“Justice is done but our hearts are broken,” reads the headline on the front page of the Metro on Friday. The paper is quoting the family of 15-year-old Elianne Andam, after her killer was convicted of her murder “in a row over a friend’s teddy bear”. Hassan Sentamu, 18, “clutched a stress ball as the verdict was delivered”, it adds, “then wiped away tears and refused to sit down as he gripped the dock”.
Elianne’s parents have said they “are crippled with pain” following her death, but promised that “her legacy will live on”, the Daily Mirror writes. It adds that they have “vowed to honour her memory by fighting knife crime”.
The Middle East is “on tenterhooks”, the Financial Times says, as a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas “nears [the] finish line”. Featured is an image of Palestinians jostling for food aid in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, as “the world waits for Israel to approve” the agreement. The paper leads on BP cutting “more than 5% of its workforce”, as its “under-fire boss” fights to save costs and “revive a share price that has lagged behind rivals”.
The Guardian warns that there will be no Israeli vote on a ceasefire deal “until Hamas agrees to all terms”. The paper says the delay “prompts fears [that] last-minute disputes or hardliners could scupper” the ceasefire before it is due to come into effect on Sunday. Friday’s edition also pays tribute to “the great American surrealist” director David Lynch, who has died at the age of 78.
The government have been “blasted over ‘toothless’ grooming probes”, according to Friday’s Daily Mail. It says Labour “faced fury” for announcing “five local reviews” into grooming gangs, rather than the full national inquiry some have been calling for. That announcement itself, the paper adds, saw the government “[backtrack] after previously insisting that no new investigations were needed”.
“Why aren’t you wanting to find out the real truth?” is how one grooming gang victim responded to the news, in an interview with the Daily Express. Fiona Goddard is one of those demanding a “full national inquiry”, and says Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s announcement of a nationwide review on Thursday is “just not good enough”.
Sticking with politics, and the i leads with a warning from military figures that the UK’s army is “now ‘too small’ to play a major peacekeeping role in Ukraine”, as the prime minister makes his first visit to the country since taking office. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has “[confirmed] he is in talks” with a number of countries over plans to enforce any future ceasefire in the country’s war with Russia, the paper writes. But, it adds, “the UK no longer has the depth” to do so.
First-time home buyers “will find it easier to get on the housing ladder”, according to the Times. Financial regulators are considering “looser loan rules”, the paper writes, as part of a “reform of the mortgage market”. Also featured on the front page is a picture of Donald Trump’s official portrait, ahead of his inauguration as president next week. The paper says it shares “something of the defiance” with Trump’s mugshot taken when he was charged with trying to overturn the election in the US state of Georgia.
The Sun is calling for convicted killer Jake Fahri to be returned to jail with the headline: “Lock him up again”. Fahri was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 for the murder of teenager Jimmy Mizen, and was released on licence in 2023. The paper says he “faces a return to jail after apparently breaching his licence”. An investigation by the paper published yesterday claims he recorded rap music referencing the murder.
And Friday’s Daily Star says the band Village People hope their iconic song, the YMCA, “will save the world”. The song has become an unlikely anthem for US President-elect Donald Trump, and the band hope their performance at his inauguration “will help heal the world”.
The Daily Mail says Labour is facing “fury” for launching what it calls “toothless” small-scale investigations into grooming gangs, instead of a full national inquiry. The paper says the government has “back-tracked” after previously insisting that no new investigations were needed. The Guardian agrees that it’s a significant change of approach, and says intense political pressure has pushed ministers into moving further and faster on the long-running scandal.
“Why aren’t you wanting to find out the real truth?” is how one victim responded to the news. Fiona Goddard told the Daily Express that a full national inquiry was needed, because past reviews had not even “touched the surface”. She told the paper that the home secretary’s announcement of local reviews was “just not good enough”.
The Daily Telegraph leads with details of what it describes as Rachel Reeves’ “fightback interview” on the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast with Nick Robinson. The paper reports that she says she would be “happy” to be known as the “Iron Chancellor” – a nod to Margaret Thatcher’s “Iron Lady” nickname – saying she “will make the right decisions”. She also reveals that she brings her lunch in a Tupperware box to Westminster whenever she can, and sometimes takes pastries left over from meetings to eat for lunch.
The Times reports that financial regulators are considering giving banks and lenders more flexibility to allow “responsible risk-taking from borrowers”, which could make it easier for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder. The paper says the move is in response to demands from the chancellor for them to embrace a “pro-growth” agenda. It adds that regulators are also examining whether to scrap the £100 limit on contactless payments, to allow payment companies to set their own limits and make it easier for consumers to make big transactions.
Elianne Andam was killed by Hassan Sentamu in a row over a teddy bear
Both the Daily Mirror and the Metro lead with reaction from the family of 15-year-old Elianne Andam, after Hassan Sentamu, 18, was found guilty of her murder. “Justice is done but our hearts are broken” is the Metro’s headline. The Daily Mirror reports that Elianne’s parents have vowed to honour her memory by fighting knife crime.
The Daily Telegraph reports that patients were placed on mixed-sex hospital wards nearly 50,000 times last year, which it says is a record high. It quotes the chief executive of the Patients Association, Rachel Power, as saying that the “alarming increase” in breaches of the practice, which was supposed to have been banned in 2010, was “deeply concerning” for patients. A spokesman for NHS England said the NHS was committed to offering same-sex accommodation and that there was more to do to “eliminate unjustified breaches”.
The front page of the Times carries a striking picture of Donald Trump. It’s his official portrait before his inauguration as US president next week. The paper says it shares “something of the defiance” of the mugshot of Trump, taken in 2023 when he was charged with trying to overturn the 2020 vote in the US state of Georgia.
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