December 2004 in Britain and Ireland - 23 December 2004

23 December 2004

• A murder hunt is started by police in north London today after a man dies and four others are injured in a series of knife attacks. (BBC)
• A pilot scheme involving Community Support Officers is to be extended to the rest of England and Wales. The force, set up to assist the police, has been given new powers to detain suspects for a period of 30 minutes. (BBC)
• Opponents of the fox hunting ban passed using the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 say that they will challenge the legitimacy of the Act in order to overturn the ban. They also say that should this challenge fail, they would seek an injunction to temporarily postpone the ban. Prime Minister Tony Blair says that he would not seek to stop such an injunction. (BBC)
• The Conservative party claims that government offices in Whitehall have doubled the rate at which they are shredding documents ahead of the new year, when the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will take effect. The Act gives the public access to files that would have previously been closed for 30 years. (BBC)
• Police indicate that they have narrowed down the suspects of Monday's bank robbery in Belfast to three paramilitary groups and two groups involved in organised crime. (BBC)