Smash Hit

Yard chief denounces 'soft' justice

Sir Paul Stephenson voices dismay at the rise in cautions and ‘parking ticket’ penalties for criminals

Youths hunted over woman's firework murder

Police have opened a murder inquiry after a house fire that started when a firework was pushed through a letterbox

City bosses fund bid to cut crime

Sigrid Rausing, Stanley Fink and Sir Ronald Cohen are aiming to privatise the rehabilitation of offenders

Met chief attacks light-touch justice

Sir Paul Stephenson has launched an attack on Labour’s justice system, saying violent criminals get away with a ticking-off

Bodmin house fire is now murder inquiry

Mary Fox died trying to save teenage son Raum from blaze started by firework pushed through the letter box by bullies

Judge calls murderer ‘kind and caring’

Relatives of Maureen Cosgrove react with anger after her killer, George Maben, is jailed for less than standard minimum term

Shell-shocked tortoise recovers from kidnap

Zeus, the giant African creature, was stolen from a sanctuary in Cornwall and recovered only when recognised in a pet shop

Cheat jailed for tricking way into casinos

Gambling addict Abdullah Toksoz used false identities to win thousands of pounds in deception lasting for three years

Gang throw fireworks at drivers in filling station

Murdered students’ parents sue police

Families of two men brutally killed in London seek compensation for failures by police, courts and probation service

Mother killed in ‘firework’ house blaze

Police investigate claims that Mary Fox's son, Raum, may have been the target of a firework pushed through her letterbox

Elderly burglary victim lost will to live

Vincent Adcock locked himself away and stopped eating after his house was targeted by thieves five times in three months

Milkman jailed for life after drunken killing

Life sentence for stalker who wrote in blood to his therapist

Brian Johnstone took more than a thousand secret pictures and hoarded weapons after he became obsessed with a psychologist treating him

Jamie Oliver inspired chef to confess to raid

Tom Baisden went to police after officers had closed the file on a £3 million Cartier robbery at Luton airport

Bank security van driver speeds off with £10m

Driver of armoured van escaped with 40 sacks of banknotes from bank in Lyons while colleagues were inside building

Norfolk police chief 'should repay £70,000’

Ian McPherson, who is leaving to join Scotland Yard, urged to repay resettlement package amid anger at "gravy beat" culture

'Criminals must serve full sentences'

The Government’s Victims Champion said judges should spell out exact amount of time a criminal will spend behind bars

Blinking used to convict care home worker

Care home worker is sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexual assaults on severely handicapped women who cannot talk