Charlotte Dujardin, Britain’s three-time Olympic equestrian champion, has been shown repeatedly striking a horse on the back of the legs with a whip in distressing footage shared with Telegraph Sport.

The video, which also appears to capture Dujardin saying “This is so s— at hitting them hard” in an apparent reference to the whip, reveals the six-time Olympic medalist aggressively striking a horse being ridden by another woman despite the horse growing increasingly uncomfortable.

The leading dressage star, who could have become the country’s most decorated female Olympian, has been banned from the Paris Games over the video, in which her treatment of the horse has been likened to whipping an “elephant in the circus”. Dujardin can be seen using the whip on several occasions against a horse she is training. The full video, which has been shared with The Telegraph by the whistleblower’s lawyer, is alleged to show Dujardin striking the animal 24 times.

Dujardin is understood to be teaching the horse the ‘piaffe’, the slow-motion trot technique dating back to the Renaissance. But those giving instruction in the piaffe typically do so by tapping the horse very lightly, just to encourage it to lift its legs.

Dujardin admitted she made an “error of judgment” during a coaching session involving a 19-year-old rider in Gloucestershire. The 39-year-old immediately stood down from Team GB before being provisionally suspended for six months by equestrian’s governing body, the FEI.

She said she was “deeply ashamed” on learning that the footage had been sent to authorities.

‘I just don’t understand how she got into that situation’

Reacting to the release of the video, former eventer and current ITV Racing presenter Alice Plunkett said: “It’s not a video that makes anybody feel comfortable watching, it is not appropriate and it is not something that I’ve ever seen in terms of the years that I’ve been working with horses. It’s not standard practice. That is not a standard way of training your horses for top-level dressage, she knows that and I just don’t understand how she got into that situation because she’s somebody who has made her life from horses. 

“She’s made her life from horses because she manages them in a way that they work for her. Valegro would not have performed in the way that he did for her if she was treating him like that.

“She’s in a systematic training session, she’s training someone else’s horse in that video and she’s made the wrong decision in how to solve the problem. It is not acceptable.”

Plunkett added: “People may think that [the ban] isn’t enough, but in terms of reacting to it, she’s taken herself out of the Olympic Games before the sanction came through.”

As shock waves spread through the Team GB camp in France, Dujardin admitted she had made “an error of judgment” during a coaching session involving a 19-year-old rider in Gloucestershire.

How the world reacted

Animal welfare group PETA, a long-time opponent of equestrian and other horse sports, reignited calls to remove the event from the Olympics. PETA’s US senior vice-president Kathy Guillermo said: “The message to the International Olympic Committee should be clear by now: remove equestrian events from the Olympic Games.

“Yet again, an Olympic rider has been caught on video abusing a horse to force the animal to behave in an entirely unnatural way, simply for her own glory. Horses don’t volunteer – they can only submit to violence and coercion. It’s time for the Olympics to move into the modern era.”

World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers, meanwhile, says the Dujardin episode is a “massive wake-up call for anyone who thinks this is not important”.

Owers said: “This story is another salutary reminder of how vital it is that equestrians put the welfare of the horse first, all of the time, whether in the competition arena or behind closed doors.

“We welcome Charlotte’s decision to take full responsibility and withdraw from the Paris Olympics, and British Equestrian and the FEI’s [the International Federation for Equestrian Sports] swift action.

“Horse sport rightly has high standards, as illustrated in the FEI Code of Conduct and British Equestrian’s Charter for the Horse, but it is a collective responsibility to maintain these standards.

“Respect for the horse must be at the heart of every equestrian, and every equestrian sport, and their actions must demonstrate that respect all of the time.

“World Horse Welfare actively supports horse sport, but there cannot be any tolerance for unacceptable practices, no matter how experienced the rider or coach.

“We know that a successful future for horse sport has public trust at the centre of it, and this requires equestrians to be caring and to always treat their horses with respect, compassion and understanding.”

At least 18 people have been killed after a small plane crashed and caught fire while it was taking off from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

The Saurya Airlines flight was carrying two crew and 17 of the company’s staff members, Dan Bahadur Karki, a Nepali police spokesman, said.

“The pilot has been rescued and is being treated. It is not possible to confirm the status of others on board right now. Many have not survived,” he added.

Eighteen Nepalis and one foreigner were aboard the flight, Gyanendra Bhul of Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority told AFP, adding he did not have any details on the latter’s nationality. The flight was being conducted for either technical or maintenance purposes, he added.

Images of the aftermath shared by Nepal’s military showed the plane’s fuselage split apart and burnt to a husk.

Around a dozen soldiers in camouflage were standing on top of the wreckage with the surrounding earth coated in fire retardant.

The plane crashed at around 11:15 am (05:30 GMT), the military said in a statement, adding that the army’s quick response team had been lending assistance with rescue efforts.

News site Khabarhub reported that the aircraft had caught fire after skidding on the runway.

The plane was scheduled to fly on Nepal’s busiest air route between Kathmandu and Pokhara, an important tourism hub in the Himalayan republic. Saurya Airlines exclusively flies Bombardier CRJ 200 jets, according to its website.

Nepal has a woeful track record on aviation safety and the Himalayan republic has seen a spate of deadly light plane and helicopter crashes over the decades.

The country’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas as well as foreign trekkers and climbers. But insufficient staff training and maintenance compounded by the mountainous republic’s treacherous geography has led to several incidents.

The European Union has banned all Nepali carriers from its airspace over safety concerns.

The Himalayan country has some of the world’s trickiest runways to land on, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots.

The weather can also change quickly in the mountains, creating treacherous flying conditions.

Nepal’s last major commercial flight accident was in January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines service crashed while landing at Pokhara, killing all 72 aboard.

That accident was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992 when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport.

Earlier that year a Thai Airways aircraft had crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.

A murder investigation has begun after a teenage boy was stabbed to death at Hackney in north-east London. 

The boy, believed to be 15, was found with fatal stab wounds and died at the scene.

Officers were called to Stellman Close to reports of a stabbing at about 4pm, the Metropolitan Police said, according to the Press Association.

The incident happened in a busy area during the day, and the suspect is believed to have run away, police said on Tuesday night.

Officers were still in the process of informing the child’s next of kin, they said.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway, in charge of policing in Hackney, said: “The death of a child is devastating and my first thoughts are with his family and friends.

“Our communities will also be deeply concerned by this event. Urgent inquiries are under way and my officers are working hard to identify the suspects.

“Local residents can expect to see a notable police presence in the area as the investigation continues and there will be road closures in the Stellman Close area for some time.

“I would appeal to anyone with information about the incident to call us on 101 quoting CAD 5387/23Jul.

“Our communities have shown their strength in coming forward to support the police in tackling knife crime and I ask for their support again after this dreadful event.”

Detective Chief Inspector Kelly Allen, leading the investigation, said: “We know this happened in a busy area during the day and there would have been people around.

“The suspect is believed to have run away from the scene and I would appeal to anyone who saw anything suspicious in the Stellman Close area around 4pm to contact police.”

A “short-tempered” cyclist stabbed a BMW driver to death after his bike was run over, a court has heard.

Ahmed Chakile Gonladieu, 25, has been jailed for at least 27 years for the attack on Alexandros Josephs, 29, through his open car window on May 10 last year.

Mortally wounded, the victim drove a short distance and crashed into a line of parked cars, the Old Bailey was told.

The attacker ran off and Mr Josephs, an aspiring songwriter, was pronounced dead at the scene in Ladywell, south-east London, at 2.38pm.

Gonladieu, from Ladywell, was found guilty of murder and having a bladed article and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years on Tuesday.

Jacob Hallam KC, prosecuting, told how Mr Josephs’s grey BMW was seen on CCTV travelling south down a dead-end road in Ladywell, south-east London, at 1.48pm on the day of the murder.

He said: “About seven minutes later, at 1.55pm, the vehicle was captured driving north at speed before crashing into a line of parked cars.

“Inside it, Mr Josephs was dying. He had been stabbed deeply into his body, the wound cutting into his liver and his aorta – one of our body’s most important blood vessels.”

A witness had seen Mr Josephs talking to a man on a mountain bike through the open window of the grey BMW on Malyons Road.

After a minute, the witness heard the sound of metal scraping the ground and looked out to see the car had moved, dragging the bike along the road, Mr Hallam said.

The cyclist, who was wearing dark clothes, was then seen to remove a large knife from a sheath and made a stabbing motion through the car window, jurors were told.

The car moved out of view before the witness heard a bang and went outside to see the alleged knife attacker running away.

The court heard that as he fled into a park, he re-sheathed the knife and shouted: “They take me for a p—yhole.”

Mr Josephs’s passenger got out of the car and shouted for help.

‘A young man with a short temper’

Sentencing Gonladieu, Judge Anuja Dhir KC said: “I cannot be sure you intended to kill Mr Josephs.

“It has been suggested that there was also an element of provocation in that Mr Josephs’s car hit and dragged your bicycle.

“But that cannot excuse or justify what you did next.”

She noted the defendant’s immaturity and history of offending, with 17 previous convictions for 32 crimes.

They included 11 convictions for violence and possession of weapons, including causing grievous bodily harm to a prison inmate.

The court heard he hit the prisoner with a metal rod, piercing his cheek and knocking out a tooth.

Judge Dhir told the defendant: “Your offending pattern suggests, and your actions on the day of this suggests, that you are a young man who has a short temper and when you lose your temper you act violently.”

In a victim impact statement, Lana Joannou, Mr Josephs’s mother, spoke of the special bond she had with her son.

She said: “The loss has no comparison. I will never get over what has happened.”

She condemned the defendant for his lack of remorse, saying: “I will never be able to forgive this person for what they have done. All I ask is for justice.”

Her son’s ambition was to be a songwriter, but Ms Joannou said she could no longer bring herself to listen to his songs.

The Prince of Wales has chosen not to reveal how much tax he pays on the private income he receives from his vast property portfolio, marking a notable change in approach from when his father was heir to the throne.

Prince William’s Duchy of Cornwall estate, the billion-pound business empire he inherited on the death of his grandmother, Elizabeth II, generated profits of £23.6 million in the last financial year.

He is understood to pay income tax on the full amount, less household costs, which have also not been disclosed.

The surplus is used to fund the private lives of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children as well as their official and charitable work. When the King was Prince of Wales, he published a full breakdown of household costs and the amount of tax he paid annually, which for the year ending 2021 was just over £5 million and the year ending 2022, £5.89 million.

The King’s annual review would detail his broad income and expenditure of the Duchy money, plus details of the number of valets, housekeepers, dressers, chefs, butlers and gardeners he employed, as well as his tax bill.

Kensington Palace insisted that the Prince was paying the “appropriate” level of income tax, which The Telegraph understands to be more than his father paid due to the higher income generated.

Asked why the Prince was being less transparent, sources said this was how they had opted to do it for now and that it reflected “what was required”.

Gradual change

The change in approach is one of many that have gradually been implemented since the Prince took the reins of the Duchy.

Ian Patrick, his new private secretary, outlined the Prince and Princess’s work over the last 12 months and their ambitions for the future, which include taking on notably fewer patronages than their predecessors.

“The approach they take to their charitable endeavours is an evolution of how members of the Royal family have worked in the past,” Mr Patrick said.

“Their Royal Highnesses wish to focus their time on a smaller number of courses that align with their values, and allows them to build deeper relationships with organisations, engage in a constructive way and deepen their knowledge of the issues that these organisations champion.”

As such, it was revealed that following a Buckingham Palace review of patronages, in which the King took on around 300 new charity affiliations, the Prince has taken on three, with more due to be announced in the autumn.

He has become patron of the Welsh Guards Charity and the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association and has also been named president of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association.

In addition, the Prince is switching from president to patron of the Football Association and also of Fields in Trust, reflecting his more senior role as heir to the throne. 

Private philanthropy

Mr Patrick said that in addition to their charity work, the Prince and Princess “regularly undertake private philanthropy”, outlining some of the causes they have supported over the last 12 months, which included the London Air Ambulance appeal for two new helicopters, their Shout text service for young people and James’ Place, a charity that supports suicidal men, as well as several disaster relief appeals.

Alastair Martin, who as secretary and keeper of the records has managed the Duchy of Cornwall for more than a decade, described the difference in approach between father and son.

The day after Elizabeth II died, Mr Martin called his new boss, who had inherited the estate overnight.

“Welcome to your Duchy, Sir,” he told the new heir to the throne.

Since then, the Prince has gradually introduced changes to the way the Duchy is run, reflecting his own personal interests and approach. Among them is a “purposefully ambitious” aim to get the Duchy to net zero by 2032.

On receiving that first phone call from Mr Martin, the Prince immediately gave him his personal mobile phone number.

“If you want me, just get me, just message me,” he said.

Mr Martin has since found that the Prince was true to his word, not only making himself available for queries and updates seven days a week but responding with vigour.

“That’s how he works and he is very involved,” Mr Martin revealed.

“There will be weekends when my WhatsApp messages will be in double figures and I will be very responsive. If something has gone well or badly, I will want to tell my boss and he’ll be straight back.”

By comparison, the King, as Prince of Wales, would rather an old fashioned telephone call.