Gavin Guffey was 17 when he was targeted by a ‘sextortionist’ on Instagram. His father Brandon has spent four years fighting for justice, and for social media companies to do more to safeguard young users

What were the last words Brandon Guffey said to his son Gavin? Four years on, he still struggles with this question. “That last exchange, it bothers me constantly,” he says. “I think I said, ‘Goodnight, buddy. I love you,’ and he said, ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’ I sincerely hope that’s what I said. The truth is, I’ll never know for certain.”

The exchange happened in 2022, on a hot July in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where, just weeks before, Guffey had won the Republican ticket to stand for the state’s House of Representatives. The election was three months away, Guffey’s head was buzzing with politics, and he’d spent that evening at a local event.

I had worked for 25 years, married and started a family. But a crisis at the supermarket reminded me there was something missing from my life

In 2021, at 42 years old, I had the reading age of a four-year-old. I had spent my life up to that point not being able to read and write, navigating the world with careful planning and the help of my wife. During the Covid lockdowns, however, the world turned upside down and my usual way of going through life exploded. My wife was home-schooling our 10-year-old son and I was ashamed to not be able to help; my usual work as a lorry driver was put on hold, and even simple tasks like shopping had become incredibly difficult.

I became overwhelmed one day in the supermarket aisles trying to find a milk that my wife and son could drink, since they are both allergic to dairy and soy. I worried I might poison them. It hit me that the way I had been living my life previously could not continue.

Tom Watson has said ‘mob rule’ must not decide public contracts. Perhaps he should take a look at his new employer

What a world we live in. Imagine: gangs dragging civil servants off commuter trains and beating them up because they handed government data jobs to the wrong contractor – and the government is changing its procurement decisions as a result. Well, OK, it might not have happened yet, but it’s only a matter of time. As the former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson asks: “Do you want to let the rule of law lead procurement practice, or do you want mob rule to lead procurement practices?” No, I absolutely don’t want the latter, and it’s always good to get ahead of trouble.

But then I remember there are two common meanings of mob rule. One is intimidation by crowds of thugs. The other is a pejorative term for democracy. And while I’ve yet to see government procurement practices in the UK determined by pitchforks and flaming torches, democratic transparency could be a genuine threat to certain contractors. One might have hoped that Watson, who once took on the Murdoch empire, would have recognised the distinction. But then again, one might have hoped that Watson would not have taken a job as a senior vice-president at Palantir.

Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp paid £10k at auction for Epstein’s address book. He then used it to co-author a thrilling account of the swinging 60s – and an intimate portrait of a tormented man whose life was unravelling

The email from Sotheby’s might easily have gone unread. Despite his deep appreciation for the musical heroes who came before him, Gary Kemp is not a collector of rock memorabilia. But there, among the auction lots, was something that caught his eye: a 160x100mm black Twinlock binder that once belonged to the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein.

The listing detailed 57 pages containing 404 entries, many handwritten by Epstein himself, cataloguing the social and business network of the Liverpudlian impresario in 1967, the year of his death. Kemp immediately recognised this was much more than simply an address book: it was a who’s who of 60s London at its swinging peak, from David Bailey and David Frost to most of the Rolling Stones. “I just thought, ‘I’ve got to have this. I’ve got to hold it,’” he says. “It’s got DNA on it.”

Drawing on dozens of interviews with intelligence and police officers across two continents, a Guardian investigation reveals the murderous cost of our insatiable appetite for cocaine

Read more: Latin American organised crime ‘may operate in 16 European countries’
Explainer: What is state capture and why does it matter?

As abductions go, few have been more brazen. Alan Jalloh was with two friends outside Goodies supermarket, frantic as usual with late afternoon shoppers. Rush hour in downtown Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, was under way with familiar gusto.

A black Toyota Rav4 forced its way through the Peninsula highway traffic. Witnesses describe burly white men leaping out, yanking on balaclavas. Jalloh, 40, seemed to freeze. As did his two friends, one a famous Freetown footballer. All three were dragged into the waiting SUV. None of them have been seen since.

From finding draughts to buying a thermal leak detector – there are simple, cost-effective ways to start sorting heat loss

• How to storm-proof your home, from roof tiles to garden fences

Pick a day when there is a good breeze, and heat the house to its usual temperature. Then wander around with a candle or smoke pen (about £20). Alternatively, buy a thermal leak detector. This flashes blue for cold, green for normal and red for warm.

Russell Brand back in Southwark crown court today where his rape and sexual assault trial begins

Taking jurors through the third allegation, Karmy-Jones said Brand pulled another woman into a toilet during an incident at a bar in Soho in 2004.

The third complainant was “not so lucky as to be able to pull away”, the prosecutor said.

She continued to resist saying, ‘I’m not coming in there, don’t be silly. Are you mad? Get off,’ and she managed to pull herself away, and to release his grasp.

At that point he gave up and went into the toilet, and she left the area.”

Outage of terminals managed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX comes as Russia launches ballistic missiles at Ukraine without any advance warning from US

Ukrainian soldiers in combat have suddenly had their access to Starlink satellite internet terminals restricted as the Trump administration has increased pressure on Ukraine to halt long-range strikes on Russia’s oil industry immediately.

The terminals, which are distributed and managed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, are a key component of Ukraine’s military operations and the sudden restrictions on the terminals travelling at high speeds on Tuesday evening led to the failure of several combat missions, said an adviser on military technology to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Yorkshire and Thames among providers facing penalties for missing performance targets, but bills could rise elsewhere

• Business live – latest updates

Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and other providers could be forced to cut tens of millions of pounds from household bills after the regulator said they had missed performance targets.

Customer bills at Yorkshire Water could fall by £27 on average, while those at Thames could decrease by £7, according to estimates by Ofwat, the regulator of the privatised industry in England and Wales.

Prime minister will face questions from leader of the opposition and other MPs

Reform UK has hit back at the Conservative party in the ongoing row about Nigel Farage’s comments about the Chagos Islands. (See 9.56am and 10.01am.)

As Tony Diver from the Telegraph reports, after the Telegraph published its story last night there was some briefing from inside the Trump administration critical of Kemi Badenoch for attacking Farage on this issue.

After @genevieve_holl reported this last night, various sources in the Trump administration who are supportive of Farage said Badenoch was needlessly trying to cause a political row (per @katyballs @MrHarryCole) and accused her of undermining the Anglo-American relationship.

It is possible that these people are particularly sensitive about this topic because they are still considering buying the islands, as @connorstringer and I reported earlier in the year. Domestic opposition to the idea of the US running Chagos in the UK would be a problem for the White House.

Calamity Kemi Strikes Again.

Kemi Badenoch has risked causing a diplomatic row with Britain’s allies, all because she cannot control the Tory spin doctors around her that oversaw the disastrous premierships of Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Theresa May, and even David Cameron.

Kemi and the Conservatives cannot be trusted by the Chagos people.

If they really have interest in the Chagos, why would you have started negotiating about things you already own?

We are confused at why @KemiBadenoch is attacking @Nigel_Farage …

We understood Nigel Farage’s comments to mean that we would get perpetual use of the base, which, frankly, we’ve always had.

The Good Friday agreement came about not just because of exhaustion and people being weary of violence. It was also – somebody started imagining something better, and they saw themselves and each other in a different kind of way.

People ask me sometimes how I can still be hopeful. It’s an assertion. It’s a practice. It is me saying: this is how I prefer to live.

The Good Friday agreement is still a shining example of what can happen when people put aside old wounds and choose peace.

But as we have seen in many countries, including in my home country the United States, peace and democracy are not inevitable. They have to be chosen, again and again.