Luke Alsford

I am a journalist covering politics, general news and human-interest stories for Metro.

Metro •

Iranian embassy in UK recruiting expats to become martyrs and 'sacrifice life'

The Iranian embassy in London is recruiting expats to become martyrs and ‘sacrifice their lives for the Homeland’, Metro can reveal.
Iranian diplomats called on their country’s diaspora in the UK to ‘lay down our lives’ for a new campaign to ‘defend Iranian land’.
The message, posted on their Telegram channel, directs Iranians to register their interest with the authorities and specifically references recruiting ‘children’.
The call for martyrs has been labelled ‘appalling’ by Shadow Foreign Sec...
Metro •

Shady spyware firm linked to hacking journalists held talks with UK officials

British officials held talks with a spyware company whose software was used to target journalists and was later sanctioned by the US, Metro can reveal.
Officials met salesmen from Intellexa, whose surveillance application Predator was used to spy on at least 87 people in Greece and was sold to authoritarian regimes across the world.
Four business executives linked to the spyware developer were found guilty by an Athens court in February of violating the confidentiality of telephone communication...
Metro •

Reform's Makerfield candidate said King should open palaces for asylum seekers

Reform UK’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election wrote about Asian men ‘assaulting white people en masse’ and ‘an invasion of foreign criminals’ on his now suspended X account, Metro can reveal
Robert F Kenyon was selected by Reform to take on Andy Burnham in the critical by-election in Makerfield, Greater Manchester, next month.
Social media commentators noticed within minutes that Kenyon’s X account, Makerfield_RFK, was suspended by X because it violated the rules of the platform.
Metro has...
Metro •

Survivors panel at centre of grooming gangs inquiry to be scrapped

The survivors panel at the heart of the grooming gangs inquiry will be ditched by the government, Metro can reveal.
The victims and survivors panel will be wound down in January, the Home Office has confirmed, just a year after it was set up to ‘ensure that victims’ voices remain at the very heart’ of the inquiry.
The decision was criticised as ‘disgusting’ by grooming gangs survivors, who said it proved the inquiry would not be victim-led.
The revelation comes on the same day the Home Secretary...
Metro •

Dad whose entire family died in Air India crash told he can't stay in UK

The Home Office has been branded cruel after a dad whose family was killed in last year’s Air India crash was told he must leave the UK.
Mohammad Shethwala’s wife Sadikabanu and the couple’s two-year-old daughter Fatima were among 260 people who died in the June 2025 disaster.
He was dependent on Sadikabanu for his British visa, after she first arrived in the country as a student.
Mohammad, who has lived in the UK for four years, applied to extend his visa on humanitarian grounds because he has...
Metro •

Russian hackers target IVF clinics across UK used by thousands of couples

A prestigious IVF clinic has confirmed Russian hackers broke into their systems used by thousands of couples across the UK after Metro revealed the huge data breach.
The London Women’s Clinic, which offers IVF, egg freezing and other fertility treatments at 17 centres across the country, was compromised by the ransomware gang Qilin.
A number of NHS patients are among those who use the clinic and may have been at risk of having their private medical data exposed.
The ‘concerning’ data breach is b...
Metro •

Tories invited Muslims to iftar before shadow minister slammed Ramadan prayers

The Conservative Party hosted an ‘inclusive’ iftar event just weeks before a Tory shadow minister called the same celebration in central London an ‘act of domination’, Metro can reveal.
Nick Timothy sparked fury earlier this month when he wrote that videos of mass prayer during a Ramadan event in Trafalgar Square was ‘straight out of the Islamist playbook’.
Despite calls for him to be sacked, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake both defended him.
Now, Metro has uncovere...
Mail Online •

Estate agent was NOT to blame for Reeves' house licence fiasco

By LUKE ALSFORD and CLAIRE ELLICOTT Published: 00:27, 3 November 2025 | Updated: 03:00, 3 November 2025 An estate agent who failed to apply for a licence for Rachel Reeves to let her family home was not responsible for the oversight, his boss has revealed.The property manager has found himself at the centre of a political scandal after he originally dealt with the Chancellor's case.But questions were raised about why the agent had left the company abruptly without fulfilling the licence...
Mail Online •

College defies Supreme Court and lets in students who were born male

By LUKE ALSFORD Published: 23:19, 1 November 2025 | Updated: 01:52, 3 November 2025 Cambridge University's oldest women-only college has caused outrage by deciding to continue admitting biological men who 'self-identify' as female, in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling.Newnham College, which has feminist Germaine Greer, actress Emma Thompson and presenter Clare Balding among its alumni, has created a gender policy stating it is open to all 'female' applicants – including those born as me...
Metro •

'Disgusting' painting put up at British embassy that 'celebrates colonisation'

The Foreign Office has been branded ‘disgusting’ for hanging a painting in Nigeria that celebrates a bloody 19th-century British invasion.
The artwork, installed in the Lagos High Commission after Labour’s election victory, depicts the 1851 naval attack that toppled the region’s King.
Now, diplomats are facing frantic calls to tear it down or risk permanently ‘undermining’ UK relations with the African nation.
British and Nigerian historians and activists said the artwork gives the impression th...
Metro •

Fears over network of UK student societies linked to 'Iranian recruitment hub'

A network of student societies has collaborated with an Iranian-backed broadcaster linked with recruiting agents, a Metro investigation has uncovered.
The campaign wing of the AhlulBayt Society, which has more than 45 branches on British campuses, has worked with PressTV, which the US has said is used by Iranian intelligence to ‘recruit assets’.
AhlulBayt Society groups, known as ABSocs, have also partnered with the Islamic Human Rights Commission, which allegedly has links with the Iranian regi...
Metro •

Thousands of Brits snitching on neighbours for watching TV without a licence

Thousands of ‘licence fee snitches’ have ratted out their neighbour for illegally watching broadcast TV, Metro can reveal.
More than 17,000 reports of snitching on people flouting TV Licensing rules have been submitted to the BBC since November 2023.
Anyone is able to report an address they suspect of illegally watching broadcast TV or BBC iPlayer through a form on the TV Licensing website.
But critics have labelled the scheme a ‘deeply unhealthy system that turns neighbours into informants’.
Da...
Metro •

Two Cabinet ministers 'stripped to a bikini' by Grok AI

Two Cabinet members have become the latest victims to be ‘undressed’ by Grok AI on Elon Musk’s X, Metro can reveal.
This newspaper has seen pictures of the senior politicians being shown in revealing bikinis at the request of members of the public.
A government source called the images ‘deeply disturbing’ and welcomed media regulator Ofcom’s announcement that they are in ‘urgent talks’ with X and xAI.
The Cabinet ministers are one of hundreds of examples of Grok generating images of partially-na...
Metro •

Anguished voice of British dad 'tortured in Dubai' after new abuse claims emerge

This is the anguished voice of a British father who has allegedly faced torture inside a Dubai jail.
Ryan Pepper, 27, claimed United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials threatened to smash his hands if he didn’t sign paperwork in Arabic, a language he doesn’t understand.
This is the first time Ryan’s voice has been heard publicly since allegations surfaced that he has been beaten, threatened and psychologically abused after he was arrested more than seven months ago.
Metro can now reveal that British...
Metro •

Jeffrey Epstein's brother says bombshell study will prove he didn't kill himself

Jeffrey Epstein’s brother has said expert doctors are about to release a ‘game-changing’ report that will prove the paedophile financier did not commit suicide.
Mark Epstein claimed the findings should spark a murder investigation into his older brother’s death.
The property developer said the findings are due after an independent group of pathologists studied Jeffrey’s autopsy results for months.
Mark spoke out after new reports the guard who found Jeffrey dead received mystery payments, saying...
Metro •

Man let off with a caution after woman caught him spying on her through gym vent

A woman who was spied on by a voyeur through a changing room vent has hit out at the decision to only give him a caution.
Elsa Baudart has spoken of her anger and ‘sadness’ that police are not prosecuting the perpetrator after he confessed.
Elsa was changing out of a bikini at Putney Leisure Centre on January 25 when she spotted a pair of glasses through the vent above her head.
The man had used a chair in the neighbouring disabled changing room to peer through.
He was arrested on the day but po...
Metro •

Iranian exiles fear being on 'pro-regime kill lists' after being doxed on Telegr

An Iranian activist who was doxed by a pro-Regime Telegram channel alongside dozens of other expats has said he now ‘has a target on his back’.
Ali Taranssari’s personal information was published on the ‘Bay of Pigs’ pages that aims to ‘identify overseas traitors’.
The channel has exposed the bank details, contact information, relatives and locations of more than a dozen UK-based anti-Regime campaigners to thousands of followers.
Security sources told Metro the level of detail and professionalis...
Metro •

Life on Russia's kill list: 'I don't touch door handles with my bare hands'

Being poisoned to death is not something most people have to think about.
But for Roman Dobrokhotov and his family, it’s a threat that is part of daily life.
The exiled Russian journalist, 42, fled his homeland through the forest in July 2021 and has been on Putin’s most wanted list ever since.
Speaking after the UK confirmed that opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a deadly frog toxin, Dobrokhotov revealed the precautions he still takes to make sure the same doesn’t happen to him...
Metro •

'Four kids screamed p*** at me on a packed London train - no-one came to help'

A mum who was called a ‘p***’ on the Elizabeth Line by four schoolkids says other passengers turned on her for trying to report them.
Mum-of-two Sophia was on the way home from an event when she heard the young children shouting racist abuse at her.
She told Metro that when she tried to stop the train and told other passengers, they merely shrugged ‘so what?’ and ‘they’re just kids’.
Sophia, whose parents came to the UK from Pakistan decades ago, said the confrontation left her paranoid and afra...