Suspected brothel shut down by policepublished at 13:46 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
A suspected brothel has been closed down by police, external following a raft of complaints from residents.
Summary
'Man with knife' at House of Fraser
Man injured amid reports of gun shots
Oxford-bound student faces deportation
'Bin bag barricade'
West Brom sign winger on five-year deal
Updates from Friday 25 August 2017
Suspected brothel shut down by policepublished at 13:46 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Pair arrested in anti-slavery operation are releasedpublished at 13:23 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Two people who were arrested following anti-slavery raids in the west midlands yesterday have been released on bail while inquiries continue.
West Midlands Police says it is investigating reports that eastern European workers are being exploited by being brought into the UK and paid very low wages.
Image source, West Midlands PoliceThey found 20 men, mainly from Slovakia and Romania, living in poor conditions when they raided three restaurants, in Wolverhampton, West Bromwich and Coventry.
The pair they arrested were a 49-year-old man and woman aged 45, both Slovakian.
Gang members targeted with injunctionspublished at 13:08 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
The rival gang members have been banned from Birmingham city centre by "landmark" injunctions
Read MoreBirmingham City Council boss's daughter not guilty of fraudpublished at 12:54 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Breaking
Lisa Wright
Journalist, BBC News OnlineA marketing assistant accused of using a company credit card to order make-up, fake tan and other beauty products worth over £4,500 has been found not guilty.
Anna Clancy, daughter of Birmingham City Council leader John Clancy, was accused of using the card to order items for herself from Amazon.
Sport headlines: Wolves prepare to head to Southamptonpublished at 12:40 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
BBC WM SportThe sport stories we're looking at this morning include:
- Villa and Albion both eased into the third round of the Carabao Cup last night
- Blues were knocked out though by Premier League Bournemouth, going down 2-1 at St. Andrews
- Wolves travel to top flight opposition tonight as they go to Southampton for a place in the third round
- Boldmere St Michael's will host Chasetown in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup after both came through replays last night
Gang injunctions hopes to disrupt prisoners in jailpublished at 12:20 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent, BBC NewsAn upsurge in gun violence in Birmingham two years ago between two notorious gangs, the Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew, has been the trigger for these injunctions.
Today officers served the injunctions which have placed severe restrictions on 18 gang members and the people they associate with.
The law was brought in in 2011 and was amended in 2014 to make it tougher.
Interim orders were granted last year by the county court and since then a large number of gang members have gone to prison.
These full injunctions were issued to 10 prisoners in jail today and that again is quite unusual and thought to be one of the first times that has happened.
The injunctions will stop those individuals mixing with other gang members in prison which we know is a big problem.
West Midlands Police say they are realistic about the injunctions and want this to disrupt gang members activity, marking their card, rather than expecting it it stop.
Carabao Cup winners and loserspublished at 12:16 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Steve Hermon
Journalist, BBC WM SportVilla and Albion both eased into the third round of the Carabao Cup last night.
The Baggies won 3-1 at League Two side Accrington Stanley thanks to goals from Salomon Rondon, Matt Phillips and Jay Rodriguez.
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End of twitter postAs for Villa they were comfortable 4-1 winners over Wigan - with striker Scott Hogan scoring twice. Albert Adomah and Birkir Bjarnason were also on target.
Image source, Rex FeaturesBlues were knocked out by Premier League Bournemouth going down 2-1, despite them leading at half-time through Maikel Kieftenbeld's 10th minute goal.
Burton sign Mason on loan from Wolvespublished at 12:03 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Burton Albion sign striker Joe Mason on loan from Wolves after a long-term injury to summer signing Liam Boyce.
Read MoreWoman ordered to rip down £5k treehousepublished at 12:00 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
A Solihull homeowner has been forced to rip down a treehouse worth £5,000, external at the bottom of her garden.
Gang injunctions 'cheap way of trying to solve crime'published at 11:40 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
A solicitor has criticised the police for using injunctions to stop gang members talking to each other, saying it doesn't "change behaviour or address underlying issues" .
Eighteen men, aged between 19 and 29, have been issued with injunctions stopping them from entering parts of Birmingham and communicating with each other.
In 2003, a violent feud between the Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew claimed the lives of Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis. Four men were later jailed for their murders.
Errol Robinson, who represented two of the four men jailed, says there is no evidence injunctions work.
Quote MessageInjunctions become a bit of a trophy and encourage rebellion. Gang members like to show that they're not listening to orders so will breach orders. It's a cheap way of trying to solve crime but there is no evidence to suggest that they work. They're just a cosmetic gesture to show people that something is being done about gangs - but actually the results are minimum to none.
Errol Robinson, Solicitor
The city has seen another spike in gun and knife crime in 2017, with nine fatal stabbings this year. None of the men named in the injunctions are involved, police said.
Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew involved in crime since the 1990spublished at 11:21 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Peter Wilson
BBC Midlands Today Special CorrespondentOrganised Gangs in Birmingham have been a part of the city's life since the 1870's - the Peaky Blinders for example.
Today's gangs, with links to drugs and guns, are far from glamorous and bring terror and misery to many people's lives.
The names Burger Bar Boys and the Johnson Crew sprang onto the crime scene in the late 1990's.
Chaotic and quick to wreak violence their crimes reached a crescendo one night at a New Years party in 2003 when two innocent teenage girls Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis died in a spray of machine gun fire in a drive by shooting as members of the Burger Bar attempted to kill a Johnson Crew man stood outside a party in Aston, Birmingham.
Image source, PAThat shocking display of gang callousness led to a concerted effort by government, police and city council to stop the violence.
Some believed it had worked as gun crime fell dramatically over the years.
But in the last 18 months, a new generation of would be gang members have risen up and shootings have begun to surge. In the last few weeks even the police have come under fire as they carried out an anti-gun operation in the Ladywood area of the city.
Policemen guilty of drugs offencespublished at 11:07 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Birmingham officers Wahid Husman and Tahsib Majid plotted to steal and sell drugs for profit.
Read MoreBurger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew members to stay out of city centrepublished at 11:02 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
A "landmark ruling" has been made, say police, to stop 18 men of two prolific Birmingham gangs - Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew away from various parts of Birmingham.
Image source, West Midlands PoliceThe men subject to the police injunctions;
- Naasir Francis, 19 from Nechells
- Baboucar Huma, 19 from Handsworth
- Akeen Ivy-Foster, 20 from Springhill
- Ravelle Hutchinson, 20 from Winson Green
- Tesfa Bernard-Wheeler, 21 from Hockley
- Rayani Sutherland, 21 from Aston
- Omarni Bernard-Sewell, 21 from Selly Oak
- Lawrence Morgan, 21 from Nechells
- Jerome Jones, 21 from Erdington
- Jerome Christie, 21 from Nechells
- Reial Phillips, 21 from Winson Green
- Ushane Jeffers, 23 from Newtown
- Kayne Robinson, 23 from Springhill
- Ashai Grey, 23 from Walsall
- Jacob Brown, 24 from Handsworth
- Cash Wallace, 24 from Winson Green
- Ishmail Lee, 29 from Wolverhampton
- Isaac Duffus, 28 from Erdington
'Menace to ordinary people'published at 10:33 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
The 18 men subject to the UK's largest gang injunction are described as "dangerous and a menace to ordinary people.
"They must be stopped from behaving like thugs and terrorising hard working people," West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said.
Image source, Greater Manchester PoliceThe injunction means the men, aged between 19 and 29, are not allowed to associate with each other and cannot enter various areas of Birmingham.
They were issued after more than 80 witnesses gave evidence against them.
Ten of the 18 gang members served injunctions are in prisonpublished at 10:15 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Ten of the 18 gang members served with injunctions to keep them away from parts of Birmingham are currently in prison, West Midlands Police says.
Two gang members were jailed last year following a series of shootings in the city in 2016.
Reial Phillips (pictured left), linked to Birmingham's Burger Bar gang, pleaded guilty to firearms offences and conspiring to sell cocaine and heroin and was jailed for 27 years.
Ashai Gray (pictured right), 22, also admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin and was sentenced to nine years in jail.
Image source, West Midlands PoliceImage caption, Ashai Gray (l) and Reial Phillips (r)
West Midlands Police say Akeen Ivy-Foster, Ravelle Hutchinson, Tesfa Bernard-Wheeler, Lawrence Morgan, Jerome Christie, Cash Wallace, Ishmail Lee and Isaac Duffus are also serving time in prison.
The injunctions will stop correspondence including phone calls, visits and letters between gang members, the BBC has been told by a police spokesman.
Analysis: Can Birmingham's gang injunctions be monitored?published at 09:38 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
Sima Kotecha
Midlands Correspondent, BBC NewsIn principle, gang injunctions are arguably a good idea: they attempt to control movement and accessibility to certain areas and groups of people.
They rely on civil laws and that means at their core is a desire to protect the community.
The orders are straightforward to issue because they can depend on a single police officer's evidence and that can mean that a person posing a threat is put under some sort of restriction fairly quickly.
Image source, Rex FeaturesBut a flaw expressed by critics of the order, is that they're difficult to monitor.
How do you know if the injunction is breached as individuals are not tagged or followed?
From those former gang members we've spoken to, there is little support for the mechanism with many saying it's not rocket science to work out that if a person is banned from going to a certain part of a city, they will just go somewhere else, and find others who have the same goal: to cause violence and disruption.
Football: Accrington Stanley 1-3 West Bromwich Albionpublished at 09:32 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
BBC SportWest Brom's £12m summer signing Jay Rodriguez scored his first goal for the club as the Premier League side saw off League Two Accrington in the EFL Cup.
Image source, Rex FeaturesWest Brom, captained by recent signing Gareth Barry, have won all three of their games this season, while defeat for John Coleman's side ended their perfect home record this term.
'Exhaustive efforts' made to steer men away from gang culturepublished at 09:20 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
The injuction which stop members of two Birmingham gangs, the Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew, does not just stop them entering the city centre.
It also stops them from entering areas of Handsworth, Newtown, Winson Green and Lozells.
Image source, West Midlands PoliceLast year the BBC released the names of the 18 men after interim injunctions were obtained by the County Courts after the city saw its fourth fatal shooting in six months.
Quote MessageThese injunctions are not sought lightly and the police together with the local council and other voluntary groups and charities will have already made exhaustive efforts with these men and their families to try and steer them away gang culture.
Mat Shaer, Neighbourhood policing superintendent for Birmingham
Gang members banned from city by 'biggest' gang injunctionpublished at 09:04 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
BreakingEighteen men suspected to be involved in gun and drug gang crime in Birmingham are to be served injunctions restricting them from entering large parts of the city, says West Midlands Police.
The injunctions are believed to be the biggest group gang injunction ever secured.
Image source, ThinkstockGang injunctions were first introduced in 2011 after appeals from councils for help.
The police force says the injunctions will also stop the men from associating with each other.
Football: Aston Villa 4-1 Wigan Athleticpublished at 08:53 British Summer Time 23 August 2017
BBC SportScott Hogan scored two first-half goals in Aston Villa's convincing EFL Cup second-round triumph against Wigan.
Image source, Rex FeaturesDefeat ended the Latics' 100% start to the season, which sees them top League One, while Steve Bruce's side have now scored four goals in consecutive matches.
