A growing confrontation between Israel and Turkey over influence in Syria is posing a serious challenge for Syria's fragile new government.

On Wednesday night, Israel bombed several military targets in Syria, including two airports – Hama military airport and the T4 base near Homs.

Syria's foreign ministry said the bombardment virtually destroyed the Hama base. A prominent Syrian human rights group said four defence ministry employees were killed, and a dozen other people injured.

The air strikes hit Syria, but their real target was Turkey.

Shortly afterwards, Israel's foreign minister accused Turkey of playing a "negative role" in Syria, and Israel's defence minister warned Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, that he would "pay a very heavy price" if he allowed "hostile forces" to enter his country.

Ankara is currently negotiating a joint defence pact with Sharaa's new government, and there have been widespread reports that Turkey is moving to station aircraft and air defence systems at Syria's T4 and Aleppo airbases.

Some analysts compared Israel's intense air strikes on Hama airport this week with the much lighter bombing on the edge of the T4 base, suggesting that Turkey may have already moved some equipment there and that Israel was calibrating its attack to avoid a full-blown escalation.

Relations between Israel and Turkey have nose-dived since the Gaza war began in October 2023, with Ankara introducing trade restrictions and accusing Israel of genocide.

That regional tension is now playing out on new ground in Syria.

After the air strikes on Wednesday, Turkey's foreign ministry accused Israel of destabilising the region by "both causing chaos and feeding terrorism" and said it was now the greatest threat to the security of the region.

But foreign minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters news agency that his country was not seeking confrontation with Israel, and that Syria could set its own policies with its southern neighbour.

Syria's new leader has repeatedly signalled that he was not looking for confrontation with Israel. Soon after sweeping President Bashar al-Assad from power last December, he told the BBC that Syria would not pose a threat to any country.

He has even left the door open to normalising diplomatic relations with Israel in the future, telling the Economist last month that Syria wanted peace with all parties, but that it was too early to discuss such a sensitive issue.

His top priority since taking power has been to unite a bitterly divided Syria, and pacify external relations with its neighbours, while he cements his power and control.

But Israel has not made that easy. Its military interventions in Syria are fuelling conflict with both external powers like Turkey, and with internal groups like jihadists in the country's south.

Once an implacable enemy of Syria's former president and his Iranian ally, Israel is also suspicious of Sharaa, a man who once led the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda and whose new government is backed by Turkey.

Since he took power, Israel's military has repeatedly pounded Syrian weapons stores, airfields and other military sites left by the former regime, to avoid them falling into enemy hands, it says.

It has also occupied a demilitarised buffer zone, set up after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and has sent forces onto the Syrian side of a nearby mountain, setting up nine bases across the area.

Israeli troops are also making regular incursions into Syria's south-western provinces, vowing to prevent the presence of any armed groups or government forces there.

Earlier this week, the local government in the southern city of Deraa said nine civilians were killed in an Israeli bombardment, during the deepest incursion there yet by Israeli forces.

Another four people were killed in Israeli shelling near the village of Koya late last month, after local gunmen tried to stop the advance of Israeli forces there.

Since then, mosques in both Deraa and Damascus have reportedly called for jihad against Israeli forces.

Charles Lister, head of the Syria Programme at the US-based Middle East Institute, which studies the region, has counted more than 70 ground incursions into south-west Syria since February, describing this as "an extraordinarily dangerous moment – and an unnecessary one".

Since the fall of Assad four months ago, he says, not one attack has targeted Israel from Syria, the country's security forces have intercepted "at least 18 weapons shipments destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon, and dismantled at least eight formerly Iranian-linked rocket launch sites".

Many Syrians are disappointed by Israel's response to their new government. They watched for years as Israel targeted the Assad regime, and believed that Assad's fall would bring the chance for a less confrontational relationship with Israel.

Some say that view is now changing.

"We used to believe that the Israeli army was only targeting Assad's regime forces," said Ismail, a restaurant owner in the west of the country. "But its continued, incomprehensible bombings are sadly making us think that Israel is an enemy of the Syrian people."

Syria is vulnerable because its internal divisions are easily inflamed by regional and global interventions. The roots of sectarian conflict run deep here, nourished by decades of repressive rule by the Assad family, members of Syria's Alawite minority.

Ahmed al-Sharaa's attempts to reassure the country's minorities were interrupted in early March by an explosion of violence in Syria's coastal region – a stronghold of the former regime.

At least 1,000 Alawite civilians or disarmed fighters were massacred by pro-government forces, after government units were ambushed in a co-ordinated attack led by remnants of Syria's former armed forces.

Those former armed forces were once backed by Iran. Some analysts believe their remnants may still be receiving some support from Tehran.

Syrians celebrated the fall of Bashar al-Assad as an end to their civil war, and a chance to unite.

But outside powers helped fuel that civil war for more than a decade, and its neighbours are now eyeing the vacuum left by Assad. The risk is growing that Syria will again fall victim to the conflicts of outside powers, played out on Syrian soil.

Russell Brand has been charged with rape, indecent assault and sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.

The charges relate to four separate women.

The comedian and actor has been interviewed multiple times by police since an investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4's Dispatches in September 2023 revealed multiple serious allegations against him.

The 49-year-old has previously denied the allegations, calling them "very, very hurtful".

The Metropolitan Police's detective superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: "The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.

"The Met's investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police. A dedicated team of investigators is available via email at CIT@met.police.uk.

"Support is also available by contacting the independent charity, Rape Crisis at 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line."

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Mobile bin collection points in Birmingham have seen mile-long queues as residents try to get rid of their uncollected rubbish.

There were traffic delays around Woodgate Valley Park on Friday after Birmingham City Council opened a mobile site at 07:45 BST. The move was amid the all-out strike, which was declared a major incident on Monday.

Elsewhere, striking bin workers, who are members of Unite the Union, claimed they were "threatened" with arrest and fines if they continued to delay bin lorries leaving a depot in Tyseley.

The council previously said Unite was stopping them from operating a contingency service, which would allow them to make one bin collection to every household a week.

One person, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC there was a large police presence in the area earlier.

He said: "Waggons started to make their move out of the front gate and nobody was allowed to hamper them.

"I was told anybody getting arrested today was facing a £1,000 fine per person."

During the all-out strike that began on 11 March, it has been claimed workers on the picket line have walked slowly in front of the bin lorries being driven out.

Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab said the only thing that would end the strike was for the council to resolve its "horrific pay attacks".

He said: "The council is responsible for squandering millions of pounds worth of public resources trying to fight a dispute that it could resolve at a fraction of the cost.

"It is spending more than £6 million a year on employment agency fees in the refuse service.

"It is also wasting huge amounts of valuable police time, employing security guards that have nothing to do and pouring untold resources into declaring a major incident.

"These costs dwarf what it would take to undo the pay cuts."

Councillor Timothy Huxtable for Hall Green South said a "mini tip" had been created by fly-tippers outside Tyseley Community Centre on Thursday.

He told BBC Radio WM: "I've never seen so many black bags piled up. Bags had piled up so high, it blocked the access to the play area - there were kids inside, blocked in.

"The crews did an absolutely magnificent job; they were completely overwhelmed but did the best they could by taking as many black bags off the street as possible.

"The stench was awful."

The strike has led to more than 17,000 tonnes of uncollected waste being left on the streets.

Mr Kasab told workers on the picket line: "This remains not just a dispute that is just morally and principally right but remains a dispute that has a resolution, and you can absolutely win."

William Timms, a pest controller in Birmingham, said since the strikes began, this is the busiest he has ever been.

He said: "Calls have gone up by 60 per cent. I actually pulled out a rat from a trap two weeks ago that was 22 inches in length.

"In a perfect habitat, which is what they're in at the moment, they give birth every three weeks. That's six to 12 pups per female, so we're going to be absolutely inundated."

Mr Timms said even if all the rubbish was collected, the pest issue would still linger, with the rodents likely to start nesting in residents homes or cars.

He called the piles of rubbish a 24-hour banquet and added "They have all the protein there, so they're getting bigger.

"They're the size of small kittens."

The pest controller advised residents to store their rubbish in outdoor sheds with hard floors so the rats were unable to get through.

The BBC has seen a leaked letter from Unite general secretary Sharon Graham to deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, where Ms Graham described local negotiations as a farce.

She said the government needed to stop sitting on its hands and called for the Treasury to restructure the council's debts.

Chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones denied the government was failing to act.

He added: "We've continued to support the council and its leaders in Birmingham when it was declared a major incident.

"It was right that we supported the council with that decision, and that's the decision we're having now - to understand what we can do to help resolve it with the immediate issue with the bins not being collected but also to draw a line under the dispute."

The government said Unite should focus on "negotiating in good faith, drop their opposition to changes needed to resolve long-standing pay issues and get round the table" to bring the Birmingham bin strike to an end.

A Number 10 spokesman said: "The residents of Birmingham are our first and foremost priority, and as you will have seen, the local government minister Jim McMahon was in Birmingham yesterday meeting council leaders and commissioners to discuss the council's response and make sure this is being gripped.

"Following that meeting, police have installed barriers at the picket line to prevent waste lorries being recklessly blocked from leaving the depots this morning to start dealing with the backlog.

The BBC has contacted Birmingham City Council for further comment.

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.

Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.

When sent the posts, Reform UK said that Mr Hartley had been suspended and that the party had "withdrawn all support for his candidacy".

Jimmy Savile was one of Britain's biggest TV stars between the 1960s and 1990s and was known for raising millions of pounds for charity.

After his death in 2011, he was revealed to be one of the UK's most prolific sexual predators.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Hartley said he had doubts over whether the allegations made by victims against Savile were true.

Hundreds of victims have said they were abused by Savile including on BBC premises, in hospitals, schools and children's homes.

The NSPCC said Savile had been one of the most prolific sex offenders in its 129-year history.

Mr Hartley will still appear on the ballot paper as a Reform UK candidate, as his suspension was announced after candidate lists were published.

But within an hour of being sent the posts by the BBC, Reform UK confirmed he no longer had the party's support.

A Reform UK spokesman said: "Mr Hartley has been suspended as a member and is now not a Reform UK candidate.

"We have subsequently withdrawn all support for his candidacy."

The party's leader Nigel Farage said previously that candidates would be vetted ahead of the local elections.

Mr Hartley said he thought it was "fair enough" that Reform UK had suspended him over the posts.

He said: "I may have forgotten to tell them about my Twitter [X] account, which I use sporadically when I just want to vent.

"I understand Reform have got to be careful."

• A full list of candidates standing in the Banbury Hardwick ward can be viewed on the Oxfordshire County Council website.

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.

The UK is expected to have its hottest day of the year so far on Friday as temperatures could reach 23C (73F) in some areas.

The warmest weather is expected to be in the west of London out towards Oxfordshire and the south Midlands, and could be hotter than Marbella and Ibiza in Spain.

Cardiff in Wales could see the mercury rise to 21C, while Scotland and Northern Ireland are set to be cooler - around 10C in Edinburgh and 15C in Belfast.

Temperatures are forecast to fall this weekend as cooler air moves down from the north. England's south coast will be warmest on Saturday with an expected high of 21C, while Sunday will peak nearer 17C.

The highest temperature recorded so far this year was 21.3C in Northolt, west London, and Chertsey, Surrey, on 20 March - but that figure is expected to be beaten on Friday.

Last month was the sunniest March in England since records began in 1910, according to the Met Office. It was also very dry, with the UK's rainfall total just 43% of the usual amount.

Average temperatures for this time of year are about 12C (53F) in England and 10C (50F) in Scotland, but parts of southern England hit highs of 20.7C on Thursday and 20.1C in the Scottish Highlands.

Speaking on Thursday, Met Office forecaster Dan Stroud said much of the UK "is looking at another fine and dry spring day", adding that while there will be "a lot of warm sunshine on offer", there will be some "cool temperatures near the east coast".

It is expected to be slightly cooler at the weekend, with winds expected to remain strong.

The public is being urged to avoid lighting fires outdoors over concerns they could spread bringing a risk of wildfires due to the warm, dry conditions.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said on Wednesday that there was a "very high to extreme risk" of fires spreading.

The fire service has tackled blazes this week near Bonhill in West Dunbartonshire and in the Kilpatrick Hills near Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire.

Elsewhere, more than 126 acres (51 hectares) were left charred after a fire at Upton Heath in Poole shortly before midnight on Wednesday, and a second fire broke out at nearby Canford Heath on Thursday morning.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said the fires were both "down to human intervention".

In England there were 185.8 hours of sunshine in March, the Met Office says, the country recorded its sixth driest March and Wales its fourth driest since records began in 1836.

The UK exported nearly £60bn worth of goods to the US last year, making it one of the most important markets for thousands of British businesses.

After President Donald Trump announced a 10% tariff on nearly all UK products, we spoke to businesses from some of Britain's biggest exporters to find out what it could mean for them.

Food and drink: 'We've got fewer orders than normal'

The UK food and drink industry exports a couple of billion pounds worth of goods to the US every year, satisfying Americans's taste for specialist products like smoked salmon, Scotch whisky and artisan cheeses.

Adam Sopher, co-founder and chief executive at Joe & Seph's, the London-based luxury popcorn-maker, says the mere spectre of tariffs had already been affecting the business.

US retailers usually place their orders for Christmas early in the year, but it's had far fewer orders than normal as retailers wait to see what happens.

Joe & Seph's made £8m in sales last year of which 2%-3% came from the US. "So it is not huge," says Mr Sopher. "But the US is the biggest popcorn market in the world so we had planned that a lot of our growth would come from there."

As a consequence, he says, it's now planning to focus on growing its exports to the Middle East and Asia.

However, the 10% tariff was not as bad as he was expecting and US importers aready have to pay a 5.8% tariff on Joe & Seph's goods when they reach American ports.

"So essentially what's happened is we're going to go from 5.8% to 10% as opposed to zero to 10%," says Mr Sopher. It is also lower than the new US tariffs levied on other countries, such as the 20% tax on the European Union.

"Ironically it could be a good thing," he says. "These retailers who would have sourced from Europe might now say 'actually we'll buy more from the UK."

Chemicals: 'We're hoping there is an opportunity'

For something not visible to the naked eye, organic chemicals are a huge US export for the UK, totalling close to £3bn last year.

They are used across a massive range of industries from food to make-up to engines and into agriculture.

Rather than feeling fearful about the US tariff, Robinsons Brothers reckons it may help the West Bromwich-based organic chemicals firm wrestle back American customers from cheaper overseas rivals.

Chief executive Adrian Hanrahan says: "We supplied a lot more to the US but China and India knocked us out of that because of very low pricing."

Under Trump's new regime, China's imports face a 34% tariff while India's products will be taxed at 27%. Robinsons Brothers chemicals are already taxed at 6% when they reach the US

Mr Hanrahan says he is still trying to nail down whether the new 10% US tariff on UK goods means Robinsons Brothers' American customers will be paying an additional 4% or a total 16%.

"Either way, it is a lot less than China or India will see going into the US," he says. "So I am really hoping and seeing an opportunity for us here in one area."

He says that since January, the company has been receiving more enquiries from the US, including two customers Robinsons Brothers lost five years ago "at great expense".

At the moment, Robinsons Brothers derives between 1.5% and 2% of total sales - which reached £24m last year - from America.

This "doesn't seem a lot" says Mr Hanrahan but they are high margin products.

There are, of course, concerns that rival countries may have to dump products once destined for the US on other markets, such as the UK which, in turn, could drive down domestic prices.

Mr Hanrahan says: "I am hoping that the UK government is preparing for that and putting something in place to mitigate any form of product dumping in the UK and in the EU."

Aircraft: 'It's as clear as mud'

UK exports to the US linked to aircraft totalled £2.2bn in 2024, official figures show.

DPS Designs contributes a small - but important part - to that industry. The Forest of Dean-based firm makes metal moulds that are used to create plastic sections of airplane seats.

The US is DPS's biggest growth market. Around £150,000 worth of sales come directly from the US out of a total £3m.

The company's managing director of engineering, Sebastian Down, says the firm will negotiate with its customers "to see if we can share in the pain" of the new 10% tariffs - once he deciphers what they apply to.

"The amount of detail is paper-thin," he said.

DPS Designs has already had to grapple with the ambiguous language used by the White House around tariffs, after Trump announced 25% trade tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to the US. The company uses aluminium to make its moulds.

"There was no-one you could speak to so it relied on me going onto the US department of whatever website, trying to look at lots of detail that basically didn't exist," he says.

Ultimately, the aluminium tariff does not apply to his business. But the new 10% tariff criteria isn't clear either. Does it, for example, apply to parts that make up a product or only to the finished article itself?

"It is as clear as mud," says Mr Down.

Vehicles: 'We may have to raise prices'

The US market for British-made cars is of enormous consequence for the UK economy. Last year, the UK exported £9bn worth to America.

The sector was already reeling from Trump's previously announced 25% US tariff on cars and light vehicles.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, says: "These tariff costs cannot be absorbed by manufacturers, thus hitting US consumers who may face additional costs and a reduced choice of iconic British brands."

With Trump's announcement on Wednesday of 10% US taxes on nearly all UK imports, the net will now widen to include the likes of electric motorcycle-maker Maeving.

Seb Inglis-Jones, co-founder and co-chief executive of the Coventry company, says that sales from the US are "ever evolving". Last month, for example, 68% of sales came from America though typically, the US makes up about 40% of its £6m annual turnover.

Mr Inglis-Jones says that the US has helped counterbalance a less-than-optimistic economic outlook in Maeving's other key markets such as the UK, France and Germany.

"In the US, there's just more disposable income and so with a slightly more discretionary purchase like ours, a slightly more expensive British built electric motorcycle, Americans are just way more able to spend that money."

He says that Maeving recently raised prices in the US, not as a pre-emptive move before tariffs but because the cost of doing business in the States had increased.

Will the company now lift prices again?

"We haven't got that far," says Mr Inglis-Jones. "I think we care more about, as a young EV [electric vehicle] company, about the growth and making sure the price is right for the US customer.

"If we can't stomach it, we will have to put the prices up again."

"When I heard about it and I saw her name, I thought 'that's not that woman - that's not the same woman that we've lived by all these years'."

That was how a resident of a cul-de-sac in Liverpool described the moment she learned her neighbour for more than 30 years - Joanne Sharkey - had been charged with the 1998 killing of her baby boy.

Another neighbour said when police first arrived at the family's "immaculate" semi-detached house in July 2023, she had thought one of the lodgers they sometimes hosted must have been in trouble.

It simply did not make sense that someone like "kind, funny and normal" council worker Joanne Sharkey could have committed a crime.

But the truth was detectives had, finally, cracked a cold case that had lingered unsolved on the books of Cheshire Police for 25 years.

On Friday Sharkey was handed a two year prison term, suspended for two years, after a judge concluded her post-natal depression had impaired her judgement so severely the case "called for compassion" rather than punishment.

For Sharkey the past quarter of a century had, in her own words, been spent "waiting for that knock on the door".

In March 1998, a man walking his dog in the Callands area of Warrington, Cheshire, spotted something wrapped in two knotted bin-bags.

Inside was the body of a newborn baby boy, weighing 7lbs 5oz.

With no immediate clue where he had come from, local people gave him the name Callum, after the Callands area where he was found.

Around 20 miles away in Croxteth, Liverpool, his mother had not told a soul - including her husband Neil Sharkey.

Not only had Sharkey hidden the birth and death of Baby Callum, but no-one had ever known she had been pregnant.

Mr Sharkey would spend the next 25 years oblivious to the fact he had fathered a second child.

Years later, it was older son Matthew, born in 1996, who inadvertently unlocked the mystery of Callum's identity.

• Mum who killed baby in 1998 gets suspended sentence
• Depression led mum to kill baby after secret birth

In the days after Baby Callum's discovery, tests found wads of tissue paper had been inserted into his mouth and throat, confirming it was not likely to have been an accident.

Forensic investigators found blood from the baby's mother on the binbags and were able to extract a full DNA profile.

A list was drawn up of teenage girls who had been absent from three local schools around the time of Baby Callum's death so their DNA could be tested.

A number of young women were even arrested after their families suggested to detectives they might be involved.

But the original investigation stalled, and the years rolled on.

In 2016, the first review of the national DNA database was ordered, resulting in a list of hundreds of names of potentially linked people.

Some attempts had been made to narrow it down by the time Det Insp Hannah Friend took on the case in 2021.

Early in the case, detectives were "thrilled" when a name caught their attention. It was someone who lived near where Callum was found and had been spoken to by the original investigation team.

But they had not given a statement or had their details recorded properly.

"We thought maybe this is somebody who slipped through the net and as it turned out it wasn't at all," Det Insp Friend said.

"We were all so disappointed because we thought we'd solved it."

Red herring

After two years of ruling out potential suspects from the original list, Det Insp Friend made the decision in 2023 to run a new trawl of the national DNA database.

She was confronted with a fresh list of roughly 500 names, and, in her words, a new search for "a needle in a haystack".

But this time was different - amongst the names was Matthew Sharkey.

Initially his name was one among several interesting DNA profiles which were sent to a forensic scientist for more detailed comparison with Baby Callum.

A few months before Joanne Sharkey was arrested, Det Insp Friend got an email from that scientist with the subject heading: "Are you sitting down?".

The email confirmed Matthew Sharkey was a direct relative of Baby Callum, with a one in 36 billion likelihood of him not being.

Det Insp Friend said: "We were able to identify a woman who we thought was the mother of Callum - and that was Joanne Sharkey."

The investigation team were at pains to be as sure as they could be that they had the right person before moving in - as the next step was a devastating one.

"I didn't want to be walking through that door and destroying people's lives", Det Insp Friend said.

Joanne Sharkey was sitting on a couch in pink pyjamas bearing the word "mum" when police went in on 28 July 2023.

Bodyworn camera footage showed her listening to the arresting officer, wide-eyed but quiet and compliant.

Gesturing towards her stunned husband, she told the arresting officer: "He doesn't know anything about this."

With no evidence at that stage about how Callum had died or at whose hands, both parents were arrested.

A court later heard that, unbeknown to them, they were recorded as they sat in the back of a police car on the way to the custody suite.

Sharkey said to her husband: "I'm not... going to deny nothing. It is what it is, isn't it? I... did it."

In hours of police interviews, Sharkey explained how in the summer of 1998 she had become pregnant for a second time.

In the grip of severe but undiagnosed post-natal depression following the birth of Matthew, she said her reaction had been "I can't do this again".

She told police she had been "terrified" to see news coverage about Baby Callum and think "that was me".

"It's haunting, something you think about every day," she said. "You try and push it out but it creeps back in."

Early on, she had been unsure if she was pregnant, but there were no doubts from around five months in.

She told police her husband's long hours and shifts meant they had been "strangers in the night" and it had not been difficult to hide her growing bump by wearing baggy clothing.

In a remarkable statement later read in court by Joanne Sharkey's barrister, Neil Sharkey himself described how he was "not the greatest husband and father" and how he "blamed himself" for what had happened.

Sharkey told police her memory was scattered with blanks about Callum's birth - but she recalled how Neil and Matthew must have been out of the house.

She also could not recall precisely what she did to end his life, only that she felt she "just had to make him quiet".

Medical evidence suggested Callum had likely been subjected to some form of mechanical asphyxiation.

Sharkey described driving aimlessly until she came to the spot near Gulliver's World theme park where she dumped Callum's body.

Promise kept

It later emerged she was spotted on that day by a retired man out for a walk who remembered a woman emerging from the woodland looking visibly upset.

From this point, the questions left were complex legal and medical ones.

Was Joanne Sharkey capable of forming a rational judgement when she killed Callum, and was she guilty of murder or manslaughter?

The evidence from psychiatrists commissioned by both the defence and the prosecution all pointed the same way - Sharkey's mental illness meant she had a partial defence to murder.

Det Insp Friend said: "My responsibility as an investigator is to follow the evidence and to develop that evidence so we can seek the truth.

"My personal feelings about [Sharkey]? You wonder on one hand how anybody could do this to a beautiful child, a precious child who deserved to live.

"On the other hand I think, how awful to be in this situation where you think that is the best and only option that you have."

Sharkey's fate was decided at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday morning by judge Mrs Justice Eady, who decided the sentencing exercise "called for compassion".

She was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years, with a requirement for mental health treatment.

For Det Insp Friend and her team, that promise made by Callum's graveside in 2021 had been fulfilled.

She added: "We will, once sentencing has concluded, go back to his grave to lay some flowers and just pay him our respects and I hope that he can rest in peace."

Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.