When I was thrust into the media spotlight after being on The Apprentice in 2005, I vowed to use my platform to talk about life growing up in Britain. From a young age I felt that while I was British – born and educated here – I was not represented. At times, it felt like […]

Police in the Pakistan city of Lahore are hunting for two men over the murder of a UK resident they had each reportedly been pressurising to marry them. The suspects are being hunted as a close friend of Mayra Zulfiquar has told Sky News how the victim’s parents are struggling to come to terms with […]

“You don’t get to say goodbye to anyone, you don’t get to phone them up and say ‘oh by the way I’m going into witness protection, I’m not going to speak to you’.” Self-isolation and reduced contact with friends and family has been a necessity during the pandemic, but for some people it’s a never-ending […]

A charity says critical failures have severely damaged the effectiveness of police investigations of sexual abuse affecting BAME complainants A Teesside charity has filed a “super complaint” against alleged systemic mishandling of sexual abuse cases by police forces – including Cleveland Police. Tees Valley Inclusion Project and its charity the Halo Project, based on Teesside, supports women and […]

Mitesh Patel’s sperm reduction pills, cheating, humiliation, isolation and violence towards his wife – an extensive look into the murder case that shocked Teesside A sad string of callous and cruel abuse led to the brutal murder of a loving pharmacist. Jessica Patel was just 34 when her life was ended by her cheating husband Mitesh […]

A mum has praised a Teesside charity for helping her to escape emotional abuse during the coronavirus lockdown. The woman, who does not want to be named, said her husband would shout, scream and swear at her on a daily basis. The mum-of-two said she was left feeling so scared and down that she would cry herself […]

A CHARITY which deals with honour kill­ings in south Asian communities has warned that more women will die unless the authorities become proactive in notic­ing the signs of domestic abuse. The warning from Middlesbrough-based Halo Project comes after a ‘domestic homi­cide review’ of the murder of pharmacist Jessica Patel concluded that she should have been […]

For most young people, turning 18 is one of the most significant moments and one to celebrate. But for one school girl from Nottinghamshire, this was set to be the darkest day of her life. The girl, aged 17 at the time, had been told by her parents that she would be forced into marrying a […]

Women seeking medical help for anxiety should be asked if they are suffering domestic abuse, an inquiry into the murder of a pharmacist has found. Mitesh Patel strangled his wife Jessica in a staged break-in at their home in Middlesbrough in May 2018 as part of a plot to move abroad with his gay lover. A domestic homicide […]