Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Couple contest conviction over selling unsafe hand sanitiser during Covid

Big Living, its directors Jeewan Sagu and Rajika and another business were found guilty of failing to adopt measures required under the General Product Safety Regulations.

Couple contest conviction over selling unsafe hand sanitiser during Covid

Directors of a Birmingham-based wholesaler have contested their conviction over supplying “unsafe” hand sanitiser during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the product supplied by Big Living Ltd was advertised to have 80 per cent alcohol, some containers allegedly had less than 30 per cent of the ingredient.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that the company produced the sanitiser by re-branding it under the trademark name Chemist Plus.

Big Living along with its directors and married couple Jeewan Sagu, 41 and Rajika, 36, and another business Desktop IT Ltd were convicted of four offences.

They included placing an unsafe product on the market and failures to adopt measures required under the General Product Safety Regulations.

However, the defendants’ lawyer Mohammed Latif had denied Sagu deliberately misled trading standards and said the shortcoming was due to “a combination of mismanagement, neglect and failure to focus on what was clearly an important aspect of the investigation”.

The sentencing was scheduled to take place Thursday (6) but the case has now been adjourned to August 7 next year for a four-day appeal hearing.

Prosecutor Mark Jackson said, "They were convicted at the magistrates' court but have appealed the conviction.

"However the defence made the representation to the court effectively submitting that the conviction appeal should take place before anyone is sentenced”, Jackson, who represented Birmingham City Council, said.

"It seems to us aside from our preference that it makes logical sense," Jackson said.

More For You

Rochdale grooming case

They were all remanded in custody, except Bashir, who absconded before the trial began. (Photo: Greater Manchester Police)

Seven men convicted of raping 13-year-old girls in Rochdale grooming case

SEVEN men were convicted on Friday in the UK’s latest grooming trial, after a jury heard that two girl victims were forced to have sex “with multiple men on the same day, in filthy flats and on rancid mattresses”.

Jurors at the court in Manchester, northwest England, deliberated for three weeks before finding the seven men, all of whom are of South Asian descent, guilty of rape.

Keep ReadingShow less
karan-thakar

Karun Thakar is a leading textile collector with a lifelong focus on Asian and African textiles

Karun Collection

Karun Thakar Fund to support textile research with scholarships and grants

THE KARUN THAKAR FUND, established by textile collector Karun Thakar in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), supports the study of Asian and African textiles and dress through scholarships and project grants.

The fund offers one-time Scholarship Awards of up to £10,000 for university students worldwide focusing on any aspect of Asian or African textiles and dress. Undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students from any accredited university are eligible, provided their research or practice is clearly linked to these areas. The next round of Scholarship Award applications opens on 1 May 2025 and closes at 23:59 on July 15, 2025.

Keep ReadingShow less
Asian leaders recognised in King's birthday honours list

Professor Jagtar Singh (Photo: Facebook)

Asian leaders recognised in King's birthday honours list

ASIAN health workers, academics, charity workers and campaigners are among those who have been recognised in the King’s birthday honours list announced tonight (13).

More than a thousand recipients have been awarded for their exceptional achievements, with a particular focus on those who have given their time to public service, according to the Cabinet Office.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India

A view shows the wreckage of the tail section of an Air India aircraft, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, which crashed during take-off from airport in Ahmedabad. (Photo: Reuters)

Air India crash: Probe focuses on engine and flaps; safety checks ordered for 787 fleet

THE INVESTIGATION into the Air India crash that killed more than 240 people is focusing on the aircraft's engine, flaps, and landing gear.

The Indian aviation regulator has ordered safety checks on the airline’s entire Boeing 787 fleet, reported Reuters.

Keep ReadingShow less