The Telegraph Frontpage for 2023 February 08

By Matthew Robinson  The prison sentence handed to the rapist police officer David Carrick is already under review following complaints it was too lenient. And Joe Biden, above, defended America’s post-Covid economic recovery and called for unity in his State of the Union address.

David Carrick’s ‘lenient’ sentence to be reviewed

After the Attorney General was inundated with complaints, the prison sentence handed to David Carrick is already under review. The former Metropolitan Police officer was given 36 life sentences at Southwark Crown Court and told he would not be eligible to apply for parole for 30 years, by which time he will be 78. The judge said that because Carrick was a police officer she had considered handing him a whole-life term, but had ultimately decided the case did not meet the “wholly exceptional circumstances” needed to justify such an order. But just hours after the sentencing hearing, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office confirmed that the case was being looked at again under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. Our crime editor Martin Evans writes that of the cases referred to the Court of Appeal, 70 per cent have the sentence increased. Carrick’s sentencing followed his guilty pleas to 49 charges committed against 12 women during a 17-year reign of terror. All of his offences took place while he was a serving Met Police officer, with many of his victims saying they were too frightened to come forward because they did not think they would be believed and had been left unable to trust the police. Ministers now fear faith in the justice system could be similarly undermined. There has been a drive for “honest” sentencing under the Tories to give the public more faith in the courts and end so-called “soft justice”. In 2020, the practice of automatically releasing violent criminals halfway through their sentences was dropped.

Biden hails economic recovery and calls for unity Joe Biden offered an impassioned defence of America’s post-pandemic economic recovery and promised to tax the wealthy in a pitch to blue-collar workers in a State of the Union address overnight that appeared to lay the ground for his 2024 re-election bid. The US president urged Congress to unite to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and celebrated bipartisan achievements over the last two years, but appeared to revel in jousting with raucous Republicans who heckled him. At times jocular, and at other points confrontational, Mr Biden concluded his address by insisting he has “never been more optimistic about our future”.

New King Charles III stamp unveiled The first stamp featuring King Charles III has been unveiled, but those hoping to get their hands on it as soon as it goes on sale may be disappointed. Under instructions from Buckingham Palace, the new stamp will not be widely circulated until current stocks, featuring the late Queen Elizabeth II, have been exhausted. Royal Mail said that the move was to minimise the “environmental and financial impact” of the change of monarch. The new definitive stamp will be available from April 4. Often referred to as the “everyday” stamp, it features the monarch’s head and value on a plain coloured background. See the new stamp here.

Also in the news this morning Slow protests | Demonstrators will be free to use slow marches to block roads after the House of Lords killed off the Government’s attempt to block the tactic. Peers voted by 254 to 240 to reject a Government move aimed at cracking down on groups such as Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain who have brought chaos to Britain’s roads. The amendment to the Public Order Bill that was rejected on Tuesday night had been championed by the Home Secretary Suella Braverman, and aimed to clarify and broaden the definition of “serious disruption”.

Epsom College | Emma Pattison ‘made desperate call to relative’ Nicola Sturgeon | Scottish police defy FM over trans self-ID law Royals | Meghan loses battle to avoid giving evidence in court case MPs | ‘Politicians deserve £162,000 package and medal if they lose’ US | Chinese spy balloon not the first spotted during Biden’s term

Around the world: Civilians risk life and limb to free victims from Turkey earthquake

Mehmet Can Yigitbas was buried in the rubble for so long that his feet and lips turned blue. Barefoot and dressed in house clothes, the freezing concrete slabs trapping him in his aunt’s collapsed apartment had sapped his strength by the time rescuers realised he was still alive on Monday morning. So when Turkish soldiers finally dragged the pallid 32-year-old out on a stretcher 36 hours after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, Mr Yigibas’ survival was still far from assured.

Emergency services carrying out rescue operations in northern Syria Credit: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

Comment and analysis

Richard Kemp | Vladimir Putin is about to make shock gains Allison Pearson | Being demanding doesn’t make Raab a ‘bully’ Philip Johnston | The railways are dying all over again Telegraph View | A big opportunity for Kemi Badenoch Reader letters | Overpaid managers have sapped the NHS

Here is a selection of articles we think you’ll be interested in today.

Liz Truss set to reignite China row in fresh challenge to Rishi Sunak Free speech law ‘must let cancelled academics sue woke universities’ UK will tarnish reputation if it quits European Court of Human Rights, warns Sir John Major Mr Sunak will consider quitting the ECHR altogether if it blocks his plans to ban Channel migrants from appealing against deportation. But Sir John told a Commons committee the UK would be “in pretty rum company if we were to leave”, adding that the court was “a British invention”. “I do not think the Government would do itself any favours around the world if it were to withdraw from that, and I profoundly hope that they won’t,” he told MPs. Who’s in and who’s out: Greg Hands appointed Tory chairman in Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet reshuffle Nicola Sturgeon’s gender ‘nonsense’ has set Scottish independence back years, says Alex Salmond Nicola Sturgeon is facing a fresh crisis after she was accused by Alex Salmond of having “thrown away” years of campaigning for Scottish independence over her controversial trans laws. In his first public intervention in the row over transgender rapist Isla Bryson being sent to a women’s prison, Mr Salmond, Ms Sturgeon’s predecessor as first minister, said nationalists had managed to drive up support for independence to above 50 per cent in the polls. But he said backing had declined since her “self-indulgent nonsense” on gender self-identification laws.