Amy-Clare Martin

David Maddox,Athena Stavrou,Amy-Clare Martin,Kate Devlin and Dan Haygarth LIVE – Updated at 22:44

The prison service is facing a rare Crown Censure – the maximum sanction possible against a government body – for exposing prisoners and staff to dangerous levels of cancer-causing gas.

As officers pull up outside a Victorian terraced home in east London, they take note of the number plate of the car parked on the driveway.

Exclusive: The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin joined officers checking on victims of domestic abuse as part of new operation to better enforce protective orders

Ministers have been urged to end the “catastrophic cycle” of never-ending prison recalls for inmates trapped under abolished indefinite jail terms

Exclusive: Charlie Taylor demands ministers to get a ‘grip’ on the crisis as tactics for smuggling lethal substances into jails have escalated to drones that can deliver up to 11kg of drugs at a time

Exclusive: Chief inspector of prisons demands ministers to get a ‘grip' on the crisis as tactics for smuggling lethal substances into jails have escalated to drones that can deliver up to 11kg of drugs at a time

Record drug deaths in British prisons as drones fuel smuggling crisis

An inquest into the deaths of three sisters from London whose bodies were found in the sea off Brighton beach has heard the cause of their deaths remains “unascertained”.

Inquest hears cause of death for three sisters found off Brighton beach remains ‘unascertained’