A High Court judge is set to analyse evidence at a trial after social services staff asked for help protecting a vulnerable teenage girl they say is being sexually exploited by four men.

A British council at the centre of a child sexual exploitation scandal has been condemned for giving a £40,000 pay-off to an official who quit following a damning report into the events.

The death of a 16-year-old English girl who crashed through a barbed wire fence on a makeshift metal sledge was described by police today as “tragic”.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in the UK early today after torrential rain led to fears that a a dam could burst.