19 February – The
BAFTA awards take place in London.
22 February
Securitas depot robbery: around £53 million (US$92 million) is stolen from a
Securitas depot at
Tonbridge, Kent, in the largest cash robbery in British crime history.
The Prince of Wales's court case continues in the
High Court against The Mail on Sunday as he tries to prevent the publication of his journals. Various revelations have been made such as that he considers himself to be a
dissident, and his opinion of government officials in People's Republic of China whom he described as "appalling old waxworks".
13 March – Six men taking part in a clinical trial for a new anti-inflammatory drug
TGN1412 are placed in intensive care, some in a life-threatening condition, after suffering adverse side-effects.[1]
20 March – The
British Press Awards are held at The Dorchester, Park Lane, London, but boycotted by some national newspapers.
21 March –
Labour's hopes of a fourth successive term in office at the next general election (by which time
Tony Blair says he will have resigned as prime minister) are given a boost when an
Ipsos MORI opinion poll puts them 11 points ahead of the
Conservatives on 42%.
7 April –
Mr Justice Peter Smith delivers
judgment in the copyright case over The Da Vinci Code finding that Dan Brown had not breached the copyright of Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. The judgment itself contains a
coded message on the whim of the judge.[4]
18 April –
Peugeot announces plans to close the 60-year-old car factory at
Ryton near
Coventry, which it bought from
Chrysler in 1979, within the next year.
25 April – The
BBC announces that Grandstand, its flagship sports TV programme, will be phased out within the next year after nearly 50 years on air.[5]
18 May –
Kiyan Prince, a 15-year-old boy and talented footballer, is stabbed to death in
Edgware, London, while trying to break up a fight. His murderer, Hannad Hasan, will be sentenced at the
Old Bailey in 2007.
The
Lord Chancellor,
Lord Falconer, rejects calls from families of murder victims for all convicted murderers to be sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison.[9]
England go through to the World Cup quarter-finals for the second tournament in succession by beating
Ecuador 1–0 with a goal from captain
David Beckham.
30 June – Three men are convicted of plotting the execution-style murders of a middle-aged couple, John and Joan Stirland, at their home in
Trusthorpe,
Lincolnshire in 2004. The killings were in revenge for a murder committed by Mrs Stirland's son in
Nottingham in 2003. Five other men were cleared of conspiracy to murder following the trial at
Birmingham Crown Court.[11]
July
July –
European heat wave affects the UK, resulting in July 1983's record for the hottest month in
the CET series being beaten with a mean monthly CET of 19.7 °C or 67.5 °F.[12]
1 July – England's World Cup quest ends in the quarter-finals when they lose on penalties to
Portugal after a goalless draw.[13]
20 September – Television presenter
Richard Hammond suffers a serious brain injury when he crashes a jet-powered car whilst filming for Top Gear.[1]
23 September – The notable composer Sir
Malcolm Arnold dies aged 84 in Norwich.
25 September – Copmanthorpe rail crash: One man dies when the 14:25 from
Plymouth to
Edinburgh operated by
Virgin CrossCountry hits a car at about 20:55.
October
1 October – Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 comes into effect, requiring a Fire Risk Assessment for all non-domestic premises in England and Wales.
5 October –
Rt. Hon.Elish Angiolini,
QC, appointed as
Lord Advocate in Scotland. She is the first woman and the first solicitor to be appointed to the post.
13 October: European Home Retail plc and its subsidiary Farepak go into administration, leaving tens of thousands of people out of pocket for Christmas 2006.
5 November – 53-year-old Ronald Castree is arrested in connection with the murder of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed in 1975. Stefan Kiszko had spent 16 years in jail for the crime before his conviction was quashed in 1992. Castree would be convicted of the crime in November 2007.
7 November – Dhiren Barot is sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting large scale terrorist attacks in Britain and abroad. The Court of Appeal noted that Barot's "businesslike" plans would have caused carnage on a "colossal and unprecedented scale" if they had been successful.
8 November – Three men of Pakistani origin sentenced to life imprisonment for the racist
murder of Kriss Donald in Glasgow.
13 November – The legendary racehorse
Desert Orchid dies aged 27 at Newmarket.
19 November – Home Secretary John Reid attacks the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown for being 'presumptuous' and 'disloyal' for openly campaigning to replace Tony Blair as Prime Minister.
2 December – A young woman's body is found in a brook near
Ipswich; her death is initially treated as "unexplained".[24]
4 December – The woman whose corpse was found in Ipswich two days ago is identified as Gemma Adams, a 25-year-old local prostitute. Her death is reported to be suspicious and police launch a murder inquiry. There are also concerns about another Ipswich prostitute, 19-year-old Tania Nicol, who went missing on 30 October.[25]
8 December – The body of missing Ipswich prostitute Tania Nicol is found on the outskirts of the town.[26]
9 December – Police in Ipswich launch a murder investigation into the death of Tania Nicol and admit that it is likely she met her death at the hands of the same person or people who killed Gemma Adams.[27]
10 December – A third prostitute's body is found in the Ipswich area.[28]
14 December – Two more women are found dead in Ipswich and it is confirmed that both are prostitutes, meaning that the police are now investigating five murders.[29]
12 December – The
Ryton car factory closes and
Peugeot 206 production is transferred to
Slovakia, several months ahead of the scheduled closure date. 2,300 jobs are lost.[30]
18 December – A man is arrested near
Felixstowe on suspicion of murdering the five Ipswich prostitutes. He is named as Tom Stephens, a 37-year-old
Tesco supermarket worker.[31]