The suspect in the Nottingham knife attack tried to break into a homeless hostel before stabbing his third victim, it has emerged. The man allegedly attempted to climb through a first-floor window of the building, before a man sleeping in the room managed to block his path. CCTV footage from the hostel’s security cameras appears to show the attacker banging on one of the ground floor windows. Hearing the commotion at around 5am, a member of staff went to the resident’s bedroom and together the pair saw the man off the premises. The incident reportedly came after the suspect had stabbed to death two students, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar. He allegedly went on to stop a van and kill its driver, who was today named as the school caretaker Ian Coates.
Meanwhile, Downing Street has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at Nadine Dorries for not formally quitting Parliament, despite resigning with immediate effect last week. The former Culture Secretary revealed on Friday she was standing down from her seat after being denied a peerage in Boris Johnson’s final honours list. Mr Johnson and Nigel Adams – who also quit over the row – have now formally resigned in writing, meaning that by-elections in their seats were triggered this morning.
ITV is paying for Phillip Schofield to have counselling at his request, despite his admission that he lied to bosses about his affair with a young colleague. Dame Carolyn McCall, the broadcaster’s chief executive, told MPs that she was very concerned for the former presenter’s welfare. We have remained in touch with Phillip, as you would expect, and he is receiving counselling which ITV are funding. He asked for that and we’re very happy to do that, she told the Culture, Media and Sport select committee.
