Abusive husband stabbed wife to death as she pushed pram in street

A man described as “violent, jealous, and controlling” has been convicted of murder after he fatally stabbed his wife in broad daylight, having tracked her to a women’s refuge.

Habibur Masum launched a “ferocious” knife attack on Kulsuma Akter as she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram. The court heard he left her “bleeding to death in the gutter” before calmly walking away from the scene, abandoning their baby.

A court heard Masum, 26, followed Ms Akter, 27, to a refuge in Bradford where she had been staying to escape him after he held a knife to her throat following an assault at their home in Greater Manchester.

After finding her through her phone location, Masum was seen on CCTV in the days leading up to the fatal attack “loitering, watching and waiting” in streets around the hostel, jurors heard.

He sent her messages threatening to kill her family members if she did not return to him, before trying to lure her out by sending her fake messages from a local GP practice pretending their son had an appointment and warning of “increasingly dire consequences” if she did not attend.

Bradford Crown Court heard Ms Akter eventually felt safe enough to leave the refuge on April 6 last year after Masum updated his Facebook page falsely claiming to be in Spain.

As she was walking in the city centre with a friend, pushing her baby in a pram, Masum confronted her, the trial heard.

He was seen on CCTV trying to steer Ms Akter and the pram away before pulling a knife from his jacket and launching the “brutal attack” when he realised she was not coming with him, prosecutor Stephen Wood KC told jurors.

CCTV footage of the attack, played during the trial, captured Ms Akter’s screams as Masum stabbed her at least 25 times, put her on the ground and kicked her “as a final insult” before lifting her head and deliberately cutting her throat.

Mr Wood said the “smiling killer” then calmly walked through Bradford city centre and was seen on CCTV grinning as he got on a bus, “believing at that point he was getting away”.

Jurors heard Masum travelled almost 200 miles south to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and was arrested in the early hours of April 9 in a car park near Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he had gone to be treated for “lockjaw”.

During the trial, Masum refused to watch footage of the attack but jurors heard that during his first police interview he requested to see it, with Mr Wood saying he wanted to see what officers “had on him”.

When he gave evidence, Masum said he did not remember killing his wife and had taken a knife with him intending to stab himself in front of her if she did not “listen to him”.

He broke down in tears as he claimed to have “lost control” when Ms Akter told him there would be no shortage of people willing to replace him as a father to their son.

But Mr Wood said his tears “were as fake as his claims of self harm” and that “the only person Habibur Masum feels sorry for is himself”.

He said antagonising Masum was “the very last thing Kulsuma would do” as she knew what he was capable of.

Mr Wood said the relationship between Masum and Ms Akter was “an abusive relationship characterised by his jealousy, possessiveness and controlling behaviour”.

Jurors heard the couple met and married in Bangladesh, and came to the UK in 2022 after he obtained a student visa and enrolled on a Masters course to study marketing.

The defendant, who gave evidence through a Bengali interpreter, told the trial they initially had a long-distance relationship as he lived in Aylesbury while studying and she lived in Oldham with her brother.

Jurors heard that in August 2022 Masum was found by police at a tram station, where he had stayed all night after an argument with Ms Akter.

He was taken to hospital where he told a doctor that “when he fights with her he feels like he is going to kill her”.

They moved into a house in Oldham together in September 2022.

Jurors heard that in July 2023 Ms Akter went to stay with her brother because of Masum’s controlling behaviour, leading him to threaten to harm himself with a knife before she returned.

On November 23 he became jealous over a “completely innocuous” message she received from a male colleague and was accused of assault by grabbing her face, slapping her and pulling her hair. He was cleared of that charge.

The court heard he told her: “I am going to murder you, and the police will be taking me.”

The following day he went into their bedroom carrying a knife and held it to her throat, jurors were told.

Ms Akter’s sister-in-law called the police and Masum was arrested, with Ms Akter deciding to leave him and being moved to the Bradford refuge by Oldham social services in January 2024.

Masum denied the November incident and claimed Ms Akter had fabricated a domestic violence case against him as a way to stay in the UK, while he wanted to return to Bangladesh.

The court heard that while Ms Akter was at the refuge, Masum sent her a photo of the front of the building with a message saying: “I know that you are living in this place. I knew from the first day you moved here.

“If I had any wish to kill you, I could have from the first day. You do not know what you have lost but one day you will understand. Nobody will love you like I do.”

The court heard Ms Akter’s social worker arranged for her to be rehoused and she was due to move on April 8, but in the meantime she heard from Masum’s brother that he was in Spain, and “felt safe to leave the refuge” on the day she was killed.

Masum had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder. On Friday he was found guilty of the more serious charge, as well as one charge of assault, one count of making threats to kill and one charge of stalking. He pleaded guilty to possession of a knife in public.

New MI6 chief’s grandfather was Nazi spy

The new MI6 chief is reportedly the granddaughter of a Nazi spy known as the “butcher”, according to unearthed documents.

Blaise Metreweli made history as she was appointed as the first ever female head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 earlier this month.

But according to German archives, seen by the Daily Mail, her grandfather was Constantine Dobrowolski, a Nazi spy known as the “butcher”.

Mr Dobrowolski was a Ukrainian who reportedly defected from the Red Army to become the Nazi’s chief informant in the region of Chernihiv.

Ms Metreweli never met her grandfather as he stayed in Nazi-occupied Ukraine while his family fled the Red Army liberation of the region in 1943.

The documents held in Freiburg, Germany describe how Mr Dobrowolski was dubbed ‘Agent 30’ by his Nazi commanders.

Born to a German-Polish father and a Ukrainian mother in 1906, the Daily Mail reports he hated the Soviet Union when his family’s estate was seized after the 1917 revolution.

He joined the Nazis in 1941, and was paid a monthly wage of just 81 Reichsmark, around £250 today, for spying.

In letters to his Nazi officers, he signed off “Heil Hitler” and said he took part in a massacre of Jewish people near Kyiv.

The Daily Mail reported that there are also accounts of him looting the bodies of Holocaust victims and laughing at the sexual assault of female prisoners.

The Soviets put a 50,000-rouble – the equivalent of £200,000 today – bounty on Mr Dobrowolski and labelled him “the worst enemy of the Ukrainian people”.

He remained in Nazi-occupied Ukraine after his family fled the Soviet advance in 1943. The last record of him is from August 1943, a month before the Red Army took Chernihiv.

After the war, his wife, Barbara, and son, Constantine, arrived in Britain. Barbara remarried and Constantine – Ms Metreweli’s father – took his stepfather’s name. Neither he nor Ms Metreweli knew his father.

Ms Metreweli is a career intelligence officer, having joined the secret intelligence service in 1999, shortly after graduating from Pembroke College, Cambridge. Most of her career has been spent in operational roles in the Middle East and Europe.

A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesman said: “Blaise Metreweli neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather. Blaise’s ancestry is characterised by conflict and division and, as is the case for many with eastern European heritage, only partially understood.

“It is precisely this complex heritage which has contributed to her commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British public from modern threats from today’s hostile states, as the next chief of MI6.”

How would the royal family react to a gay king?

Telescope ahead and our royal future looks relentlessly white, male, Protestant and privileged. Sigh. If variety is the spice of modern life, then our current King and his two prospective heirs are disappointingly samey. Such is the nature of hereditary monarchy.

Small wonder then, that in an alternative universe our future king has been reimagined in an off-Broadway play as gay. While the title of Jordan Tannahill’s Prince Faggot aims to shock, its title reclaiming the queer smear as a badge of pride – it has sparked a deeper debate around what many think is one of the last taboos embedded in a monarchical system dependent on its ability to sire heirs.

The play – reviewed by The New York Times under the headline, He’s Here, He’s Queer, He’s the Future King of England – imagines the first born of the Prince of Wales (they use a nickname Tips) as gay and in love with a self-proclaimed “brown faggot Dev”. Mum and Dad have long known of their son’s homosexuality; his choice of lover and the public nature of the fallout is what concerns them most.

The play has received rave reviews, but tellingly, there’s no word that the smash-hit will transfer to London’s West End. British discourse, although so often ready to savage the royal family, is also paradoxically protective. There is a spooky historic parallel here, between the international speculation and reporting of Edward VIII’s infatuation with Wallis Simpson everywhere but Britain in 1936 and the current queer air that swirls around ideas of monarchy anywhere but our islands.

Across the globe, teenagers sat agog in front of Netflix’s coming-of-age series Young Royals. A top-10 hit in 12 countries, the drama cast the accidental heir to the Swedish throne as gay. Ultimately, Wilhelm relinquished the crown; the fictional prince’s problem was not his sexuality, but rather the strictures of prospective kingship. How fortunate the real Swedish Royal Family would be accorded more latitude. Months after the series aired in 2021, their government confirmed it would treat the same-sex marriage of a Swedish prince like any other marriage.

Scandinavian countries have long been ahead of the progressive curve; the Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalise gay marriage and likewise claims it would welcome a gay monarch. Britain meanwhile, has not offered an equivalent official pronouncement on a prospective gay king, but our history has produced a litany of royal characters, with a solid root in LGBTQ+ history.

Most famous is perhaps Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts, who endured 17 pregnancies with no offspring surviving beyond childhood. Queer theory has long been attached to Anne’s tempestuous relationship with Lady Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough. The pair had pet names for each other, Mrs Morley and Mrs Freeman respectively, and their letters brim with emotion, indicative of a strength of feeling reflected in the intense animosity of their separation.

Olivia Colman, who played a gay Queen Anne in the 2018 film The Favourite, says that she found it easier to depict the late Stuart monarch than Elizabeth II in The Crown, of whom the actor complained, “everyone knows what she looks like, everyone knows what she sounds like”. Colman’s words are a reminder that if speculation over an 18th-century monarch is fair game, the same cannot be said of contemporary royal players. Look at the stink kicked up over The Crown for daring to create art from the real-life dramas of our royal family. The fallout from gay theatrical japes attached to a preadolescent future king doesn’t bear thinking about.

In Britain, social mores have certainly changed (homosexuality was finally legalised in 1967), but it is unclear by how much, especially in relation to the royal family. This might explain Prince William’s caveat-laden response to hypothetical questions regarding the sexuality of his offspring when visiting the Albert Kennedy Trust, a charity for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, in 2019.

The Prince said he would support “whatever decision” his children made, but added, “It does worry me from a parent’s point of view. How many barriers, hateful words, persecution, all that discrimination that might come, that is the bit that really troubles me.”

How much easier to be a yesteryear monarch when the king could indulge his extra-marital appetite of whatever persuasion, provided there was a suitable royal wife future-proofing the dynasty with the produce of her womb. James VI of Scotland (who was also James I of England) is a fine example of a king whose sexual proclivities behind the scenes were well known.

Diarist Sir John Oglander observed: “The king is wondrous passionate, a lover of his favourites beyond the love of men to women.” James’ fixation with a select few men culminated in his much resented obsession with George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, the political implications of which played out in the civil wars of this father’s reign. As Oglander noted, James’s loyalty to his “own queen” could not compete with the “great dalliance” he made over “his favourites, especially Buckingham”.

If Stuart monarchs James and Anne are the best known among history’s rich cast of “maybe gay” royals, the list goes on and on.

Attitude Magazine had fun flicking through the centuries, plucking out their royal gay icons from Britain and abroad. At home, the nearest our current royal family get to being out and proud is Lord Ivar Mountbatten, the great, great, great-grandson of Queen Victoria, who divorced his wife and married partner James Coyle six years ago. (No royals were present.)

Perhaps predictably, these are considerably more colourful the further back in time you go; needless to say, Little Britain pales in comparison with France’s House of Bourbon. Across the channel, Louis XIV’s brother Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, was encouraged by his mother to cross-dress and never hid his attraction to other men. Like so many of his 17th-century contemporaries, although he married twice and fathered children, a monogamous marriage for love was never on the cards.

In Britain, it was the early-mid 20th century (not an easy time to be gay – with convictions peaking in the 1950s) that rewrote the monarchy’s marital rules. After the First World War saw royal cousins kill royal cousins, George V declared his children no longer had to marry (foreign) royals but could wed British men and women. Dynastic priorities took a back seat to love.

The path was clear for the renamed House of Windsor to inhabit that coveted happy family model Queen Victoria had initiated and Elizabeth II perfected with her pin-up nuclear family. But as the late Queen’s eldest sons would both discover, a national belief in the “companionate marriage” left little wriggle room for affairs – heterosexual or otherwise.

In other words, while history’s monarchs could play away in a style of their choice, today’s British sovereigns find their extramarital activities more restricted. For any future king, this model insists on full transparency or a frustrated marriage. Hence, the rich fantasy-land available to playwrights and Netflix dramas. What would happen if a future British king were gay? This becomes an altogether more complex question when you bear in mind the pressure on a royal womb and the line of succession. Whose womb, you well may ask…

Even our more progressive Scandinavian neighbours refused to be drawn over the descendants of a hypothetical gay monarch. The then Dutch prime minister (now head of Nato) Mark Rutte said, “It is not appropriate to anticipate now such a consideration of the succession”. Apparently, the Netherlands will “cross that bridge” when they come to it. Whether surrogacy or adoption, traditionalists can park any anxieties they might have for the moment.

So, instead American art has gone where British playwrights fear to tread, cooking up a sumptuous “what if” on the other side of the Atlantic that ultimately has more beef with royalty’s false exceptionalism than the prospective gayness of any future monarch. It is a Transatlantic reminder that the key to hereditary monarchy’s survival is the need to remain relevant.

However, it is worth considering how a gay monarch could serve to broaden The House of Windsor’s base among the younger generation at a time when the uncoupling of the Sussex duo has left the family looking anything but blended.

In the words of their father, Prince William, George and his siblings really can make “whatever decisions” they want to – surely a gentle nod to the progressives amongst us. As Virginia Woolf astutely pointed out in the 1930s, we have an “insatiable need to see” royalty, because “if they live then we live in them too”.

Tessa Dunlop is the author of the new book Lest We Forget: War and Peace in 100 British Monuments

David Beckham in hospital as wife Victoria shares well wishes

David Beckham is in hospital with an unknown injury, with his wife Victoria by his bedside.

On Friday (27 June), the former Manchester United player, 50, was photographed by his wife, former Spice Girl singer Victoria, recovering in a hospital bed with one arm in a blue sling, smiling at the camera.

Posting the picture on Instagram, Victoria wrote: “Get well soon daddy.”

A second post picture showed David lying in bed wearing a beaded bracelet that spelt out the words: “Get well soon.”

While Victoria did not share any further details about David’s condition, several news outlets have speculated that Beckham has undergone surgery to treat a long-term wrist injury he sustained during his professional football career. The Independent has contacted his representatives for comment.

It comes after the former England captain received a knighthood for his services to sport and charity, after being named in the King’s Birthday Honours earlier this month.

Reacting to the news of his knighthood, David said in a statement that he “never could have imagined I would receive such a truly humbling honour” while “growing up in East London with parents and grandparents who were so patriotic and proud to be British”.

His son Romeo, 22, reacted to the news online, telling his dad: “So so proud of you.”

Cruz, 20, also shared a tribute, posting a picture of David in the countryside and writing: “I’m so proud dad I love you. Sir David Beckham. Has a nice ring to it.”

Victoria recently poured cold water on rumours of a rift between the Beckham family and their eldest son, Brooklyn, after she shared pictures of the entire clan alongside their dad to mark Father’s Day earlier this month.

Recent reports have suggested a divide in the family after Brooklyn, 26, and his wife Nicola Peltz, 30, missed a recent run of family events, including David’s birthday party. The rest of their children – Romeo, Cruz, and Harper, 13 – were all in attendance.

Victoria presented a united front to mark Father’s Day on 15 June, sharing a video of David and Harper, Brooklyn and Cruz sitting arm-in-arm on a sofa, singing “Sherry” by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

David posted his own Father’s Day post, featuring a range of throwback pictures of the family, with the main photo showing Brooklyn holding Harper as a baby.

Sons Cruz and Romeo both shared warm messages under the post – but Brooklyn did not leave a comment.

Cruz wrote: “You mean the world to us and inspire us every single day dad I love you,” as Romeo said: “Love you always.”

‘Grandpa robber’ at centre of Kim Kardashian robbery dies a month after trial

A “grandpa robber” found guilty of stealing millions of pounds worth of jewellery from Kim Kardashian has died a month after being convicted, according to French media.

Didier Dubreucq, 69, was diagnosed with lung cancer while in detention prior to going on trial and had been undergoing chemotherapy.

He and seven others were found guilty of the high-profile Paris heist which happened in 2016, with the court hearing Ms Kardashian was bound and had a gun held to her head.

The thieves stole about £7.5m of her jewellery including an engagement ring worth £3m that was gifted by her then-husband Kanye West.

Also known as “Blue Eyes”, Dubreucq was one of two men who held Kardashian at gunpoint in her room. He denied the charges during the second day in court.

With tears in his eyes, Dubreucq spoke of his past as a criminal, telling the court according to Le Monde: “I told my son, ‘I hope you don’t become like your father.’ And I’m keeping a close watch.”

It was on 3 October 2016 when Kardashian was lying in the bed of the luxury apartment in central Paris, that she heard footsteps pounding up the stairs.

After calling out, and hearing no response, she knew something “wasn’t quite right”, she recalled in an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians months after the crime.

Two men in police uniforms had handcuffed the concierge and forced him to let them into her apartment. “What I’ve heard from talking to him afterward is they said, you know, ‘Where’s the rapper’s wife? Let us up to her room!’

“He ended up being our interpreter because I couldn’t understand them, they couldn’t understand me,” Ms Kardashian recalled.

When she was dragged to the hallway at the top of the stairs, Kardashian said she saw that the pair were armed – and began to fear the worst.

“He pulled me toward him at the front of the bed and I thought, ‘OK, this is the moment they’re going to rape me,’” she said. “I fully mentally prepped myself – and then he didn’t.”

The robber put duct tape round her legs and a gun to her head. She said: “I just knew that was the moment. They’re just totally going to shoot me in the head. I just prayed that Kourtney’s going to have a normal life after she sees my dead body on the bed.”

Kardashian told investigators she was taken to a bathroom and placed in the bathtub. Her attackers fled on bicycles or on foot, and she freed herself by removing the tape.

The 7 best outdoor adventures in Sydney and New South Wales

Whether you’re lacing up your hiking boots, throwing on a wetsuit to catch some waves, or hitting the wide-open roads of New South Wales (NSW) by campervan, this Australian state is home to some of the country’s most exciting outdoor adventures – all easily accessible thanks to Qantas’ extensive domestic network.

Flying into Sydney with Qantas is the ideal way to experience a slice of Australia before you’ve even landed. And with onboard wellbeing perks, plus the option to book more discounted domestic legs using Qantas Explorer, it really is the savvy traveller’s best way to explore Australia.

Here are seven next-level outdoor adventures in NSW, and the best way to get there.

Sydney might be a modern metropolis, but it’s also home to an extraordinary natural playground, the star attraction of which is Sydney Harbour National Park. This protected area weaves through the city’s coastline, offering walking trails, secluded beaches, and panoramic views that blend wild bushland with iconic urban landmarks. Away from the National Park, you can paddle a kayak at dawn beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, go on a cycle tour and sunset cruise around Manly and North Heads coastal cliffs, or follow the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk for sweeping ocean views and refreshing swim spots.

Just a 90-minute trip from Sydney by road, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains is an endless landscape of towering eucalyptus forests and striking sandstone cliffs as far as the eye can see. There are few places quite as grand as this so close to a city. Don your hiking boots and traverse spectacular scenery to Wentworth Falls or take on the Grand Canyon Track – a 6km loop of dramatic cliffs, fern-fringed valleys and thundering waterfalls with lookouts to match. If you’re an early riser, watch the sunrise at Echo Point, where the Three Sisters rock formation is lit up by the glow of first light.

Wildlife lovers need to head north to Port Macquarie for some of the best marine encounters on the east coast. Humpback whales are almost guaranteed from May to November, and dolphins can be spotted all year round. For front-row views, jump on a whale-watching cruise, or pitch up with a picnic on a headland and watch the breaching giants from afar.

Swap the sandy beaches for subtropical rainforest in Coffs Harbour’s hinterland in Dorrigo National Park, where winding roads serpentine through flourishing banana plantations, dense palm-filled forest and endless rolling hills. The region’s cycling trails range from casual loops to more challenging rides with jaw-to-the-floor sea views.

Aussies love their surfing, and Byron Bay is the epitome of surf culture Down Under, with beaches to suit all skill levels; from the gentle swell at The Pass to barrel-laden breaks at Tallows. If you’ve got any stamina left, soak up the view from Cape Byron Lighthouse post-surf – the easternmost point of mainland Australia.

With over 8,000 islands to its name, Australia offers the ultimate in island adventures. Lord Howe is one of them, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed pristine island, where only 400 visitors are allowed at any one time. You’ll find rare birds, kaleidoscopic coral reefs, and Mount Gower, offering one of the best day hikes in the country, with epic coastline views and dizzying drops.

For those who need more than a beach stroll to get the heart pumping, grab a kayak and explore the Sapphire Coast from the water in Merimbula. Glide over crystal-clear waters, past secluded coves, pristine beaches, and the untouched beauty of surrounding national parks. Keep an eye out for dolphins and other marine life as you paddle. Once back on shore, refuel with the region’s famous fresh oysters and enjoy a refreshing dip at Bar Beach.

Book your flight to Sydney today at qantas.com and start your Australian adventure.

Emma Raducanu will face British teen in first round at Wimbledon

Emma Raducanu will face 17-year-old wild card Mingge Xu in an intriguing all-British first round match-up at Wimbledon.

British No 1 Raducanu, who narrowly missed out on a seeding, has been handed a difficult path to the second week.

The 22-year-old could face 2023 champion Marketa Vondrousova or 32nd seed McCartney Kessler in the second round, with world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka a potential opponent in round three.

Raducanu was knocked out of the Eastbourne Open in the second round on Wednesday and acknowledged, amid a tough year which has included a stalking ordeal, that she needs to get her “head in the game” ahead of The Championships.

“I feel quite tired,” she said. “Just going through some stuff and I need to do my best to get my head in the game ahead of next week. Realistically, the turnaround is pretty soon – it’s only four days away, really, that Wimbledon starts.

“I think I’m just going to start with [a day off] tomorrow and then hopefully I can get on the court on Friday.” Raducanu is due to practice on Court 1 with 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina.

Elsewhere in the women’s singles draw, British No 2 Katie Boulter will face ninth seed Paula Badosa from Spain in a tough opening test.

British No 3 Sonay Kartal will face 20th seed and Grand Slam winner Jelena Ostapenko, with 16-year-old hotshot Hannah Klugman facing 29th seed Leylah Fernandez – who Raducanu beat in the 2021 US Open final.

Other notable first round contests include second seed Coco Gauff, who won the French Open earlier this month, taking on highly-rated Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska and two-time champion Petra Kvitova – in her final Wimbledon – facing 10th seed Emma Navarro.

Sabalenka, who beat Raducanu at Indian Wells last year in their only previous match, takes on Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine in round one.

Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova will face Alexandra Eala from the Philippines.

British first round matches – women’s singles:

Emma Raducanu vs Mingge Xu

Katie Boulter vs Paula Badosa (9)

Hannah Klugman vs Leylah Fernandez (29)

Harrie Dart vs Dalma Galfi

Sonay Kartal vs Jelena Ostapenko (20)

Jodie Burrage vs Caty McNally

Heather Watson vs Clara Tauson

Fran Jones vs Yuliia Starodubtseva

Mika Stojsavljevic vs Ashlyn Krueger (31)

Counter terror police arrest four after planes painted at RAF Brize Norton

Counter-terror police have arrested four people after two military planes were damaged at RAF Brize Norton.

A 29-year-old woman and two men, aged 36 and 24, were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, officers from Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) said.

A 41-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

The arrests come after two Voyager aircraft were sprayed with paint during a break-in at RAF Brize Norton on 20 June, in an incident claimed by campaign group Palestine Action.

The group previously posted footage online showing people inside the Oxfordshire base, with one person appearing to ride an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker, before spray painting into its jet engine.

CTPSE said the four arrests were made in London and the Newbury area of Berkshire on Thursday.

The force said in a statement: “CTPSE have arrested four people in connection with an investigation into an incident in which aircraft were damaged in Oxfordshire.

“A 29-year-old woman of no fixed abode, and two men; aged 36 and 24, both from London, were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, contrary to Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

“A 41-year-old woman, of no fixed abode, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

“The arrests, which took place yesterday in Newbury, Berkshire, and in London, are in connection with an incident in the early hours of Friday (20/6) during which damage was caused to two aircraft at RAF Brize Norton.

“Those arrested are currently in police custody while enquiries are ongoing.”

After the incident, the home secretary announced a decision to proscribe Palestine Action. This means support for the group will become a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison when the ban comes into effect as soon as next Friday.

The proposal has been heavily criticised by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Liberty.

“The UK has an overly broad definition of terrorism and proscribing a direct-action protest group like Palestine Action risks an unlawful interference with the fundamental rights of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” a statement from Amnesty read.

“It should be remembered that proscribing Palestine Action not only makes membership of the organisation a criminal offence, through broadly worded speech offences such as ‘glorification’ it puts at risk the free speech rights of many other activists who are deeply concerned about the plight of Palestinians in the context of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”