Brisbane braces for flood surge

House washed away by flood waters

The latest flash floods in Queensland are some of the most violent so far

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Police have ordered the evacuation of parts of Australia’s third largest city – Brisbane – as the biggest floods in years approach the Queensland state capital.

Residents have been told to leave their homes in low-lying areas.

The waters are rising fast and one local official said he saw the river level go up by 1.5m (4ft 10in) in just an hour.

At least eight people have been killed and more than 70 are missing.

“This has been a night of extraordinary events,” Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh told a news conference early on Tuesday.

“We’ve seen acts of extreme bravery and courage from our emergency workers. We know they’re out on the front line desperately trying to begin their search and rescue efforts, and we know we have people stranded and people lost,” she added.

At least two of the dead were children and Ms Bligh warned that the death toll was likely to rise.

Sandbags have been given out to residents of Brisbane, where the flooding is expected to peak Wednesday.

Torrential rain has already caused flash floods in other parts of Queensland. A massive deluge overwhelmed Toowoomba, a city west of Brisbane, without warning.

Ms Bligh called the flash floods there Queensland’s “darkest hour” since the flood crisis began.

“The event that started in Toowoomba can only be described as a complete freak of nature, an extraordinary deluge that almost came out of nowhere,” she said .

“What we have here in Queensland tonight is a very grim and desperate situation.”

Map

Helicopters have joined the rescue operation to reach those trapped in cars and on the roofs of buildings.

Toowoomba resident Charlie Green told the BBC he was stranded by the floods.

“It would be ironic if it wasn’t so tragic,” he said. “Toowoomba sits in the cradle of an extinct volcano about 2,000 feet (610m) above sea level, and we have just endured 10 years of drought, unable even to wash our cars with town water for the last several years.

“We are going to sit tight until we’re sure that it’s safe to move around. The flooded creeks are within a mile of our house so we can’t get anywhere.

“We can’t even get down the hill. We’ll be stocking up on supplies from local shops.”

The tropical storms began in November, triggering the worst flooding in the state in decades. Some 200,000 people have been affected across Queensland.

The flooding has been so widespread that while some communities are still bracing themselves for the worst, in others the clean-up is well under way.

The forecast is for more rain to come, and there are reports of flooding in neighbouring New South Wales.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has warned that the recovery will take a long time.

Police said a woman and a child died in Toowoomba when their car was washed away, and a man and a boy died after being swept from their house.

Toowoomba’s mayor described the scale of the floods as “unbelievable” and said the city was in shock.

Flash floods flow through a street in Toowoomba on 10 January 2011Residents said the flash floods had devastated the town

Mayor Peter Taylor said: ”It’s a real disaster scene where I’m standing at the moment in Russell Street, Toowoomba. There’s furniture and furnishings and it’s just blown shops away.

”We have a railway line about 60 or 70 metres suspended in mid-air and two cars that are virtually unrecognisable that have floated and smashed into the rail.”

Queensland Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said there had been many calls from people needing to be rescued and that emergency crews were struggling to cope.

“We’ve had multiple calls requesting urgent assistance from people caught in vehicles, caught on the street, caught in flood ways,” he said.

“It is an evolving and obviously quite desperate situation for them,” he said. “There has been no warning of this event.”

This is some of the most violent and frightening flooding that Queensland has yet witnessed, says the BBC’s correspondent in Australia, Nick Bryant.

One eyewitness said vehicles were being swept down streets.

“One car we did see come down with its lights on, it ended up crashing into one of the power poles and people were in it for quite a while before they were rescued,” Deanna Ward told state broadcaster ABC.

Heavy rain has lashed the region for the last 36 hours, with 16cm (6in) falling in just one hour. Most of the rainwater hit an already saturated catchment.

The enduring floods in Queensland have washed away roads and railways, destroyed crops and brought the coal industry to a near standstill.

The state premier has estimated that the price of rebuilding homes, businesses and infrastructure, coupled with economic losses, could exceed A$5bn (£3bn).

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Belarus boy in custody tug-of-war

Activists hold portraits of journalist Irina Khalip and her son Danil outside Belarus embassy in Moscow, 27 Dec 10Activists have rallied for Irina Khalip and her son outside the Belarus embassy in Moscow
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A woman in Belarus is battling to prevent the authorities taking custody of her infant grandson, whose parents are jailed opposition activists.

Lyutsina Khalip said Danil, aged three-and-a-half, “asks constantly where his mum and dad are”.

His parents, Andrei Sannikov and Irina Khalip, were arrested after an opposition rally on 19 December at which police clashed with protesters.

Observers have said President Alexander Lukashenko’s re-election was flawed.

Police arrested hundreds of people including opposition candidates in the capital Minsk after the election. Many are still being held at a KGB detention centre.

So far 31 have been charged in connection with the opposition protests, Interfax news agency reports.

Activists hold portraits of journalist Irina Khalip and her son Danil during a rally in front of the Belarus embassy in Moscow (December 27, 2010)

Lyutsina Khalip, whose jailed daughter Irina is an investigative journalist, said she had had to prove to child welfare officers that she was capable of looking after Danil.

“They suggested that perhaps I wasn’t well enough to look after him. I told them I had everything he needed. I applied to be his guardian,” she told the Europe Today programme on the BBC World Service.

“In the last few days I’ve been running back and forth from place to place, to prove that I’m not mad, not taking drugs and don’t have any sexual diseases.

“They now say I’m medically well enough,” she said, but added that Danil had also undergone a medical check, including a blood test.

“They’ll check where I live to see if it’s suitable, then they’ll decide my grandson’s fate,” she said.

Irina’s husband, Andrei Sannikov, was an opposition candidate in the 19 December presidential election, which Mr Lukashenko won with nearly 80% of the vote.

A Belarus foreign ministry spokesman, Andrei Savinykh, said the detained opposition activists “have access to lawyers and all their rights within the investigation process are being honoured”.

He accused opposition activists of having tried to organise “a political upheaval that was outside all legal scenarios”.

The former Soviet republic saw violent unrest as Mr Lukashenko’s election victory was tarnished by fraud allegations.

Election monitors from the European human rights watchdog, the OSCE, said many of the vote counts had been “very bad”.

The Belarus authorities later closed the mission of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe).

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Assange ‘fears US death penalty’

Julian Assange and Mark StephensJulian Assange arrived at court with his solicitor, Mark Stephens

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has arrived at court, where he is expected to find out the date of his full extradition hearing.

The 39-year-old Australian is wanted in Sweden but denies sexual offences against two women.

District Judge Nicholas Evans will oversee a case management hearing at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court, sitting at Woolwich Crown Court, at 1000 GMT.

The two-day extradition hearing is due to take place in early February.

Last week the US government handed out subpoenas to the social networking site Twitter, requesting personal details of people connected to Wikileaks, including Mr Assange.

It comes amid speculation a grand jury in the US is investigating Mr Assange and others for espionage.

Mr Assange was released on bail by a High Court judge just before Christmas after spending nine days in Wandsworth prison.

He has been staying at a manor home on the Norfolk-Suffolk border owned by his journalist friend Vaughan Smith.

“Inside Belmarsh magistrates – it’s only taken an hour!”

BBC’s Anna AdamsFollow Anna’s updates from court via Twitter

Mr Assange denies sexually assaulting two female supporters during a visit to Stockholm in August.

He and his supporters claim the inquiry is politically motivated.

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Children’s detention ‘unlawful’

Yarl's WoodThe children were held with their parents at Yarl’s Wood immigration centre
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The detention of two children of failed asylum seekers at Yarl’s Wood immigration centre in Bedfordshire has been ruled unlawful by the High Court.

Asylum seekers Reetha Suppiah, from Malaysia, and Nigerian Sakinat Bello said the detention of their children could cause them serious harm.

The pair were arrested in February 2009 and detained with their children for between 12 and 17 days.

Government lawyers argued the detention of families was “workable and lawful”.

Ms Suppiah, 37, and Ms Bello, 25, were both refused asylum and detained along with their children after UK Border Agency raids on their homes.

BBC News correspondent Dominic Casciani, at the High Court, said: “The judge did not rule that the detention of families was in principle unlawful, only that it had been wrong in these instances.”

He added: “The two families were detained prior to the coalition government’s decision to close the family unit for failed asylum seekers as part of its commitment to end the detention of children.

“But the judgement paves the way for the claimants to sue for damages.”

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MP Illsley admits expenses fraud

Eric IllsleyMr Illsley was re-elected in May 2010 with a majority of more than 11,000

The trial of an MP accused of dishonestly claiming parliamentary expenses is expected to begin later.

Eric Illsley faces three charges of false accounting relating to claims for council tax, maintenance, repairs and utility bills between 2005 and 2008.

Mr Illsley, who was re-elected as Labour MP for Barnsley Central at the general election, denies the charges.

He was suspended by the party after being charged and now sits as an independent in the Commons.

The Crown Prosecution Service has alleged that the MP – being tried at Southwark Crown Court – falsely claimed more than £20,000 in payments towards his second home in London over a three year period.

Mr Illsley has been an MP since 1987 and was re-elected with a majority of more than 11,000 in 2010.

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Clinton in Yemen surprise visit

Hillary Clinton in UAEMrs Clinton is on a tour of Gulf states
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Yemen on an unannounced visit to bolster support for efforts to combat an al-Qaeda insurgency.

Arriving in the capital Sanaa under tight security, Mrs Clinton said she wanted to convince Yemen’s government the US wanted more than military ties.

She is the first US secretary of state to visit Yemen for more than 20 years.

Yemen has seen numerous anti-US attacks since the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden which killed 17 US sailors.

Recent attacks are thought to have been inspired by the radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, thought to be hiding in Yemen.

The Yemen-based group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is also thought to be behind a foiled attempt to blow up a US airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

Mrs Clinton met Yemeni President Abdullah Saleh shortly after arrival, and is planning to meet opposition figures, NGO representatives and students in the next few hours.

She will discuss women’s rights and the practice of child marriage, and highlight the work of local NGOs.

Mrs Clinton, who is on a tour of Gulf states, said Washington wanted to address the underlying causes of the violence, including poverty and social inequality.

“It’s not enough to have military-to-military relations,” she said.

“We need to try to broaden the dialogue. We need to have this dialogue with the government.”

“We have rebalanced our aid package so it is not so disproportionately consisting of funding necessary for the counter-terrorism agenda but also includes the other priorities,” she added.

The Yemeni government welcomed the visit.

“Yemen is keen on continuing bilateral discussions to address development and security challenges,” it said in a statement.

Over the last couple of years, US military and civilian aid to Yemen has increased almost 100% to around $300m but experts say this is not enough to address Yemen’s problems or deal with the threat posed by radical groups in the country.

As well as fighting al-Qaeda, Yemen’s government is trying to deal with a Shia rebellion in the north and a secessionist movement in the south.

Mrs Clinton’s visit comes a month after cables released by Wikileaks suggested that Yemen had allowed secret US air strikes against al-Qaeda militants.

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Life terms for murdering brothers

Andrew CurranAndrew Curran died of a sword wound to the neck
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Two brothers who killed a man in front of his sons during a pre-arranged fight in Glasgow have been jailed for life.

Angus Malavin, 26, and his 17-year-old brother Zak were previously convicted of murdering Andrew Curran, 41, in Maryhill Park last April.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how he died from a sword wound to the neck.

Judge Lord Matthews ordered Angus Malavin to serve a minimum of 18 years while his younger brother will be detained for a minimum 17 years.

Co-accused Steven Souley, 21, who was convicted of the reduced charge of culpable homicide had his sentencing further deferred for a risk assessment to be compiled.

At their trial in November, all three men were also convicted of assaulting Mr Curran’s friend James McGregor, 50, by striking him on the body with a sword and shooting his body with a crossbow, causing severe injury and permanent disfigurement.

The court heard that trouble began when Andrew Curran junior’s friend Paul Brown urinated on a bottle of alcohol belonging to Zac Malavin.

“You are both young men with a great deal to look forward to but also a great deal to lose”

Lord Matthews Judge

After this incident Zac Malavin stabbed Mr Brown and Andrew Curran Jr, although the matter was not reported to the police, and tried to run down Mr Curran Jr with a car.

Mr Curran Sr become involved when he tried to sort out the problem by telephoning the Malavins.

He spoke to Angus Malavin, who said that anyone who went near his brother was getting a bullet in the head.

Both sides agreed to meet in Maryhill Park on the evening of 16 April 2010 and the court was told that some were armed.

Mr Curran went there with friends and his sons and the Malavins headed to the park with friends.

Both sides clashed near the running track during which Mr Curran was stabbed in the neck and stomach.

The Malavin brothers and Souley had denied killing Mr Curran and claimed they were acting in self defence and that it was the other group who were the aggressors.

Jailing the Malavin brothers, Lord Matthews said: “You are both young men with a great deal to look forward to but also a great deal to lose.”

He added that others had done themselves no credit with what happened that night, but that Mr Curran had “not emerged at all”.

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Farm admits E. coli bug liability

Twins Aaron and Todd MockTwins Aaron and Todd Mock both suffered kidney damage after contracting E.coli
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A Surrey petting farm has admitted liability for an E.coli outbreak in which 93 people were infected, say lawyers for some of those affected.

A total of 76 children under the age of 10 became ill after they contracted the infection at Godstone Farm, Surrey, in the summer of 2009.

Some children suffered kidney failure and spent weeks in hospital. They may need kidney transplants in the future.

Law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse said the farm was not disputing liability.

Twins Aaron and Todd Furnell, from Paddock Wood, both suffered acute kidney failure after contracting E. coli following a trip to the open farm near Redhill.

Aaron needed a feeding tube for liquids for several months and both children may need kidney transplants in the future.

Their mother, Tracy Mock, said: “I am very pleased that we have been successful in this case.

“As a family we have suffered significant pain and distress and may still not know for many years to come the long-term consequences for the twins’ health.

“In the light of the farm’s decision, we can take comfort in the fact that Todd, Aaron and the other children affected by this will have the financial support they need to deal with their current health problems and any that arise later in their lives.”

Field Fisher Waterhouse personal injury lawyer Jill Greenfield said: “Godstone Farm’s confirmation that they will not contest the claim is a welcome decision for all families involved in the outbreak.

“To have toddlers seriously ill on dialysis, as many parents did, is simply horrific. Many of the children now have compromised kidney functioning.

“We will only know the long-term implications when the children get older. Only then will it become apparent whether or not their kidneys can continue to cope as they grow.”

Godstone Farm shut on 12 September 2009, four weeks after the first case of E. coli was reported.

Jackie Flaherty, owner of the farm, is expected to issue a statement later.

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Plan to cut 150 more jobs at DoE

Stormont150 more jobs are earmarked for closure in the Department of the Environment
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Staff at the Department of the Environment face a fresh round of job losses, with an additional 150 posts earmarked for closure in its draft budget.

This is in addition to the 150 posts still to be removed under an existing cuts programme.

Workforce reductions over the next four years will amount to 300 posts.

The department said most of the cuts will happen over the next 12 to 18 months.

Meanwhile, it has emerged the department will face financial pressures because of the length of time it will take to introduce legislation for a levy on plastic bags.

It is expected to raise £4m a year and that money is already being stripped from the department’s budget to fund the green new deal.

As well as a 6% cut in its current expenditure budget this year, the department will also have to absorb a continuing drop in its income from planning fees, estimated at £6m next year.

It also needs to identify savings of more than £1.5m annually to cover agreed increases in civil service pay.

BBC NI Rural Affairs Correspondent, Martin Cassidy, said it was clear that some of the department’s environmental goals “will be compromised”.

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Bride strangled in Mauritius

Michaela Harte, Mickey Harte, and John McAreaveyMichaela Harte married John McAreavey on 30 December
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Police have said the daughter of Tyrone GAA football manager Mickey Harte was strangled.

Michaela Harte was found dead at the Legends hotel in Mauritius where she was staying while on honeymoon.

The 27-year-old had married John McAreavey, a member of Down football panel, on 30 December. He has been questioned but is not a suspect.

Police have said they have a list of ten suspects who they intend to bring in for questioning later on Tuesday.

They said the hotel room was in disarray and that they are examining CCTV footage from the complex.

A post-mortem examination carried out on Tuesday found that there were marks on the dead woman’s neck.

Michaela taught Irish at St Patrick’s Girls Academy in Dungannon, County Tyrone and was a former contestant in the Rose of Tralee pageant.

She was very close to her father and was at his side on the three occasions his team won the all-Ireland championship at Croke Park, Dublin, in 2003, 2005 and 2008.

Broken heart

Fr Gerard McAleer, who managed the Tyrone team along with Mickey Harte, has been comforting the family.

MauritiusAn island in the Indian Ocean, it was a British colony from 1810. It gained independence in 1968.A relative economic success story, its tourism industry is particularly strong. It is a common honeymoon destination for couples from the UK.The Foreign Office says that petty crime is common on the island though most crime is non-violent.

He said: “Yesterday afternoon i got a phone call from Mark, Michaela’s older brother, and he told me he had bad news.

“When he said to me it was ‘Our Michaela, our Michaela is dead’, and his voice was breaking, my heart sank, and my heart was broken too.

“I have known Michaela all her life, from the day she came into the world and I had seen her over the years emerge as a very beautiful well-adjusted young woman.

“I was at her wedding, concelebrated the wedding mass, and then just like everyone else I’m bewildered.

“To hear that news this morning about the circumstances, it’s beyond words.”

NI Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: “Michaela was always close to her father’s side during many great days for Tyrone football.

“Her enthusiasm for her native county, for which she was an excellent ambassador, knew no bounds.”

The First Minister Peter Robinson and the SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie have also sent their condolences to the Harte family.

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Pandamania

For the first time in nearly two decades, two giant pandas will be brought from China to the UK, to live in Edinburgh Zoo. The project represents the culmination of five years of political and diplomatic negotiation at a high level. But why does the panda – unlike any other animal – have the power to involve and engage so much? And what is the key to its enduring popularity?

They remind us of ourselves

panda eatingThe panda’s eating technique reminds us of our own

One of the main reasons we love pandas is that they remind us of ourselves, says Ron Swaisgood, Director of Applied Animal Ecology, San Diego Zoo Institue for Conservation Research.

“They eat sitting up using their hands and their special pseudo thumb, which is actually a modified wrist bone,” he told the BBC News website.

Zoo visitors love to watch Pandas eating and are often amazed by the way they handle their food with considerable dexterity – thanks partly to that “pseudo thumb”, which functions as a sixth digit.

The classic pose for a panda eating is one that resembles the way humans sit on the floor.

It’s all in the eyes

According to Mr Swaisgood, we also love pandas because of their distinctive eyes. Their eye patches make their eyes look bigger.

“People love big eyes because it reminds them of children,” he says. “This is called neoteny in scientific terms.”

Neoteny basically means keeping a juvenile appearance into adulthood.

According to the San Diego Zoo’s website: “Our own young have characteristics that we humans respond to such as a big, round head, large eyes, a high forehead, and a roly-poly body. We are programmed to respond to these babyish looks. Babies just make us like them and want to care for them. It is part of our human makeup.”

In the human world, panda eyes can take on a less appealing connotation, often being associated with badly applied make-up, or lack of sleep.

They make us laugh

We just find pandas funny. But, according to Henry Nicholls, author of The Way of the Panda, they are undeserving of mockery. Indeed, pandas were not seen as figures of fun until humans failed to get them to reproduce in captivity.

Out of their natural habitat more than 60% of male pandas exhibit no sexual desire at all. In a bid to encourage them to mate, the Chinese have experimented with everything from what has been dubbed “panda porn” – explicit video of pandas mating – to traditional herbs.

Giant panda Chi Chi (file image)After Chi Chi, people began to find pandas funny

In the 1960s, attempts to get Chi Chi, a famous panda bought by London Zoo, to breed failed spectacularly.

“At the height of the Cold War, she was even flown to Russia to mate with a giant panda there. It was a very high-profile failure, sparking a rash of cartoons about the case and an explosion of humour that has never gone away,” Mr Nicholls told the BBC News website.

But in fact, pandas’ mating habits are only funny by human standards, Mr Nicholls points out, and the species is very effective at breeding in the wild. The female panda may only be fertile for a few days each year but during this period she will mate dozens of times, with multiple males.

They are shy

The giant panda’s enigmatic nature is in stark contrast to its sheer bulk and striking appearance. The few that remain in the wild are mainly scattered across six isolated mountain ranges across south-central China. For researchers, it is a real challenge to find this extraordinarily elusive beast which moves away higher and deeper into the forest before long before humans can get anywhere near.

“There is some rather heartening that, in a very developed world, this species can still evade us and manage to carve out a space for itself,” Mr Nicholls says.

They are cultural symbols

The panda has been relentlessly made into a symbol since the 1960s. It’s been used by the WWF to convince us about the importance of conservation.

According to San Diego Zoo’s Ron Swaisgood, the fact that they are an icon of conservation helps boosts their appeal.

“People love to rally around an underdog,” he says. “Good news is, it’s working. China has now established more than 60 reserves protecting the remaining pandas and researchers have accumulated enough knowledge about their biology and behaviour to have a self-sustaining captive population and begin to adaptively manage the wild population toward recovery.”

The panda has also been used by China to represent the potency of a nation.

Panda cubs at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in Chengdu, China (file image from 2006)Giant panda cubs start off very small indeed

Our love of pandas has also been used as a marketing ploy – their black and white folds used to sell everything from sweets and fizzy pop to Western consumer to cigarettes in China.

The giant panda is so linked to the idea of China that, unlike any other animal, it has become a political symbol. Decisions to lend and loan pandas take years of negotiations. Edinburgh Zoo was reportedly in talks with the Chinese for half a decade before the deal to house Tian Tian and Yangguang was sealed. And, unlike the exchange of any other animal, these deals often involve political negotiations at the very highest levels.

They are rare

Giant Pandas are officially listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s list of endangered species, which assumes there are fewer than 2,500 giant pandas in the world. The official figure is 1,596.

But, suggests Mr Nicholls, it is almost impossible to effectively document the actual number of pandas in existence, the animal is so elusive.

He says that such is the cultural and political power of the animal for China that is highly unlikely the number would ever be simply scientific.

“It has been suggested that with an animal this emblematic, politics gets in the way of the actual scientific decisions. A census which took place in the 1970s was highly massaged to get a sense of a species on the edge.”

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Rapist Pc jailed for sex attacks

Stephen MitchellMitchell had denied all the charges
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A Northumbria Police officer has been jailed for life for carrying out sex attacks on vulnerable women he met while on duty in Newcastle.

Pc Stephen Mitchell had earlier been convicted of two charges of rape, three indecent assaults and six counts of misconduct in public office.

The 42-year-old, from Glasgow, who had denied all charges, was given two life sentences at Newcastle Crown Court.

He was told he will not be eligible for parole for at least seven years.

During a five-week trial it emerged Mitchell targeted vulnerable women, including heroin addicts and shoplifters, by offering to help them while they were in custody at Newcastle’s Pilgrim Street police station and then asking for sexual favours.

He denied all the charges and claimed the 16 women who made complaints about his behaviour were liars.

Mitchell was cleared of nine counts of misconduct in public office, three of indecent assault and three of rape.

During the trial, the court heard Northumbria Police had disciplined Mitchell when it was discovered he had sex with a woman he had met as part of his duties, but he was not dismissed for the offence.

It also emerged he was accused of a serious sexual offence while he was still in the Army, but this was not revealed when he applied to join Northumbria Police.

Some of Mitchell’s victims are now pursuing civil claims for sexual assault, false imprisonment and breach of human rights.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said all of Mitchell’s victims received support from Northumbria Police once his crimes were known.

Sentencing, trial judge Mr Justice Wilkie said Mitchell presented such a danger to women that he might never be released from prison.

He said the officer had broken the bond of trust that existed between the public and the police. Mitchell was a sexual predator who “ruthlessly exploited” his victims for his own pleasure and “degraded them repeatedly”.

“You succeeded so well you were able to treat them as sex objects over a period of months, and in some cases, years,” he said.

“So cowed and downtrodden by their experiences of life and by your influence were those seven women that they did not report what you had done until they were given the opportunity to do so by the police investigation into your activities years later.”

He said Mitchell would serve at least seven-and-a-half years in jail before being considered for parole.

“Thereafter, you will only be released, if at all, if the parole board has concluded it is safe and in the public interest for you to be released on public licence,” he added.

“That may not be for many years, if for ever.”

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