SWNS Jonathan Coles

A campaign tackling loneliness by encouraging strangers to strike up conversations in pubs has reached a remarkable milestone, celebrating its 1,000th event. Dean Perryman, 30, has been inviting people he has never met to join him at pubs up and down the country since December last year, as part of his Empty Chairs campaign. The founder, who lives in Stratford, East London, conceived the idea following the tragic suicide of his closest friend Rob Clancy, aged 29, just a month beforehand.

A duo of rogue roofers from South East London who conned elderly victims out of thousands of pounds by charging for unnecessary work have been jailed. Nelson Cooper and Scott Smith from Orpington, Bromley, targeted properties across Kent between September 2024 and January 2025, persuading homeowners that chimney and roof repairs were needed.