Author: Nick Miao

A Scottish influencer teaching in Hong Kong lost her job after being “cancelled” on social media over a viral exchange with a local street vendor.

Dumfries food and travel vlogger Kate “EduKate” Barr, 30, became the talk of the town in the former British colony after posting a video in which she offered to buy a single chestnut with a HK$500 (£50) note.

Barr, who became an English tutor in the city less than a year ago, revealed last week that she was to be “let go” at the end of her contract after she was allegedly doxxed online, raising safety and privacy concerns for her primary school students.

In a now-deleted video, the Scot expat made an emotional plea to more than 80,000 followers, saying: “I’m very upset, and unfortunately, my accommodation is tied to this job, so I have no money left, and I don’t have employment or accommodation in Hong Kong.

“The whole point of me leaving the UK was with the desire that I would return in a better position. But unbelievably, I feel as if I’ve made my life even worse.”

This reaction came after some Hongkongers took to social media to complain that Barr failed to observe local customs and etiquette in her videos, and refused to learn basic phrases in Cantonese, the local tongue.

One post on Threads read: “As a teacher with a platform showing daily life in Hong Kong to foreigners, she has a responsibility to set a better example, not encourage others to behave in the same way.”

Another post seen by 260,000 users listed out eight behavioural issues from Barr’s videos, among them were littering, walking on the wrong side of the escalator, jaywalking in front of a sign that says no jaywalking, and wandering the streets during a typhoon warning.

Local photographer Carlos, 34, claims he once saw Barr filming in a shop against the owner’s will as he didn’t want to be on camera, saying: “She knew the owner didn’t want to be filmed and shouldn’t have been so insistent.”

Yet almost just as many have come out in defence of the Scottish vlogger against what many saw as cyberbullying. Local skateboarding legend Warren Stuart, 56, said in a post: “Shocked by how EduKate was treated. She lost her job in Hong Kong just for sharing her daily life, and the online harassment was out of control.”

Another post read: “People have zero empathy. She’s only been in Hong Kong for a short time, yet she’s expected to speak Cantonese. It’s completely understandable that she might lack awareness of certain social and cultural nuances, but she’s being called rude, vulgar, and cheap.”

One local puts it bluntly: “Hongkongers, do we have to be so mean? She’s lost her job already, yet we’re still criticising her and saying she deserves it. Why do we take pleasure in the suffering of others?”

In a more recent video posted last week, Barr responded to some of the criticism levied against her, including claims that by offering to pay HK$20 (£2) for a single chestnut with a HK$500 (£50) note, she was trying to pressure the vendor into giving her the sample for free.

The food and travel vlogger explained that she always films her videos in bulk, and HK$500 was the budget she would give herself for each shooting, adding: “It’s not what I ask at the ATM, but it’s obviously just what comes out of the ATM.

“I understand [the criticism]… It’s just something I’ve never even thought of.”

After initially trying to ignore the brewing online discourse, Barr was informed by her employers that the school where she taught had received complaints about her online behaviour.

When she was later called into a meeting with her boss, the English tutor said she was told she should “prepare for the fact that you’re being let go.”

But then, she said: “One of the first things he said to me was, ‘Kate, I don’t think you’re a racist.’ That’s very relieving to hear.”

According to Barr, her employers have allowed her to fulfil the remainder of her contract, which is set to end next month. She said: “I’m hugely relieved, of course, because I really like my job.”

The Scot later announced she will be leaving Hong Kong in January, telling followers: “I feel very tired, is the truth.”

“Maybe this is part of internet life. As you know, I’m really new to this – this is my first experience of it, [so] maybe next time around I’ll deal with it all a bit better.”

A prison guard had sex with a convicted robber inside a prayer room before facilitating a drug smuggling plot, a jury at Southwark Crown Court heard today.

Ex-prison officer Isabelle Dale, 23, is accused of two counts of misconduct in public office and one count of conspiracy to smuggle drugs into prison alongside co-defendants Leila Sallis and inmate lover Shahid Sharif, a convicted robber currently serving 12 years behind bars.

At trial today, the jury was told of CCTV footage that captured the pair entering a prayer room while two other inmates kept watch. The pair emerged four minutes later, with Dale said to be seen “re-adjusting her belt area”.

Dale later received a message from Sharif, saying: “It was good sharing that love today. Your pussy is amazing.”

The pair was said to have kept in contact after Sharif was transferred to a different prison, with Dale visiting on three occasions between September and October 2022 – including once after her initial arrest in the visiting room.

Setting out the Crown’s case, prosecutor Kieran Brand KC said: “This case concerns allegations of prison corruption and the smuggling into prison of drugs and telephones.”

He told jurors how Dale, while serving as a prison officer at HMP Coldingley, facilitated a conspiracy to smuggle carbon paper soaked in a synthetic cannabinoid disguised as envelopes into the prison where Sharif was being held.

In a phone call, Sharif was said to have told Dale: “There is nothing to worry about, there is no risk,” adding: “This is the only way I get big money.”

Jurors were told how, using Sharif’s Snapchat account, Dale had arranged a meeting in Brighton to collect the drugs from his associate and co-defendant Sallis. Unbeknownst to Dale, Sallis was hospitalised on the day, and the meeting did not go ahead.

Reassuring Sharif, Dale was said to have told the convicted robber that she would “give her life for him.” She was said to have made further deals on behalf of Sharif, taking instructions from inside the prison.

Upon Dale’s arrest, an engagement ring was found amongst her belongings, which the Crown said was “clear evidence” that the pair was engaged in an intimate relationship.

However, jurors were told more sexually charged exchanges were found on Dale’s phone with “at least” one other inmate, identified by police as Connor Money, 28, currently serving nine years in prison for death by dangerous driving.

Dale is expected to deny that she has had sexual relations with prison inmates and therefore does not meet the criminal standard of misconduct in public office.

Both Dale and Sallis had pleaded not guilty to conspiring to smuggle controlled drugs into a prison, even though Sharif had pleaded guilty to the charge.

The trial continues, and is expected to run into early next week.

Three young adults who belonged to a North London gang were found guilty of attempted murder after stabbing a rival on Camden High Street last November.

A court at the Old Bailey heard last week that Agar Grove gang members Kye Regis, 19, Celyse Knight, 18, and Khalil Haidara, 18, showed “scant regard for human life” when they stabbed their rival Omar Greaves in a “territorial” gangland feud.

The court heard that Greaves, who is linked to Islington’s NOL gang, suffered five stab wounds, the deepest of which measured 14 cm deep. A prosecution expert said nine further cuts were found on his clothes, totalling 14 blows, each delivered with a “moderate amount of force.”

On Friday (10 October), the defendants were seen in the dock sniggering as the jury delivered its verdict. Regis muttered, “Oh my god”, and joked that he’d “throw a book” as the foreman found them each guilty of attempted murder. Judge Philip Katz, least amused, said they could “shut up or leave the court.”

Over a three-day trial at the Old Bailey, the jury heard how all defendants have several convictions relating to drugs and knife possession, something that Crown barrister Barry McElduff KC concluded was part of the “same factual background” of gang violence as the stabbing on Greaves.

Drill rap contains ‘voluntary confession’

The jury, composed of eight men and four women, was shown evidence found on Regis’s phone, which the Crown said made “specific reference” to the stabbing that amounted to a “true and voluntary confession” of their intent to kill.

One text message sent from Regis’s phone in the hours after the attack read: “I nearly caught one, but sadly he came back to life.” But the defence said this was actually in relation to the video game, Call of Duty, where defeated players can be revived.

In another note containing drill rap lyrics depicting Bonnie and Clyde “shaving and stabbing”, the jury was told this was a reference to Regis and Knight’s relationship and the stabbing of Greaves. The Crown said the song, titled “Bloody Deals”, was timestamped to the morning of the attack and written with an “adrenaline high”.

But Regis’s defence counsel Peter Corrigan KC insisted the lyrics had the “hallmarks of exaggeration” and said this was common in the punk rock genre. He added he used to listen to rebellious rock bands like Rage Against the Machine, but that did not turn him into a violent criminal.

Judge Katz reminded the jury that they were not presented with the note to “criminalise music”, rather to determine whether the prosecution was right to claim that it was a “confession” of the defendants’s intention to kill gang rival Greaves.

He stressed further that they must make their verdict only on the evidence presented, and that they “disregard” any prejudices they may have about gangs.

Judge Katz noted that both Greaves and the three defendants refused to testify in court, and gave no comment during their interviews with police. He told the jury that while the parties were well within their rights to maintain their silence, it certainly invites reasonable speculation about why they have chosen not to speak up.

CCTV shows ‘chaotic’ street attack

At trial, the jury was shown footage captured by CCTV and a mobile phone from the night of Greaves’s stabbing last November.

But the court heard and saw how the videos were too blurry to make out “who dealt which blow”, as the Crown explained why all three defendants were jointly charged with the same crime.

The footage shows that the three defendants, who each wielded their own knives, repeatedly struck Greaves for about 20 seconds before dispersing. A doctor’s report would later show he suffered five stab wounds, but found nine further cuts to his clothes.

Noting the most serious injury, which measured 14 cm deep, the Crown said this matched the length of the victim’s blood stain on one of the three knives recovered by police belonging to each defendant.

The stabbing, which took place on Camden High Street on the night of 3 November 2024, left Greaves needing life-saving surgery, the jury was told. A prosecution expert said all 14 blows were delivered with a “moderate amount of force”, which the Crown argued proves their intention to kill Greaves.

However, Knight’s defence counsel George Payne KC said the defendants could merely be trying to “scare him off” their territory, stressing the footage is not sufficient to prove his client’s intent beyond a reasonable doubt, as required by the criminal standard of proof.

He argued further that Knight, who was 17 at the time of the offence, was “motivated by events” and told members of the jury that the footage shows Knight had the least involvement in the stabbing.

Haidara’s defence counsel Jide Lanlehin KC argued similarly that his client’s knife was actually “never used” based on the footage and the colour of Haidara’s blade.

Regis pleaded guilty to a lesser offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GHB), while both Knight and Haidara have pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding. All three have pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article.

The jury took just three hours to come to a unanimous guilty verdict on the charge of attempted murder. Judge Katz remarked: “It took a lot less time than I thought”, before thanking members of the jury for having “done your job with great care.”

However, the judge said he was unable to sentence the group today because Knight is concerned in another “more serious” matter. He requested a pre-sentencing report that will likely take into account the defendants’s personal circumstances. They are due to be sentenced on 19 December.