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UK police pay ‘lip service’ to protecting women, says father of abuse victim

The father of a woman who died after being choked by her abusive partner has accused police of paying “lip service” to the protection of women and girls and called for a public inquiry into the culture of UK police.

West Midlands police apologised last month for a number of failings in the case of Suzanne Van Hagen, 34, who suffered months of domestic abuse before she died in February 2013.

Suzanne’s father, Les Van Hagen, said police were called nine times to the flat his daughter shared with her partner, John Worton, who had a history of being abusive to former girlfriends and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

On one occasion, he said, police officers were called to an attack on Van Hagen but ended up arresting her after finding cannabis belonging to Worton. Worton was not arrested despite the assault, he said.

West Midlands police have admitted missing several opportunities to protect Van Hagen before she died.

Her father said: “We should never have been put through what we were put through. You trust these people and they don’t do their job properly.”

The police’s handling of violence against women and girls is under new scrutiny after the murder of Sarah Everard by the Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens.

Mr Van Hagen backed calls for a public inquiry into claims of institutional misogyny in UK policing, saying his daughter’s case was “just not taken seriously” by West Midlands police.

A neighbour, who was asked by police to keep a log of suspected abusive incidents at Van Hagen’s flat, made a note of 27 occasions before she was found dead with bruising around her neck.

The force initially told Van Hagen’s family that she had been murdered by Worton who had then killed himself.

But detectives later changed their view and issued a statement saying she died from a suspected drug overdose, after alcohol and stimulant BZP were found in her system.

Officers said that bruising around her neck was the result of a sex game and ruled the cause of death was an accidental drug overdose.

But a police review in 2017 found that the senior investigating officer in the case failed to make proper enquiries about marks to Van Hagen’s neck. The force later admitted that its initial assumption about drugs had led to an “inaccurate narrative” about her death.

In a statement last month, the West Midlands chief constable Dave Thompson apologised for the “serious shortcomings” in the force’s handling of the case, before and after Suzanne’s death.

He said: “We deeply regret a number of missed opportunities to investigate Suzanne’s circumstances more widely and to engage with her.

“We could and should have done more to protect Suzanne and her daughter from the abuse they were suffering. To compound the family’s pain, they were let down by a failure to properly investigate Suzanne’s death.”

Mr Van Hagen said on Monday that the family had still not received a written apology from the police, despite the force publishing a video apology last month.

“It’s just lip service,” he said. “They found out they had made big, big, big mistakes in Suzanne’s case about three and a half years ago. It’s taken another three years to get this apology.”

On one occasion, a police family liaison officer told Van Hagen’s younger sister: “Your sister had two legs and she should have used them.”

Wayne Jones, the detective who led the failed investigation into Van Hagen’s death, was sacked two years later for sexually harassing four female colleagues.

The Van Hagens’ family lawyers, Deighton Pierce Glynn, said the case highlighted the “institutional discrimination against women by the police”.

Mr Van Hagen said: “The guy had a criminal record as long as your arm, he was not allowed to see his children because of domestic violence and yet he was allowed to have access to our granddaughter. The police knew, the social services knew, the mental health people knew this – but they just didn’t do anything about it. And then to cap it all, when Suzanne died they didn’t bother to investigate her death.”

After complaints by the family, a West Midlands police professional standards report found: “The police response to the domestic violence suffered by Suzanne Van Hagen was very poor, inadequate, lacked positive action and was not as the force and the public could have reasonably expected. West Midlands police did not take this domestic violence seriously.”

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EFCC Hands Over 753 Recovered Housing Units to Ministry of Housing

The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 handed over 753 units of houses recovered by the Commission at Plot 109 Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

The property, measuring 150,500 square metres and containing 753 Units of duplexes and other apartments, was recovered based on a final forfeiture order granted by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court Abuja on Monday, December 2, 2024

While handing over the property, Olukoyede reiterated the commitment of the EFCC to accountable asset recovery and disposal modalities, pointing out that such gestures are meant to “demonstrate to Nigerians that whatever proceeds of crime that we have recovered in the course of our work, the application of that will be made transparent to Nigerians so that we will not allow looted assets to be looted again”.

He also pointed out that “It is important for us to emphasize to Nigerians that the fight against corruption can work and we can really make it work and one of the key factors that actually propels the impact of the fight is the need for us to ensure that those who have stolen our commonwealth are not allowed to enjoy the proceeds of crime. So one of the critical factors of our works is that we deprive them of the proceeds of crimes”

He applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s stance on the fight against corruption, affirming that the handover of the property signaled the government’s seriousness to the fight against economic and financial crimes and other acts of corruption.

The handover took place in a brief ceremony at the Ministry’s headquarters in Mabushi, Abuja. Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, praised the EFCC for its sustained commitment to asset recovery and anti-corruption. He further stated that the handover was a “significant milestone in our collective efforts and determination to ensure that recovered assets are put to productive use in ways that directly benefits the Nigerian people”.

Dangiwa assured that the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development will conduct a joint familiarization tour of the estate, alongside the EFCC to properly access the structural state of the Estate.

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EFCC Arraigns Bankers, Three Others for Alleged Cybercrime in Lagos

The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Awolowo on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, arraigned the duo of Kehinde Odeyemi and Matthew Adeniyi Damilola, who are both employees of Premium Trust Bank, before Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.

They were arraigned alongside Samson Latshin Dakup, Bolaji Omotosho Yinka and Sunday Badeniyi Okunola on a seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy to steal.

The defendants allegedly conspired to manipulate the server and domain credentials of the bank in a bid to gain unauthorised access to its database and steal depositors’ funds.

The planned fraudulent activity was, however, averted by the Commission.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Kehinde Odeyemi, Samson Latshin Dakup, Bolaji Omotosho Yinka, Sunday Badeniyi Okunola, and Matthew Adeniyi Damilola, along with individuals identified as Humble (at large), Wasiu (at large), Isa Ismaila (at large) and another referred to as Victor Joshua Ilemona aka Oracle, (at large), conspired unlawfully between April and May 2025 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, to manipulate the access code (this included the bank’s server IP and domain credentials) of Premium Trust Bank Limited in a bid to gain unauthorised access to the entire database of Premium Trust Bank Limited for the purpose of committing an offense to wit: stealing from the bank’s funds, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27 and 28 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (as amended, 2024), which is punishable under Section 28 (2) of the same Act.”

They pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them.

In view of their pleas, prosecution counsel, Zeenat B. Atiku, prayed for a trial date and the defendants’ remand in a Correctional Centre.

Counsel to the first defendant, Adeleke Adepoju, urged the court to admit his client to bail in the most liberal terms. He stated that he didn’t have enough time to make a formal application.

Other counsel also sought to make oral applications for their clients.

Justice Owoeye, however, refused the applications and ordered the counsel to make formal bail applications before the court.

The judge ordered the first defendant to be remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre.

The second, third, fourth and fifth defendants were ordered remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre.

The matter was adjourned till June 30, 2025 for commencement of trial.

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Bank official testifies on suspicious deposits from Kogi LGAs linked to Yahaya Bello’s nephew

A senior official from Access Bank has detailed how billions of naira allegedly originating from various Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Kogi State were funneled into private accounts through suspicious transactions during the administration of former Governor Yahaya Bello.

Testifying before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, Ofure Achille, former Head of Operations at Access Bank’s Lokoja branch, said the suspicious cash lodgments and withdrawals occurred over several years and were flagged and reported to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

Ms. Achille is the seventh prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Ali Bello, a nephew to former Governor Bello and current Chief of Staff to Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo. He is facing 18 counts of money laundering involving the alleged diversion of N3 billion belonging to Kogi State.

Also standing trial are Abba Adaudu, Yakubu Siyaka Adabenege, Iyada Sadat, and Rashida Bello—accused of using shell companies and personal accounts to move massive sums.

The bank official testified that multiple transactions involving hundreds of millions of naira were inconsistent with the financial profiles of the account holders.

She cited examples including the E-Traders account operated by Jamilu Abdulahi, into which N30 million was deposited over two consecutive days in December 2021, followed by N40 million and another N30 million in early 2022.

“These transactions were flagged and reported to the NFIU as Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) under anti-money laundering laws,” she said.

Achille also revealed that accounts linked to co-defendants—including Fazab Business Enterprise and Hyzman Ary Construction Limited—received substantial funds from various Kogi LGAs. She noted that on 29 August 2017, Ary Construction received inflows totaling N171 million, with the first deposit of only N10,000 earlier that day.

The EFCC’s lead prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), led the witness through documentary evidence detailing patterns of deposits and withdrawals that allegedly reflect the laundering of public funds.

The trial continues before Justice Obiora Egwatu as prosecutors build their case against the defendants in what has become one of the most high-profile corruption trials in recent years.