The tribunal found that the nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital suffered harassment from their NHS trust, with the "effect of violating the dignity of the claimants and creating a hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment for them". The nurses took County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust to an employment tribunal over a policy that allowed their colleague, Rose Henderson - who was born male but identifies as a woman - to use the facilities. Rose Henderson had used the room since starting at the hospital as a student in 2019. The complaints from other nurses began in 2023. "Women were in distress - their dignity and privacy was being violated," Bethany Hutchinson, one of the nurses who brought the case, had told Sky News. "Women should be allowed to have safe single sex facilities. Particularly when you're just about to start a shift - we have to undress to our bra and knickers. It's not appropriate to have a biological male in there." The tribunal upheld the complaint of indirect sex discrimination as it concluded that by permitting a trans woman to use the female changing room, the trust was in breach of health and safety laws and had "infringed the claimants' right to respect for private life" under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The employment tribunal concluded that Rose Henderson had not personally harassed or victimised the claimants. The tribunal also rejected the claim that the trust had victimised the claimants. A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: "We are taking time to review the judgment carefully and will comment further once we have had the opportunity to consider it in full." Responding to the ruling, Bethany Hutchison, Darlington nurse and president of the Darlington Nursing Union, said:"This is a victory for common sense and for every woman who simply wants to feel safe at work. "Women deserve access to single-sex spaces without fear or intimidation. Forcing us to undress in front of a man was not only degrading but dangerous. "Today's ruling sends a clear message: the NHS cannot ignore women's rights in the name of ideology. "We stood up because we knew this was wrong. No woman should be forced to choose between her job and her safety. "This ruling is a turning point, and we will keep fighting until every woman in the NHS is guaranteed the dignity and protection she deserves." Rose Henderson had said the nurses were guilty of "direct discrimination and harassment that has created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment, due to my protected characteristics". The nurses' claim included allegations that Rose Henderson had harassed colleagues inside the changing room. One of the nurses, Karen Danson, told the tribunal that Rose Henderson repeatedly asked her whether or not she was getting changed yet - and said this triggered a panic attack due to prior trauma. Rose Henderson denied the allegations. The case was originally brought by eight nurses but one had to withdraw due to ill health. The Darlington case is one of the first to test out in the courts the Supreme Court's landmark judgment in April 2025. The ruling in For Women Scotland vs The Scottish Ministers defined 'woman' as someone who was born female. The judgment has already had a far-reaching impact on transgender people and the use of single sex spaces. In late 2025 both Girl Guiding and the Women's Institute announced they would no longer accept transgender girls and women as members. In December 2025, Scottish nurse Sandie Peggie only won part of a tribunal case against NHS Fife following a transgender colleague's use of a female changing room. The tribunal found the trust had harassed her Ms Peggie, but dismissed all of her claims against her trans colleague Dr Beth Upton. Campaigners for transgender rights have criticised both the Supreme Court judgment and the way it has been interpreted. Dr Victoria McCloud was the UK's first transgender judge, who is now mounting a legal challenge against the judgment - arguing that trans people were denied the opportunity to give evidence to the court. "It simply isn't the case that the law says you must exclude trans women from changing rooms, lavatories, places like that," Dr McCloud told Sky News. "The Supreme Court wasn't asked to, and didn't make any decision about women's spaces. I don't know any sensible lawyers who would say the For Women Scotland judgment was in any way clear." In Dr McCloud's view the judgment has been "wilfully misinterpreted" to exclude trans people from single sex spaces, leading to a rise in abuse against the transgender community. "Some people have been scared to leave their homes," she told Sky News. "As a trans woman, I'm just at much at risk of rape as anyone else. We have been monstered, and aliened." The government is yet to publish official guidance around the use of single sex spaces following on from the Supreme Court's decision meaning the debate continues on, both inside and outside the courts.

The Emmy Award-winning actor, 68, made his first court appearance on Wednesday over allegations he sexually abused two boys on the set of a ​television series. Busfield appeared remotely via a video link from jail a day after turning himself in - when he was taken into custody in Albuquerque on two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse. The judge ordered Busfield to be held without bond. Prosecutors allege Busfield groomed and sexually abused the children. An arrest warrant was issued for Busfield on Monday, who turned himself in to the Albuquerque Police ‌Department on Tuesday and was booked into the Bernalillo County jail without bond, said Nancy Laflin, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office. In a video posted online shortly before his surrender, Busfield ​called the allegations against him "lies" and said: "I'm going to be exonerated. I know I am." "I did not do anything to those little boys," he said during the 45-second clip. In November, he told investigators he probably had physical contact with the boys on occasion, like tickling or picking them up, but in a playful manner with others present, according to a sworn statement. He also suggested the parental claims were an act of revenge after producers decided to replace the children in the series. Read more from Sky News:Sting paid Police for hit song24 star accused of assaultJulio Iglesias sex allegations Busfield became a household name as a ‍White House reporter on The West Wing, which ran from 1999 to 2006, after making his name playing an advertising agency executive in the 1980s ABC ensemble series Thirtysomething. His wife Melissa Gilbert is best known for gaining fame in the 1970s as a child actor on the hit family drama Little House On The Prairie.

Robert Jenrick has defected to Reform after Kemi Badenoch found some evidence and unceremoniously sacked him. It was a bombshell, every which way. That one of the biggest names in the Conservative Party and a leading shadow cabinet minister was preparing to defect was a mega moment with huge reverberations. That Badenoch pushed him before he jumped was too. By flushing out her rival and effectively expelling him from the party on her terms, Badenoch managed, in the moment to turn this crisis into a opportunity, catch Nigel Farage and Jenrick off guard, assert her authority and frame Jenrick as treacherous and opportunist. "She's blown him apart," one Jenrick-backing MP told me. "It's been seen as a sign of strength. She got ahead of it, and is getting credit for being decisive." But beneath this short-term bounce is potentially a much deeper cratering - because the departure of Jenrick from the Conservatives will be looked back on as a defining day. Beyond the spectacle of what looked like an episode of The Traitors playing out in Westminster in a highly dramatic day, this moment will be looked back on as a defining one in the battle for the British right. Badenoch and many of her colleagues might be relieved that Jenrick, who had been constantly shadow boxing the leader since losing out to her just over a year ago, has left the party. "I don't want to lose people, but if people are actively damaging the party, they cannot stay," Badenoch told me in an interview yesterday. "Rob is clearly a problem, but he's not my problem, he's Nigel Farage's problem now." But he is likely to be a much bigger problem for them on the outside rather than in the tent. Because this wasn't just a psychodrama between a leader and her rival - the tale of Badenoch and Jenrick was a much bigger story about the battle for the right in British politics between the oldest political party in the world, the Conservatives, and the disruptive newcomer Reform. Jenrick laid down that gauntlet in the hastily scrambled defection announcement when he declared to the country that the Conservative Party "broke Britain" and was a "rotten party" that was "no longer fit for purpose". Read more:All the former Conservative MPs who have defected to ReformEx-Tory chancellor defects to Reform Badenoch might have blunted that message by surprising her enemy in this battle, but Jenrick's departure is an inflection point in the much bigger war on the British right. Because in the steady drip of defections from the Conservatives to Reform, Jenrick isn't just a splash - he's a cannonball, and the ripples of this watershed day will travel deep and wide. How this war plays out will set the ground for the 2029 general election. There are those on the right who think the only way they get back into government is through a pact between the Conservatives and Reform. But that sort of accommodation between the two sides now seems almost impossible to see with this amount of bloodletting: This appears to be a fight to the death and Farage is building his army. But Badenoch shocked all of us on Thursday morning - including Farage - when she dropped this bombshell video sacking Jenrick, because she said she had evidence he was going to defect and badmouth his colleagues. In doing that, in seizing the moment and surprising her enemies, she managed to turn what would have been a clear crisis into almost an opportunity as she took the momentum, showed the political authority and pushed Jenrick out before he jumped. What's the fallout? I was talking to Tory MPs on Thursday, and whether they were fans of Jenrick or fans of Badenoch, and there is common agreement that she has seized the political authority in all of this. In the bigger picture, Jenrick was a sitting shadow cabinet minister, one of the biggest faces of the party, and he has defected to Reform. What does that say about Badenoch's leadership? She is battling Farage not only at the polls but also within her own party - and there could be more defections yet.

Red Bull and junior squad Racing Bulls became the first teams to launch their 2026 looks as they celebrated their new engine era at the Detroit headquarters of partners Ford on Thursday night. For the first time since joining the Formula 1 grid in 2005, Red Bull are manufacturing their own engine - in collaboration with US car giant Ford - to coincide with the introduction of new regulations for both power units and chassis. F1 2026: Testing, calendar, line-ups, new regulations, how to watch on Sky SportsWhen are F1's 2026 car launches?Download the Sky Sports app for expert analysis, best video & more📱Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW📺 Max Verstappen was in attendance as he prepares to attempt to regain the drivers' title, having had his streak of four successive world championships ended by McLaren's Lando Norris last year. Verstappen has another new team-mate, with French 21-year-old Isack Hadjar having been promoted following a hugely impressive rookie campaign with Racing Bulls. Red Bull said the RB22's livery marks "a return to the gloss finish first seen when the team made its debut back in 2005." A team statement continued: "Formula 1 is about to enter a new era, as the sport's technical regulations undergo a seismic change. This is also a defining moment for Oracle Red Bull Racing, because the opening round of the season in Melbourne will mark the official race debut of Red Bull Ford Powertrains, as the team now builds both car and power unit under the same roof for the very first time. "To acknowledge this bold move, the RB22 will wear a livery inspired by Red Bull's original look in F1. It harks back to a more classic Red Bull Racing presence, sharpening reflections, boosting contrast under the lights and making heritage elements of the new livery feel richer and more premium at speed." Mekies: We are going to be trailing Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies is embarking on his first full campaign at the helm of the team after replacing Christian Horner in July last year. The Frenchman admits that he doesn't expect the team to start the season in contention for victories as they adjust to the challenges of producing their own engine. Speaking ahead of the launch, he told Sky Sports News: "We know it's going to come with some difficulties. We know we are going to have quite a few sleepless nights and a few headaches, but please bear with us for the first few months. "Nobody underestimates the size of the mountain that we have to climb. It's the sort of challenge we all want to be associated with, and hopefully eventually we will come out on top. "I think it would be naive, to say the least, for us to think that yes, we have done everything from zero - with great support from Ford - and then we turn up at the first race and we are the same level as people that have been doing it for many years. "It's not going to be like that. We are going to be trailing them, we are going to be in an incredibly high development rate season, both on the chassis side and on the power unit side. "We believe in our people, and therefore the fact that we've put together what we believe is an extremely strong team with extremely strong partners." Red Bull were struggling to compete with constructors' champions McLaren during the 2025 season, but made an extremely strong finish as Verstappen won six of the final nine grands prix to finish the season just two points behind Norris. "You have seen last year on a season that as the last year of a regulations cycle, you could still see how much the team could do through the season in terms of development," he said. "Well take that for 2026 multiplied by three or four in terms of development rate, certainly for us in terms of how much we have to learn. So we take it step by step but with he right level of aggressiveness." A new era for Red Bull Not only are Red Bull manufacturing their own engine, but they are also starting a season without either Horner or Dr Helmut Marko for the first time since joining the grid in 2005. Horner was relieved of his duties as team principal and chief executive in July amid a slump in form and, surely more importantly, unrest off-track amid a struggle for control of the Milton Keynes outfit. Horner's exit initially appeared to be a good sign for long-time Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko, but the Austrian was also shown the exit door at the end of the 2025 season. Mekies appeared to make an almost instant impact both on and off the track, helping oversee Verstappen's surge back into title contention and also quieting some of the noise around the team with a slightly less confrontational approach than his predecessor. While legendary designer Adrian Newey's exit from Red Bull was confirmed back in May 2024, this will also be the first car that is produced without any involvement from him. Given the huge amount of unknowns going into the new season, it would therefore be a major achievement for Red Bull to be anywhere near the battle for titles. The problem facing the team in the event they are unable to compete at the sharp end is Verstappen, and whether he can be convinced that the good times will soon return and to wait for them. When is F1 pre-season testing? The introduction of new regulations means there is a robust schedule of three separate testing events before the start of the 2026 season. The first is a behind-closed-doors event in Barcelona from January 26-30, before two tests follow in Bahrain from February 11-13 and 18-20. When is the first F1 race? The teams then have two weeks to prepare for the opening round of the season, which is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne from March 6-8. The first practice sessions of the season will take place on Friday 6 March, with Qualifying on Saturday 7 March and the opening race on Sunday 8 March. Watch all 24 race weekends from the 2026 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - No contract, cancel anytime

Robert Rhodes refused to attend his sentencing - because he maintains his innocence. Addressing this directly Judge Mrs Justice Ellenbogen said the defendant had now added "cowardice" to his list of characteristics. The 52-year-old carpenter from Withleigh, Devon, was convicted of murdering his estranged wife, Dawn Rhodes, by slitting her throat with a knife at their family home in Redhill, Surrey, in June 2016. He was previously found not guilty after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2017, where he convinced jurors that he had acted in self-defence during an argument. Police started to seriously doubt these claims when the couple's child came forward with new evidence in 2021, initially disclosed in therapy, that Rhodes had killed their mother and that they were involved in the murder too. The child, who was under the age of 10 at the time of the murder, told Surrey Police they had been coerced into helping Rhodes kill her, and that they were manipulated by their father into lying about the true version of events. The child's new testimony meant Rhodes's acquittal was quashed in November 2024, and permission was granted for a rare retrial in 2025, where the jury unanimously found him guilty of murdering Dawn Rhodes. After more than 22 hours of deliberation, Robert Rhodes was also found guilty of child cruelty, perverting the course of justice, and two counts of perjury. Previously, a person could not be retried for the same offence after being cleared. But the double jeopardy law in England and Wales changed in 2005 to allow a second trial for the most serious of offences, including murder, if new and compelling evidence came to light after a verdict. The retrial at Inner London Crown Court heard how the plot to kill involved the child - who cannot be named for legal reasons - telling their mother that they had drawn her a picture. She was then told to close her eyes and hold out her hands, before the child left the room, and Rhodes came in to murder her. On 2 June 2016, police found Dawn Rhodes lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood with her throat cut to the extent that all the structures in her neck had been severed. During the retrial, eight years later, the court heard how the marriage had been in difficulty prior to Dawn Rhodes's death, and Robert Rhodes had filed for a divorce. Both Robert Rhodes and the child were found with knife wounds at the scene, which were initially claimed to have been inflicted in an attack by Dawn Rhodes at the original trial. Robert Rhodes said they were injured after she "flipped like the Hulk" during a row at their family home. At the second trial, jurors heard that these wounds were actually part of a "cover-up", to make it look like the pair had sustained self-defence wounds. After he killed his wife, Rhodes self-inflicted two wounds to his scalp before instructing the child to inflict two more on his back. He then cut his own child's arm so deeply that it required stitches under general anaesthetic. The child was under the age of criminal responsibility at the time, and holds no criminal responsibility for their role in the attack. They told police that during supervised contact with Rhodes in 2016 and 2017, while he was on bail after being charged with murder, he had told them that they had "got some things wrong" and continued to give them instructions to stick to the plan. Rhodes even hid a phone at his mother's house for when the child visited, on which he would leave messages for the child, reminding them about the agreement they had. 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 alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Prosecutors with Spain's High Court have opened preliminary proceedings into the complaint lodged by women who used to work for him in the Caribbean. In a post written in Spanish containing his signature and published on his Instagram page, the Spaniard said he denied "having abused, coerced or disrespected any woman. These accusations are completely false and cause me great sadness". He said messages of support had given him "great comfort". The women said he was guilty of human trafficking for ​forced labour and servitude, sexual abuse and violations of workers' rights, ​according to Women's Link Worldwide, the campaign group which filed the complaint on their behalf. It comes after Spanish online newspaper elDiario.es and Spanish-language television channel Univision Noticias published a joint investigation into Iglesias' alleged misconduct following a three-year investigation. Women's Link Worldwide described the complainants as ‌young Latin American women "in vulnerable situations who were ⁠heavily dependent on their wages due to ‌their economic and social conditions". Identified under the pseudonyms Rebeca and Laura, they worked in the singer's homes in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas for 10 months in 2021, the group said. The investigation reported that Rebeca described being "used" almost every night by Iglesias and that she felt like "an object, like a slave".She described one of the star's residences as a "little house of terror because it is a nightmare - something truly horrible".Laura described the working environment as "uncomfortable", with workers in a "constant state of alert" where Iglesias "normalised abuse". Formal allegations against Iglesias were filed with the court earlier this month. The court has not provided any details of the case, which is subject to secrecy rules. Read more on Sky News:Their children died following a viral trend - now they're suing TikTokTrump just got something he badly wants The star's record label, Sony, has declined to comment on the allegations. Iglesias, 82, is one of ‌the world's best-selling Latin artists, with more than 300 million records sold in 14 ​languages, and is the father of Hero singer Enrique. After making his start in Spain, he has built a large following in the US.

Speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Davidson said she thinks there will even be a "mini bounce" within the Tories over how Kemi Badenoch handled his defection to Reform on Thursday. The Conservative leader sacked Mr Jenrick from her shadow cabinet and ousted him from the Tory party after being shown a speech he planned to - then did - make as he defected to Nigel Farage's party. "Not a lot of people [in the Tory party] are that sad that Robert Jenrick's gone," she said. "I mean, that might well be just because nobody likes to think well of somebody that left you, but I mean, no tears, crying." 👉 Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈 Ms Badenoch was defiant moments before Mr Jenrick announced his defection, telling Rigby: "Rob is clearly a problem, but he's not my problem. He's Nigel Farage's problem now." Baroness Davidson said that response "was pretty strong and she came across as decisive". "I've been critical of Kemi Badenoch in the past, but you know, she didn't ask him to stay, she didn't try and negotiate with him," she said. "She knew exactly what needed to be done. "And I think she's probably going to have a little bit of a mini bounce within the party because of the way she's handled this." Read more:Robert Jenrick has gone from centrist Remainer to ReformI'm ashamed of Starmer, says rebel Labour MP There have been suggestions Mr Jenrick wanted to replace Ms Badenoch as leader, and was hoping to do so after the May local elections. But Baroness Davidson said: "This suggests to me that if Jenrick really thought Badenoch was going to be out after May, he would have stuck around to be part of the next leadership."

Kane did not score in Bayern's come-from-behind 3-1 win. As such, he has fallen off the pace in his bid to break Robert Lewandowski's single-season scoring record. The Pole once managed 41. At the halfway stage, Kane is now on a measly 20 from 17 matches. But as the third goal in Cologne shows, there is much more to his magnificent game than goals. He was spraying passes from deep throughout. The second goal came from a corner won after a counter-attack which was sprung by him winning the ball in his own box. Got Sky? Watch Bundesliga games LIVE on your phone📱No Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW📺 Bayern legend Lothar Matthaus summed up the feeling in a recent column for Sky Sports. "A lot was expected of him, but Kane has exceeded all expectations." He has scored twice as many goals as any other player in the Bundesliga so far this season. He has still scored the most goals from open play, the most goals from the penalty spot and even the most goals from fast breaks. At 32 years old, he is surely football's finisher supreme, still finding the corners with remarkable accuracy. And the numbers back that up. The expected-goals data shows that while Morgan Rogers and Harry Wilson are on hot streaks from distance in the Premier League, it is Kane who is clear of the rest in Europe when it comes to finding the net more than he should from the shots that he is having. There are many different forms of leadership in football and the impact of this should not be underestimated. One recalls a conversation with Marco Neppe, Bayern's technical director at the time of Kane's signing. He saw it as a factor in bringing him in. "With Harry in the dressing room, you know as a player that this is a player who can change the whole match in a second," Neppe explained. "Because he is a goalscorer and he does not need five metres to do it, just a second, just a situation and he scores." Kane has always been cold in front of goal, but regular observers detect a change in him. He has grown into this role. "The way that he conducts himself on and off the pitch is a completely different Kane than the one we signed two years ago," says Matthaus. Jurgen Klinsmann too has always praised Kane for the way in which he has settled into Bavarian life. "He is just himself. He is humble. He is down to earth. And he focuses on what is most important, and that for him is scoring goals." But others still wanted more. Speaking to Kane after he scored the winner against Stuttgart in the Supercup back in August, he seemed aware that Thomas Muller's exit put more of an onus on him. "He was a big character but that gives other people opportunities to step up and be that leader." The feeling is that he is taking that responsibility. Certainly, on the pitch he is doing far more than scoring goals. In the narrow win over Borussia Dortmund in October, he opened the scoring but caught the eye more for his defensive work late in the game. As for his creativity, it is tempting to think that Klinsmann has it the wrong way around when he talks of "a system where he is getting fed by the attacking midfielders" because it is often the case that it is Kane, with his extraordinary passing range, who is feeding them. This aspect of his game was long overlooked. Bayern supporters knew that they would be getting goals. But not the rest of it. "He was brought in as a goalscorer to fill Robert Lewandowski's role, but Kane is so much more than that for the team," says Matthaus. Jahmai Simpson-Pusey experienced that first hand in Cologne. The young English defender on loan from Manchester City was making his home debut and dealt well with what was a daunting assignment. He has trained with Erling Haaland. Kane is different. "It is hard because he drifts so deep," said Simpson-Pusey afterwards. "When he is up top, hopping around, we can shuffle across and manage him but when he drops into that deep space and he is flying balls left, right and centre, it can be a problem." Indeed, when Kane roams, it might appear to be a break for his markers but the danger remains. He can hurt teams from anywhere, ranking in the top 10 in the Bundesliga for through-balls and big chances created. Not the numbers of an out-and-out striker. Given all that, is it somehow possible that Kane, England's captain and all-time record scorer, remains underrated in his own country and beyond? It is not unusual to hear chat of Jude Bellingham and others being the real key men for Thomas Tuchel's England. But while there are a plethora of attacking midfield options, with all due respect to Ollie Watkins, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Danny Welbeck, England possess perhaps the most complete centre-forward in world football. That point can hardly be overstated. Maybe his relentlessness has left many numb to his numbers, blinded by his brilliance. The longevity is remarkable but even his position in the Ballon d'Or voting almost makes being world class look mundane. Seven times on the shortlist. Never higher than 10th. He has achieved that ranking three times, in 2017, 2018 and 2024. For context, that first shortlist of 30 featured Gianluigi Buffon and Sergio Ramos. The strikers included Luis Suarez, Radamel Falcao, Edinson Cavani, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Edin Dzeko. Only Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappe were also on that 2017 list and the 2025 one. What will it take for Kane to make the podium? It would probably require glory in the Champions League or at the World Cup - but this year offers possibilities for him in both. His club and his country are second favourites to claim those prizes. In the meantime, all he can do is to keep delivering. He scores goals and he sets up goals for his team-mates. It is what he has been doing for over a decade now. And still exceeding all expectations.