![Image]( "Armed robbery gang members jailed")
Members of one of Britain's biggest networks of armed robbery gangs have been jailed.
The 17 raiders were among 30 career criminals being sentenced for their roles in raids that netted watches and jewellery worth more than £3.5 million.
The crooks were so prolific they undertook a robbery almost every fortnight for 16 months as they targeted shops across southern England. Gangs of three or four men dressed in white overalls and balaclavas and used sledgehammers and axes to smash their way into jewellery shops.
During some of the raids the thieves armed themselves with knives, a gun, a hammer, CS spray and a Taser stun gun.
Kingston Crown Court was told 34 raids were carried out across southern England, London, the West Country and East Anglia between January 2008 and May 2009.
On one occasion a gang travelled to Antwerp to commit a robbery during which they fired CS spray at passers-by and the shopkeeper. They also targeted motorcycle dealerships, tying up staff and loading motorcycles into stolen vans before using the machines as getaway vehicles.
The five masterminds were James Stewart, 28, brothers Billy, 28, and Danny Johnson, 29, Anthony Bado, 28, and John Chambers, 35.
Stewart, Bado, Chambers and Billy and Danny Johnson were convicted of carrying out 18 conspiracies to commit robbery and 16 counts of conspiracy to burgle.
Stewart, of Maidstone, was jailed for 14 years; Bado, of Bournemouth, was jailed for 12 years; Chambers, of Bromley, was jailed for nine years and nine months; Billy Johnson, of Peckham, was jailed for 10 years and eight months and his brother Danny, also of Peckham, was jailed for 11 years and four months.
Others jailed were men aged between 20 and 50 from Eltham, East Dulwich, New Cross, Brockley, Forest Hill, Nunhead and Greenwich. They were imprisoned for between four-and-a-half-years and 15 years. One man received 17 months in a young offenders institution.
The second highest number of anti-Semitic incidents was recorded last year, a Jewish security charity said.
More than 639 reports of bigoted violence and abuse were received last year by the Community Security Trust (CST).
They included street attacks, hate mail, threats, and the vandalism and desecration of Jewish property.
The charity, which monitors anti-Semitism in Britain, said the figures marked the second worst year since records began in 1984.
They were a significant fall on 2009, when 926 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded, fuelled by the ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces.
But researchers said they continued a long-term trend of rising numbers of physical and verbal attacks against Jews.
Mark Gardner, of the CST, said: "Anti-Semitism is not the most important thing in British Jewish life, but there is clearly a significant problem. The CST, police, politicians and Government will keep working in close partnership to tackle anti-Semitism and its wider causes of bigotry and extremism."
John Mann MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism, said the figures were a "sad and timely reminder". He said: "Our focus is absolute and we will continue to do all we can to ensure these numbers go down over the coming years."
The CST said the Gaza aid flotilla raid in May and prominent Jewish festivals in September led to two spikes in the number of incidents during the year. Most of the incidents took place in London (219), followed closely by Manchester (216) as well as Hertfordshire (40) and Leeds (21).
Among the incidents were 114 assaults, 83 incidents of vandalism, 385 reports of abuse and 32 direct threats.
At least three anti-government protesters in Egypt have been shot dead, witness said, after gunfire rained down on Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Protest organiser Mustafa el-Naggar said he saw the bodies of three dead protesters being carried towards an ambulance.
The latest violence, which came before dawn, followed a day of clashes between the protesters and supporters of President Hosni Mubarak, which saw three people killed and at least 600 injured.
Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday: "If it turns out that the regime in any way has been sponsoring or tolerating this violence, that would be completely and utterly unacceptable."
A Foreign Office charter flight will leave Cairo for London's Gatwick Airport later with more than 200 passengers expected on board.
Supporters of the president have been involved in running battles with anti-government protesters after they refused to leave the main square following 82-year-old Mr Mubarak's promise to step down at September's elections.
The protesters are demanding Mr Mubarak goes immediately.
On Thursday, pro-government attackers on horseback and camels charged into Tahrir Square while others rained firebombs from rooftops.
The protesters accused Mr Mubarak's regime of orchestrating the violence, using thugs and plainclothes police.
More than 200 Britons trying to leave Egypt have expressed an interest in taking Thursday's Foreign Office-chartered flight out of the country. The 220-seater Boeing 757 will depart Cairo for Gatwick.
Unmarried couples who split up after living together should have legal rights to a possible share of property and money, the country's most senior family judge has said.
Sir Nicholas Wall, the president of the Family Division, said the current system was unjust and judges should have the discretion to decide on claims.
He said the courts would be more sympathetic to a claim where the couple had been living together for a significant amount of time.
At the moment women often lose out because there is an absence of any law on the division of cohabiting couples' assets, but new laws could give judges the discretion to award maintenance payments, a lump sum or a share of property.
Sir Nicholas told the Times: "I am in favour of cohabitees having rights because of the injustice of the present situation. Women cohabitees, in particular, are severely disadvantaged by being unable to claim maintenance and having their property rights determined by the conventional laws of trusts."
He added: "If cohabitation has been short and the contribution minimal, judges would not be sympathetic to a claim."
In 2007 the Law Commission called for new legal rights for people living together in long-term relationships.
Sir Nicholas, 65, who is married with four children, said he was "disappointed" the Government had not moved to implement the reforms.
A change in the law would have to strike a delicate balance between providing similar protection to cohabiting couples as married couples and stopping short of automatic rights to property and money. A sixth of couples in Britain live together but do not marry, with the number expected to rise.
Sir Nicholas insisted the reform would not undermine the institution of marriage, which he described as "the most stable relationship for bringing up children and for support".
MPs are braced for more expenses controversy as details of millions of pounds in claims from last autumn are released.
Despite objections, the material being published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) will include requests for reimbursement that were rejected, as well as those that were approved.
It is the second tranche of expenses the watchdog has issued since it took over administration of the system from the House of Commons authorities last May.
An Ipsa spokesman said some 25,000 claims from September and October would be available on its website from 10am. In future, information will be published in arrears every two months.
There has been criticism that, while each transaction will be listed, copies of receipts are not being published.
The disclosure could also fuel anger among MPs of all parties at the tough regime imposed by Ipsa in the wake of the damaging 2009 expenses scandal.
David Cameron has branded the arrangements "anti-family", and warned that unless reforms are brought forward he will step in to force changes.
The watchdog is currently carrying out a consultation on proposals including giving MPs with families more money for accommodation, and has signalled restrictions could be loosened further in the longer term.
With negotiations over its future at a key stage, Ipsa has also announced that chief executive Andrew McDonald is taking sick leave. Mr McDonald was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year and will be away from his desk for around four weeks.
A statement issued by the watchdog said: "His prospects for a full recovery are good and he plans to return to his role at Ipsa in early March."
One of the most powerful storms recorded in Australia pulled houses apart and snapped power poles as it ripped across already flood-sodden Queensland state, leaving authorities relieved that no one was killed.
Officials had issued days of increasingly dire warnings, and said lives were spared because people followed instructions to flee to evacuation centres or bunker themselves at home in dozens of cities and towns in Cyclone Yasi's path on the north-east coast.
Hundreds of houses were destroyed or seriously damaged, and the homes of thousands more people are barely liveable until the wreckage is cleared, officials said.
The storm was as powerful as forecasters predicted - ferocious winds up to 170mph at the core, flood-inducing rain and tidal surges that sent waves crashing ashore two blocks into seaside towns.
It was not as deadly as expected, although several small towns directly under Yasi's eye were devastated, hundreds of millions of dollars of banana and sugar cane crops smashed and power to more than 180,000 homes severed.
Yasi crossed the coast around midnight at the most-destructive category five rating, and the swirling storm pattern immediately began weakening once it was over land. It was still strong enough to hold a category one cyclone rating 500 miles inland late on Thursday where it was threatening to cause flooding in the Outback town of Mount Isa.
The disaster zone was north of Australia's worst flooding in decades, which swamped an area in Queensland state the size and Germany and France combined and killed 35 people during weeks of high water until last month.
But the storm added to the state's woes and is sure to add substantially to the estimated 5.6 billion Australian dollars (£3.5 billion) in damage since late November.
"We will meet the damages bill from the federal budget. It will require cutbacks in other areas, there is no point sugar-coating that," prime minister Julia Gillard said in Canberra. The government has already announced a special tax nationwide to help pay for the earlier flooding.
Queensland premier Anna Bligh said several thousand people would be temporarily homeless due to the storm, and Red Cross Australia and local governments were working on registering people in need and finding places to house them, including among volunteers.
The new parliamentary expenses regime is "impeding" MPs in doing their jobs and must be reformed within the next two months, the Leader of the House of Commons has said.
In a highly critical statement, Sir George Young said the system set up by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) was "failing in many respects" to support the Commons.
Certain "highly unsatisfactory" aspects of the reformed expenses are "at best distracting, and at worst impeding" the work of MPs.
The new system is deterring people from less affluent backgrounds from becoming MPs and putting "undue pressure" on the family lives of existing parliamentarians, he said.
In a submission to the annual review of the new scheme, Sir George called for improvements to be agreed, if not introduced, by April 1.
His intervention came as Ipsa published the latest tranche of MPs' claims. MPs had 154 claims for expenses rejected by the body between September 15 and the end of October. They were collectively worth £15,352.49.
Another £3,641,081.09 was paid out in legitimate claims to 622 MPs in September and October.
Ipsa has incurred the wrath of hundreds of MPs since being set up to administer their expenses in the aftermath of the 2009 scandal.
Sir George said: "I believe that the current expenses scheme, as designed, implemented and administered by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, is failing in many respects adequately to support MPs to undertake their responsibilities.
"In addition, some aspects of the new regime are in danger of deterring people from less affluent backgrounds from becoming - and in some cases remaining - Members of Parliament and are also placing undue pressure on some MPs' family lives."
A former Labour MP accused of fiddling his parliamentary expenses asked a stationery company to confirm he had paid for orders when he never did so, a jury has been told.
Jim Devine allegedly requested that invoices be stamped to say money had been "received with thanks" before the orders were paid for.
The 57-year-old, who was MP for Livingston, is on trial at London's Southwark Crown Court accused of falsely claiming almost £9,000 from the public purse.
Jennifer McCrea, the retired secretary of Armstrong Printing Limited in Clackmannanshire, said on one occasion Devine said his request was "a matter of urgency".
She said customers often asked for an invoice to be "receipted", as confirmation a payment had been made. This was indicated on the paperwork by the words "received with thanks" being stamped on it. But she said Devine made his request before any money was paid or the printing job was done.
She told the court about a telephone conversation the former Labour MP, who had an account at the firm, made to her in March 2009.
"He was asking for an invoice for future work," she said. "He asked for it to be made out for around £2,400. There was no detail for what actually was going to be printed.
"He asked for it to be receipted. If someone asks for a receipted invoice they want acknowledgement that that particular invoice has been paid."
She said she could not process his request, so passed it on to the company director, Billy Lochie.
Devine, of West Main Street, Bathgate, West Lothian, denies two charges of false accounting.
The friend of a paratrooper who gave his life trying to save another has paid tribute to him amid emotional scenes as his body was repatriated to the UK.
Private Martin Bell, of 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, died after he disobeyed a direct order so he could give aid to a wounded friend on January 25.
He was the 350th British serviceman to die since operations in Afghanistan began in 2001.
The 24-year-old, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, was flown into RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, where a private service was held for his family before the cortege passed through nearby Wootton Bassett.
Hundreds of people joined his family and friends in lining the town's High Street in tribute. Pte Bell's mother, Elaine, was supported by his two brothers as she wept for her son. She laid a red rose on top of the hearse and waved goodbye as it slowly drove away.
Paratroopers from the training regiment in Harrogate also came to pay their respects for a man they said made the "ultimate sacrifice".
Pte Bell was south of Nahr-e-Saraj in Helmand province when he was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED). He had been rushing to help the second of two of his friends injured by separate devices that day.
Private Stephen Mann of 2 Para - the same platoon as Pte Bell - was on leave when Pte Bell was killed. On Thursday, the 29-year-old travelled from Reading to say goodbye to his friend, who he said carried out "a very human" act.
"Professionally he was an outstanding soldier, very switched on and very dedicated," said Pte Mann. "He was disobeying an order not to go to a casualty and provide aid, but he did so anyway and in doing so he paid with his life - but that was Martin all over - he would never just sit there and watch one of his friends suffer if he thought he could do something about it.
"I don't think there are many people that could see their friend in pieces and just obey an order to stay put when they think they could get to their friend and help them. Some more than others, and Martin was certainly the sort of bloke that would get up and try to go and help if he thought he could do anything for his friend."
David Cameron has joined with other European leaders to step up the pressure on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to end his 30-year rule and give up the reins of power.
In a joint statement, Mr Cameron and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Spain said the process of transition to a new, broad-based government "must start now".
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office said it is chartering a second aircraft to bring home Britons stranded in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
Following Wednesday's violent clashes between supporters of the beleaguered president and demonstrators demanding change, the European leaders said the right to peaceful protest must be respected.
"We are watching with utmost concern the deteriorating situation in Egypt," they said in their statement. "The Egyptian people must be able to exercise freely their right to peaceful assembly, and enjoy the full protection of the security forces. Attacks against journalists are completely unacceptable.
"We condemn all those who use or encourage violence, which will only aggravate the political crisis in Egypt. Only a quick and orderly transition to a broad-based government will make it possible to overcome the challenges Egypt is now facing. That transition process must start now."
Their statement echoed calls by the White House which has been demanding that America's old ally - who has said he will not stand for election again in September - should begin the process of political transition immediately.
Mr Cameron's official spokesman said: "We will continue to use all channels to bring pressure to bear on the regime."
With the protesters continuing to claim that the pro-Mubarak supporters who attacked them in Cairo's Tahrir Square were thugs hired by the regime, Downing Street again warned that such behaviour is unacceptable.
The Foreign Office said that it had decided to charter a second aircraft due to "the continuing fluidity and unpredictability of the situation in Egypt", adding that it will leave Cairo on Saturday.
A woman who worked as a nanny for Ann Summers boss Jacqueline Gold has admitted attempting to poison the lingerie tycoon with screen wash.
Allison Cox, 33, who was hired by Ms Gold to look after her daughter Scarlett at her mansion in Whyteleafe, Surrey, contaminated food which had been prepared for the millionairess by her chef in an attempt to get the other member of staff into trouble.
Appearing at Guildford Crown Court, she pleaded guilty to one charge of administering poison with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy.
Cox was originally charged with a further two counts of attempting to poison Ms Gold with sugar and salt, but the indictment against her was amended during the hearing.
Prosecutor Rachel Davies said Ms Gold, who she referred to as Ms Cunningham, was not harmed after eating the food laced with screen wash on October 5 last year.
She said: "The harm wasn't physical. It was anxiety really that this was happening to her."
Giving a brief outline of the case, she said: "There was, it appears, some animosity from the defendant towards the cook which then caused the defendant to put certain articles including the screen wash and the salt and the sugar into certain food items that were consumed by Jacqueline Cunningham.
"She put it into the food to cause the cook to be questioned about it."
Alistair Harper, for the defence, said Cox was of previous good character.
Adjourning sentencing until March 4 so that reports could be prepared, Judge Christopher Critchlow said she would get credit for pleading guilty but all sentencing options remained open. Cox, of East Grinstead, West Sussex, was given continued unconditional bail.
Human rights rulings make the UK a "safe haven" for suspected foreign terrorists, the independent reviewer of anti-terror laws has said.
Lord Carlile said the rejection of the Government's argument that the risk of ill-treatment of foreign nationals deported on suspicion of being involved in terrorism needs to be balanced against the threat they pose if they were to remain, caused problems for the UK.
"The effect is to make the UK a safe haven for some individuals whose determination is to damage the UK and its citizens - hardly a satisfactory situation save for the purist," he said.
In his annual review of counter-terror legislation, Lord Carlile backed the Government's attempts to deport suspected foreign terrorists with assurances over their treatment once returned home.
But he warned that it was a "time-consuming process, requiring assurances that are public, credible and reliable".
Even once agreed, "there is no guarantee that the courts will accept them, given the relatively low legal threshold required for an individual to avoid deportation", he said.
The Government has argued that, where a person seeks to resist removal on the grounds of the risk of ill-treatment in their home country, this may be balanced against the threat they pose to national security if they remain.
It also argued that, if the person poses a risk to national security, this should affect the standard to which he must establish the risk of ill-treatment.
But both arguments were rejected by the European Court of Human Rights, said Lord Carlile, adding: "This leaves the UK reliant on DWA (deportation with assurances) arrangements."
Arrangements currently exist with Algeria, Jordan, Ethiopia, Libya and Lebanon, although the latter may need to be renegotiated "in the light of political developments there", he said.
Tweeting is to be allowed from hearings at the highest court in the land.
Supreme Court justices are "content" for journalists, members of the public and legal teams to use "live text based communications" to let the outside world know what is happening in the courtroom.
Guidance has been published by the Supreme Court on its practice relating to the use of tweeting and other forms of communication in the "context of ongoing public and professional debate on the issue".
The green light has been given as cases before the court do not involve interaction with witnesses or jurors, and because there is rarely any reason why what is said should not be placed immediately in the public domain.
But a statement announcing the guidance pointed out: "Important exceptions include cases where there are formal reporting restrictions in place, family cases involving the welfare of a child, and cases where publication of proceedings might prejudice a pending jury trial.
"Those attending such cases will be informed by notices placed at the doors of the courtroom that restrictions are in place."
Lord Phillips, President of the Supreme Court, commented: "The rapid development of communications technology brings with it both opportunities and challenges for the justice system. An undoubted benefit is that regular updates can be shared with many people outside the court, in real time, which can enhance public interest in the progress of a case and keep those who are interested better informed.
"We are fortunate that, by the time a case reaches the Supreme Court, there is very seldom any reason for any degree of confidentiality, so that questions about what should and should not be shared with those outside the courtroom do not usually arise.
"This means that we can offer a green light to tweeting and other forms of communication, as long as this does not disrupt the smooth running of the court."
The guidance is limited to the Supreme Court because of its unique role as the highest appeal court in the land. Different considerations apply to other courts, for a range of legal reasons.
New cases of flu have fallen dramatically and are now at levels that would usually be seen outside the winter flu season.
The amount of flu has declined across the UK and is below baseline levels in England, Wales and Scotland, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA).
Over the last week, the number of GP consultations in England has fallen to 24.1 per 100,000, down from 40.7 per 100,000 in the previous week.
This is below the baseline for flu activity of 30 consultations per 100,000. On December 30, the peak level was 124.4 per 100,000.
The data also shows that 395 people have now died from flu in the UK since September, up 57 on the figure for the previous week.
Most of these 57 newly-recorded deaths from flu have occurred over the past six weeks.
Flu type B remains the dominant strain in circulation, having taken over from swine flu. There are a few sporadic cases of flu type A.
Professor John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the HPA, said: "Our latest flu report shows that levels of flu activity are now below baseline levels in England, Wales and Scotland.
"However, our surveillance will continue and we will still be monitoring what is happening to both the levels of consultations for flu-like illness and testing viruses until the end of the season in May.
"Although the peak of flu activity has passed, there will still be some flu viruses circulating and it is important that people remember to practise good cough and hand hygiene, such as covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough and sneeze, and then disposing of these as soon as possible to stop it spreading in the community."
A judge has appealed for young people to "break the code of silence" which surrounds shooting murders.
Jailing six people including a 16-year-old boy for killing innocent peacemaker Ezra Mills, Judge Jeremy Roberts said only one had pulled the trigger but all six were convicted on joint venture because there was no evidence on who had fired the fatal shot.
The gangsters, who had terrorised a housing estate and whose members were involved in three shooting incidents, covered up for the gunman and were all given life sentences.
Judge Roberts, who was trying his last major murder case at the Old Bailey, said he was frustrated by the loyalty shown by defendants in such cases, adding: "Has not the time come for the person who pulled the trigger to stop this nonsense and save the others?"
Mr Mills was gunned down with a pump-action shotgun in an alleyway on the Central Hill estate in Gipsy Hill, south London, last March. They went after Mr Mills after he knocked on the door of one of the gang to try to sort out trouble between them and a friend.
Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said none of the gang members were in the house but were alerted by phone.
"They were armed and dangerous - intoxicated by guns and high on adrenalin. They were, quite simply, out of control," said Mr Aylett.
Marcel Mason, 21, from Central Hill, was given a minimum term of 25 years and six months. Trevelle Williams, 18, and Dwayne Lock, 21, both also of Central Hill, were given 24 years and 21 years respectively.
Robert Saint, 20, of Camberwell, was given 23 years, and David Smith, 22, of Streatham, was given 24 years.
The judge lifted an order banning the identification of Lavarne Forde-Morgan, 16, of Upper Norwood. He was ordered to be detained during Her Majesty's Pleasure and must serve a minimum of 18 years.
Members of one of Britain's biggest networks of armed robbery gangs have been jailed.
The 17 raiders were among 30 career criminals being sentenced for their roles in raids that netted watches and jewellery worth more than £3.5 million.
The crooks were so prolific they undertook a robbery almost every fortnight for 16 months as they targeted shops across southern England. Gangs of three or four men dressed in white overalls and balaclavas and used sledgehammers and axes to smash their way into jewellery shops.
During some of the raids the thieves armed themselves with knives, a gun, a hammer, CS spray and a Taser stun gun.
Kingston Crown Court was told 34 raids were carried out across southern England, London, the West Country and East Anglia between January 2008 and May 2009.
On one occasion a gang travelled to Antwerp to commit a robbery during which they fired CS spray at passers-by and the shopkeeper. They also targeted motorcycle dealerships, tying up staff and loading motorcycles into stolen vans before using the machines as getaway vehicles.
The five masterminds were James Stewart, 28, brothers Billy, 28, and Danny Johnson, 29, Anthony Bado, 28, and John Chambers, 35.
Stewart, Bado, Chambers and Billy and Danny Johnson were convicted of carrying out 18 conspiracies to commit robbery and 16 counts of conspiracy to burgle.
Stewart, of Maidstone, was jailed for 14 years; Bado, of Bournemouth, was jailed for 12 years; Chambers, of Bromley, was jailed for nine years and nine months; Billy Johnson, of Peckham, was jailed for 10 years and eight months and his brother Danny, also of Peckham, was jailed for 11 years and four months.
Others jailed were men aged between 20 and 50 from Eltham, East Dulwich, New Cross, Brockley, Forest Hill, Nunhead and Greenwich. They were imprisoned for between four-and-a-half-years and 15 years. One man received 17 months in a young offenders institution.
A four-year-old girl died in a car crash when a satnav wrongly directed her parents, an inquest heard.
"Little princess" Ariana Bardhaj was killed when an Audi A5 travelling at 45mph crashed into her parents' car.
Fernando and Trish Bardhaj, from Blackpool, Lancashire, were driving along the A6 in Blackrod, near Bolton, on September 11 last year.
Learner driver Mr Bardhaj, 30, had just taken over the driving from his wife.
Their two children, Ariana and her younger brother, Xhemil, were in the back of the family's white Vauxhall Astra when it collided with the Audi. The speed limit on the A6 is 60mph.
There is no right turn from the A6 on to Station Road where the crash happened, Bolton Coroner's Court heard, and there are clear signs at the traffic lights and before the junction. But Mr and Mrs Bardhaj told police they did not see any signs.
Sergeant Garry Lyle, the incident investigator, said: "They were following a satnav and it told them to turn right. There's plenty of signage there saying 'No right turn'. The satnav said turn right and they followed that and didn't follow the signs."
Sgt Lyle said he returned to the scene with a similar satnav and it also told him to turn right. But the inquest heard that the satnav carried a warning telling motorists to follow road signs and restrictions.
The inquest heard that the Audi hit the back passenger door and Ariana took the full force of the impact. She died in the Royal Bolton Hospital three hours after the accident. Her 18-month-old brother and Mrs Bardhaj were also injured.
Giving a narrative verdict, Assistant Deputy Coroner Peter Watson said: "The deceased died from a severe head and spinal injury sustained while she was a passenger in a motor vehicle involved in a road traffic collision."
A senior MI6 officer has warned that Britain faces a "generational" problem from home-grown terrorists who are off the radar of intelligence services, according to secret documents.
The warning came in a briefing of US congressmen who visited the UK in 2008 and was contained in a cache of American diplomatic cables obtained by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks and passed to the Daily Telegraph.
The agent said that the UK faced a "uniquely challenging" threat from foreign terrorists and British-born radicals who may undertake training for suicide attacks.
Intelligence agencies would be "hard pressed" to detect these threats, which are likely to remain a danger for a considerable time, he warned.
The warning was revealed as the independent reviewer of anti-terror laws claimed that European human rights rulings had made the UK a "safe haven" for suspected terrorists.
In his annual review of legislation, Lord Carlile of Berriew backed the Government's attempts to deport foreign suspects with assurances over their treatment once returned home.
According to the US embassy's record of the congressmen's visit, the MI6 official told them that the UK was "wholly or largely dependent" on help from the CIA and other American sources for monitoring terrorism.
And he told them that "the internal threat is growing more dangerous because some extremists are conducting non-lethal training without ever leaving the country.
"Should these extremists then decide to become suicide operatives, HMG (Her Majesty's Government) intelligence resources, eavesdropping and surveillance would be hard pressed to find them on any 'radar screen'."
The document said that the officer "described this as a 'generational' problem that will not go away anytime soon".
Labour leader Ed Miliband is to warn of a "real and legitimate fear" that today's children will have fewer opportunities for prosperity and happiness than their parents' generation.
For the first time in more than a century, there is a risk that the new generation will find it harder to get an education, find a decent job and own a home than their mothers and fathers did, he will say.
Mr Miliband will describe the expectation that every generation will do better than the last as the "British promise" - the UK's version of the "American dream" and he will say that this promise is in danger of being broken in the next generation.
Labour revealed private polling which suggests a large majority (71%) of Britons believe life will be harder for the children growing up today than it was for their parents, compared to just 9% who think it will be easier.
Speaking during a shadow cabinet awayday to Gateshead, Mr Miliband will say: "We may not have given it a name in the way that Americans talk about the 'American Dream' but it is there nevertheless.
"It is defined by the promise that each generation will pass on to the next a life of greater opportunity, prosperity and happiness. But for the first time in generations there is now a real and legitimate fear that the British promise will be broken and the next generation will have fewer opportunities and find it harder to get on than the last."
He will add: "We have always been about a society where the promise of Britain can go beyond the most affluent - that lower and middle-income families can guarantee a better future for the kids.
"So I am determined that this is the challenge which will be at the heart of the Labour Party I lead. A Britain which passes on better chances rather than worse ones to our children."
A survey of 2,374 people carried out for Labour by pollsters Greenberg Quinlan Rosner in November found rising levels of pessimism about the prospects for the younger generation, but it also found that it was the older generation who had the gloomiest view of the future.
Among under-45s, 63% of women and 60% of men thought the next generation would have a harder time, rising to 76% of women and 79% of men aged over 45.
