CAKE chain Patisserie Valerie will cease trading without an “immediate” cash injection after discovering a major black hole in its finances.

The cafe’s parent company Patisserie Holdings made the admission in a market announcement on Thursday, after being slapped with a winding up petition over unpaid taxes and unearthing potentially fraudulent accounting irregularities a day earlier.

Patisserie Holdings said: “The company, in conjunction with its professional advisers, has during the last 24 hours, undertaken further investigation into the financial status of the company.

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Bromsgrove Advertiser:

(Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference 2018. Photo by PA)

The Duke of Cambridge has said he is not willing to face his children and tell them his generation let wildlife such as elephants and tigers go extinct “on our watch”.

William has told an international conference that the illegal wildlife trade was run by criminal networks who threatened the livelihoods of generations to come and exploited the poor, as well as harming wild species.

He urged political leaders, businesses and conservation groups at the meeting to work together to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, rather than in silos – and see the connections with other major organised crimes such as drugs.

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Bromsgrove Advertiser:

(Ministry of Justice. Photo by PA)

The scourge of synthetic drugs in prisons is “completely out of control”, a watchdog has warned.

An epidemic of psychoactive substance use in jails has become “the new normal”, according to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

Signs are also emerging that the impact of the drugs is spreading to the immigration detention estate and bail hostels.

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