Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

Today’s BBC Verify Live page will be closing up shortly, so here’s a look at some of what we’ve covered.

Authorities in England and Wales are facing questions over the state of the prison service after more revelations of prisoners being wrongly released.

We took a look at the data behind the issue, including:

• What offences prisoners released by mistake were in jail for
• Where prisoners are being wrongfully let out from
• How government spending on prisons has changed over time

The team has also been investigating reports of a tanker hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. We tracked how one of the ships involved is a fishing vessel believed to be linked to other recent attacks, as well as hearing from an expert who concluded more attacks were likely to happen.

Plus, was there a mass walkout of New York police officers over Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s victory in this week’s mayoral race? No, but the claims went viral anyway.

We will be back with you tomorrow morning, so do check in with us then.

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, X

We received a question from Colin in Brighton about whether tanks at a nearby fuel recycling centre could have made the deadly cargo plane crash just outside Louisville International Airport on Tuesday worse.

Verified footage of the incident, in which at least 12 people have died, emerged yesterday evening showing a large flash as the UPS plane flies over fuel tanks at a nearby recycling centre.

The satellite imagery we covered earlier also shows that burn marks begin at around the same spot. But the damage to the roof of the building closer to the runway suggests that the plane was already in danger before it reached the recycling centre.

One expert tells me that the fire from the already-burning engine could have ignited this fuel, but emphasised this is “unverified” still.

Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in aviation operations at Buckinghamshire New University, says the fate of the aircraft was already sealed on the runway when the left engine detached as part of takeoff.

This created a chain of events which prevented the plane from gaining sufficient altitude and ultimately to fall back to the ground.

“By the time the facility caught fire, the aircraft was already descending rapidly, so it wouldn’t have made a material difference to the outcome,” adds Chan.

Adam Durbin
BBC Verify Live editor

We’re keen to hear what you think the BBC Verify team should be looking into.

We're interested in investigating claims you may've seen online in your social feeds. We're also keen to know if you've think an image may have been made using artificial intelligence to spread disinformation.

You can also get in touch with BBC Verify if you've got a question about how we verify video posted online or work with satellite imagery.

You can send your suggestions to the team here.

Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist

The BBC understands that drivers of electric vehicles could be facing a new tax in next month's Budget.Drivers of petrol and diesel vehicles pay fuel duty when they fill their cars, which currently raises about £24bn a year, according to the Office for National Statistics., external

That’s equivalent to more than raising the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 23%, or an extra 3p of tax charged for every £1 earned under £50,270.

VAT is also charged on petrol and diesel, raising even more tax revenue for the Treasury.

A government spokesperson has told the BBC: "Fuel duty covers petrol and diesel, but there's no equivalent for electric vehicles. We want a fairer system for all drivers."

With new cars powered by only petrol and diesel due to be phased out by 2030, there is a substantial source of funding that needs to be replaced.

Nicholas Barrett
BBC Verify researcher

As the pressure grows around the mistaken release of several prisoners, Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones told the BBC’s Today programme this morning that the government “inherited a prison system that has been chronically underfunded thanks to 14 years of austerity”.

Day-to-day spending on prisons in England and Wales fell by £1bn in real terms, or almost 20%, between 2010 and 2016 under the coalition and then Conservative government, according to data from the Institute for Government think tank., external

Financial figures when expressed in real terms means they have been adapted to factor in rising prices, known as inflation.

After 2016 spending on prisons started to increase again and by the time the Conservative Party left government in 2024, real terms spending was higher than it had been in 2010.

But, a rise in numbers of people in prison since 2020 means that spending per prisoner has remained flat for five years.

Daniel Wainwright
BBC Verify senior data journalist

There were 262 prisoners in England and Wales released by mistake between April 2024 and March 2025, the vast majority of whom were released from a prison itself.

Pentonville prison in London released 16 people by mistake, up from six the year before and the most of any prison in that period.

To put that in context, Pentonville had a population of just under 1,200 in March 2025. So that’s equivalent to letting out more than one in every 100 prisoners by mistake over a year.

There are 121 prisons in the data, 72 of which released at least one prisoner by mistake in 2024-25.

This does not include any that were in “escort areas” at the time, which are places where they would have been under the supervision of contractors taking them between prisons, to and from court hearings or escorting them to immigration removal centres.

Around one in 10 prisoners were released in error from these escort areas, the figures show.

It is not clear of how many of those categorised as “released in error” by the government had been convicted or were in prison on remand, meaning they are awaiting a trial or sentencing hearing.

Image source, PA Media

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has confirmed to BBC Verify that viral claims of a mass officer walkout over Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s victory in this week’s mayoral race are false.

Mamdani has been heavily criticised, including by US President Donald Trump, for his past comments about defunding the NYPD.

During his campaign Mamdani said he did not want to defund New York’s police or reduce headcount, but did propose cutting overtime spending and creating a "Department of Community Safety" to shift some responsibilities away from officers.

After the election results were announced, a post by Sholdon Daniels, a Republican nominee for Congress in Texas, saying there had been a “massive walkout at NYPD” gathered well over 4 million views on X.

A few hours later, Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican for an upstate New York district in the House of Representatives, posted on X that New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s endorsement of Mamdani had caused a massive walkout of officers.

Neither of the posts included a source for the claim.

We send these posts to the NYPD and they sent us a four word statement: “There is no walkout.”

We asked both Daniels and Stefanik why they made these claims and if they wished to amend them, but haven’t hear back from them.

Shruti Menon and Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify

The Iranian-flagged fishing ship linked to a reported piracy incident this morning off the coast of Somalia is believed to have been involved with at least two recent attacks on passing vessels, a shipping intelligence firm has told BBC Verify.

Maritime security firm Vanguard says a chemical tanker named Stolt Sagaland travelling from Saudi Arabia and a tuna fishing vessel called Intertuna Tres sailing from Seychelles came under attack off the coast of Somalia on 3 November.

Both commercial vessels were attacked by small boats linked to the Iranian-flagged fishing ship, registered under the name “314055ISSAMOHAHMDI”, but managed to deter the attacks and prevent any damage or injury, Vanguard says.

An EU naval force stationed in the region has deployed a warship to locate “314055ISSAMOHAHMDI” and analysts are assessing if it is operating as a mothership, a vessel used to launch smaller pirate boats.

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

Satellite images have been released showing the damage in Louisville, Kentucky after the UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after take off, leaving at least 12 people dead.

The images from satellite firm Vantor show an industrial area just south of the Louisville airport, indicating the devastating path taken by UPS flight 2976 as it came down.

The plane then left a visible trail of debris and burn marks through buildings and car parks next to the airport.

The satellite image shows the damage stretching across a distance of around 850m (2,800ft).

As it was descending, the plane made a huge gash across the roof of a large UPS storage building that is now clearly visible in satellite imagery.

Image source, Vantor

Daniel Wainwright
BBC Verify senior data journalist

There were 262 prisoners in England and Wales released in error in the year ending March 2025, more than double the number recorded the year before.

We’ve been digging into the data to find out what offences they had been locked up for in the first place. We do not know from the figures how many were convicted or were waiting for a trial or to be sentenced, known as being held on remand.

A third of them, 87, were in prison for crimes under the category of “violence against the person”. This is the largest group, but we don’t know from the data what the specific offences were.

The category covers everything from the threat of violence and common assault, through to more severe offences like grievous bodily harm or murder.

Theft offences were recorded for 52 of the prisoners, 18 for possession of weapons and seven for robbery. Three offenders were mistakenly released over sexual offences.

Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify journalist

We’ve been speaking to experts to find out more details about the reported hijacking of a tanker ship off the Somali coast.

Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List, says there are 24 crew are onboard the Hellas Aphrodite. Most are from the Philippines, five are Greek and one is from Montenegro. The ship had no armed guards on board.

The ship was reportedly attacked by people using a small boat, with a larger fishing vessel spotted a few miles away. It’s believed this larger craft is acting as a “mothership” for the smaller one.

Meade says the use of a mothership to launch smaller boats to carry out attacks demonstrates “strategic intent” because it allows pirates to operate further offshore.

“This is likely to be the first of a series of attacks,” he says. “If they get a successful ransom from this, then we will inevitably see more. It’s a funding operation at this point.”

It’s unclear who the attackers are, or their demands.

A report by the UN Security Council, external earlier this year reported that piracy operations in the region may have some links to al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia.

The UN says al-Shabab has a “developing” and “transactional” relationship with Houthis in Yemen. In exchange for weapons and training, al-Shabab have allegedly agreed to “increase piracy activity” in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast.

Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify journalist

We’re investigating reports that a Malta-flagged tanker has been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia this morning.

Maritime security firm Vanguard says the Hellas Aphrodite came under fire from people aboard an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel. Another firm, Ambrey Intelligence, says the fuel ship was boarded by attackers around 628 miles (1,010km) from Somalia.

Vanguard says the fishing vessel, registered as “314055ISSAMOHAHMDI”, has been involved in three other recent incidents.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency has confirmed an “illegal boarding” has taken place in the area, with a vessel coming under attack by “small arms and RPGs”. But it has not confirmed any more details.

We’ve contacted the owner of the Hellas Aphrodite for information. According to vessel-tracking website MarineTraffic, the ship is travelling from Sikka in India to the South African port of Durban. Its last location was received by the platform at 08:13 GMT, several hundred miles east of Somalia.

Phil Leake
BBC Verify data journalist

The US Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday over the legality of some of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, I’ve taken a look at the amount of revenue raised by the measures under scrutiny to see how much might need to be returned to importers who paid them.

Trump imposed a raft of import taxes this year using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which allows the US president to issue immediate orders and bypass longer processes.

This move was deemed unlawful by a court of international trade and a federal court of appeals in the US. But in September the White House appealed to take the case to the Supreme Court, which has until next July to make a ruling.

Trump first invoked the IEEPA in February to tax goods from China, Mexico and Canada, before using it again in April to bring in what he has described as “reciprocal” tariffs on a range of countries.

He has since called on the law to introduce additional taxes on imports from Brazil, Japan and India.

In total, IEEPA measures had raised nearly $90 billion (£69) billion as of 23 September, according to data from US Customs and Border Protection, external.

The money, which could be refunded if the tariffs are found to be illegal, amounts to just under half of the total raised by customs duties in the 2025 fiscal year, external at $195 billion. US fiscal years run from October to September.

Fridon Kiria and Paul Brown
BBC Monitoring and BBC Verify

Image source, x

More Russian energy infrastructure went up in flames overnight after a reported Ukrainian drone strike.

We’ve verified footage and images circulating on social media of a power plant burning in the town of Volgorechensk, Kostroma region.

The site is located around 450 miles (720km) from the border with Ukraine and 220 miles north-east of Moscow.

The region’s governor Sergei Sitnikov said on Telegram that a drone strike in the area was "repelled", adding that nurseries and schools had been closed as a precaution.

Verified footage from Volgorechensk shows a fire burning on the site of the plant and at least one large explosion.

Flecks of light moving upwards from the ground suggest air defences were operating during the attack in some videos.

The power station is identifiable by one particularly tall chimney, which helped us geolocate the point of view in some footage to a high-rise building around 2 km away.

Adam Durbin
BBC Verify Live editor

Good morning and welcome to Thursday’s edition of BBC Verify Live.

The team has verified footage of an explosion at a power plant deep inside Russia, after an image and several videos of a huge fireball emerged overnight. The blast at the facility in Volgorechensk, Kostroma region is more than 450 miles (720km) from the border with Ukraine. Kostroma’s governor Sergey Sitnikov reported a “drone threat” and said that emergency services were working to “eliminate the consequences” of the attack. There has been no immediate comment from Ukraine.

We’re also examining reports that a Malta-flagged tanker has been hijacked off the coast of Somalia, as well as investigating the origins of the fishing boat the pirates are using to disrupt commercial shipping near the Horn of Africa.

Plus, our fact-checking and data teams are going to be looking at the prison system in England and Wales, following more revelations yesterday of prisoners being wrongly released. We’ll be analysing how overall funding for the Ministry of Justice has declined in recent years, as well as prison staff absence and retention rates.