19 January – The English Court of Appeal calls for an end to the prosecution of parents whose babies may have died of
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (cot death) in cases where the only evidence is contended expert testimony.
28 January – The
Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances of the death of
Dr. David Kelly is published. This is taken by most of the press to strongly condemn the
BBC's handling of the
David Kelly affair and to exonerate the Government; the BBC's Director-General,
Greg Dyke, chairman of the Board of Governors,
Gavyn Davies, and the journalist at the centre of the controversy,
Andrew Gilligan, resign. The UK media in general condemns the report as a whitewash.[2]
5 February/6 February – A party of
Chinesecockle pickers is caught by the tides at night in Morecambe Bay,
Lancashire, drowning 23 people. 21 bodies are recovered.[3]
25 February –
Katharine Gun, formerly an employee of British spy agency
GCHQ, has a charge of breaching the
Official Secrets Act dropped after prosecutors offered no evidence, apparently on the advice of the
Attorney General for England and Wales. Gun had admitted leaking American plans to bug UN delegates to a newspaper.
18 July –
North Yorkshire police launch a murder hunt after 27-year-old twin sisters Claire and Diane Sanderson are found dead in a flat in
Camblesforth, near
Selby.
19 July – The Government announces backing for the
Crossrail project.
20 July – The Government to publish results of a review into the
Council Tax.
August
9 August –
West Brom terminate the contract of striker
Lee Hughes as he is sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty
causing death by dangerous driving, having killed a 56-year-old man in a collision near
Coventry on 22 November 2003.
6 November –
Ufton Nervet rail crash: Seven people are killed when a train is derailed by a car deliberately left parked on a level crossing in
Berkshire.
15 November –
Children Act clarifies most official responsibilities for children in England and Wales, notably bringing all local government functions for children's welfare and education under the authority of local Directors of Children's Services.
16 November – The Government announces plans to ban smoking in most enclosed public places (including workplaces) in England and Wales within the next three years.
18 November –
Parliament passes the
Hunting Act 2004 banning
fox hunting in England and Wales. Fox hunting had already been outlawed in Scotland two years earlier, in 2002.
December
2 December –
David Bieber, a 38-year-old former United States
marine, is found guilty of murdering PC Ian Broadhurst in
Leeds on
Boxing Day last year. He is sentenced to life imprisonment and the trial judge recommends that he should never be released from prison. After his conviction, it is revealed that Bieber was wanted in connection with a 1995 murder in
Florida. It is also revealed that he had entered the UK by using the name Nathan Wayne Coleman — who turned out to be a child who had died in infancy in 1968.
26 December – A significant number of
English people on holiday are among the thousands of people killed by a
tsunami in the
Indian Ocean. The victims are died in several countries including
Indonesia and
Thailand.