Specialist in recovery of missing and looted art and antiques accuses businesses of protecting commissions and fees ahead of restoring legal ownership

Too many auction houses and dealers are failing to cooperate when they are found to be selling stolen items, a leading lawyer has warned.

Christopher Marinello, a London-based specialist in recovering stolen, looted and missing art and antiques, told the Observer that “most are uncooperative at first” and some are “so desperate to protect their commissions that they will do anything to avoid cooperating”.

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Barnardo’s fears the cost of living crisis will leave families unable to afford holiday activities, leaving children prey to sexual predators online and criminal gangs on the street

A record number of children are at risk of sexual and criminal exploitation this summer as the cost of living crisis leaves the majority of families unable to afford activities over the holidays.

The UK’s largest children’s charity, Barnardo’s , issued the warning after polling revealed six in 10 parents will struggle to afford clubs, take time off work or go on family outings over the six-week school break.

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Drug importer fled UK in 2018 before trial that led to 11-year prison term but was captured at a Bangkok garage in February

An organised crime boss described as a most wanted fugitive after going on the run in 2018 has been jailed following his extradition to the UK from Thailand.

Richard Wakeling arrived back in the country on Thursday evening and appeared at Chelmsford crown court on Friday afternoon, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

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Steve Rodhouse is being investigated over complaints his team failed to properly handle reports witnesses lied

The former police officer who led Scotland Yard’s disastrous investigation into claims of a VIP paedophile ring has been removed from a senior role with the National Crime Agency (NCA) after it was found he had a case to answer for gross misconduct.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said last week that Steve Rodhouse was being investigated over complaints the high-profile operation he ran failed to properly handle allegations that two witnesses had lied to his officers. A jury found that a third, Carl Beech, fabricated claims about a murderous high-level conspiracy.

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Matthew King, 19, wanted to travel to Syria to join IS and filmed potential targets outside army barracks

A teenager who staked out British soldiers and policemen in preparation for a terror attack has been jailed for life after his mother took what a judge has described as the “bold step” to report him.

Matthew King, 19, who wanted to travel Syria to join Islamic State, expressed a desire online to kill a British Marine and had made a series of videos of potential targets outside an army barracks, a magistrates court and railway station.

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The 12-week-old foal is back with its mother at Miller’s Ark Animals while police continue their investigation

A countryside abduction has come to a tail-wagging end after a baby donkey that was stolen from a farm has been reunited with her mother and her “ecstatic” owners after a police investigation.

On 15 May, the 12-week-old donkey, named Moon, was taken from Miller’s Ark Animals in Hook, Hampshire some time before 5pm. Missing for more than two weeks, Moon was recovered and returned to the farm on Wednesday evening.

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Three-month old Kyra King sustained fatal injuries when husky escaped parents’ van at race event

A father has pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog, after his three-month-old daughter was fatally attacked by a husky last year.

Vince King, 55, pleaded guilty to a charge relating to the death of his daughter, Kyra King, who sustained fatal head and neck injuries when she was mauled by his sled dog Blizzard.

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In Britain, shop thefts have more than doubled in the past six years, reaching 8m in 2022. We spent a day talking to shopkeepers in Manchester, where raids on the shelves are a regular occurrence

Chorlton is one of Manchester’s most aspirational suburbs. Its handsome red-brick semis regularly sell for £700,000 or more. It has a worker-owned, vegetarian cooperative that sells locally grown fruit and vegetables, several reiki studios and an artisanal off-licence where one of the bestselling lagers – locally brewed , of course – costs £4 a can.

But Chorlton has a less wholesome side that is best illustrated by its branch of Boots, tucked inside a dismal 70s precinct earmarked for demolition at the end of the year. Want some makeup? You will have to ask for it. Every lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, blusher – everything – is kept in the stockroom, out of public sight and reach. Why? “It keeps getting stolen,” shrugs a shop assistant. “We’ve not had it out for months now.” The thieves had learned when deliveries arrived and would clear them out within minutes.

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Jacob Crimi-Appleby, alleged member of an extreme body modification group, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent

An alleged member of an extreme body modification group has admitted freezing the leg of a man who is accused of carrying out castrations and broadcasting the footage on his “eunuch maker” website.

Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 22, from Epsom, Surrey, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to causing grievous bodily harm with intent in February 2019 to Marius Gustavson, who needed to have his leg amputated.

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