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An inmate escaped from an open prison after fooling guards by making a dummy in his bed, a court has heard.

Ross Gallagher, 32, was seen «hopping gardens» after absconding from HMP Sudbury, in Derbyshire, on 19 October, before falling through a shed roof. He was caught after stingers were used to stop a stolen car he was driving.

Gallagher, from Corby, who made the dummy from clothes and a protein powder container, admitted several offences at Leicester Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to escaping from prison, dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and criminal damage. He was jailed for 27 months to run consecutively with an eight-year sentence he is currently serving.

The court heard how the dummy he used «suggested someone was still in the bed» when officers looked through his cell window.

Hal Ewing, prosecuting, told the court that Gallagher used a stolen car to make his escape, which he eventually crashed after driving down a steep verge.

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A British academic who was jailed for spying in the United Arab Emirates has been freed after a pardon.

Matthew Hedges, 31, denied spying and said he had been researching his PhD.

His wife, Daniela Tejada, who appealed for clemency, said she was «elated» and «can’t wait to have him back home».

The UAE issued the pardon as part of a series of orders on the country’s National Day anniversary. However, a spokesman said Mr Hedges was «100% a secret service operative».

Mr Hedges is out of detention and on his way to the British embassy in the UAE, a family spokeswoman said.

Arabic special correspondent Feras Kilani said Mr Hedges was due to fly back to London tonight.

Ukraine’s parliament is to decide whether to bring in martial law, after the capture of three of its naval vessels by Russia.

The three ships were sailing off the coast of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, when they were seized.

Ukraine said Russia rammed one of its boats in an «act of aggression», while Russia said the ships had illegally entered its waters.

The incident marks a major escalation of tension between the two countries.

This is the first time the two militaries have come into open conflict in recent years, although Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country.

The captured crew members are now being questioned in Kerch, Russia says.

On Sunday morning, Ukraine’s Berdyansk and Nikopol gunboats, and the Yani Kapu tug, tried to sail from the Black Sea port of Odessa to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov. Under a 2003 treaty between the governments in Moscow and Kiev, the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov are shared territorial waters. However, Russia accused the Ukrainian ships of illegally entering its waters.

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Gunmen have killed at least four people in an attack on the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

Gunshots were heard at about 09:30 local time (04:30 GMT) outside the consulate in the upmarket Clifton area. Police shot dead three attackers. Separatist militants who oppose Chinese investment projects in western Pakistan say they carried out the attack.

In another incident on Friday, at least 30 people were killed in a bomb attack in north-west Pakistan. The blast occurred in a mostly Shia neighbourhood in Orakzai district. Police say a suicide bomber on a motorbike drove into a crowded marketplace.

Pakistan’s Shia minority has often been targeted by Sunni extremists.

Three gunmen tried to enter the consulate but were stopped by guards at a checkpoint, reports said. Two of those killed in the attack were police officers.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing a blast, and local TV channels broadcast images of a plume of smoke. There is a heavy police presence in the area which has been cordoned off.

All the staff inside the consulate are safe, China said. The foreign ministry in Beijing called for extra measures to protect Chinese citizens in Pakistan. «At the same time we mourn the deaths of the Pakistani police and think of their families at this time,» a spokesman said.

A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, said it had carried out the attack. It is one of a number of separatist groups operating in the province, which has seen a long-running nationalist insurgency.

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MI5 admits for the first time that it made a mistake in failing to track the 2017 Manchester bomber, MPs have said.

A report by the Intelligence and Security Committee said MI5 had recognised it had moved «too slowly» to establish how dangerous Salman Abedi, 22, really was.

The security service had cause to monitor Abedi’s return to the UK from Libya days before the attack on Manchester Arena, the report said. Twenty-two people died in the attack.

In wide-ranging criticisms, the committee said the government had also failed to fully learn lessons from attacks dating back 13 years.

Abedi is believed to have been taught bomb-making while in Libya, before returning to Manchester in May last year to construct his device. He walked into the Manchester Arena, where thousands had been watching US singer Ariana Grande perform, and blew himself up.

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