Moors Murderer: I Killed Four More People

Previously unpublished letters show Moors murderer Ian Brady claimed to have killed four more people.

As his bid to be transferred from a maximum security hospital to prison failed, the letters show that he confessed to killing two men in Glasgow and a man and woman in Manchester.

Brady made the claims in a series of letters to former journalist Brendan Pittaway, which have been published in The Daily Telegraph.

On Friday, Brady lost his £250,000 legal bid to be transferred to a jail. The decision, which follows a week-long public hearing, means the Moors Murderer will remain at Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside on the grounds that he is mentally insane.

The tribunal was the first time Brady has been seen in public since the 1980s, when he was taken back to Saddleworth Moor in the search for the bodies of two of his victims.

The hearing was also the first time he had spoken in public since being jailed for life at Chester Assizes in 1966.

But families of the victims have criticised the mental health tribunal, saying it gave Brady the opportunity to "grandstand".

Brady, pictured in 1966, is one of Britain's most notorious killers

In the newly-published letters, written in the 1980s, Brady described the four additional murders as "happenings".

He says that he killed a man "on the waste ground behind the station" and a "woman in the canal".

He went on to say that he also killed a man in Glasgow and another man "above Loch Long", which is 20-mile long sea loch at the mouth of the Clyde.

The decision on Brady's appeal was given by the three-man panel headed by Judge Robert Atherton, who heard the tribunal at Ashworth Hospital.

Reasons for the decision will be given at a later date because of the length of the material the panel needs to consider.

After the ruling, Dr David Fearnley, medical director at Ashworth, said the judgement was "consistent with the expert opinions of our clinicians".

"Ashworth Hospital has been subject to in-depth scrutiny and the public has been able to see at first hand the quality of care which we offer to all of our patients," he said.

Brady has been at Ashworth Hospital since 1985

"Mr Brady suffers from a severe personality disorder and a mental illness which still require high quality care.

"It is a testament to the staff of Ashworth Hospital that we have been able to stabilise his schizophrenia to the degree we have.

"However, his condition is chronic and will require this support for the foreseeable future."

Terry Kilbride, whose brother John was one of Brady's victims, said he had "good reaction" to the decision.

"It means that they're going to keep him alive," Mr Kilbride said.

Brady - who claims to have been on a hunger strike since 1999 - told the hearing he was merely "a petty criminal".

He described his crimes as "recreational killings" which were part of an "existential experience".

His legal application challenged the order made under the Mental Health Act when he was transferred from prison to Ashworth in 1985, when he was diagnosed as being a paranoid schizophrenic.

Brady's legal team argued that, despite his severe personality disorder, he is not mentally ill and therefore no longer fulfils the legal criteria for detention in hospital.

He suggested that, if he is allowed to go back to a jail, he would be "free to end his own life" by starving himself to death.

Brady, whose legal costs will be paid by the taxpayer as he gets legal aid, has the right to challenge the decision, which would require a further hearing at an Upper Tribunal.

Brady and his partner, Myra Hindley, were convicted of luring children and teenagers to their deaths, with their victims sexually tortured before being buried on Saddleworth Moor.

Hindley died in hospital, still a prisoner, in November 2002 at the age of 60.

The brother of victim Keith Bennett, whose body was never found, has said Brady was "nothing more than a serial killer of children, a paedophile, a coward and a self-pitying liar".

Alan Bennett said the only people that mattered to Brady was Brady himself and those he manipulates.

He wrote: "I have to say now that I am glad Brady did have his say, he tied his own defence team in knots, never gave a definitive answer under cross-examination and went on to show anybody interested that he is nothing more than a self-pitying liar."

In Brady's letters he says Bennett's body was buried in Yorkshire, rather than the Moors as originally thought.

Martin Bottomley, head of Greater Manchester Police's Cold Case Review Unit said: "In the 1980s, Brady 'confessed' to a number of other unrelated murders. All these claims were thoroughly investigated at that time and found to be completely unsubstantiated.

"GMP has been investigating Brady's horrendous crimes and their aftermath for over 40 years now.

"A week hardly goes by when we do not receive some information which purports to lead us to Keith's burial site.

"All of these claims are investigated and it remains our aim to find Keith for the sake of his surviving family members.

"Only one person knows where Keith is buried and he refuses to disclose that information, preferring to taunt Keith's loved ones, assisted by those who seek to profit from his manipulative scheming."

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US Citizen Among Three Dead In Egypt Protests

Violent clashes across the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Port Said have left three people dead and more than 70 others injured.

A senior security official said a 21-year-old US male died from a stab wound to the chest after violence erupted between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi in the country's second city Alexandria.

A second victim was shot dead during clashes in the city, while a third person died as protests also turned violent in Port Said.

The deaths come as leading clerics warned of "civil war" in Egypt after violence in the last week has left several dead and hundreds wounded.

They backed President Morsi's offer to talk to opposition groups ahead of mass protests scheduled for Sunday.

A protester hurls a rock towards riot police in Alexandria

General Amin Ezzeddin, a senior Alexandria security official, told the Reuters news agency that the young American was using a mobile phone camera near an office of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in the city's Sidi Gaber neighbourhood when it was being attacked by protesters.

He was rushed to a military hospital, where he died.

State news agency MENA said 70 people had been injured.

The US State Department has confirmed the death of the American citizen.

"We can confirm that a US citizen was killed in Alexandria, Egypt," acting deputy State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement.

"We are providing appropriate consular assistance from our embassy in Cairo and our Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department. We do not have further information to provide at this time."

In an updated travel warning, the department cautioned US citizens "to defer non-essential travel to Egypt at this time due to the continuing possibility of political and social unrest."

TV footage showed protesters running from the scene as gunshots were heard.

The offices of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Mr Morsi's party, were also set on fire during the confrontations.

A Brotherhood member was also killed overnight in an attack on a party office at Zagazig, in the heavily populated Nile Delta, where much of the recent violence has been concentrated.

Mr Morsi's movement said five supporters in all had died this week - three in Mansura and two in Zagazig.

The unrest is seen by many as a prelude to mass anti-Morsi protests planned for Sunday - marking a his first year in office.

The June 30 protest was called by Tamarod, a grassroots movement which says it has more than 15 million signatures for a petition demanding Mr Morsi's resignation and a snap election.

It alleges that Mr Morsi reneged on his promise to be a president for all Egyptians and has failed to deliver on the uprising's aspirations for freedom and social justice.

The president himself warned in a televised speech on Wednesday that the growing polarisation threatens to "paralyse" Egypt.

The army, which oversaw the transition from former president Mubarak's autocratic rule but has been on the sidelines since Morsi's election, warned it would intervene if violence erupts.

It has brought in reinforcements to key cities, security officials said.

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Oxford Sex Ring Brothers Jailed For Life

Two sets of brothers have been jailed for life for their sadistic abuse and rape of young girls as part of a sex ring they operated for seven years.

Sentencing the seven men who abused the girls as part of a gang, Judge Peter Rook said: "These were sexual crimes of the upmost gravity. The depravity was extreme, each victim was groomed, coerced and intimidated."

Judge Rook jailed brothers Akhtar Dogar, 32, and Anjum Dogar, 31, for a minimum of 17 years telling them they had been found guilty of "exceptionally grave crimes".

Mohammed Karrar was given life with a minimum of 20 years for the 18 "dreadful offences" he committed, including raping a child under 13. His brother Bassam Karrar, was jailed for life with a minimum of 15 years.

Brothers Akhtar and Anjum Dogar were jailed for life

Kamar Jamil, 27, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 12 years. Assad Hussain, 32, and Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, were both jailed for seven years.

The judge said the gang, all of whom were of Pakistani or north African origin, had targeted vulnerable girls, and said on occasions "the depravity was extreme".

"You targeted the young girls because they were vulnerable, underage and out-of-control," he said.

He said each of the six victims had shown "enormous courage" in giving evidence during the trial.

The guest house where the girls were taken and forced to have sex with men

He said they had come "knowing that they would be accused of lying, knowing they would have to relive their ordeals, knowing that they have not been believed in the past".

The seven men, including another set of brothers, exploited girls as young as 11 and were found guilty of a catalogue of offences including rape, trafficking and organising prostitution last month after a five-month trial.

The girls were plied with alcohol and drugged with crack cocaine and heroin, then trafficked for sex across the country.

Operating from their Oxford base for seven years, the men targeted vulnerable and "out-of-control" youngsters aged between 11 and 16, many of whom were in care homes.

A room at the Nanford Guest House

They groomed them into believing they were in love and then exploited them, injecting them with heroin, forcing them into prostitution and even branding one of them with an electronic cigarette lighter.

The girls were taken to the grubby Nanford Guest House, where they were forced to have sex, often with a number of men.

Most of the six girls who were abused were too scared to face their abusers in court and gave their evidence from behind a curtain.

But one, who was repeatedly raped and sold for sex between 2004, when she was just 12, and 2007, faced down her attackers and told the court: "I am here to tell my story and see the people who abused me found guilty."

Belongings in a room at the Nanford Guest House

Another girl's evidence told how she was told she would be shot if she did not have sex with one of the men when she was 14 and how she rang police after being taken to a flat and realising she was with 11 men who wanted to have sex with her.

Another told how she was plied with drugs and forced to have sex with strangers while being filmed at the age of 13.

The most harrowing account came from a girl who was groomed from the age of 11 and forced to have an illegal abortion on the living room floor of a house in Reading, aged 12.

Mohammed Karrar during his interview with police

Following the sentencing the parents of one of the children released a statement in which they praised the bravery of their daughters and the other girls who gave evidence.

It said: "We were a happy family living in a good area. We never imagined this could be possible. We want to make other parents and careers aware that this type of crime can happen anywhere. It's not about location, it's about the perpetrators. It's not about affluence or poverty.

"These men deliberately targeted and groomed our daughter regardless of our family background. They to her from us and we will never get those lost years back."

They urged parents to watch their children's behaviour and if they had any concerns to report them.

Simon Morgan, of Thames Valley Police, said: "Tonight when these girls go home they go home in confidence knowing these men that cause them so much pain are behind bars."

He added: "There is another message here and the message is this. If you even thing about carrying out or committing the sort of sexual atrocities we have seen in this case then think again. Look over your shoulder and keep looking over your shoulder. We know how you think, we know how you work. Be under no doubt, no doubt, we are coming for you."

Judge Rook said that "police and social services missed tell-tale signs" about the abuse taking place.

Some of the victims reported their treatment at the hands of the men to police, but their complaints were ignored. One was threatened with arrest if she persisted with her claims.

One of the victims, who had reported her treatment to the police on a number of occasions told the jury at the trial: "Any self-respecting police officer would have seen something was wrong.

"If you pick up a child who is covered in cigarette burns and bruises, something is fundamentally wrong.

"Adults should be doing their jobs, it's not down to a child."

A serious case review has been launched by the authorities in Oxfordshire to establish why so many opportunities to protect the girls were missed.

NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: "There was a systematic failure to stop the gang earlier and protect the girls who raised the alarm on several occasions."

Policing and Criminal Justice Minister Damian Green said today that the case showed more should be done to protect vulnerable children.

"Work is already under way to improve that protection, but I am determined to do more," he said.

"A new Home Office-led group will look at how to better identify those at risk and create a more victim-focused culture within the police, health and children's services.

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Muslims To Speak Out Against Street Grooming

Religious leaders at around 500 mosques across the UK will deliver sermons today to hundreds of thousands of Muslims condemning street grooming by gangs.

The campaign organised by Together Against Grooming (Tag), a not-for-profit community organisation set up to tackle street grooming by gangs, will see imams and other leaders address their congregations.

The campaign will highlight how the Koran condemns all forms of sexual indecency.

Sermons will also focus on the responsibility placed on Muslims to ensure they do all they can to safeguard children and vulnerable people in their communities.

The move comes after five members of a seven-man sadistic paedophile ring found guilty of grooming vulnerable underage girls were given life sentences at the Old Bailey.

Two other defendants were both jailed for seven years.

Tag spokesman Ansar Ali said: "We have been horrified by the details that have emerged from recent court cases and as Muslims we feel a natural responsibility to condemn and tackle this crime.

"Sexual grooming and child abuse afflicts all sections of society and is perpetrated by people of all ethnic groups.

"The Koran and traditions of our Prophet exhort us to act against evil and injustice, and create just societies.

"This is the start of what will be a nationwide project in which we seek to work with others to eradicate this practice from all communities."

Friday is a religious day for Muslims and consists of the Jummah Salah - or midday prayer - a particularly significant prayer which results in hundreds of thousands of Muslims up and down the country visiting their local mosques to hear the Khutbah, or sermon.

The Tag campaign has been backed by leading Muslim organisations such as Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the Mosque and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB), the Islamic Society of Britain (ISB) and independent mosques.

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Spending Review: Osborne Wields The Axe Again

Public sector workers, benefit claimants and ex-pat pensioners have all been hit under the Chancellor's drastic plans for extra spending cuts.

George Osborne declared Britain was "moving out of intensive care and from rescue to recovery" but warned the country had to keep on making savings.

As part of moves to save a further £11.5bn across Whitehall, public sector pay will be limited to an average of 1% for 2015/16 and automatic rises scrapped.

Welfare spending including housing benefit, tax credits, disability benefits and pensioner handouts except the state pension will be capped from April 2015.

A council tax freeze due to end next April is being extended for two years, saving around £100 per family, but local authorities face 10% cuts in resources.

And £30m-a-year will be saved by stripping the winter fuel allowance from Britons who move to live in countries warmer than the UK.

George Osborne and Danny Alexander leaving the Treasury on Wednesday

In a 50-minute statement, Mr Osborne said balancing the UK's books involved "difficult decisions", adding: "There never was an easy way to bring spending under control."

But shadow chancellor Ed Balls claimed the new cuts represented a "comprehensive failure" of the top Tory's economic strategy and were simply "more of the same".

"This out of touch Chancellor has failed on living standards, growth and the deficit and families and businesses are paying the price for his failure," he said.

Ministers for the Treasury, Cabinet Office, Justice, Environment and Communities and Local Government will have to slash another 10% from their budgets and Work and Pensions 9.5%.

Business and the Home Office face cuts of 6%, the Foreign Office 8% and Culture, Media and Sport 7% while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland offices will also be squeezed by 2%.

The security services were one of the biggest winners with MI5, MI6 and GCHQ seeing a 3.4% increase in their annual budget to help the fight against terrorism.

The Department of Transport has to find 9% in day-to-day savings but also emerged with the largest cash boost because its capital budget is due to rise to £9.5bn.

Mr Osborne promised there would be the largest programme of investment in roads for 50 years and in railways since the Victorian age.

The Ministry of Defence will see its budget maintained in cash terms at £24bn, which will mean a real-terms cut of 1.9%, but money for equipment will rise by 1% a year.

Its capital budget will also be held at £8.7bn, representing a real-terms reduction of 2.3%.

There will be no further reductions in troop levels, although the Chancellor confirmed the civilian workforce will be slashed.

And fines levied against banks for the Libor rate-rigging scandal will be used to fund the Armed Forces Covenant, setting out the nation's obligation to troops in perpetuity.

The Chancellor insisted his measures, which only spared schools, the NHS, overseas aid and the intelligence services, were necessary and fair.

Nurses, police officers and teachers will all be hit by the loss of progressive pay, which sees them earn more each year regardless of performance, with only the armed forces exempt.

Mr Osborne said: "Progression pay can at best be described as antiquated; at worst, it's deeply unfair to other parts of the public sector who don't get it and to the private sector who have to pay for it."

The Chancellor also revealed the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts another 144,000 working for the Government will lose their jobs by 2015/16.

There was immediate anger at the pay changes, with union chiefs claiming civil servants have been made "scapegoats" for the coalition's austerity regime.

Fresh cuts for local authorities also raised concerns, despite Mr Osborne telling MPs spending would only fall by 2% once local government changes had taken effect.

Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman of the Local Government Association, said the reductions would "stretch essential services to breaking point in many areas".

Mr Osborne defended moves to restrict winter fuel payments for ex-pats, declaring he was putting a "limit on the nation's credit card".

"Paying out even more money to people from all nationalities who may have worked in this country years ago but no longer live here is not a fair use of the nation's cash," he said.

An unimpressed Ed Balls during Mr Osborne's statement

But he vowed not to include the basic state pension in his welfare cap, despite Labour signalling it would and experts warning its exclusion would make the limit "meaningless".

In further moves on benefits, jobseekers will have to wait seven days before they can claim handouts and sign in once a week, and foreign applicants will be forced to learn English.

In his last spending review in 2010, Mr Osborne set out plans to eliminate the deficit by 2015 - allowing the cuts to end in time for the election.

But sluggish economic growth and a rising deficit have forced him to impose further drastic savings for 2015/16.

There was some positive news as billions more was pledged for key infrastructure projects over the next five years, further details of which will come on Thursday.

More than £3bn in capital investment will go on affordable housing, Mr Osborne said, and science capital funding will rise from £0.6bn this year to £1.1bn in 2015/16.

The education budget will also rise by £53bn to cover extra spending on schools, with the pupil premium extended and funding for another 180 free schools.

The Commons statement was highly political, coming less than two years before the next election and outlining plans for a time Mr Osborne hopes the Tories will be in power alone.

He said: "I know that times are still not easy for families. But we have a clear economic plan. We've stuck to it. It is working. And I'm determined to go on delivering it."

Labour claims the Government will go into 2015 with state debt at £96bn and has pushed borrowing up by £245bn more than planned at the last spending review.

However leader Ed Miliband has admitted he cannot promise to reverse any of Mr Osborne's cuts in day-to-day spending if he wins the next election.

John Cridland, Director General of the CBI , said: "The Chancellor has carefully walked a tightrope of protecting growth, while making sizeable savings to pay down the debt."

But he warned the Government had to deliver on its promises about infrastructure, saying it was "critical we see a real pipeline of projects" announced by Danny Alexander tomorrow.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "This is a toxic mix of bad economics, nasty politics and dishonest presentation.

"The last thing our struggling economy needs is further cuts to spending to try to close a deficit made worse by the Chancellor's earlier cuts.

"When the medicine is not working and side effects are choking the patient, you need a change in treatment, not more of the same.

Ahead of the statement, Sky's City Editor Mark Kleinman revealed the Government's main body for encouraging inward investment and promoting British companies abroad, UKTI, faced an 8% cut to its budget.

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Spain Shooting: Three Found Dead In Mijas

Three members of a family have been found dead in a Spanish apartment.

A man, a woman and a young woman, believed to be their daughter, were discovered in the property on the Costa Del Sol.

The two women were Irish and the man is believed to be British.

Police said they are working on the theory that the deaths were a murder-suicide. It is thought the three died from gunshot wounds fired by one of the adults.

The trio were found inside the apartment in Mijas, Fuengirola, on Wednesday by their landlord.

A Guardia Civil spokeswoman said they rented the property where they were found dead.

A police van parked outisde the house pic: diariosur.es

"The latest information we have is that the owner of the house had not heard from the family for a few days and had not been paid," she said.

"He went to the house today and when there was no reply at the door, he went inside. Inside he saw the man dead on the sofa and immediately called the Guardia Civil.

"When officers inspected the house they found the wife and the daughter dead in a bedroom. The initial hypothesis at this early stage of the investigation is that this was a murder-suicide."

The spokeswoman said she could not confirm reports that the daughter had Down's Syndrome.

The Foreign Office said it was aware of the reports and officials are in contact with local authorities.

Mijas is a popular town with a reputation for being family-friendly with its many cafes and restaurants.

Its centre is a typical Andalusian white-washed village, and the Britons' crime-scene apartment is on a pretty mountainside.

The town has three distinct neighbourhoods - the village high in  the mountain, a more modern development and an eight mile stretch of sea punctuated by pretty villages.

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Brady: Killing Was An 'Existential Experience'

Ian Brady has referred to his torture and murder of children as "recreational killings" from which he derived an "existential experience".

Speaking at his mental health tribunal, the Moors murderer compared the crimes he committed in the 1960s to the acts of soldiers and politicians and said that a "criminal" would have "given a value to the person he is about to kill".

When asked what value he had got from his killing he replied: "Existential experience."

The 75-year-old, who had been speaking publicly at length for the first time since 1966, told the tribunal that he was not psychotic.

Brady is arguing that he should be allowed to be transferred from high-security Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside to prison on the grounds that he is not mentally ill.

Eleanor Grey QC, counsel for Ashworth, asked him if he accepted he was ill at the time he was transferred to Ashworth when he was said to have shown psychotic symptoms of hallucinations and delusions.

Giving evidence at Ashworth Hospital, where he has been held since 1985, he said that initially when he was in jail he copied the symptoms he saw on the prison's psychiatric wing so he would be diagnosed psychotic and be transferred.

Brady is one of Britain's most notorious killers

He insinuated he had just been acting, as he referred to Constantin Stanislavski who created a set of techniques in the 20th Century, called method acting, which was used to create realistic performances. It was used by actors including Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.

When asked to explain method acting, he said: "It's attempting to portray the heart and soul of the character you are trying to portray."

Brady, who has been on so-called hunger strike since 1999, has previously said he wants to starve himself to death in prison where he cannot be force fed.

Currently, he is fed through a tube in his nose, although the tribunal panel heard on Monday he is actually eating other foods and makes himself toast every morning.

Brady described his life behind bars, how he enjoys "eclectic, freewheeling conversation", how he studied German and psychology and how he walks up and down in his cell reciting Shakespeare and Plato.

Brady said he had "more freedom" in prison - he spent time in Durham, Parkhurst and Wormwood Scrubs. He remembered mixing with the Kray twins, the Great Train Robbers and various terrorists.

He also alluded to his time as a barber, when he claimed he would trim the beards of prison staff.

Brady made reference to his notoriety as a prisoner, saying the public and media are obsessed with the Moors murders case.

Brady has denied he is psychotic

He said: "Why are they still talking about Jack the Ripper, after a century? It fascinates them so, the dramatic background, the fog, cobbled streets. The Moors is the same thing... Wuthering Heights, Hound Of The Baskervilles."

Sky's Tom Parmenter said: "He was asked his mental health which is crucial to the hearing because it is his claim that he should not be in a high-security hospital but instead an ordinary prison.

"He was asked about talking to himself in jail, and he said when he was in solitary confinement he would memorise the pages of Shakespeare or Plato and then recite them in his cell.

"He said if he drops a glasses case in a corridor and mutters to himself that would be seized by an opportunistic member of staff and used as evidence. But he also said at the tribunal 'Who doesn't talk to themselves?'"

His legal team says he has a severe narcissistic personality disorder but is not mentally ill and could be treated in prison rather than hospital.

Myra Hindley was also convicted of child killings

But Ashworth says Brady is still chronically mentally ill and remains a paranoid schizophrenic who needs around-the-clock care.

He has refused medication and therapy for his mental disorders since 2000 as he is "wholly resistant" to any treatment and now tries to hide his mental illness, the tribunal panel was told earlier.

The last time Brady spoke so publicly was in court in Chester when he was convicted 47 years ago and jailed for life for three murders in the 1960s.

The hearing is being relayed to the press and public on TV screens at Manchester Civil Justice Centre and the judgment of the panel will be released at a later date yet to be fixed.

Brady and his partner, Myra Hindley, were convicted of luring children and teenagers to their deaths, with their victims sexually tortured before being buried on Saddleworth Moor, east of Manchester.

Brady was given life for the murders of John Kilbride, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and 17-year-old Edward Evans.

Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley Ann and Edward and shielding Brady after John's murder, and jailed for life.

Both later confessed to the murders of 16-year-old Pauline Reade - whose body was found in 1987 - and 12-year-old Keith Bennett whose body has not been discovered.

John Ainley was the solicitor for Winnie Johnson who died last year without ever finding her son Keith Bennett's remains.

Mr Ainley told Sky News: "There have been no words of remorse, it is the families of the children who were murdered that should be centre stage not Ian Brady."

"These five children were murdered, they were tortured, he had no compassion for them whatsoever."

"For him now just to talk about himself and to try and justify that in that sort of way really beggars belief."

Hindley died in hospital, still a prisoner, in November 2002 at the age of 60.

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Spending Review: Osborne To Cut Budgets

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

George Osborne will today take the axe to public spending and claim the Government's tough policy of cuts is leading to economic recovery.

The Chancellor will announce his spending review, setting out limits for 2015/16 and slicing £11.5bn off the budgets of Whitehall departments, an average of eight per cent.

But he is also expected to pledge billions of pounds of more investment in major big infrastructure projects to boost growth over the years up to 2020.

Echoing his Mansion House speech last week, the Chancellor is expected to tell MPs: "Britain is moving from rescue to recovery. But while the British economy is leaving intensive care; now we need to secure that recovery...

"We're saving money on welfare and waste to invest in the roads and railways, schooling and science our economy needs to succeed in the future.

"I know that times are still not easy for families. But we have a clear economic plan. We've stuck to it. It is working. And I'm determined to go on delivering it.

"Now, together, we're moving Britain from rescue to recovery, let's build an economy that works for everyone."

Following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby outside Woolwich barracks, the Chancellor will confirm a boost in spending on the fight against terrorism.

Earlier this month, after agreeing Theresa May's Home Office budget, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said: "Counter-terrorism policing is a crucial part of our national security and I took no convincing of the need to protect this area.

"Given recent events in Woolwich, we cannot compromise on our national security."

Tory MPs will be anxiously awaiting news of where spending cuts in the Ministry of Defence budget will fall, following the Chancellor's pledge at the weekend that they will not involve further cuts in manpower levels.

But Conservative MPs will welcome Mr Osborne revealing how he intends to implement a proposed cap on previously uncontrolled parts of the public finances, such as welfare, debt interest and payments to the EU.

The Chancellor tweeted this image as he was finishing off his speech

The cap on so-called "annually managed expenditure" was floated by Mr Osborne in his Budget in March, when he said he would impose a limit on a "significant proportion" of AME, which is made up of elements of public spending which can go up and down due to factors beyond the Government's control.

The Treasury has signalled that the state pension will not be affected by any cap, and Mr Osborne has said it will not impact on the "automatic stabilisers" which come into effect in a downturn, suggesting that unemployment benefits could also be excluded.

Mr Osborne reached agreement at the weekend with Vince Cable over the level of cuts at his Business Department - the last Whitehall ministry to finalise its settlement.

All areas of departmental current spending will be asked to tighten their belts except the NHS, schools and overseas aid, which are protected by a "ringfence".

Attention will, however, be focused on whether departments like defence or the Foreign Office have succeeded in reassigning elements of their activities to the health or international development budgets.

Mr Osborne said at the weekend that there would be a cut in numbers of civilian workers at the Ministry of Defence, as well as renegotiation of major contracts with suppliers to save money.

Cuts will take place in the defence budget

But he insisted there would be no cuts in numbers of sailors, soldiers or airmen and no reduction in the UK's military capability,

Speaking during Treasury Questions in the Commons yesterday, Mr Osborne said: "Everyone knows that Britain needs to live within its means and tomorrow I will set out the next phase of the economic plan to move Britain from rescue to recovery.

"But I can confirm that I will be offering real protection for our National Health Service and to our schools. These are vital public services, they are an investment in our economic future and they are all about doing what we need to do to win that economic race."

Mr Balls taunted the Chancellor: "The fact is that you promised to get the deficit down and it is rising. How can you still say we are all in it together, when for everyone else living standards are falling and the economy has flat-lined for three years?

"Isn't this economic failure the reason why you will not balance the books in 2015 and why tomorrow you are coming back to the House to ask for more cuts in public services, because you are unfair, out-of-touch and now revealed as totally incompetent?"

But Mr Osborne replied: "Getting a lesson from you in how to balance the books is like getting a lesson from Dracula in how to look after a blood bank."

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Breast Cancer Drugs To Be Offered To 500,000

By Thomas Moore, Health Correspondent

Half a million women with a family risk of breast cancer are to be offered drugs to prevent the disease, in a ground-breaking move by the NHS watchdog.

The drugs, which cost as little as £25 a year, can reduce the risk of the cancer by a third, potentially saving thousands of lives.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says women with several close relatives who have developed breast cancer should be offered five years of preventative treatment with the drugs tamoxifen or raloxifene.

It will make England and Wales the first countries in Europe to offer breast cancer drugs to healthy women.

Professor Gareth Evans, a consultant in clinical genetics at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester who helped develop the new NHS guidelines, said: "This is a major breakthrough for women.

"This treatment is not just cost-effective, but cost saving to the NHS.

"More importantly for women, they don't have to go through the stress and trauma of a diagnosis, radiotherapy and potentially chemotherapy."

He said that preventing "four or five" breast cancers will result in one life being saved.

Around 50,000 women and 400 men develop breast cancer in the UK each year.

Angelina Jolie recently had a double mastectomy

Currently those with a family risk of the disease are offered either more intensive screening, or surgery to remove their breasts. Angelina Jolie recently opted for surgery because of her inherited risk.

But the new guidelines offer women a middle way.

Dr Caitlin Palframan of the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer said the guidelines were a "game-changer".

"We think more women will have more options to reduce their risk, which ultimately means we will prevent more breast cancer cases," she said.

The guidelines also call for more women with relatives who have developed the disease to be tested for faulty BRCA genes.

Charlotte Pittuck inherited the BRCA2 gene and several of her relatives have had breast cancer. She was given an 85% chance of developing cancer and will have her breasts removed next week.

"While some would say it is a drastic measure, I feel it is my only option," she said.

"I want to be around to see my children grow up. And if I had the diagnosis I would have had to have this operation anyway."

Breast cancer prevention has been thrown into the spotlight after actress Angelina Jolie revealed she had a double mastectomy in May because she was at high risk of developing the disease.

Testing had revealed she carried the genes that increase the likelihood of developing breast and ovarian cancers.

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Afghanistan: Explosions And Gunfire At Palace

A series of explosions and gunfire has been heard at the presidential palace in the Afghan capital Kabul, according to reports.

The attack began on the building's east gate at around 6am local time as reporters gathered ahead of a media event with President Hamid Karzai.

It was not immediately clear whether Mr Karzai was inside the building at the time of the assault.

The Taliban has said it carried out the attack.

More follows....

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Nelson Mandela's Condition Becomes Critical

Nelson Mandela's health has deteriorated and he is now in a critical condition, the South African presidency has said.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Mr Mandela in hospital on Sunday evening.

They were briefed by Mr Mandela's medical team and told that the 94-year-old's condition had "become critical over the past 24 hours".

Mr Zuma said in a statement: "The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable. He is in good hands."

Mr Zuma visited Mr Mandela in hospital in Pretoria this evening

The pair also met with Graca Machel at the hospital to discuss the former South African president's condition.

Mr Mandela has suffered repeated bouts of illness in recent months and has been admitted to hospital four times since December.

The anti-apartheid leader has been in intensive care since he was last admitted to hospital on June 8 for a recurring lung infection.

Mr Zuma appealed to South Africans and to the world to pray for Mr Mandela, his family and the medical team attending to him.

Children have been sending "get well soon" messages to Mr Mandela

In Sunday's statement, Mr Zuma also discussed the government's acknowledgement a day earlier that an ambulance carrying Mr Mandela to the hospital two weeks ago had broken down.

"There were seven doctors in the convoy who were in full control of the situation throughout the period. He had expert medical care," Mr Zuma said.

"The fully equipped military ICU ambulance had a full complement of specialist medical staff including intensive care specialists and ICU nurses.

"The doctors also dismissed the media reports that Madiba suffered cardiac arrest. There is no truth at all in that report."

Mr Mandela is seen by many around the world as a symbol of reconciliation.

He played a leading role in steering South Africa from the apartheid era to democracy, becoming the country's first black president in all-race elections in 1994.

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Edward Snowden Requests Asylum In Ecuador

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has requested asylum in Ecuador after fleeing Hong Kong on a flight to Moscow.

After more than two weeks in hiding, the ex-CIA analyst boarded an Aeroflot flight to the Russian capital on Sunday morning.

The US said it was "disappointed" by Hong Kong's "troubling" failure to arrest him.

Minutes after touching down at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport at 5.05pm, Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino said his government had received a request for asylum.

Ecuador's ambassador to Russia has arrived at a hotel near the airport, and a car bearing the country's flag was pictured nearby.

A twitter picture of Snowden's plane in Moscow. Credit @Russian_Market

Some reports say he could leave for the South American country as early as Monday.

The US has revoked Mr Snowden's passport, and says the "chase is on" to catch him.

Senate intelligence committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said: "I want to get him caught and brought back for trial. I think the chase is on and we'll see what happens."

The US State Department said Mr Snowden should not be allowed to travel further.

Snowden's route since leaving Hawaii and his possible next destinations

A spokesman for Wikileaks, which is assisting him, said: "Mr Snowden requested that WikiLeaks use its legal expertise and experience to secure his safety. Once Mr Snowden arrives at his final destination his request will be formally processed."

Spanish Judge Mr Baltasar Garzon, legal director of Wikileaks and lawyer for Julian Assange added: "The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person.

"What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people".

WikiLeaks said he was being accompanied by Sarah Harrison, described by them as a UK citizen, journalist and legal researcher.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said there is a flight ticket in his name from Moscow to Cuba and that he will then fly on from there. It said that his flight to Havana from Moscow would take place on Monday.

A still picture of Sarah Harrison taken from a video put out by WikiLeaks

However former security minister Baroness Neville-Jones said countries without extradition treaties would not necessarily be safe for Mr Snowden.

She said: "He's clearly going to try to seek somewhere where there is no extradition treaty, that does not follow that the government of a country which does not have an extradition treaty won't in the end decide to hand them over."

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also been granted asylum in Ecuador.

Assange is currently in the Ecuador embassy in London. He is unable to leave without being arrested as he is wanted for questioning by Sweden over alleged sexual offences.

Assange confirmed his organisation's involvement to Australian newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald.

He said: "Mr Snowden is ... accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisers.

"He ... will be met by diplomats from the country that will be his ultimate destination. Diplomats from that country will accompany him on a further flight to his destination."

Snowden left Hong Kong after The White House asked the autonomous Chinese territory to extradite him. He had earlier been charged in the US with espionage.

The Hong Kong government has said that although the US had sought his extradition, the request did not fully comply with requirements. It said that as a result, he was free to leave.

A US Department of Justice spokesperson said: "The US is disappointed and disagrees with the determination by Hong Kong authorities not to honour the US request for the arrest of the fugitive.

"The request for the fugitive's arrest for purposes of his extradition complied with all of the requirements of the US-Hong Kong Surrender Agreement.

"At no point, in all of our discussions through Friday, did the authorities in Hong Kong raise any issues regarding the sufficiency of the US's provisional arrest request.

"In light of this, we find their decision to be particularly troubling."

Snowden was revealed earlier this month to have been the man who leaked to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers information about monitoring by America's National Security Agency.

Snowden claimed the NSA has been keeping details of millions of phone calls by Americans and monitoring the use by foreigners of internet sites including Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

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US Warns Hong Kong Over Snowden Extradition

The White House is in conversation with Hong Kong over the extradition of whistleblower Edward Snowden, according to reports.

The Reuters news agency reported that a senior US official said relations between the US and Hong Kong will be "complicated" if its extradition request is resisted.

Snowden revealed secret government spying programmes, and has been charged with espionage by US authorities.

As a provisional arrest warrant was issued and Hong Kong authorities asked to detain him, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange jumped to his defence in a statement circulated online.

US prosecutors have filed a criminal complaint, charging Mr Snowden with three offences including unauthorised communication of national defence information, which comes under the Espionage Act, and theft of government property.

He is also charged with willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorised person.

Court papers list three offences including theft of government property

All three crimes listed carry a maximum 10-year prison penalty.

Assange, who is holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, has urged the world to "stand with" Mr Snowden.

Wednesday marked a year since Assange sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he raped one woman and sexually molested another.

In a statement he said: "The US government is spying on each and every one of us, but it is Edward Snowden who is charged with espionage for tipping us off," he said.

"The word 'traitor' has been thrown around a lot in recent days. But who is really the traitor here?"

Protests in support of Mr Snowden have taken place in Hong Kong

The former CIA technician, who has worked for America's National Security Agency (NSA), leaked details of American telephone and internet surveillance programmes.

He revealed the existence of a surveillance system called Prism that was set up by the NSA to track the use of the internet directly from ISP servers.

The NSA and FBI have said that the secret programme provided "critical leads" in preventing "dozens of terrorist events" - although some terror experts dispute the claims.

President Obama has also said the programmes were carried out with "systems of checks and balances" and overseen by the courts and the US Congress.

The NSA programme helped to prevent terror attacks, say US spy chiefs

The Prism revelations sparked outcry in the UK when The Guardian reported that the GCHQ eavesdropping agency had been accessing information about British citizens through Prism.

Mr Snowden fled to Hong Kong on May 20 after copying the last set of documents he intended to disclose at the NSA's office in Hawaii.

Sky News Asia correspondent Mark Stone said the move marks the official start of government attempts to bring him back to the US.

"We are yet to hear from the Hong Kong police and authorities on whether or not they will act on the request by the Americans to arrest Edward Snowden.

"It's my understanding that they know exactly where he is. The Americans haven't yet asked for his extradition, they have simply asked the authorities to arrest him."

There are reports a private plane is on standby to take Mr Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland, where he hopes to get asylum.

The latest documents from Mr Snowden claim to show that British spies have secretly accessed fibre-optic cables carrying emails, Facebook messages and other communications.

The Guardian reports that GCHQ can analyse data from the network of cables that carry global phone calls and internet traffic under an operation codenamed Tempora.

It claims that communications between innocent people are being processed, as well as those from people marked out as security threats.

"It's not just a US problem," Mr Snowden told The Guardian.

"The UK has a huge dog in this fight. They (GCHQ) are worse than the US."

Mr Snowden worked for the NSA as an employee of various outside contractors, including Dell and Booz Allen Hamilton.

"I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building," Mr Snowden previously told The Guardian.

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Burnham And Lansley Face Hospitals Claims

Former health secretary Andy Burnham has denied pressuring the NHS watchdog to tone down criticism of hospitals during his time in the job.

Mr Burnham has faced questions about whether he influenced hospitals' watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at the time it gave Morecambe Bay NHS Trust a clean bill of health, despite deaths of mothers and babies.

Labour's shadow health secretary insisted he did not cover up any problems at England's hospitals in the run-up to the 2010 General Election and was in fact "actively working to identify them."

An open letter from David Morris, the Conservative MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, asked Mr Burnham: "How much 'pressure' did you put on the CQC to 'tone down' its criticism of hospitals?

"You were the Labour Secretary of State for Health, when the first whitewash inspection of the Morecambe Bay NHS trust occurred in the spring of 2010. This was a crucial pre-election season for you."

He also accused the former Labour government of having "twin cultures of secrecy and putting targets before patients".

Mr Burnham's reply denied any hospital problems were swept under the carpet.

"When I was appointed in June 2009, one of my first decisions was to appoint Robert Francis QC to conduct an independent inquiry into what went wrong at Stafford," said Mr Burnham.

"Separately, the Department raised concerns with me about the effectiveness of CQC and I began taking steps to deal with it.

"In late 2009, when problems emerged unexpectedly at Basildon and Thurrock Hospital, it became clear to me that an in-depth look at all hospitals in England was needed so that all problems could be flushed out, action taken and reassurance given to the public," writes Mr Burnham.

Furness General Hospital was given a clean bill of health by the CQC

He adds that "far from covering up any problems at hospitals in the pre-election period, I hope you can now see how was actively working to identify them."

David Morris has also asked Mr Burnham to make public any emails, texts and letters in which the CQC was discussed and detail conversations he had with Cynthia Bower, the former head of the CQC, before the hospital was given a clean bill of health.

His comments come as it emerged that another former health secretary, the Conservative's Andrew Lansley, was warned about baby deaths at Furness General Hospital three years ago.

Mr Lansley received a letter from James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died aged just nine days at the hospital, raising concerns over inaction by the CQC.

"Despite all of these regulatory bodies, Joshua's death was preceded by the preventable deaths of other babies, yet no action was taken in time to make a different (sic) to our son," wrote Mr Titcombe.

Joshua Titcombe's father wrote to Mr Lansley three years ago

He continues, "...there seems to be a gap in that the CQC can not investigate individual events and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman do not assess complaints to their office against principles of patient safety".

Mr Titcombe told Sky News he believes the CQC may have been under pressure from senior health officials not to uncover another big hospital scandal.

The reply to his letter from the Department of Health said it was unable to comment on individual cases.

Former bosses of hospitals' watchdog CQC have been accused of covering up a report which criticised their original inspection of the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust. They deny the claims.

The CQC gave the trust a clean bill of health in 2010 despite the deaths of up to 16 babies.

James Titcombe and other families who lost babies at the hospital are now calling for a police investigation and an independent inquiry to establish who knew about the alleged cover-up.

:: Andy Burnham will appear on Murnaghan on Sky News from 10am on Sunday June 23.

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