Dramatic photographs show a teenage cyclist being hosed down by firefighters after a suspected acid attack near Kensington Palace this morning.

Emergency services rushed to the scene just after 10am after a 17-year-old boy was sprayed with a substance.

A fireman could be seen rinsing the side of the teenager's face with water while a police officer assisted him, near to the london residence of the Duke And Duchess of Cambridge.   A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said the teenager had been taken to a major trauma unit for treatment. 

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard said its officers were called at 10.09am following reports someone had been sprayed with an unknown substance.

The fire and ambulance service rushed to the scene shortly after. 

This incident comes days after prosecutors announced a crackdown on acid attackers following a spate of crimes across London. 

Now thugs found carrying acid face four years in jail while those who throw it could get life behind bars. He said: 'From our side there is certainly a trend of these attacks becoming more prevalent and hopefully by publishing this information it is a useful exercise in show how the Crown will be dealing with offenders.'   

In London alone the number of cases has more than doubled from fewer than 200 in 2014 to 431 last year.

Areas such as the West Midlands and Essex have also seen large rises in acid attacks in recent years as reports have soared from 340 in 2014 to 843. 

In June aspiring model Resham Khan, 21, and her cousin Jameel Muhktar, 37, both suffered 'life-changing' burns in the attack in Beckton, East London.

While less than a month later five victims were subjected to separate acid attacks across London after a moped gang armed with the dangerous substance struck. 

Roman Abramovich publicly clashed with the wife he is splitting from over their competing plans for an island he ploughed £360million into, it emerged today.

The Russian oligarch, 50, best known as the owner of Chelsea football club, revealed yesterday that that he is breaking up with his third wife, 36-year-old art collector Dasha Zhukova.

It was claimed this afternoon that the pair's split came after they argued over their plans for New Holland, an island they took over in the centre of St Petersburg.

The couple planned to turn the island, which is separated from the rest of the historic city by three canals, into a tourist attraction, but had very different dreams for how it would turn out, entrepreneur Anton Vuima said.

They have reportedly been living 'separate lives' since Christmas, with Dasha being photographed holidaying with US socialites in the Hamptons, while Abramovich attended events in Russia alone.

Rumours swirl in Moscow over whether Zhukova had already been paid off by her older husband - who is worth an estimated £7billion - or whether lawyers are quietly gearing up for what would be one of the biggest divorces in history. 'Abramovich bought it and they found it hard to divide it. Daria wanted a disco place there, in open air Ibiza style.

'But Roman wanted to build a cultural centre, restaurants and create a kind of a small Europe, which is what happened in the end.

'They argued really badly over it, even in public in New Holland. It happened three or four times.'

It followed claims by Russian society blogger Elena Miro that famously private Abramovich and Zhukova had already organised a secret divorce deal back in May. 

Moscow lawyer Dmitry Golobolev estimated that Zhukova could get between 200 to 300 million dollars, a fraction of her husband's estimated wealth. 

In a joint statement yesterday, the couple said: 'After ten years together, the two of us have made the difficult decision to separate, but we remain close friends, parents and partners in the projects we developed together.' 

The peaceful tone of the statement suggests there will be no court cases with legal arguments over money, Russian family lawyer Georgy Tyurin told Russia's Kommersant newspaper.

'I think that it will be one of those so-called 'civilised divorces', without scandals, without dirty linen washed in the media and without division of jointly earned assets,' he said.

'The statement about them aiming to continue working on projects they started together confirms it. Abramovich will continue paying for them. 

An elderly dog walker found dead in woods could have been stabbed to death by drug gangs using the area as a meeting point, concerned residents claimed today.

The 83-year-old man died after he was repeatedly stabbed in the head and neck while in a popular area of woods bordering heathland near East Harling, Norfolk.

Today, members of the community queued at the police cordon to tell officers about sightings of suspected drug deals in the quaint woodland beauty spot. Forensic teams and police dog units continued to investigate the crime scene today after the married father-of-two was found dead on Sunday morning.

Terry Ransom, 73, said he and his wife walked where the body was found nearly every day – and the elderly victim could have stumbled upon a drug deal. After speaking to police officers guarding the crime scene, Mr Ransom said: 'I only came down here because it could have been me. I feel a bit gutted really.

'I've got to think of that old chap, he's come up here in the morning, he's gone and done his normal walk and someone has stabbed him to death.

'I would suggest that this area is a well-known drugs exchange area. I cannot see why a random attacker would attack an 83-year-old unless it's for drugs.

'It's a shock to me that he's only just got up and he's just taken his dogs walking. It is known in the area, people are in and out here all the time. 'My wife sees what goes on a lot. They were in there at the end of June, one was about 20 and one was about 35.

'She has seen a lot of strange cars up that bit and you normally look to see if they have got a dog but they sit in their cars and then they are gone.

'I always carry a stick with me when it's dark and I'm walking just in case someone did come out.'

A forensics team, police sergeant, officers and PCSOs were at the crime scene today where several police cars and vans were parked by the sealed off area.

Mr Ransom said the area had been popular with dog walkers for years but he and his wife had started spotting suspicious activity in the woods at the end of June.

Mr Ransom, who lives in Attleborough but takes his Lurcher dog to the site, said: 'It's the one place around here you can really let the dogs off. 

An incredible picture archive that charts the rise of Hitler believed to have been meticulously documented by a fan of the Fuhrer has emerged for sale.

The collection of propaganda photographs show Adolf Hitler on a charm offensive in the 1920s and 30s - before the despot started the Second World War and exterminated six million Jews during the Holocaust.

Some of the images try to show a rose-tinted version of the Nazi leader, with him feeding a small deer and accepting a bouquet from a young girl.

Others show the hype that surrounded him - rows of people performing the Nazi salute, a young boy beaming as Hitler signs an autograph for him and a group of girls giggling as they chat to the party leader.

The 400 pictures are accompanied by a handwritten notebook documenting what each picture shows. One page says: 'This tells you what the leader has done for his folk, from 1920 to 1936'. The owner of the unusually large collection is a mystery, but it is believed to have been compiled by a fan of the dictator.

One page has 'Adolf Hitler' written in a fancy scrawl at the top with a drawing of the eagle atop the swastika and the initials for the Nazi Party, NSDAP, written underneath.

Hitler became involved with the fledgling Nazi Party after the First World War and set the violent tone of the movement early by forming the Sturmabteilung (SA) paramilitary. This collection shows pictures of SA parades and marches.

He became chief of propaganda for the party in early 1920, engineered the name change to the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party) and designed the party's banner of a swastika in a white circle on a red background - visible on flags and armbands in many of these photos.

After Hitler took control of the party in 1921, he named Heinrich Hoffman as his official photographer and his photos were a significant part of Hitler's propaganda campaign. 

British model Chloe Ayling's kidnapper sent a email threatening to auction her as a sex slave to the Russian mafia unless a ransom was paid for her safe return, MailOnline can reveal.

Chloe's former agent Phil Green revealed 'Black Death' kidnapper Lukasz Herba said he had five days to pay the money or the 20-year-old beauty would be sold the highest bidder.

The model boss claims Herba posed as Italian photographer called Andre Lazio and paid €1,000 up front to lure Chloe to a fake photo shoot at his bogus Bessis Mafique Studio in Milan.

Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Green said: 'Chloe had gone to Milan for the photoshoot on the Tuesday.

'The man checked out and it all seemed fine, I didn't suspect anything was wrong. 

'But then I didn't hear from her on Tuesday and by Wednesday morning I hadn't heard from her. 'Then at 10am on Wednesday morning this email landed in my inbox. It read, 'We've got Chloe Ayling. We are Black Death group. It is of supreme interest that you raise money. You should contact [three names] or she will be sold at auction on Sunday and handed to the Russian mafia. It went on: 'We require you to come up with an offer by Sunday or she will be placed for auction.'

Mr Green, a former lawyer who runs Supermodel Agency, said he was 'absolutely terrified'.

'I didn't know what to think. I spent five days thinking she was dead. Talk about sleep deprivation. I hardly slept for a week. It was a difficult time.'

He added: 'It has not got any easier since she has got back. We didn't expect for this to go global and get press from around the world.

He said Herba contacted his agency in March and booked Chloe for a motorbike themed shoot in Paris on April 22.

Herba specifically asked for Miss Ayling and paid up front for her trip to Paris where where she was met at the airport by chauffeur-driven car and stayed in a hotel off the Champs-Elysees. 

But that night the French capital was hit by a terror attack and a police officer was killed and two more were wounded close to her hotel. 

Mr Green said: 'The next morning Herba phoned to say that his studio had been ransacked in the chaos of the terror attack and his motorbike had been stolen. He said the shoot was cancelled. 

A woman who is suing Usher for failing to tell her he had herpes before they allegedly had sex had earlier proclaimed on social media that she needed money.

Quantasia Sharpton, a 21-year-old mother of three, spoke out about the new lawsuit against the singer at a press conference in New York on Monday.

Sharpton is one of three alleged victims - two women and a man - suing Usher but she is the only one identified by name in the lawsuit. 

The lawsuit, obtained by DailyMail.com, claims Usher had vaginal sex with at least one of the two women and he had 'unprotected sex' with the man.

The three plaintiffs claim they had unprotected sex, or oral sex, with Usher because he is a 'revered celebrity in their eyes who they believed could be loved and trusted'. They all allege that Usher failed to inform them he had herpes, an incurable sexually-transmitted disease, before engaging in the alleged sexual encounters. The lawsuit makes note of recent news reports that Usher admitted in court documents in 2012 to having the disease and that he settled a $20million herpes lawsuit several years ago with a woman. 

They claim Usher has never publicly denied having herpes, or made an effort to contact them to confirm or deny the reports, the lawsuit states.  

The lawsuit states the alleged victims have suffered severe emotional distress, birthing complications, stress, depression and anxiety about contracting or being exposed to herpes. 

Quantasia said she had always loved Usher's 'artistry and music,' so her friends took her to a concert of his to celebrate her 19th birthday a few years ago. 

She says she was selected from the crowd to go backstage before the show and meet Usher - real name Usher Raymond - because of the birthday crown she was wearing. 

Later, she says a security guard came up to her and asked for her number because Usher was 'interested in her'. 

After the show, she says she got a call from a blocked number and it was Usher, asking her what hotel she was staying in and the room number. About an hour later, Sharpton says Usher arrived at her hotel and they had 'sexual contact'. But after he left, she 'never heard from him again'. 

Sharpton said she was shocked last month to learn that Usher possibly has herpes.

When Sharpton read about that case, she contacted Lisa Bloom to see what her legal options were, even though she tested negative for the virus when she had a child last year.

While Sharpton doesn't have the disease, at least one of the three clients that Bloom is representing say they caught the disease, and blame Usher for it. 

They are the mysterious online crime syndicate that claims to be able to offer 'services' including assassinations, bombings, arms dealing and trafficking.

But Black Death has come under the spotlight after it was linked to the kidnapping of a British model, 20, in Milan and even gave her a note explaining why she was being released.  is unclear whether police found a physical copy of the letter or whether it was on a computer, but it said the model had been captured 'by mistake' and should 'under no circumstances' have been kidnapped, adding one of its 'well respected' members pleaded her case.

Black Death offers the sexual services of women for auction on the dark web and are very hostile to people asking questions. 

Technology writer Joseph Cox previously tried to investigate Black Death in 2015 when he attempted to enter a human trafficking auction to discover how the syndicate worked and whether they were legitimate.

After finding them through a link on Reddit, he posed as a customer and asked to be involved in the auction, sending an encrypted email stating 'I'm interested in the girl, want to see more photos first'. Writing for Motherboard he revealed a girl called 'Nicole' was put up for auction starting at £115,000 alongside pictures of a blonde woman who was topless and tied up to a wire frame by ropes with her arms behind her back.

Another woman was put on auction with bids starting at £140,000, Mr Cox wrote to them claiming he was a middleman acting for another business.

Their response was 'Nice try Europol' and after several more emails in which he claimed to possess hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin, they still rejected him, emailing him 'Do not bother us again', before the link to the site stopped working.    

• Black Death group explained why they released British model in a note to her
• They said they were being 'generous' and freeing her 'because she is a mother'
• But they warned her to be 'respectful of them' and not go to the authorities 
• Group surrounded in mystery but claim to offer wide range of criminal services
• They say they offer assassinations, drug dealing, bombings and arms dealing 

A father suspected of murdering his five-week-old son killed himself after giving police conflicting accounts of how the baby died, an inquest heard today.

Cooper Eddie Johnson-Hicks died of brain injury from multiple skull fractures after being rushed to hospital by parents Bryony Johnson, 23, and Tristan Hicks, 20, who were both arrested on suspicion of murder.

After Cooper's death on June 26 2016, both were arrested and bailed, with the case against Miss Johnson being dropped in December.

Mr Hicks was bailed and referred to a psychiatric unit, but was re-arrested upon his release on July 21 and killed himself in his father’s garage while on bail two days later.

He was found unconscious on the floor with a ligature round his neck and died of an hypoxic brain injury. 

An inquest into Cooper’s death heard Mr Hicks gave different versions of the same story to different people and squirmed when questioned by police.

Mr Hicks, of St Blazey, Cornwall, originally told police Cooper had flown out of his arms and landed on the other side of the room.

He later claimed he had tripped and landed on top of the child. Mr Hicks then told psychiatric nurse Elizabeth Evans he had been drinking with Ms Johnson at home and tripped carrying Cooper as danced to cheer up the crying children.

In a statement read out at the inquest Ms Evans said: 'He sobbed and said he and his partner were at home with his children and he was making some milk for Cooper.

'Both children were crying and he was trying to cheer them up. He was pretending to be an aeroplane and dancing.

'Tristan said: "It’s all my fault, all my fault. Life will never be the same. But later, during a police interview, Mr Hicks denied that version of events.

He said: 'I wasn’t dancing at the time. I got the stuff out and carried it all down from the car, then I got Cooper because he was crying. I got a bottle and went back but tripped on the Moses basket.

'I picked him up straight away and he seemed fine. I picked him up thinking "s***, s***, s***".'

The transcript of a police interview with Tristan was read out during the inquest in Truro, Cornwall.

Megan is marking her 36th birthday with a romantic getaway at a 'honeymoon hotspot' in Botswana after being whisked away by her prince.

But Meehan Markle has reminded fans her life hasn't always been a fairytale after opening up in a candid interview about race.

The Suits actress spoke to Pride magazine about growing up 'ethnically ambiguous' with a black parent - and being at the receiving end of racist jokes.

Miss Markle, who also recalled her mother African-American mother Doria being called the N-word, told the magazine she felt an 'obligation' to speak about being half-black. Appearing on the cover of Pride magazine's July issue, Meghan told how she has overheard racist jokes from people who did not realise she had a black parent.

She said: 'I don’t care if I’m fair-skinned and I don’t care what it is, that’s who I am and that’s my family.

'My hope is for the world to get to a place where it’s colour blind.' 

Meghan may soon have something to celebrate as bookies have slashed the odds on Harry getting down on one knee this week. Insiders say Harry has had marriage on his mind for months - but this week's romantic getaway has sent the rumour mill into overdrive. 

After wrapping filming for Suits last month, Meghan flew to London, where the pair then went onto southern Africa for their adventure. The southern African country is close to Harry's heart thanks to his work with wildlife conservation - and he has also romanced former flames Natalie Pinkham, Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas there.

According to the Sunday express Ladbrokes have cut the odds to 6/4 that Harry will propose to his actress girlfriend while on holiday.

A spokesperson for the betting company said: 'It’s a case of when and not if Harry pops the question and royal punters are convinced it will be while the happy couple are on holiday.' 

The pair met in Orlando, Florida in May 2016 and have gone to great lengths to keep their trans-Atlantic love affair under wraps.

While Meghan celebrated turning 36 on Friday, her boyfriend will turn 33 in just a few weeks' time.

The New York Attorney General has shut down the National Children's Leukemia Foundation, after an investigation revealed the crooked founder had been pocketing nearly $1million a year while only spending 1 per cent of donations to help children struggling with cancer

National Children's Leukemia Foundation founder Zvi 'Steve' Shor has been running the charity out of his basement in Brooklyn, New York, masquerading the non-profit as a large organization in order to solicit some $13million in donations since 2009, according to court papers filed Monday by the attorney general.

While the foundation claims to operate a bone marrow registry and fulfill the dying wishes of terminally ill children, authorities claim the charity has only put 1 per cent of its donations towards charitable causes while Shor has pocketed up to $1million for himself and his family, nothing is more shameful than pocketing millions of dollars donated by good-hearted people who just wanted to help children afflicted with a terminal illness,' New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in the statement, after successfully winning a court order to shut the sham organization down. 

Shor started the charity in 1991, following the death of his son from leukemia. 

He then continued to run the charity from his basement, raising $13million between April 2009 and March 2013. 

According to court papers, $7.5million of that money was paid to fundraising companies who organized events for the charity. During this period, Shor was also paying himself a $600,000 salary while sending an additional $655,000 to a 'shell organization in Israel' run by his sister 'allegedly for research purposes'. 

The organization has also been accused of faking audit reports, when no audits were conducted. 

Shor ran the organization as president until 2010, when he was replaced by accountant and auditor Yehuda Gutwein when it was revealed that Shor had been convicted of bank fraud in 1999. 

In addition to Shor, the other charity organizations named in the suit include Gutwein, Shor's son Shlomo Shor and Shlomo Donn. Shor has fiercely denied the allegations that he was running a scam foundation in a statement to ABC news  

'Our small organization helped many families over the past 20 years. I launched NCLF after the death of my teenage son to leukemia. I personally took no salary for over eight years. I wanted to help as many families as I could who had children suffering from cancer.

'We feel we are being used as an "example" due to the telemarketing fundraising laws and fundraising market over which we have no control. Our fundraising contracts were all filed with the attorney general who has long known their terms. We expect to be vindicated in court when the full story is explained,' Shor said.