Arrests Over Deaths Linked To Bad Drugs Batch

Three men have been arrested by police investigating a series of suspected drugs-related deaths in Suffolk.

They were held after the recent deaths of two young men in Ipswich on Christmas Eve and New Year's Day, which are thought to be related to a "dangerous batch" of ecstasy tablets.

The death of a third man in Rendlesham is also under investigation, and it emerged on Friday that the death of a fourth man in Telford, Shropshire, was also being linked to the drugs.

The three arrested men - aged 19, 20 and 26 - are all from Ipswich and were detained on Friday on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.

The drugs linked to the deaths in Suffolk have been described as red and triangular with a Superman 'S' logo.

John Hocking, 20, was a labourer

Police in Shropshire said they were not officially linking the death of the 27-year-old man in Telford on New Year's Day with the fatalities in Suffolk, but admitted there "appear to be similarities".

One of the men thought to have died from taking an ecstasy pill linked to the "dangerous" Suffolk batch has been named as 20-year-old labourer John Hocking.

The girlfriend of another man, Lithuanian Gediminas Kulokas, has told how she fought to save his life after he stopped breathing on New Year's Day, his 24th birthday.

Natasha Mumby told how she had checked on him in their lounge during the night and found him "breathing in a funny way" at the flat they shared in Provan Court, Ipswich.

"I propped him up and went back to bed. I then came back in the lounge because he was not making the breathing noise any more. He was just sitting there not breathing."

Another man from the same address, also thought to be from Lithuania, was in hospital in a serious condition, but is said to be "improving".

Justas Ropas was found dead at a house in Ipswich on Christmas Eve

The death of the third man, Justas Ropas, in Ipswich on 24 December could also be linked to the drug, according to officers.

Mr Ropas was a 22-year-old machine operator.

Suffolk Police have drawn a link between these latest drugs and dangerous pills with a similar appearance found in the Netherlands last month.

The tablets in the Netherlands had a large concentration of PMMA, which acts more slowly than ecstasy's MDMA.

This means people take more pills because they think they are not working.

Following the three deaths in Suffolk, police appealed for people to hand the drugs in at a police station, A&E department or fire station.

Officers promised those surrendering the drugs would not face prosecution and that they simply wanted to remove them from circulation.

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Palace Denies Prince Andrew Sex Claims

Buckingham Palace has issued a strongly worded denial of allegations that Prince Andrew was involved in "impropriety with underage minors".

The statement was released after the Duke of York was named in a US lawsuit.

The woman who has made the allegations claims the disgraced US banker Jeffrey Epstein loaned her out to his friends, including Prince Andrew.

Papers filed by her lawyers say she was held as a "sex slave" by Epstein from 1999 through 2002 after he "became enamoured" with her.

In the motion filed in a court in Florida, she claims she was "forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor" in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island. She is believed to have been 17 at the time - underage according to US law.

The document continues: "Epstein instructed Jane Doe #3 that she was to give the Prince whatever he demanded and required Jane Doe #3 to report back to him on the details of the sexual abuse."

Epstein spent 13 months in jail after admitting sex with a 14-year-old

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous and is referred to as Jane Doe 3 in documents, says Epstein, who has been jailed for having sex with a 14-year-old, forced her to have sexual encounters against her will between 1999 and 2002.

In the papers, she claims she was effectively recruited for Epstein's use by Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell, when she was 15 years old.

And it is claimed in the court document that Ms Maxwell "was one of the main women whom Epstein used to procure under-aged girls for sexual activities".

The document also claims Epstein's "purposes in 'lending' Jane Doe to such powerful people were to ingratiate himself with them for business, personal, political and financial gain, as well as to obtain potential blackmail information".

Buckingham Palace said: "This relates to long-standing and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which the Duke of York is not a party. As such we would not comment in detail. However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue."

Prince Andrew's friendship with Epstein is well-documented and in an interview in 2011 he denied any sexual contact with any of the young women connected to the multi-millionaire banker.

The Prince visited Epstein in New York in 2010 after he was released

Sky News Correspondent Rhiannon Mills said: "It's important to point out that we have in the past seen Prince Andrew criticised for spending time with Epstein, including in December 2010 after he was released from prison."

Epstein was jailed in 2008 and spent 13 months in jail after admitting to having sex with a 14-year-old.

He had been investigated for paying underage girls to have sex with him at his luxury Palm Beach home - and 40 women had come forward as victims.

However, he cut a deal with federal prosecutors and the charges were not progressed.

Two of his victims have now brought a case against the prosecutors claiming their rights were violated because they were not consulted on the secret deal.

Jane Doe 3 has applied to the court to be included in the lawsuit against the federal prosecutor and it is in the legal document to join the case that she makes the allegations against the Duke of York.

Sky News has attempted to reach Ms Maxwell for a response to the latest allegations.

When claims about the nature of her relationship with Epstein were reported in 2011, her lawyers issued a statement describing them as "entirely false".

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Hospital Calls To Police 'A Major Problem'

By Mark White, Home Affairs Correspondent

There are calls for drunks and others who commit offences on NHS premises to be dealt with more severely after a Sky News investigation found the police are being called about crimes every 10 minutes.

Figures show officers deal with more than 60,000 crimes in hospitals across the UK every year - and the number has risen in the last 12 months.

The number of offences is so high that several police forces, including Greater Manchester and Lancashire, have started basing liaison officers at some of the busier A&E departments.

Hospital staff deal with a drunken patient

The true scale of the problem is likely to be much higher as the figures only represent two-thirds of Britain's police forces and do not include the biggest, the Metropolitan Police.

A total of 30 forces responded to a Freedom of Information request from Sky News, which shows they attended 64,728 calls to hospitals and other NHS premises in 2013 - a rise of almost 1,700 on the previous year. 

Greater Manchester Police attended 12,726 incidents on NHS premises last year - an increase of 320 on the year before.

Officers in another of the UK's larger forces, West Midlands, attended 7,132 calls to hospitals and other health premises in 2013 - up 249 on the 2012 figure.

Police chiefs are warning that those who threaten or assault NHS staff will be dealt with robustly.

Dr Peter Carter: 'It's a major national probem'

Northampton Police Chief Constable Adrian Lee, the national lead on alcohol harm reduction at the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), told Sky News that many of the incidents are drink-related.

He said: "There was a time when NHS staff, through good motivations and a sense of vocation, didn't want to report crimes against people who were there to receive the service, but actually that's not appropriate because it gets the message across that you can go to a hospital and behave inappropriately - well you can't."

Latest Health Service figures in England also point to worsening safety for hospital staff.

NHS Protect say that in the period 2013-2014, 68,683 members of staff were assaulted, a rise of almost 5,500 on the previous 12 months.

Some forces are to trial 'drunk tanks' like this one in London

Royal College of Nursing chief executive Dr Peter Carter has called for a tougher approach from both the police and hospital trusts towards offenders.

He said: "Against 68,000 reported assaults last year, there were just 1,600 prosecutions. That's lamentable. This is a major national problem and something needs to be done about it."

As well as stationing officers in A&E units, some forces are also beginning trials of special "drunk tanks" as a way of keeping potentially disruptive patients with more minor ailments out of emergency departments.

Chief Constable Lee, who is overseeing the pilot for ACPO, said: "These facilities don't just help reduce the demand on A&E departments at peak times, but can also have an impact on the atmosphere in emergency departments.

"A long wait in A&E because other people are more seriously injured is one thing, but a long wait surrounded by people who are behaving badly because they are drunk is a completely different experience."

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Police Make Appeal Over Christmas Eve Murder

Police have launched a murder investigation after the body of a 51-year-old man was found in Bath city centre on Christmas Eve.

A member of the public discovered Thomas Downey under a railway arch on Lower Bristol Road, near Bath railway station just after 1.30pm on Wednesday.

The area was cordoned off and a detailed search of the area continues.

A post mortem examination has been carried out and confirmed that Mr Downey died from significant head injuries.

His family have travelled down from Manchester and are helping investigating officers with the inquiry.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: "They are being supported by a police family liaison officer and our thoughts are with them at this sad time."

Mr Downey is known locally as "Manchester Tommy".

Officers have urged anyone with information to share it with police to help them piece together what happened on Christmas Eve.

Two men in their thirties have been arrested on suspicion of murder and continue to be questioned.

The spokesman added: "The neighbourhood policing team are working with the local community to provide support and reassurance and to assist with the investigation.

"However, we are still keen to speak to anyone who was in the area near to the station in Lower Bristol Road around lunchtime on Christmas Eve.

"We believe the area would have been busy with shoppers and people leaving work early."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Major Crime Investigation Team on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

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King's Cross Station Hit By More Problems

London's King's Cross station was hit by more problems today as an investigation was launched into disruption caused by overrunning engineering work.

A number of trains out of King's Cross were cancelled and other services delayed after a signalling failure this afternoon.

The failure meant that some Great Northern services from the station were cancelled, while incoming trains ended their journeys at Finsbury Park.  

A Great Northern spokeswoman said: "At approximately 13.30 this afternoon signalling problems were experienced in the Finsbury Park area, resulting in no trains being able to run in and out of London King's Cross.

"Several trains terminated at Finsbury Park and Welwyn Garden City. Rail replacement buses were organised for passengers to transport them across to the Thameslink route, where ticket acceptance was in place.

Video: Probe Launched Into Travel Chaos

"Signalling was restored at 14.15. Customers may have been affected by residual delays of up to 60 minutes whilst the service recovered.

"We would like to apologise for any inconvenience that Great Northern's customers may have experienced."

Today's problems follow major disruption yesterday when King's Cross and Paddington stations were closed because engineering works ran over schedule.

Both stations have since reopened and services from Paddington were running as planned, a Network Rail spokeswoman said. 

Network Rail's Robin Gisby, managing director of network operations, apologised for yesterday's disruption which led to extra police being brought in to control crowds.

"I'm deeply sorry for the delays, upset and upheaval caused... to passengers impacted by our overrunning improvement work outside King's Cross," he said.

"We've had an army of 11,000 engineers out over Christmas Day and Boxing Day at 2,000 locations nationwide.

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1. Gallery: Travel Chaos Hits London

This was the scene at Finsbury Park station

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