Evening briefing Thursday 2nd July

0:00This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwCWC. Staying competitive means getting ahead, not just keeping up. So how do business leaders cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. PwC takes you further with tech, from optimising the systems that put your data to work, to scaling AI from proof of concept to competitive edge. PwC helps you meet tomorrow's tech demands, so you can compete at a speed that rewrites the rules. Discover more at pwc.co.uk Hello, this is your Times Radio Evening Briefing for Thursday 2nd July with me, James Kitchen. One of the victims of two teenagers who had their sentences increased for raping her in Fordingbridge says justice has finally been done.

0:47The 15-year-old boys were originally spared custody for the rape of two girls in separate attacks in Hampshire. The Court of Appeal this afternoon overturned the ruling, sentencing the pair to four years' detention. The Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, said the teenager's initial sentences were unduly lenient. Each incident involving rape by more than one offender was extremely serious. But the fact that they repeated their behaviour after the first incident and did it again to a different person is the crucial feature of these cases. The leader of a notorious Rochdale grooming gang has been released from prison after serving 14 years behind bars.

1:28Sakhir Starmas asked the Home Secretary to consider what can be done to deport Shabir Ahmed to Pakistan, despite a legal loophole preventing his removal. It comes after Andy Burnham demanded the government do everything in its power to ensure Ahmed's deported. The Rochdale whistleblower Sarah Robertham told Times Radio she feels immensely anxious. It's all about power. The manipulation and the coercion and the inflicting violence and violent threats. It's all about power. It's having power over the victim. That power dynamic doesn't ever go away because ultimately those threats were very real.

2:06Sir Keir Starmer's apologised on behalf of the UK government to survivors of forced adoption, calling it a stain on our history. 185 ,000 women in England and Wales had their babies taken away during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Survivor and campaigner Phil Frampton told Times Radio this is about the whole oppression of unmarried mothers during the post-war period. Not every child went for adoption. Not every child even was spoken about. Many were hidden within the families, which created all sorts of problems in the long run about secrecy and lies and so forth, about who was whose mother and so forth.

2:44A cast member from the reality show Married at First Sight UK has been arrested on suspicion of rape. It comes after a BBC Panorama programme revealed rape allegations from two female cast members while a third woman alleged a non-consensual sex act. The men involved have denied all the allegations against them. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has cut short a trip to Ireland after a Russian bombardment of Kiev overnight. At least 20 people are known to have died, and at least 80 others have been injured in the drone and missile attack. The Kremlin insists the strikes were aimed at military targets despite residential buildings being hit.

3:24Rescuers have pulled a Venezuelan security guard from the rubble of a basement alive eight days after two earthquakes hit the country. The 43-year-old was extracted safely after emergency services first made contact with him over the weekend. The man was inside his small security cabin when the first tremor struck, which helped shield him from the crushing debris. Remember, you can follow The Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify, and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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