Kyle Clifford, who has been found guilty of raping his ex-girlfriend in an attack in which he murdered her and her sister with a crossbow and their mother with a knife, features on many newspaper front pages. The Sun cites prosecutors as saying the 26-year-old was influenced by social media influencer Andrew Tate. However, the judge ruled this was of limited relevance and of “great possible prejudice”, and that it should not be put before the jury.
The Daily Express shows photos of the three victims: Louise Hunt, her sister Hannah and their mother Carol. It quotes the judge as saying Clifford’s crimes were “almost unspeakable”.
It took the jury 45 minutes to convict Clifford of the rape of his ex-girlfriend, which he had denied, the Daily Mail reports. It says their relationship ended two weeks before he carried out the crossbow and knife attacks.
The Metro splashes with a survey for the paper which suggests nearly a quarter of people in the UK know a woman or girl who has been a victim of domestic abuse in the past year. It quotes Woman’s Aid chief executive Farah Nazeer as saying the findings show violence against women and girls “continues to be a national emergency”.
US President Donald Trump is said by his defence secretary to be “very encouraged” by Ukraine’s commitment to peace, according to the Times. Pete Hegseth emphasised the US freeze on weapons to Ukraine was a “pause, pending a true commitment to a path to peace”, and not permanent, it says.
A “huge defence spending rise” has been agreed by EU leaders during emergency talks in Brussels, the Guardian writes. It quotes Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was at the summit, as saying: “We are very thankful that we are not alone.”
The Financial Times says the Trump administration has “backtracked further” from its threat to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. The paper calls it a “big climbdown from its aggressive trade agenda”. It also refers to a “show of unity” from EU leaders who have pledged “enduring” support for Kyiv.
The Telegraph says some of the UK’s biggest pension firms are restricting or blocking investment in the defence industry on “rigid” environmental, social and governance grounds. The fact that defence is excluded on ethical grounds has alarmed ministers, it says. More than 100 MPs and peers have signed an open letter urging Britain’s finance industry to “sweep away ill-considered anti defence rules” that limit investments in the arms industry, it adds.
A warning from Chancellor Rachel Reeves, that unemployed Gen Z-ers face benefit cuts “if they aren’t looking for work”, leads the I. It says she has called the number of young people not in education, employment or training a “travesty” and said “the majority of these people should be working”.
The three victims of Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane “may have been let down in death too”, says the Mirror. It says hospital bosses fear staff illegally accessed the A&E records for Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar. Dr Manjeet Shehmar, medical director at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said she was sorry that this would add to their families’ suffering and said the investigation would “find out what happened”.
The Daily Star warns of a “footie crisis”, with five-a-side pitches being “ripped up for la-di-dah padel courts”. “Is nothing sacred?” it asks.
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