Mehmet Onal, 58, rescued an injured baby squirrel four years ago and nursed it back to health (Mehmet Onal / SWNS)
Four years ago in a Sussex churchyard, kebab shop owner Mehmet Onal, 58, found a baby squirrel with a broken leg.
Now, the two are inseparable and share Oreos, shopping trips, and what Mr Onal calls ‘unconditional love… loyalty and respect’.
Onal found the baby squirrel in Hailsham, near Hastings, in 2021. When an animal rescue could not help, he decided to nurse him back to health himself.
He said: ‘I take him to the vet and she said that by law they had to put them down.’
Onal said he and the squirrel, Alvin, share ‘unconditional love’ (Mehmet Onal/SWNS)
For eight weeks Mehmet cared for the squirrel, later named Alvin, giving him hydrotherapy until he recovered.
When Alvin was well again, Mehmet returned to the churchyard to release him, but the animal kept coming back.
‘He came running at me like a bullet,’ he said.
‘It was emotional. The way he came to him. He didn’t want to go.’
Since then, Alvin has lived with Mehmet and the pair have become best friends.
‘But some people call him a vermin because he is a grey squirrel. He is my boy. I start crying.
Police outside Spaghetti House restaurant during the siege, Knightsbridge, London, UK, 29th September 1975. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
On September 28 1975, staff at the Spaghetti House restaurant in Knightsbridge were confronted by a terrifying sight.
Three robbers had stormed into the restaurant, holding a sawn-off shotgun and two handguns demanding that week’s takings of £11,000 (£117,921 in today’s money.)
They barricaded staff in the basement and had a getaway driver at the ready.
But the plan was left in tatters after the alarm was raised by one of the managers who managed to escape their clutches.
More than 400 officers, including firearms teams, later surrounded the building. After holding the hostages for six days they were later released unharmed.
Staff at the Italian restaurant were held hostage while armed robbers tried to steal their week’s earnings(Picture: ANL/Shutterstock)
A significant number of police officers were called to the site (Picture: ANL/Shutterstock)
The armed trio were affiliated with Black action groups, later claiming the raid was a political act. But this explanation was dismissed by detectives who treated it as a robbery gone wrong. A court later heard claims that the robbery was launched to raise funds to pay off a gambling debt.
While the restaurant was once known as one of London’s go-to Italian restaurants, it closed in 2015 after the landlord decided to redevelop the block into luxury shops.
However, some locals remember how one of the most affluent neighbourhoods on the planet was transformed into a no-go zone as police with guns, shields and chattering radios surrounded the restaurant on that fateful day.
Faisal, an Egyptian pensioner who lived near the Spaghetti House and still resides in the area just 100 metres from Harrods, told Metro he was told by police to leave his flat in the aftermath of the raid.
He told Metro: ‘It was chaos. There were lots of police sirens and then they all parked up outside the spaghetti house. I used to eat there it was a great place and very popular.
Staff were left terrified during the incident, which went on for six days (Picture: ANL/Shutterstock)
To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro’s London news hub.
The front window of restaurant Spaghetti House during the siege in Knightsbridge (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
A barricade was built behind the restaurant during the six day siege (Picture: Bill Cross/ANL/Shutterstock)
‘A police officer told me to leave my flat as there was an “armed incident”. It was only the next day when I got my paper that I realised what had happened in Knightsbridge of all places.
‘Because I was not directly opposite the restaurant and in the firing line I suppose, they let me return to my flat. All of the locals watched what was going on from behind the police lines though. It was like watching a crime film, it was very surreal.’
He joked: ‘Harrods remained open but I had to go the long way round, which was inconvenient.’
A concierge at a local flat block nearby told Metro: ‘I wasn’t around when the siege happened but my dad was working round the corner at the time.
‘He told us kids what had happened. We were very shocked and he said he and his workmates had been evacuated.
‘It was a big deal at the time. When the Spaghetti House closed I suppose the memories went with it.’
The Spaghetti House seiege resulted in technology that still influences the police force’s approach to hostage situations today (Credits: ANL/Shutterstock)
The gunmen held the hostages for six days (Picture: ANL/Shutterstock)
A mobile canteen is seen serving tea to the police (Picture: Monty Fresco/ANL/Shutterstock)
While nearby residents remember the siege as a terrifying attack, for the Met Police it marked the first time they used groundbreaking fibre optic technology to monitor the scene.
Two tiny cameras were placed in the building to film the gunmen, with one being pushed through a vent, while an audio device captured their conversations as it unfolded.
As well as Met hostage negotiators, a psychologist was brought in to analyse them and their threat level.
Through the covert operation, police established the gang leader as Franklin Davies, and began to work up a profile of him.
Davies told officers during negotiations that he was a member of Black Liberation – an organisation modelled on the Black Panthers in the US.
He demanded the release of two black prisoners, even though they had already been freed.
He also requested a visit to the scene from the Home Secretary and an aircraft to facilitate the group’s escape to the West Indies.
The only concession the police allowed was a demand for a radio so the robbers could listen to the way the siege was being reported.
Although police initially categorised the robbery as a terrorist act, the Met Commissioner at the time Sir Robert Mark later dismissed any political motivations.
One of the released hostages was Enrico Maininim who is photographed with his wife after the incident (Picture: Luther Jackson/ANL/Shutterstock)
Another of the released hostages was Renata Nasta who returned to his wife who is also pictured (Picture: ANL/Shutterstock)
He later wrote: ‘From the outset it was rightly assumed that this was a simple armed robbery that had gone wrong and any attempts by Davies to represent it as a political act were received with the derision they clearly deserved.’
On October 3, the group gave up and released all the remaining hostages after previously letting two go.
A shot rang out in the building and it emerged that Davies had turned a gun on himself but he was not fatally wounded. He later stood trial alongside his two accomplices.
Davies was sentenced to 22 years while the others – Wesley Dick and Anthony Munroe – were jailed for 18 and 17 years respectively.
Former hostages return to the Spaghetti House restaurant in Knightsbridge, London, 8th October 1975 (Photo by John Downing/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Here’s what the front of the former Spaghetti House restaurant looks like today (Picture: John Dunne/Metro)
Today, the restaurant is an empty space within one of London’s prestigious postcodes, quietly sitting unused and surrounded by shops and whizzing traffic.
While motorists and shoppers passing by might be unaware of the location’s significance, its local residents and workers nearby keep the venue’s history alive.
‘I remember thinking that it was something that we only though happened in America with the armed cops on the rooftops,’ the concierge added.
‘No one really remembers it here, but it’s part of London’s history.’
What does your city like to do in bed? (Picture: Getty Images/Image Source)
Whether your sexual kink involves role play or something a little more unsavoury, like ‘cum walks’, the secret is about to be out.
The biggest sexual kinks for each UK city have been revealed after researchers trawled through Britain’s search history to expose just what get’s us going.
When it comes to Londoners, they’re pretty vanilla, but Leeds and Birmingham both seem to have a slightly unexpected fetish.
The study, conducted by porn site BabeStation, found the top search across the nation was ‘UK models’ when it came to pleasuring themselves, but when it looked at individual cities, there were some naughtier searches taking the crown.
Starting with the capital, Londoners get off on lesbian porn, with the most common search being for ‘girl on girl’ adult content.
It’s not all that surprising given that lesbian porn is also very popular with women, and it was the fourth most searched for category on Pornhub in 2024.
Londoners love getting down and dirty too, although not always responsibly, given the London borough of the City of Westminster has the highest rates of syphilis, gonorrhoea and genital warts per 100,000 people in the country.
In the south, Bristol was also fairly vanilla with ‘couples’ porn being the most searched for. But as we head to the midlands and further north, things start to head up a little.
Birmingham residents have been dipping their toes into some good old fashioned foot fetish content.
Sex therapist Aliyah Moore previously told Metro that food fetishes aren’t uncommon and that happy experiences with our feet early on in life can help shape this kink.
‘Chance sightings of bare feet, positive reinforcement during foot-related activities, or early sexual experiences involving feet could all have been factors,’ Aliyah said.
‘How the particular body part is portrayed in the media or how society views them might influence a person’s tastes and cause a foot fetish.’
A University of Bologna study found 47% percent of body part fetishists got off on feet content. Among those people preferring objects related to body parts, footwear (shoes, boots, etc.) was the second most popular, too. So if this is what floats your boat, you certainly aren’t alone.
Sheffield locals have a predisposition to MILFs, with searches for mother figures being extremely popular. It’s surprising that more cities don’t also share this as the most alluring kink, given its the second most searched for term on PornHub.
Foot fetishes are very popular in Birmingham (Picture: Getty Images)
But just an hour up the road in Leeds, locals are looking for women who have aged like fine wine, with the most searched for term being ‘grannies’.
Interestingly, Golden Age content (featuring senior men and women) was the biggest sex trend of the year back in 2023, with mature porn becoming the second most popular category on PornHub.
It was also the fifth most popular category for women, while searches for the term granny jumped 132% that year.
‘The real surprise this year is that grannies have overtaken lesbians,’ a BabeStation spokesperson says. ‘It shows just how adventurous viewers are getting.’
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Liverpudlians have the opposite preference preferring ‘college’ porn with young men and women performing for the camera. It’s a preference that has come under scrutiny, ever since Bonnie Blue began selling content by taking university students’ virginities in Freshers week.
In Manchester, locals are adopting a more-the-merrier approach, with ‘threesome’ being the number one searched for term.
This was the 13th most popular term on Pornhub last year, with the allure of a third party seemingly never getting old.
So, do you share the same kink as the rest of your neighbours?
The shooting of Cherry Groce led to two days of clashes between the local community and police (Picture: Brendan Beirne/REX/Shutterstock)
When officers arrived at the home Dorothy ‘Cherry’ Groce on September 28 1985, her family weren’t expecting how much it would change London – and the UK – forever.
They were looking for her 21-year-old son Michael, believing he was connected to an armed robbery and was hiding out at the family home in Normandy Road, Brixton.
While she was in bed, and three of her six children were at home, officers, including one armed inspector, burst into the property, leaving the family terrified.
‘It was a loud noise that made me run down the stairs – by the time I got down there were three police dogs, police rushing everywhere and one of them had a gun,’ Cherry’s daughter said at the time.
During the aggressive confrontation, the armed officer shot Cherry, leaving her serious injuries. The 37-year-old was taken to hospital but later declared paralysed from the waist downwards.
Mother-of-six, Cherry Groce, 38, at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, after she was shot (Picture: PA Archive/PA Images)
As word of the shooting spread across south London, skirmishes broke out and escalated, leading to two days of protests and riots. Tensions were already high between members of the Black community and the police after a previous uprising in 1981.
During the 1985 riot, 43 civilians and ten police officers were left injured. Cars were burnt out, shops were set on fire, looting was reported. Photo journalist David Hodgson, who was taking a photograph of the scene when he was attacked, later died in hospital of an aneurysm.
While Brixton later returned to normality, the mental scars remained in the area for decades, and Cherry’s health never recovered. She later died in hospital in 2011 of kidney failure after suffering an infection.
Demonstration march through London in support of Cherry Groce (Picture: Bill Cross/ANL/Shutterstock
Her youngest son, Lee, was just 11 when the police raided their home and shot his mother in front of him.
He said she had told officers ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t feel me legs’ after the gun was discharged.
After the death of George Floyd, who murdered by a white police officer in 2020 , the memories of what happened to Cherry came flooding back.
To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro’s London news hub.
‘She would have been appalled at what happened to George Floyd,’ he told Metro. ‘It would have probably triggered trauma for her, especially as he said the same words as her – “I can’t breathe”.
‘I know she would want things to have been better and want us to have learnt from the past. She would probably be disappointed with how slow we’ve made progress but also want to acknowledge some of the progress that has been made regardless.’
After her death, Lee set up the Cherry Groce Foundation in 2014 to help those in the community whose voices have been unheard.
People felt they were being discriminated against by the white police officers; the Black community felt they couldn’t trust them (Credits: Steve Bent/ANL/Shutterstock)
He fought for a full apology from the police for the shooting, after they initially gave her compensation but did not admit liability. The policeman who shot her, Inspector Douglas Lovelock, was charged with inflicting unlawful and malicious grievous bodily harm and later was acquitted.
Lee told Metro: ‘The uprisings in 1981 had a huge impact on the community, which I felt gave momentum to the second uprisings four years later.
‘In terms of what has changed since then, we had the Scarman report which highlighted the failures of police officers. Not everything was implemented by Lord Scarman’s recommendations, however, some things were, for instance, the Sus Law was scrapped.
The shooting of Cherry added to this tension, and soon the protests spread across Brixton (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)
‘Twenty years later, when the Macpherson report looked into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, many of the same recommendations were made all over again.’
The Sus Law, which was officially known as section 4 of the Vagrancy Act, allowed officers to stop anyone they thought was going to commit a crime. Met police officers disproportionately used them against the Black community, and they were finally scrapped in 1981.
In 2014, former Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe apologised for the wrongful shooting.
The acceptance of blame was prompted by an inquest which found that there were eight separate failings by the police during the raid and Cherry was unlawfully shot.
Aerial view of fire engines outside a burnt-out furniture warehouse on Coldharbour Lane. The shops on the left have their windows boarded up (Picture by SSPL/Getty Images)
‘Could we see what happened in 1985 happen again? Yes, we could,’ Lee said. ‘The community will only take so much and we still haven’t fully healed from the wounds of the past so therefore it makes it very, very sensitive.
‘Any type of injustice, particularly against Black people, there is always a risk that we could have another uprising, and that it why it is so important we learn, we apply and hopefully transform.’
He urged young people channel their trauma into something positive.
‘Trauma is a real thing and has a real serious impact,’ he said. ‘Some hurt people hurt people, so therefore, I would like to say to the young Londoners, seek support and secondly in your attempt to heal from trauma find purpose.
Following her death, a memorial to Cherry was erected in Windrush Square, in the centre of Brixton, and a Blue Plaque was placed on the family’s former home.
Ridge Gunessee, 33, now lives at the house and told Metro he was ‘overwhelmed’ by its significance.
Lee Lawrence, poses for a photograph in front of the Cherry Groce Memorial Pavilion in Windrush Square, Brixton (Picture: ALISHIA ABODUNDE)
‘People come to pray outside sometimes and obviously being the 40th anniversary it’s really important to remember what happened,’ he said. ‘Things are a lot better around here now, but we should not forget.’
For Lee, his mother’s strength and positivity lives on in his mind, and remains a constant source of inspiration for him.
‘She never dealt with her ordeal with negativity; she tried to stay positive. My mum tried to be the best mother that she could within the position that she was in,’ he said.
Ridge Gunessee is pictured outside of the property in Normandy Road, where Cherry’s plaque stands strong (Picture: John Dunne/Metro)
‘I’ve taken on a lot of her values in terms of how I’ve dealt with this and I want what happened to my mum to stand for something.
‘I don’t want it to be in vain, and in order for that to happen I have to ensure that I do my bit to ensure that lessons are learned, implemented and that we see the benefits.’
The Colour of Injustice, by Lee Lawrence, is published by Abacus on October 2nd. His first book The Louder I will sing: A story of Racism, Riots and Injustice won the 2020 Costa Biography award.
Handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of Junior Ryan Coleman, whose body was found in a derelict building in south-east London (Picture: Met Police/PA)
A man has been charged with murder after a missing person was found dead in a derelict building.
Junior Ryan Coleman, 43, was reported missing on August 20 and his body was found in Brockley Road, Lewisham, southeast London, a month later, on September 19.
A post-mortem examination revealed he died from a blunt force trauma to his head and a murder probe was launched the following day.
Daniel Watkis, 39, of Hackney, was arrested on Thursday and charged on Friday before being remanded in custody at Bromley Magistrates’ Court.
He is due to appear at the Old Bailey on October 24.
Mr Coleman’s family are being supported by specialist officers.
Detective Chief Inspector Sam Townsend, leading the investigation, said: ‘Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Junior during this difficult time.
‘My team are working at pace to establish the exact circumstances of Junior’s disappearance and his murder.
‘We’re appealing to anyone who knew Junior to come forward, especially if you had seen him in the summer months.
‘If you have any information, no matter how small it may seem, please get in touch. It could be crucial to our investigation.’
Google celebrates 27th birthday with nostalgic 90s logo for one day only
Google is turning 27 today and taking users on a walk down memory lane to mark the occasion with its iconic first-ever search engine logo.
The world’s best-known search engine has stepped back in time for one day to feature its original logo nearly three decades ago, providing those old enough to remember it a dose of nostalgia.
The OG logo features the classic primary colours synonymous with Google’s image, and includes an explanation mark, which has since become obsolete.
Google reverted back to its original rainbow logo, but for one day only
Google was incorporated on September 4, 1998, so the reason behind marking its birthday on September remains a mystery, though a few theories have surfaced.
Why is the search engine’s birthday celebrated today?
The company, founded by Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, was incorporated on September 4, 1998.
It’s first Google Doodle, the images and animations used to change the logo to commemorate important dates in the calendar, started before the company was incorporated.
Google headquarters in London on Pancras Square (Picture: Getty Images)
The first Doodle showed a stick figure standing behind the second ‘O’, which the founders used as a creative way to tell their colleagues they would be ‘out of office’ attending the Burning Man Festival.
This was published on Google on August 30, 1998.
September 27 appears to have stuck through chance, because that’s the date when the company first celebrated its birthday, back in 2002.
Since then, national holidays across the world, birthdays of famous figures and the anniversaries of major events such as the moon landings have all been marked with a doodle.
Google controversies
Being one of the largest search engines used globally, it is unsurprising the tech giant has been under intense scrutiny since its conception.
Police have launched a murder investigation following a fight between two men in Uxbridge, London (Picture: Google)
A murder probe has been launched after a man died following an altercation in west London.
The alarm was raised after two men were involved in a fight on Cowley High Street in Uxbridge yesterday at about 12.27pm.
Paramedics treated a 62-year-old man at the scene, but he succumbed to his injuries.
Officers have taken a 43-year-old man into custody after arresting him on suspicion of murder.
DI Richard Kempsall, who is leading the investigation, said: ‘My team are working at pace to establish the full circumstances that led to this man’s tragic death.
‘We have arrested a man and no other suspects are being sought at this time.
‘However, we are urging anyone who may have been in the area of Cowley High Street to look at any doorbell or camera footage and share anything that may be of use with police.’
However, this latest breach is an unrelated incident.
Harrods says the latest breach is unrelated to a previous incident in which hackers tried to take data from the store’s systems earlier this year (Picture: Getty Images)
A spokesperson for Harrods said: ‘We have been notified by one of our third-party providers that some Harrods e-commerce customers’ personal data has been taken from one of their systems.
‘We have informed affected customers that the impacted personal data is limited to basic personal identifiers including name and contact details but does not include account passwords or payment details.
‘The third-party has confirmed this is an isolated incident which has been contained, and we are working closely with them to ensure that all appropriate actions are being taken. We have notified all relevant authorities.
‘No Harrods system has been compromised and it is important to note that the data was taken from a third-party provider and is unconnected to attempts to gain unauthorised access to some Harrods systems earlier this year.’
It is the latest in a string of cyber-related incidents affecting retailers and other organisations.
Household high street names, including M&S, Jaguar Land Rover and Coop have all been hit with attacks.
To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro’s London news hub.
Third-party providers and platforms have also become a subject of concern after thousands of flights were disrupted at various airports including Heathrow and Brussels after shared check-in software suffered from a cyber incident.
Experts say that such firms can be a ‘weak point’ to be exploited by hackers, as they can allow access to data across a range of organisations.
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If the accounts are linked, users only need to pay one monthly fee.
Phone users will be charged more because of subscription fees levied by Apple and Alphabet, which owns Google (Picture: Anna Barclay/Getty Images)
Adverts on both platforms are typically slipped into people’s feeds and flagged as ‘sponsored’.
Adverts are also tucked inside Facebook and Instagram Stories as well as Instagram’s short-video function, Reels.
With an estimated eight million advertisers on Facebook alone, these ads aren’t crammed into your feeds at random – they’re ‘personalised’.
This means the ads shown are tailored to your interests, which Meta does by using personal data.
Meta said in a news release today that the ad-free version will be rolled out in the ‘coming weeks’.
It added: ‘This will give people based in the UK the choice between continuing to use Facebook and Instagram for free with personalised ads, or subscribing to stop seeing ads.
Regulators worry that personalised ads infringe on user privacy (Picture: Shutterstock/Thaspol Sangsee)
‘We will notify UK users over the age of 18 that they have the choice to subscribe to Facebook and Instagram for a fee to use these services without seeing ads.
‘The notification will be dismissible at first, allowing existing users time to consider their options before a decision is required.’
If users don’t pay up, Meta will continue to show them ads, though they will be able to ‘control their ad experiences’ in account settings.
Users give Meta legal permission to collect their data for personalised advertising after they agree to the company’s lengthy terms-of-service agreement to gain access to Meta services.
The terms say: ‘We use your personal data, such as information about your activity and interests, to show you personalised ads and sponsored content that may be more relevant to you.’
But Meta’s advertising-based business model has drawn scrutiny in recent years from regulators who say it forces users to accept personalised ads.
Meta stressed that it belives in an ‘ad-supported internet’ (Picture: Cheng Xin/Getty Images)
Regulators said that Instagram and Facebook are so widely used that people have to choose to either hand over their data or not be on the apps.
Tanya O’Carroll, a human rights campaigner, lodged a lawsuit against Meta in 2022, claiming the company breached UK data laws by doing this.
O’Carroll argued that personalised ads hinging on user data amounts to ‘surveillance’. Collected data includes their activities and interactions, off-platform browsing data and their location, among others.
The UK’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office, agreed with O’Caroll, saying Meta was violating a European privacy law known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Both sides settled the lawsuit in March, which included Meta committing to stop using O’Carroll’s personal data to target her with bespoke ads.
Meta was similarly slapped with a €200 million in April after European Union (EU) regulars said the ad model breached the bloc’s antitrust rules.
Meta, which previously said it denied all of O’Caroll’s claims, said today that it is offering a subscription in response to the ICO’s guidance.
‘It will give people in the UK a clear choice about whether their data is used for personalised advertising, while preserving the free access and value that the ads-supported internet creates for people, businesses and platforms,’ it added.
‘We continue to believe in an ad-supported internet, which ensures free access to personalised products and services for all.’
The ICO told Metro that it welcomes Meta’s decision to move to a ‘consent or pay’ model.
‘People must be given meaningful transparency and choice about how their information is used. At the same time, the ICO recognises that online platforms, like every business, need to operate commercially,’ it added.
Moira Mulvey got on the property ladder through shared ownership in Hounslow (Picture: Richard Eaton)
As a freelancer, Moira Mulvey found her mortgage options limited – but shared ownership helped her buy her own home.
One of the best things about shared ownership is its flexibility.
Deposits are low, the initial share ranges from 10% to 75% of a home’s value, depending on affordability, and the door is always open to buying more shares later on – via a process known as staircasing.
Moira enjoys a terrace overlooking Hounslow (Picture: Richard Eaton)
For self-employed people such as Moira Mulvey, the scheme has made all the difference between owning a property or not as, with its help, she was finally able to buy in 2021 and subsequently increase her share just three years later.
Moira, an osteopath who is in her 50s, had rented privately for years but became tired of pleasing landlords and not being able to put her own stamp on a home.
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‘I was always happy renting but you are so restricted with what you can do,’ she says. ‘Landlords often act as if they’re doing you a favour by letting out their property, and I never felt I could completely relax in a home or decorate it the way I wanted to.’
She starting thinking seriously about buying but soon discovered that, being self-employed, some lenders were unwilling to offer her a mortgage on open-market homes.
‘Many lenders view it as a more unreliable way of earning a living so tend to steer clear as it’s viewed as riskier than those with PAYE salaries,’ she says.
Moira has been able to make the shared ownership house her own (Picture: Richard Eaton)
Realising that shared ownership would be her best option because of the low deposit and smaller amount of money she would have to borrow, Moira bought a 40% share of a two-bedroom, top-floor apartment at a development by SNG in Hounslow, west London, in March 2021.
She paid £158,000 (the full market value of the apartment was £395,000) and took out a five-year mortgage. After receiving money from an inheritance in 2023, Moira chose to invest it in her home and buy a further 25% share – so she now owns 65%.
‘When I saw property prices were creeping up, I thought it was the right time to get the property valued and increase the share,’ she says. ‘The staircasing process was incredibly easy and I managed to navigate it myself.
‘The only thing I would say is that the suppliers you use – such as conveyancers – can be very expensive. You just have to make sure you do your research and shop around.
‘The original conveyancers I used quoted me double to do it the second time around, so I went with a different company. I’ve really seen a difference in my monthly outgoings since staircasing.
The scheme was lifechanging for Moira (Picture: Richard Eaton)
‘My mortgage has stayed the same as I haven’t renewed it yet, but the rent has decreased a lot, which is amazing.
‘My mortgage is up for renewal in 2026 so I’m hoping I can staircase further to full ownership then. Thank goodness for shared ownership. It has given me the opportunity to gradually staircase to full ownership, rather than buying upfront and being rejected for a mortgage on the open market.’
‘Some might say not to go for shared ownership as you have to staircase at the current value and not the price you bought it at. But if you wanted to buy a brand new property, you would have to buy that at the current market value and not the price it was five years ago, so what’s the difference?’
‘The option for staircasing has allowed me to get out of renting and gradually own my own home, so I think it’s brilliant.’ sales.sng.org.uk.
