'Worrying decline' in families approved to adopt a child, charity warns

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• Burnham blocks early release of rapists and child sex offenders

  People jailed for rape, serious child sex offences and grooming will be excluded from the upcoming early release scheme, the government has announced.

• Burnham intervenes on prisons crisis - and risks mistakes being made

  Dividing lines between victim groups, fears about prisons becoming full again by Christmas, and concerns that these changes will lead to "inevitable mistakes" – probably not the intended outcomes of the prime minister's urgent review on early release, but that's the reality.

• Woman who stole £300k from pensioner before Sky News tracked her down in Tenerife is jailed

  A fugitive fraudster who Sky News confronted in Tenerife has been jailed.

• Man jailed after falsely claiming electric car was out of control on motorway

  A motorist who drove at high speeds and falsely claimed his electric Jaguar would not brake in an attempt to avoid paying his car finance has been jailed.

• Vampire fan given hospital order after putting animal body parts in churches

  A man who put deer heads and slaughtered lambs with inverted crosses at churches in the New Forest has been detained under the Mental Health Act.

• Greggs, Boots and M&S team up with Met Police to tackle shoplifters

  Major retailers on London's high streets are using new technology from the Metropolitan Police to catch shoplifters.

• NHS staff experiencing 'unconscionable' levels of racist abuse, survey finds

  NHS staff have been called "dirty foreigners" and "monkeys" amid a "noticeable" and "unacceptable" rise in racism from patients, a survey has found.

• Best-selling crime author Lynda La Plante banned from driving for six months after multiple speeding offences

  Best-selling crime author Lynda La Plante has been disqualified from driving for six months - after tearfully telling a court a ban would end her career.