The measure – part of ‘Raneem’s Law’ – will speed up referral of domestic and sexual abuse victims to support services

Domestic abuse specialists will be embedded in 999 control rooms from early next year in the first step towards the government’s goal of halving violence against women and girls in a decade, the home secretary has said.

The advisers will make risk assessments on cases involving rape, domestic and sexual abuse claims to ensure that victims are referred to support services as quickly as possible, as part of an initiative to be announced by Yvette Cooper on Friday.

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Sir Mark Rowley says summer disorder was ‘brutal and difficult time’ and rebuts far-right claim of two-tier policing

The people behind the violence in England this summer were “largely racially motivated criminal thugs”, the Metropolitan police commissioner has said, as he revealed that some of those arrested in London had previous convictions for violent offences.

Sir Mark Rowley said data about those arrested after a supposed protest in Whitehall, in central London, in late July supported his view.

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London police force looking into possible misconduct relating to complaint by one of victims of Carl Cooper

Four Metropolitan police officers are facing a misconduct investigation after two women were murdered by a man they both reported to the police for domestic abuse.

Carl Cooper, 66, is serving a life sentence for the murders of Naomi Hunte, 41, and Fiona Holm, 48, after his conviction earlier this year.

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Sir Mark Rowley says force could have to shut half its ageing buildings in next decade and faces big deficit next year

Scotland Yard needs hundreds of millions of pounds in new funding to drag itself out of crisis as its budget is “heading off a cliff”, its commissioner has said.

Sir Mark Rowley said half of the Metropolitan police’s premises were so dilapidated that they faced closure within a decade, and sky-high demand on policing had not been met by an increase in money.

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Crime clear-up quadruples to 13% since November but inspectorate warns there is still work to be done

England’s second largest police force has been judged to have improved so much it can come out of special measures imposed by the official inspectorate.

West Midlands police was judged to be in crisis and subjected to enhanced monitoring and review last November.

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Exclusive: Defence thinktank says rightwing violence ‘often classified as mere thuggery’ by politicians and prosecutors

The UK has a “two-tier approach” to extremism that fails to treat far-right attacks as seriously as Islamist ones, a leading thinktank has said.

The Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) says rightwing violence “is often classified as mere thuggery” by politicians, prosecutors and the security services. Equivalent acts by Islamists would “swiftly be labelled as terrorism”, it says in an article in the Guardian.

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It’s easy to blame viral videos – and far harder to change the culture in which they thrive

Among those swiftly convicted and sentenced last week for their part in the racist rioting was Bobby Shirbon , who had left his 18th birthday party at a bingo hall in Hartlepool to join the mob roaming the town’s streets, targeting houses thought to be occupied by asylum seekers. Shirbon was arrested for smashing windows and throwing bottles at police. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

In custody, Shirbon had claimed that his actions had been justified by their ubiquity: “It’s OK,” he told officers, “everyone else is doing it.” That has, of course, been a consistent claim from those caught up in mass thuggery down the years, but for many of the hundreds of people now facing significant prison sentences, the “defence” has a sharper resonance.

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After terrible days since the Southport stabbings, rightwing rioters have been rebuffed by the law and the people

So far so good for the fightback? It began to seem so on Thursday. The rumour mill had threatened some 160 racist and rightwing gatherings across the country on Wednesday night . Almost every police force in England and Wales was on active alert to deal with the likelihood of violence. Some 6,000 riot-trained officers were deployed in multiple centres. Mosques, solicitors’ offices and shops were boarded up as if for the arrival of a hurricane.

In the event, the hurricane failed to show. There were around 30 isolated attempts to create trouble in places including Aldershot, Croydon, Bristol and Dover. But they were relatively small, all quickly snuffed out and dispersed. They were eclipsed by the far larger public response on the streets from peaceful crowds of anti-racists . Those numbers bore witness to a determination to preserve community cohesion and harmony in dozens of threatened places. They also spoke for public opinion more widely. On Wednesday, as the Met police chief, Sir Mark Rowley, put it, the people, the police and the courts did a good night’s work together. Hope not hate was the message of the hour.

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Senior officer says ‘those intent on violence’ have not gone away and urges action against online incitement

Senior police have described a “turning point” in the disorder seen across England in the past week, suggesting swift sentencing and a major public order operation acted as deterrents to far right-led agitators.

Thousands of anti-racist demonstrators gathered on Wednesday evening and created human shields to protect asylum centres, dwarfing a handful of anti-immigrant rallies.

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