with fine bubbles, a subtle mineral finish, and a process rooted in the Norwegian sea.

On premium Signature Voyages such as the North Cape Line and The Svalbard Line, dining becomes an even deeper exploration of Norway’s culinary scene. These all-inclusive journeys feature three unique restaurants, each reflecting Norway’s past, present and future.

In the main restaurant, Flora, menus are inspired by Norway’s edible landscape, packed with herbs, berries, mushrooms and vegetables, and shaped by the seasons and the ports visited each day. Breakfast and lunch are served buffet-style, while evenings bring a changing à la carte menu, meaning no two dinners are ever the same.

Brasserie Árran celebrates tradition with hearty Norwegian classics such as Sámi reindeer stew, smoked reindeer with lingonberry, and pickled herring on rye. At the top end, fine-dining restaurant Røst draws inspiration from the ancient fish banks of the Lofoten Islands with tasting menus that might feature stockfish, salmon or reindeer, alongside more unexpected ingredients such as seaweed, kelp, sea urchin and Arctic pearls.

Across all venues, traditional preservation methods are at the forefront, with drying, fermenting and salting taking centre stage, honoured by chefs, sommeliers and mixologists who reinterpret age-old techniques especially for Hurtigruten voyages.

For the ultimate foodie adventure, Hurtigruten’s Culinary Voyage sails from Bergen to Tromsø over seven delicious days, mixing life on board with experiences on land, plus a chance to meet the people bringing Norway’s food scene to life. One day you might be tucking into a seaweed-themed 20-course dinner at a gourmet farm, the next enjoying tastings at the world’s northernmost distillery and brewery.

Hurtigruten’s connection to the coast goes beyond sourcing, with a sustainable approach that minimises waste. Leftover food from ships sailing The Coastal Express is composted in Stamsund in the Lofoten Islands, using a specially designed reactor. Within 24 hours, it becomes fertiliser for the nearby Myklevik farm, where herbs and vegetables are grown, some of which even return to the ships.

This quiet farm-to-fleet-to-farm cycle reflects Hurtigruten’s commitment to reducing food waste through reducing, reusing and recycling, helping care for both the coastline and the communities it serves.

Food is only part of the adventure on a Hurtigruten voyage, and alongside dining, the onboard Expedition Team brings Norwegian culture to life through lectures, talks, and foodie experiences that explore the country’s past, traditions, and way of life.

On land, excursions might include sampling local beers at Macks Ølbryggeri in Tromsø, heading out with fishermen in Kirkenes to haul up king crab from icy waters, or visiting a family-run dairy farm in Lofoten. In Lofoten, the Stockfish Museum explains how cod has been dried in the Arctic air for centuries, and in Bergen, the Hanseatic Museum shows how closely food and trade were woven into life along the historic wharf.

But head even further north, and you can meet indigenous Sámi families to learn about their long-standing tradition of reindeer herding, gaining a deeper insight into the incredible Sámi way of life.

A voyage of discovery

With a Hurtigruten cruise you can experience Norway in its most authentic way, gliding slowly along the coast, and immersing yourself in each fascinating destination – travelling the way it’s always been done. For more travel information and inspiration and to plan your trip, visit Hurtigruten. Save up to 30 per cent on a Hurtigruten cruise for departures until March 2027, when you book by 28th February.

Restaurant boss guilty of spiking woman’s drink in Mayfair club

Restaurateur Vikas Nath has been found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of spiking a woman’s drink at private members club, Annabel’s, in central London.

The 63-year-old laced the woman’s spicy margarita with gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) after she left him with the drink in the rooftop garden bar.

The court heard Nath had grown frustrated with the woman’s apparent reluctance to have sex with him before the spiking incident, and took GBL in a vanilla extract bottle with him to the club.

Nath had two bottles of the liquid drug at his Knightsbridge home, as well as a motion sensor-activated covert camera pointed at his bed.

Prosecutors said he planned to drug the woman and take her back to his home for sex when she had been “overpowered or stupefied”.

However, eagle-eyed Annabel’s staff spotted Nath using a straw to put GBL into the margarita, and intervened to prevent the woman from drinking it.

On Friday, Nath was found guilty by a jury of attempting to administer a substance with intent and possession of a Class B drug.

The businessman, who owns Michelin-starred Benares in Mayfair as part of a collection of top restaurants in the UK and Spain, looked to the floor as the jury returned its verdicts, and could be seen shaking his head in the dock.

Nath had been forced to admit spiking the woman’s drink after he was caught red-handed by Annabel’s staff and recorded on the exclusive members’ club’s CCTV.

The court heard Nath – after realising he had been “rumbled” – threw the bottle of Madagascar vanilla extract into a toilet cistern but it was later recovered by police.

Bar staff also managed to retrieve the spiked drink from the table, so it could later be tested by police forensics experts.

Prosecutor Tim Clark, KC, hailed the swift actions of Annabel’s staff after they noticed “rather strange actions” by Nath on 15 January 2024.

“(They) watched Mr Nath put a straw into (her) drink, sticking his finger over the top,” he said.

Nath had a small bottle in his hand, and used the straw to “suck up liquid” before dropping the contents into the woman’s drink.

The woman, who had left the table, was intercepted by staff before she returned to Nath and was told what was unfolding.

She felt “betrayed” by Nath, she told the trial, but had initially defended him when staff warned that they believed her drink had been spiked.

“I remember vividly defending Mr Nath, saying ‘There is no way he could do that’,” she said.

“I remember sending him a message saying ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s happening’. Because I felt it was my fault.

“I didn’t want him in trouble, I didn’t believe it.”

The court heard they had been in contact prior to the Annabel’s incident, including for lunch meetings at Benares and the Beaverbrook Town House.

She also recalled Nath taking her to a burlesque show at Cirque Le Soir, and the court was shown messages in which Nath had actually warned the woman about drinks being spiked.

“I don’t think I will be drinking today,” she had messaged Nath, after an evening out.

He replied: “I think you should drink, but be aware of people around you. My biggest concern last night was someone spiking your drink.”

After he was arrested at the club, Nath admitted spiking the woman’s drink without her consent, but insisted he had been trying to “relax” her rather than overpower her for sex.

He claimed to have obtained GBL to clean the wheel rims of a high-powered car, on the advice of a friend, and suggested he himself had drunk some of the liquid in the past to relax.

Nath also claimed to have “hugged and kissed” the woman, but she denied this, telling the court their relationship had not been sexual.

In texts shown to the jury, Nath had described the woman to a friend as “eminently f***able”, said of their friendship, “I want to get laid, not hold hands”, and suggested he would need to “play the long game”.

On the day of the spiking incident, he wrote: “I’m at Annabel’s. This is probably the last evening with (her). She ain’t biting.”

The friend then replied: “Action time I hope.”

In his police interview, Nath admitted past incidents when he had covertly filmed sex at his home, using the motion sensor-activated camera set up in his bedroom.

Nath was “impatient with lack of progress”, said Mr Clark, telling jurors the restaurateur “wanted to have sex at his house where there was a camera and it could record it”.

In the witness box, Nath broke down in tears as he admitted spiking the drink had been “wrong”.

“I regret it very deeply,” he said, but argued he had not been thinking about sex at the time.

He said GBL heightened the effects of alcohol, and said he himself had ingested the drug before they went to Annabel’s.

He also argued that he did not realise the substance was an illegal drug.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow…

It’s time the student loans system was abolished

However clever a student may be, they cannot predict the distant future, and are as vulnerable as anyone else to what is broadly termed “mis-selling”. For precisely those reasons, there is no doubt that at least a certain cohort who graduated in the 2010s, after tuition fees were trebled, were indeed misled about the financial burden they would ultimately face.

They could not be expected to know that, one day, a government would make the terms under which they had taken on these notional but heavy-debt obligations much harsher. The indications they were given about repayments were plainly far too rosy, and they were offered no choice in the matter – the government was the primary provider of tuition fee loans.

As it happens, this cohort’s graduation more or less coincided with the beginning of a long period of relative stagnation in earnings, yet more inflation in housing costs, and, more recently, an increase in general personal taxation. They are right to be angry about what has been done to them by successive governments of all parties.

But there are signs that they are now older, wiser and angrier, and are starting to mobilise and make their case for some form of relief. They are entirely right to do so.

There can be few who are undaunted by the prospect of leaving college with debts running into the tens of thousands of pounds – sums compounded, literally, by a usurious interest rate, presently set at 3 per cent, plus the rise in the retail prices index. On the latest count, this makes the interest rate rather higher even than it would be based on the consumer prices index: roughly 7.2 per cent.

This is an outrage. Setting aside promotions and bonuses, it outpaces increases in salaries, meaning that the debt in real terms, and in relation to income, becomes less and less manageable – implying an additional income tax rate of 9 per cent. For higher earners, taking account of other anomalies in the tax system, it can represent a marginal tax rate of 77 per cent, badly distorting incentives to work.

The freeze in the thresholds at which repayments kick in means that a graduate earning little more than the minimum wage will also be whacked with a morale-destroying tax hike. The irony is that the repayments can be set so high that, in some cases, they can never be paid back and have to be written off, rendering the whole process pointless. It is not even possible for a graduate to refinance their loan, as they might a mortgage or an overdraft.

All in all, it is an absurd, unsustainable and immoral state of affairs. But neither is there an easy answer to the scandal, because it will be costly to correct.

Even if, for example, the entire system were abolished for new graduates – whose parents and grandparents broadly escaped student debt – that would still leave a sort of accursed generation in their twenties and thirties who had been penalised by an accident of birthdate. The system as a whole needs to be reformed, but in a manner that recognises that the universities themselves, which are coming under intense financial pressure, must be protected.

There is good reason to make them more efficient, and to ensure that the pay, pensions and conditions offered to staff and management in higher education are affordable and fair to taxpayers – and, indeed, graduates. Britain has some of the finest universities in the world, but even the most modest of the former polytechnics can provide brilliant teaching and a life-enhancing experience – and boost the nation’s human capital just as surely as a degree in literae humaniores from Oxford.

Every university in the country is a formidable export-earner and an asset to its community. Overseas students bring in income and spend money, and they should not be treated as immigrants in the normal sense of the word; restricting their visas is an extremely shortsighted move. In many a run-down town, the university is a rare source of well-paid jobs and pride.

This is a long story of great betrayals. The student loans system should never have been introduced, given that graduates usually earn more, repaying society in enhanced output and adding to the economic growth that the whole country needs in order to sustain living standards and public services.

Thus, graduates pay more tax in any case – and if they don’t, questions need to be asked about the degrees being offered. When the Blair administration brought in student loans to partially cover tuition fees, they were capped at £1,000 a year. Since then, students find themselves funding more and more of the higher-education budget, and it is beginning to blight both their lives and the sector, and thus the national economy.

Higher education is one of the few areas in which the UK enjoys an international comparative advantage. These institutions, and their students, should be cherished, not exploited.