Newspaper headlines: Family fears over lorry deaths after 'last text' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 26 October 2019

image copyright FAMILY OF PHAM TRA MY image caption Pham Thi Tra My, 26, has not been heard from since she sent messages on Tuesday in which she said she could not breathe

Most of the front pages feature the same image of Pham Thi Tra My - the Vietnamese woman who is thought to be one of the people whose body was found in the back of a lorry in Essex.

The The Times' headline highlights what the paper calls a "series of desperate messages" she sent to her family. "I'm dying because I can't breathe. I'm sorry Mum."

The Daily Telegraph says the texts were sent at 22:30 BST on Tuesday - three hours before the lorry was opened and 39 bodies were discovered inside.

The The Guardian says "heartbreaking" appeals for information by Vietnamese families "appear to contradict" the initial suggestion by police that all of those who died were Chinese - but adds it is understood that some of the Vietnamese victims may have been using Chinese passports.

Immigration sources have told the Daily Mail that British checks at ports used to smuggle people into the UK have been "scaled back" over the past 18 months as manpower was diverted to the migrant crisis in the Channel.

Workers rights

A leaked paper has raised fears over workers' rights after Brexit, according to the Financial Times

The document - drafted by the Brexit department - is said to show the government plans to diverge from Brussels on regulations, despite pledging to maintain a level playing field.

The FT says the paper also "appears to contradict" comments by Boris Johnson on Wednesday - when he said the UK was committed to the highest possible standards for workers' rights.

The shadow Brexit minister, Jenny Chapman, is quoted as saying the document confirms Labour's "worst fears". The Brexit department has declined to comment.

image copyright Getty Images image caption Ex-PM Theresa May has been criticised in a new book being serialised in the Times

A book, which sets out how Theresa May was "surly" and a "terrible campaigner" during the last election, is featured on the front page of the Times

The book entitled "May At Ten", which is being serialised by the paper, says the former prime minister was "so prickly" that one of her advisors had to become a full-time minder.

Written by the historian, Sir Anthony Seldon, the book also describes Mrs May as having "tears in her eyes" as she "banged her fist on the table" to insist that the social care reform, later dubbed the dementia tax, was included in her manifesto.

'Establishment fudge'

Sir Anthony concludes that the campaign "cruelly exposed" what he calls Mrs May's "unusually inflexible and introverted character".

Survivors and families of those who died in the Grenfell Tower disaster have told the Guardian that they fear next week's official report on the fire will be an "establishment fudge" that will become "drowned out by Brexit".

The paper says they've urged the chairman of the public inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, to "be as hard-hitting" as the Macpherson report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence and include "strong criticism" of the leadership of the London Fire Brigade. But they are concerned he will "go soft on the authorities".

"I hope Moore-Bick sees his place in history", says one man who witnessed people falling from the burning building.

The lead story in the Sun claims Strictly Come Dancing has been caught up in a "voting scandal" after a boss at Longleat emailed dozens of staff to say the safari park would reimburse them for the cost of phone calls made to keep Lady Emma Weymouth in the competition.

image caption Emma Thynn, Viscountess Weymouth, avoided being in the bottom two last week, after surviving a dance off against BBC Radio 1 DJ Dev Griffin in the previous episode

She is the daughter-in-law of the Marquess of Bath, who owns the Longleat estate. Longleat has told The Sun Lady Emma and her family had no knowledge of the offer which was made by an employee who acted without permission.

The BBC has told the paper that action was taken as soon as the issue was brought to its attention and there was no impact on the public vote.

An analysis of charity donations on self-assessment tax forms has led the Times to conclude that the richest Britons are "failing to do their bit" for those who are less fortunate.

The paper found that nearly two thirds of people earning more than £250,000 "gave nothing" to good causes last year and reports that the average donation made by those high earners is only 1.7% of their income, compared with 3.1% by people who earn less than £50,000.

Campaigners have told the Times the figures underline why Britain needs "a revolution in philanthropic giving".

And while many of us will enjoy an extra hour in bed tonight when the clocks go back, but the Sun urges its readers to spare a thought for Roy West from Hampshire - who has 5,000 timepieces to adjust.

The 75-year-old, who has been amassing clocks for almost 40 years, says he will spend more than five hours making sure his collection syncs with GMT.

He tells the paper his wife picks up a new pack of batteries every time she goes to the shops and insists the constant ticking and chiming no longer bothers them. "You get used to it", he says.

Finally, the Daily Telegraph is delighted at the results of an international cheese competition which, it claims, "have left a sour aftertaste in France".

A cheddar made in Somerset won one of the top prizes at the World Cheese Awards but there was only one French product in the top 15 cheeses - prompting one French newspaper to describe the judging as "sacrilege".