Daniel Windham

Samantha Holden, 56, was murdered at her home in Farnborough, Hampshire, on 9 September 2022 after replying “come up x” to Adam Watson’s message saying he was 30 seconds from her door. Digital evidence, including phone data and messages, helped investigators establish Watson’s movements and connection to Holden. He fled to Belgium after the killing but was arrested two days later, extradited and convicted at Winchester Crown Court. Watson received a life sentence with a minimum term of 21 years; DNA evidence was recovered from Holden’s neck and fingernails, and the court heard about his history of violent offending.

Clive Myrie reflects on the emotional toll of reporting from conflict zones, noting that harrowing images from places such as Ukraine continue to stay with him despite improved coping mechanisms. He emphasises the importance of maintaining a balanced life away from the newsroom by focusing on friends, art and music. Myrie recounts his extensive BBC career, including assignments in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and says he limits his news consumption when off duty. He has no plans to retire, continuing to find fulfilment and excitement in broadcasting.

A Glasgow woman who won £120,000 through the National Lottery’s Set for Life used the year-long payments to leave her supermarket job and build a wedding content creator business, Moments by Love. The money funded both family stability and business start-up costs, including equipment and early portfolio building. Despite having no winnings left after the final instalment, she remains confident the investment provided long-term benefits for her career and family.

Kathleen Chada is opposing her former husband Sanjeev Chada’s parole bid after he murdered their sons, Eoghan, 10, and Ruairí, five, in County Mayo in 2013. She says she discovered an email 18 months later showing that he had contemplated killing his entire family for more than a year. Chada had stolen €56,000 to fund gambling and later killed the boys before attempting suicide. Kathleen fears he could try to harm her if released and wants the Parole Board to consider the severity of the killings and injuries inflicted on Eoghan. Ireland’s typical life sentence is 21 years, meaning future parole consideration remains possible.

Patrick Grant explains that his Scottish accent faded quickly after moving from Edinburgh to England at age 14, where he was teased for his speech. He says the accent still returns when he is in Scotland and contrasts his experience with Scots who retain their accents for decades. He also discusses his career in business, manufacturing and television and prepares for the new series of The Great British Sewing Bee, which features summer-themed challenges and a made-to-measure finale.

Strictly Come Dancing judges Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke have discussed an early disagreement caused by Anton’s lateness. Craig said he was left furious after waiting in a car while Anton stopped to sign autographs, prompting him to issue a stern reprimand; Anton joked that he has since made a point of getting into the car first. The incident was recounted on their new weekly podcast, Judgemental, which also covers celebrity news, everyday dilemmas and Anton’s experiences of caring for his children during the school holidays.

Taisei Corporation’s X-Seed 4000 concept, unveiled in 1995, envisioned a 4-kilometre-high, 800-storey floating city in Tokyo Bay capable of housing up to one million people. Inspired by Mount Fuji, the proposed structure would have required around three million tons of steel, advanced air-pressure systems and floating caissons to address structural, seismic and health concerns. Although technically possible in principle, experts estimated its cost at roughly $1 trillion and questioned its environmental and practical viability. Taisei has confirmed that the proposal was never intended for construction and remains shelved.

TV chef James Martin says the key to a more flavourful bacon sandwich is frying tomatoes in the same pan as the bacon, allowing the flavours to combine. He recommends dry-cured bacon, lightly fried with butter, thickly buttered white sliced bread and pressing the finished sandwich before serving. The method is rooted in memories of his grandmother's cooking and produce from his grandfather's allotment.

Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom disappeared in Knoxville, Tennessee, in January 2007 after being carjacked and kidnapped. Newsom was raped, shot and set on fire at a railway line, while Christian was held for two days, sexually assaulted and tortured before being suffocated in a rubbish bin. Investigators identified Lemaricus Davidson, Letalvis Cobbins, George Thomas, Eric Boyd and Vanessa Coleman as responsible. Davidson, Cobbins and Thomas received convictions and severe sentences, including a death sentence for Davidson; Boyd received two life sentences, while Coleman's sentence was reduced from 53 to 35 years after retrial. True-crime YouTuber Adrian Stewart described the case as among the darkest he has covered.

Six health and sleep experts broadly agree that leaving a fan on overnight is safe and can make sleeping during a heatwave more comfortable. Fans cool the body by moving air across the skin and aiding sweat evaporation, but they do not reduce room temperature. Advice includes keeping the fan away from the face and body, using oscillation or a lower setting, staying hydrated, and taking care with allergies, dust, dry skin and irritated eyes or airways. One cooling specialist recommends using a fan mainly to cool the room before sleep, while NHS guidance suggests additional measures may be needed in extreme heat.

Vet Mireia Balliu warns cat owners not to spray their pets with water during hot weather because it can cause distress. She recommends providing multiple sources of fresh water, ventilation, shade, cool resting areas and gentle cooling methods such as damp wiping when tolerated, chilled towels and pet cooling mats. Owners should avoid closed cars, direct sun and strenuous activity, and seek urgent veterinary care if cats show signs of heatstroke, including panting, weakness, vomiting, tremors or loss of consciousness. Elderly, overweight, ill, young, flat-faced and heavily furred cats face greater risks.

A resurfaced 1994 interview shows Sarah Ferguson describing her first experience of Buckingham Palace as overwhelming and “absolutely terrifying,” while explaining that she wanted Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for himself rather than the royal lifestyle. She discussed the strict protocols of royal life, her controversial relationship with John Bryan, and earlier struggles involving abandonment, self-esteem, slimming treatments and emotional distress. Ferguson credited her marriage to Andrew with helping change her life and said they remained close after their 1992 separation and 1996 divorce. The former couple now lead separate public lives, with Andrew having withdrawn from royal duties after controversy over his association with Jeffrey Epstein, while Ferguson continues public and charitable work.

A routine ancestry DNA test taken by Paula revealed that she was not biologically related to the family who raised her. Further testing and an investigation led by lawyer Ignacio Leguizamón Peña established that Paula and Gabriela, born 13 minutes apart at Buenos Aires’ Italian Hospital in 1986, had been swapped at birth. Their families have met and filed a legal complaint, while federal prosecutors investigate how the mix-up occurred, possible identity-related offences and whether hospital staff were responsible.

Jeff Bradford, a 62-year-old father from Forres, was diagnosed with stage-three throat cancer after a persistent sore throat was initially attributed to dust and tonsillitis. Doctors determined that the cancer was associated with HPV16, which they believed he had contracted through oral sex decades earlier, before he met his wife. He underwent surgery, chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiotherapy, experiencing severe burns and a lengthy recovery. Now cancer-free for about a decade, Bradford urges people to have persistent symptoms checked and supports candid discussion of HPV, sexual transmission and throat cancer.

Paula Ellen Neves da Silva, 24, was arrested in Itaquaquecetuba, Brazil, after police alleged that she stabbed and beheaded her partner, Daniel dos Santos, 32. She claimed she attacked him after seeing him trying to remove her young son's nappy, and later told investigators she would do it again. Police found the body in the bathroom and the head in a rucksack, and said the scene had been partly cleaned. The case is being investigated as aggravated homicide, procedural fraud and concealment of a corpse, while prosecutors seek preventive detention and officials say there is currently insufficient evidence to support self-defence.

An eight-year-old girl in Anápolis, Brazil, allegedly preserved biological material after her family dismissed her repeated disclosures of sexual abuse by her 25-year-old uncle. Police say the abuse began when she was five or six and involved threats and strangulation. The suspect was arrested on March 27 and faces an aggravated rape charge; prosecutors also approved preventive detention, searches and access to digital data. Authorities are securing the material for forensic examination, investigating whether relatives who failed to intervene are criminally liable, and providing the child with protection and psychological support.

Former prison governor Vanessa Farke-Harris recounts telling Rose West that her husband, Fred West, had died by suicide in prison in January 1995. She says Rose showed no visible grief or shock and appeared to suggest that Fred’s death might limit the case against her. Rose West was later sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 10 young women and girls, while investigations into the couple uncovered multiple victims at their home in Gloucester.

YouTuber Scott Manson spent three nights and four days travelling from Glasgow through London, Paris, Lyon, Barcelona, Madrid and Algeciras to reach Tarifa, mainland Europe’s southernmost point. His journey was disrupted by rail cancellations linked to a fatal Spanish train collision, delays, poor weather and other transport problems, forcing him to take a nine-hour coach. On arrival, he discovered that Isla de Las Palomas was closed and accessible only through guided tours, possibly because of strong winds. Despite being unable to reach the site, Manson said the demanding journey was worthwhile.

Travel vlogger Scott Manson raced from Princes Street in Edinburgh to High Holborn in London by train and by British Airways flight. The train took 4 hours, 53 minutes and 25 seconds, while the flight took 4 hours, 49 minutes and 22 seconds—an advantage of just over four minutes for air travel that depended partly on unusually favorable airport circumstances. The train was cheaper when booked in advance (£60 versus £95), more relaxing and produced far lower emissions—12.5 kg of CO2 compared with 165 kg for the flight—while airport and station transfers further affected cost and convenience.

A newborn baby's body was found in a bathroom at San Roque Meloneras Hospital in southern Gran Canaria. Spanish police arrested a 31-year-old woman after CCTV linked her to the bathroom and she was found nearby wearing blood-stained clothing. She reportedly told officers that she did not know she was pregnant, gave birth alone, believed the baby was born alive, and left it wrapped in paper. She is receiving medical care under police custody while investigators examine the circumstances of the birth and death, including through a forensic examination.

BBC presenter Clive Myrie said his wife Catherine suffered a serious lung infection over Christmas, forcing the couple to cancel family visits and avoid alcohol to protect elderly relatives. They celebrated quietly at home while she recovered, later drinking champagne after she finished antibiotics. The report also discusses the couple’s long marriage, decision not to have children, and Myrie’s career as a BBC foreign correspondent and Mastermind presenter.

Shirlie Kemp says she has redecorated the dining room at the couple's Hertfordshire home three times in four years but still has not found the right design, and expects to renovate it again. She said the ongoing changes are something her husband Martin Kemp finds difficult to keep up with. The couple, married since 1988, have been renovating their home into a cottage-style retreat and sharing parts of the project through their Maison Number 9 social media account.

Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden has described the emotional impact of being diagnosed with both ductal and lobular breast cancer. After a mastectomy and chemotherapy that caused a medically induced menopause, she faced uncertainty about her fertility but froze five embryos before treatment. Her consultant is expected to revisit whether hormone therapy can be paused in January 2027. Dowden recently returned to Strictly, where she was partnered with Thomas Skinner before their elimination.

Penny Lancaster has discussed the self-doubt she experienced when she began dating Rod Stewart in 1999. She said she compared herself with his former partners and apologised constantly for perceived flaws, despite Stewart reassuring her with compliments. The couple married in 2007, have two sons, and have remained together for decades. Lancaster has also built a television career through Strictly Come Dancing, Loose Women, Celebrity Catchphrase and Celebrity MasterChef, and became a special police constable in 2021.