Criminals could sidestep the courts... by agreeing to therapy instead: Defendants would go free if they successfully complete their course Criminals should be allowed to sidestep prosecution in order to tackle racial inequality in the justice system, a Government report recommends.

Defendants charged with crimes such as drug dealing, shoplifting or assault could opt for a treatment programme rather than give a plea.

If they successfully complete a course for, say, drug or alcohol problems or anger management, they will go free.

But failure to comply would lead to them being hauled before the courts and risking a criminal record.

Violent criminals who took part in a pilot study in the West Midlands were 35 per cent less likely to reoffend, the report claimed.

Former Labour minister David Lammy outlined the proposal as part of a plan to improve the treatment of black, Asian and minority ethnic people in the criminal justice system.

He said the recommendation – known as ‘deferred prosecution’ – could help address a ‘chronic trust deficit’. Studies show that suspicion of police, prosecutors and solicitors makes ethnic-minority defendants a third more likely to plead not guilty than white suspects, leading to harsher sentences if they are convicted.

Guilty pleas carry a ‘discount’ of up to a third at the sentencing stage, but black and ethnic minority offenders are so distrustful of the system that they refuse to admit culpability. Mr Lammy, who was asked to conduct the review last year by ex-prime minister David Cameron, spent 18 months investigating reports of racial bias in the criminal justice system.

He said: ‘Many black, Asian and minority ethnic defendants simply do not believe the justice system will deliver less punitive treatment if they plead guilty. It is only through delivering fairness, rebuilding trust and sharing responsibility that we will build the equal and just society so often spoken about.’

But he warned there was only so much the justice system could do to tackle over-representation among black, Asian and minority ethnic people.

He said black children were twice as likely to grow up with a single parent, while black and mixed ethnic boys were more likely than white boys to be excluded from school.

‘Communities must take greater responsibility for the development of their people – failing to do so damages society as a whole,’ said Mr Lammy.

The MP made 35 recommendations in his review, which found the proportion of youth prisoners in the black, Asian and minority ethnic group increased from 25 per cent to 41 per cent in the decade to 2016, despite a fall in the number of under-18s in custody.

He said criminals should be allowed to hide their convictions from prospective employers to prevent their lives being derailed by juvenile mistakes.

Black and ethnic minority people are more likely to fall foul of the criminal justice system. Theresa May has identified the treatment of young black men in the justice system as a ‘burning injustice’.

Black people make up 3 per cent of Britons, but 12 per cent of the prison population. In total, 25 per cent of the prison population and 40 per cent of youth offenders are from ethnic minorities, despite making up 14 per cent of the population.

University chief on £450,000 claims £8,000 for cleaning and her laundry! Vice Chancellor faces calls to quit after it emerges she received £18,000 in expenses last A university chief who earns £450,000-a-year and lives rent-free in a £1.6million home has claimed £8,000 for laundry and housekeeping on expenses.

Dame Glynis Breakwell faced calls to quit the University of Bath last night after it emerged she had claimed more than £18,000 in total during the last academic year.

Along with the £8,000 on washing, ironing and other housekeeping duties, the university spent £1,286 on electricity at the house, £3,848 on gas, £390 on water and sewerage and £3,082 on council tax. The vice chancellor also billed them £279 for cleaning products.

Dame Glynis’s latest expenses accounts have emerged weeks after the charities watchdog was asked to examine whether her salary is in line with charitable duties and responsibilities.

Critics say there is a huge gulf between the salaries of ordinary staff and those of management at the university, where students are charged the maximum £9,250 for tuition. Her expenses were revealed following a freedom of information request from local Labour councillor Joe Rayment.

He said: ‘Once again, the public, students and staff are seeing the extent to which they are funding privilege at the University of Bath.

'While ordinary working people in this city have seen rent and bills rise at a much faster rate than their wages, Glynis Breakwell has seen her salary skyrocket and her rent and bills stay static at £0.

‘I repeat my calls today for Glynis Breakwell to resign.’

The 65-year-old was last year exposed for claiming £20,000 in 12 months – including £2 on biscuits – on top of her large salary and grace-and-favour home.

But it appears she has continued to demand vast sums from her institution during the 2016/17 academic year, despite being Britain’s highest-paid university chief.

Last night Lord Adonis, former Labour education minister, said: ‘Professor Breakwell appears to have no shame or restraint in claiming huge expenses on top of her already colossal salary and free house in the historic centre of Bath. It can only be a matter of time now before she is forced to stand down.’ The figures came as Jo Johnson, the universities minister, launched a crackdown on vice chancellor pay and said those wanting enormous salaries were ‘simply in the wrong business’.

The MPs Kerry McCarthy, Darren Jones, David Drew and Andrew Murrison all recently quit roles at Bath’s university court in protest at her pay.

In February, the court – a body which represents the interests of its stakeholders – met to discuss a motion censuring the remuneration committee for allowing Dame Glynis’s pay to escalate.

Homeowner Googles the suspicious Mercedes-driving Rolex-wearing estate agent who visited to value his property - only to find he had just come out of jail for £300,000 jewellery heist

A homeowner was left shocked after discovering an estate agent who came to value his property was a robber who took part in a £300,000 jewellery heist.

The landlord had called Haart estate agents in Harrow, north-west London, and allowed lettings worker Kane Oye into his home to determine how much the house could be rented for.

But the homeowner then lost Mr Oye's business card and, when he looked him up online, was shocked to discover Oye had recently been jailed for robbery.

It has since emerged that Oye failed to declare his previous conviction when applying for the job and is no longer working for the firm.

Oye was jailed for three years in 2014 following a raid on Bailey & Sons jewellers in Berkhamsted.

During the robbery in May that year, he and another man stole £300,000 of jewellery after using an axe to smash through the shop's displays and causing smoke to billow out of a security device.

Police arrested Oye three days later and later welcomed his jail term for the raid which caused terror in the Hertfordshire town's high street.

But, shortly after his release from jail, Oye landed a job as a 'lettings negotiator' with nationwide estate agency Haart. Despite a report of his sentencing appearing on a local newspaper website along with his police custody shot, he managed to hoodwink bosses over his past.

The homeowner who uncovered his identity told MailOnline: 'He didn't seem like the usual estate agent, he was very cocky and aggressive and confident. I also saw that he was wearing a Rolex, which most estate agents don't wear, and drove a Mercedes.

'He gave me his card, which I lost, but remembered his name so I thought if typed online it would come up. Then I saw he had been jailed for three years over a £300,000 robbery. 

Lee Rigby's murderer wants £100,000 'blood money' over allegations that prison officers left him mentally scarred.

Michael Adebolajo, 32, who murdered the fusilier Mr Rigby, 25, in Woolwich, south east London, in 2013, lost his two front teeth when prison staff tried to restrain him four years ago.

He has now officially launched a court writ in which he claims he was left with a 'psychiatric injury'.

And Mr Rigby's mother, Lyn, 50, hit out at her son's killer and said he deserves to 'die in jail'. Adebolajo, wants £25,000 in compensation after claiming to 'suffer distress, loss and damage' on remand at London's top-security Belmarsh jail.

But he has been fighting the battle for two years and it could cost the taxpayer a further £75,000 in police and legal costs. 

The writ has now been officially passed on to the High Court in London. It claims that while Adebolajo, who killed Mr Rigby with Michael Adebowale, 26, was being escorted back to his cell after a phone call he dropped his hands from his head and spun round to confront officers.

He warned staff to 'watch themselves' and asked 'Allah to strike down his oppressors'.

The killer claims he was 'verbally abused' before he was smashed into bars of his cell windows. He also claimed officers twisted his left arm and that he was 'stamped on' in an 'unreasonable, unjustified and excessive' assault. 

The Crown Prosecution Service ruled out action against the five prison officers after a police investigation. 

A Ministry of Justice spokesman told The sun, 'The public will be rightly outraged at the thought of this offender claiming compensation from the taxpayer. Lyn told the newspaper: 'This is gut-wrenching for me, my family and Lee's ­memory. And still he holds his hand out for blood money.

'He deserves not a penny from the state. The only thing he deserves is to die in jail.

'He lost a few teeth because he was violent and brought under control. Lee lost his life and I lost my son at his hands. O

At least five have been killed including two children after a massive 8.1 earthquake struck off the south coast of Mexico triggering a tsunami.

The earthquake was felt across Mexico, toppling houses and shaking buildings in the country's capital amid reports tremors were detected as a far away as Austin, Texas - more than 1,300 miles from the epicentre.

A tsunami has already been detected in Mexico after the quake struck at 11.49pm last night, 76 miles southwest of the town of Pijijiapan, at a depth of 43 miles.

Terrified residents in Mexico City ran out into the streets after the quake struck, witnesses said. Tremors were stronger than a devastating earthquake in 1985 that hit the capital flattening swathes of the city and killing thousands. 

The US Tsunami Warning System said widespread hazardous tsunami waves were possible within the next three hours on the Pacific coasts of several central American countries - Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador and Honduras. 

As far as 8700 miles away in the Philippines, the national disaster agency put the country's entire eastern seaboard on alert. Another tsunami warning centre said a tsunami had already developed in Mexico, with the largest wave measured at 2.3ft. 

The death toll has already risen to at least five people, including two children in Tabasco state.

Tabasco Gov. Arturo Nunez said that one of the children died when a wall collapsed, and the other was a baby who died in a children's hospital that lost electricity, cutting off the supply to the infant's ventilator.

The other three deaths were in Chiapas state, in San Cristobal de las Casas.

Elsewhere, terrified residents fled into the streets amid chaotic scenes in the wake of the huge tremor. 

'The house moved like chewing gum and the light and internet went out momentarily,' said Rodrigo Soberanes, who lives near San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, a poor, largely indigenous state popular with tourists.

Chiapas Gov. Manuel Velasco told television station Televisa the roofs of homes and a shopping centre had collapsed in San Cristobal. 

Prime Minister Theresa May has upped Britain's Hurrican Irma aid package to £32million.

The category five storm is continuing to tear a deadly trail through the Caribbean. It has already left thousands homeless after destroying buildings and uprooting trees.

Mrs May's response came after the UK Government was slammed over its 'pathetic' response.

Britain has sent aircraft, helicopters, Marines and engineers to the Caribbean. Mrs May said her 'thoughts and prayers' were with all those affected. 

At least 10 people have died, including one in Anguilla, a British overseas territory that was among the first islands to be hit.

The Queen said: 'Prince Philip and I have been shocked and saddened by the reports of the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with all those whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed or adversely affected by this terrible storm.

'Please convey my gratitude and good wishes to members of the emergency services and to those who are working on the rescue effort at this very difficult time for you all. Elizabeth is the constitutional monarch of Antigua and Barbuda - a ceremonial role.

The Foreign Office today insisted Britain was doing its 'utmost' to bring urgent assistance after the category five storm caused devastation in the Caribbean.

A meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee to coordinate the response is being chaired today by Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon after Prime Minister Theresa May spoke about it with French President Emmanuel Macron. 

But the money towards the relief effort came after Dorothea Hodge, the former UK representative to Anguilla, criticised Britain's response as 'absolutely disgraceful'. 'In comparison to the French president who has set up an emergency fund, an emergency hotline and a reconstruction fund her response after the storm has passed is absolutely pathetic.'

Yesterday, international development secretary Ms Patel said three UK humanitarian experts and a British naval ship would be sent to the region.

But Josephine Gumbs-Connor, who is a lawyer on British-owned Anguilla, told BBC Radio 4 today that the response from the UK has been 'sorely lacking'.

She said Anguilla was 'utterly devastated' and has been left 'in absolute pieces', adding: 'Hurricane Irma, was off the charts in terms of strength. 

A Commonwealth Games swimmer raped a woman after she had just had sex with a swimmer from the Team GB Olympic team, a court heard.

Top athlete Otto Putland, 23, is accused of jumping into bed after the woman had consensual sex with Ieuan Lloyd.

The woman had gone back to the home of Mr Lloyd - a two-time Olympian who competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016

But a court heard how Mr Lloyd's friend Putland then went into the same bedroom to have sex with the woman at a house in Cardiff, Wales. 

She refused and told Putland she wouldn't be 'passed around' but he is accused of stripping naked before putting on a condom and raping her twice.

The woman told police that after having sex with Mr Lloyd, Putland came into the bedroom and sat on the bed.

She said: 'He lay on the bed, took his clothes off and started kissing me. I felt uncomfortable.

'I said: 'What are you doing? You can't pass me around'.'

Putland allegedly told the woman: 'You're not being passed around,' and the woman told him she did not want to have sex with him.

The court heard she then texted a friend saying: 'Help, I think something might happen. Putland then allegedly stripped naked while the woman covered herself up with her hands and started crying.

But Putland allegedly put on a condom and told the woman: 'It's okay, we don't have to have sex, we can just kiss'.

The woman told police Putland tried to kiss her twice and then began raping her.

She said that the sex went on for two to three minutes before the woman left to go to the bathroom.

Cardiff Crown Court heard she later fell asleep but woke to find Putland raping her again, but she was able to push him off and leave the house. Putland, who represented Wales in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, was arrested in November 2016, 16 months after the alleged incident.

He denies two counts of rape and says the sex was consensual.

Putland told the jury the woman had consensual sex with him after being 'flirtatious' with him when they met in a nightclub.

He said: 'Ieuan introduced us and there was general chit-chat but I can't remember the details of what was said. She was talking to me normally.

'Ieuan left the room and I moved up to the headboard side of the bed, I was slouching on the bed next to her and I think she was doing the same.