A security guard has appeared in court charged with stealing top secret defence files. According to a report in The Daily Mail, 29-year-old Raphael Bravo is accused of taking four documents from British Aerospace (BAe) containing information that would be 'useful to the enemy' and 'prejudicial to the safety of the State'.
The documents involved are believed to contain information on front-line defence systems. One holds details of the defence systems used on Apache Longbow helicopters, another the systems designed to protect Harrier jump jets.
Bravo, who resides in a rented flat in Harlesden, north west London, was employed by security company Crusader, and had been working at the BAe offices in Stanmore.
He has been remanded in custody for trial later this month.
Police chiefs face reform struggle
The Police Federation has voiced its disquiet over Home Secretary David Blunkett's bold plans to reform the police service, which include a review of police pay, shift systems, 'endemic' levels of sickness and the growing number of early retirements.
With Metropolitan Police Authority deputy chairman Richard Barnes having already attacked proposals for centralised policing in the pages of The London Metro, the Federation has now used The Daily Telegraph to state that it fears "a dilution of the traditional role of the constable", at the same time calling for "thousands more full-time, fully-trained constables".
Blunkett, though, has a very different agenda. The Home Office has already begun to lay plans for tens of thousands of civilians – drawn from the special constabulary, local authority workforces and, of course, the private security sector – to carry out work traditionally associated with the police service.
Seven years in jail for hoaxers
Anthrax hoaxers are to face up to seven years behind bars under tough new laws announced by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Speaking in The Daily Telegraph, Blair also confirmed that bomb hoaxers face up to five years in jail.
Source
SMT