Sir Ranulph Fiennes kept in care home illegally

National security alert as TalkTalk risks insolvency | ‘I hate beer showers but logic says lift the ban’

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Friday, 25 September 2026 Issue No. 579

Good morning. Sir Ranulph Fiennes has not been seen in public for two years and seemingly disappeared. His friends and family have been unable to contact him, check on his welfare or even find out where he is. The Telegraph has now learnt that his wife illegally placed him in a succession of care homes under a false name. Gordon Rayner, our Associate Editor, details below how police became involved and how the family are challenging the lasting power of attorney of the explorer’s wife. Chris Evans, Editor P.S. We’re giving you a whole year of The Telegraph for just £29. If you’re already a subscriber, make sure you’re logged in to read today’s stories.   In today’s edition National security alert as TalkTalk risks insolvency — ‘I hate beer showers but logic says lift the ban’ — Plus, Dale Vince bamboozles his climate comrades

Try 1 year for just £29 Unlock this newsletter, plus full access to our website and app for less than £2.50 a month. Claim your offer   Sir Ranulph Fiennes kept in care home illegally Sir Ranulph Fiennes has not been seen in public for two years | Credit: Nik Hartley Gordon Rayner Associate Editor   Last week, The Telegraph reported on the hunt to find Sir Ranulph Fiennes by friends and family who had been unable to contact him for a year. In a fresh twist in the tale, a care watchdog concluded that the retired explorer was being “unlawfully deprived of his liberty” when his wife had placed him in a care home earlier this year. Sir Ranulph, we have discovered, was moved to a care home in Wales under a false name after his friends and family managed to track him down to a care home in London, where he had been placed by his wife Louise Millington-Cotes. He stayed at the care home in Wales for seven weeks, where the home’s owner was so concerned for his welfare that he wrote to the local care inspectorate and the Office of the Public Guardian to put those concerns on the record. This was the response: The care home told Millington-Cotes the matter needed to be addressed urgently, but before the relevant legal authority – a deprivation of liberty safeguards document – was in place, she moved him to a third home in Cheshire. When the care home owner read last week’s Telegraph article, he was so concerned that he telephoned Cheshire Constabulary to request they check on his welfare by visiting Sir Ranulph’s third care home. He told The Telegraph that officers had visited the care home on Sept 18, but staff had “refused to confirm or deny that he was there, or was ever there”. Problems over Sir Ranulph’s care also occurred because of the lengths Millington-Cotes went to in order to prevent his identity being known by care home staff, residents or visitors. According to the owner, Millington-Cotes said her husband was “an ex-SAS man whose life might be in danger from extremists”, claimed that staff at a previous care home had tried to kill him and insisted on visitors signing non-disclosure agreements before they could see him. The owner also reported that Millington-Cotes had provided all of Sir Ranulph’s medication as he was not registered with a local GP, and that some of the medication she provided had been prescribed in her name, not his. Fiennes’s stepson – the estranged son of Millington-Cotes – is trying to raise money through a crowdfunding campaign to challenge the lasting power of attorney she was granted in 2024. This report is available only to subscribers. Continue reading ➤ Britain’s power of attorney crisis ➤ Read our original investigation ➤   Opinion Jeremy Warner Britain has returned to a world of fantasy economics Policymakers pledge tax cuts and spending increases but not ways to pay for them Continue reading ➤     Sherelle Jacobs Something feels wrong about my ADHD diagnosis Continue reading ➤     Rowan Pelling Vain Tony Blair needs to put those creepy biceps away Continue reading ➤     To make sure you don’t miss our newsletters when they land in your inbox, click here. In other news • Whitehall is on high alert because TalkTalk, the broadband provider, may go into administration within days and open up a national security vulnerability. • Downing Street advisers are pushing for an early election, The Telegraph has been told. They believe that calling an election in the spring would give Labour the best chance of another majority. • Obesity is draining £20bn from Britain’s economy each year as weight-related illness leaves people too sick to work, research has found. The economic toll comes on top of £14.2bn in healthcare costs. • Immigrants who failed to pay their NHS bills would be forced to leave Britain under new plans announced by the Conservatives. Outstanding debts would count against visa applications and requests to remain. • A migrant seeking to climb on to a dinghy to cross the Channel has been filmed leaving a child in the water. The incident happened on Wednesday, when 781 migrants reached Britain in 10 boats in a day, a record high so far for this year. Two members of the French emergency services rescued the child   Your essential reads The two leaders enjoyed sea bass followed by White House honey ice cream at the state dinner last night Xi tells Trump: AI must remain under human control Donald Trump hosted Xi Jinping at the White House for a state dinner last night. However, over the pageantry and the lavish food hung the cloud of AI. The Chinese president told his counterpart yesterday that the technology must remain “under human control”. Xi’s caution towards AI is seemingly at odds with Trump’s claim that AI fears are a “hoax” despite industry leaders sounding the alarm in recent weeks that the technology is progressing perilously fast and could soon develop out of human control. Continue reading ➤ See more of our foreign affairs coverage below: Miliband warns Iran Britain will ‘not tolerate intimidation’ ➤ Netanyahu attacks Britain over colonial history ➤ Burnham’s Chagos plan? Wait for Trump to leave office ➤   ‘I hate beer showers but logic says lift the ban’ Discussing the issue of whether football fans should be allowed a pint during a game may not appear to be a priority for a prime minister, writes Jason Burt, our Chief Football Correspondent. Andy Burnham, however, was asked his thoughts and is, of course, a fervent Everton fan. On the face of it, it does, as Burnham says, feel discriminatory that fans are still punished for 1980s hooliganism, but it is not a simple argument. Those who object have rightly highlighted the anti-social trend of throwing beer when a goal is scored. Plus, the potential to annoy fellow supporters by going back and forth for a drink, and, of course, the risk of drunkenness. It does feel fundamentally wrong to punish football in this way, though. Continue reading ➤   ‘Maverick’ tycoon Dale Vince bamboozles his climate comrades Dale Vince has long been an outspoken voice on energy and environmental issues, not least in his dogged opposition to new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. Yet the green tycoon has now executed a screeching U-turn by throwing his weight behind the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw projects. It’s an abrupt shift in position that’s left some of Vince’s erstwhile net zero allies scratching their heads. It’s far from the first time the climate crusader has changed his tune... For subscribers only ➤   Owning a small dog has become the ultimate badge of masculinity As the owner of a little pooch – a Beagle cross called Nina – I brought her along to interview the author of Yap! A Short History of Small Dogs, writes Tim Robey. The historian Stephanie Howard-Smith and I talked about the stereotyping of these pets and their owners across the centuries, and how attitudes have shifted, to the point where butch male film stars such as The Rock and Mickey Rourke now tote around their lapdogs, no longer caring what signal it sends. Continue reading ➤   Seize the day ‘The three colours I’m adding to my wardrobe this autumn’ If you’re confused about where to start with the new season trends, colour is always a good place to begin. Lisa Armstrong’s verdict is in – brown is the new black. She also highlights two other hues that will make your autumn looks feel energised and optimistic. Here’s her guide to integrating them into your wardrobe now. Continue reading ➤ Here is another article that I hope you’ll find helpful this morning: Forget the usual European city-break suspects. Increasingly, in-the-know travellers are looking at these locations for fewer crowds and a more authentic taste of local life.   As Anita sees it The secret life of Wayne the witty Anita Singh Arts and Entertainment Editor   Who knew Wayne Rooney was funny? I did, actually. Way back in 2006, I was one of the first journalists to interview him. He had just landed a £5m book deal with HarperCollins and was about to bring out his first autobiography. Three or four reporters were invited to meet him. Strict instructions accompanied this world exclusive. All the questions had to be tendered in advance and asked in exactly the order we had submitted them. They could only be on the subject of reading. The impression given by these unusual terms was that we were dealing with a young footballer too slow-witted to answer questions off the cuff. The questioning began. Young Wayne revealed that his favourite books were the Harry Potter series. “What is on Coleen’s bedside table?” we asked. Quick as a flash, he replied: “The phone.” It was a moment of deadpan humour that made us realise that we had underestimated him. So it’s no surprise that Wayne provides a smart and likeable comic foil to wife Coleen in The Real Rooneys, their new Disney reality show. Read my review here ➤ For what to watch, and one thing to avoid, read on… Television The Wargame ★★★★☆ A reality show in which real-world former politicians, military leaders and intelligence experts are asked to imagine a Russian attack on Britain. From a cyber attack on our infrastructure to a tense naval confrontation and a flood of fake news, it’s horribly plausible. Read the full review ➤ Film Sense and Sensibility ★★★★★ Opening in cinemas today, this adaptation earned a rave review from Robbie Collin, our critic. After the abomination that was Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, what a relief to have a film that feels fresh but retains a respect for the source material. Read the full review ➤ Television Wonka’s The Golden Ticket ★☆☆☆☆ Speaking of abominations, Roald Dahl must be turning in his grave at Wonka’s Golden Ticket, in which Netflix – which bought the rights to Dahl’s catalogue for an estimated £500m – turns Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into a dreadful reality contest. TV slop for a new generation of Mike Teavees. Read the full review ➤   Your say Green fingers Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes... Back in the spring, I sowed some grass seeds in a neglected corner of my garden. By my standards, this was a serious horticultural project, requiring rather more care than “planting yet another batch of mint and leaving it to do its thing” (my particular speciality). I tended the little plot and, within a few weeks, the green shoots duly emerged. I felt like a millennial Monty Don. Today, of course, that grass has been reduced to a forlorn scattering of straw, as has plenty else. (The mint, however, is fine.) Steering my garden through three months of unremitting heat proved to be beyond the limit of my abilities. Oh well: always next year. Which is where Thomas Rutter’s article on “the slow death of the English garden” comes in. Readers have responded with their tips for coping with another round of Mediterranean temperatures.   Peter Wilson advises: “Plant oleander for colour. You can always use your washing-up water in your garden, along with water collected in a bucket from while the shower is warming up. It saw our flower border through the hot weather.”   Jeremy Weatherhead notes that “silver birch is very resilient. I learnt this from my next-door neighbours, an old couple who never water anything.”   Elizabeth Draeger adds: “I live in hot-as-heck Arizona. Yellow bell is a beautiful bush with abundant flowers that loves the heat. It can grow quite large or remain trimmed. Mix with orange jubilee. Fabulous colour. Also great shade for hot sunny windows.”   Other readers are less inclined to take radical measures. Stephen Rees reports: “I’ve been amazed by how quickly my lawn has recovered, given the relatively small amount of rain we had. Back in August, it basically looked dead. Now it’s like a thick green carpet. Grass must get stronger and more resilient by being parched.”   Fiona Walker adds: “My dahlias struggled in the heat, but are having a real revival now. So many blooms.” Did your garden survive the summer? Send your responses here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter. Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name.   On this day 2015 | Caitlyn Jenner officially changes her name from Bruce and her gender to female 2018 | Bill Cosby is sentenced to 10 years in jail for a 2004 sexual assault, becoming the first celebrity to be jailed in the #MeToo era 2025 | Nicolas Sarkozy senteced to five years in prison (see how we covered the story in the following day’s paper below) Birthdays: Catherine Zeta-Jones (57), Will Smith (58), Michael Douglas (82) Plus, in the news today, the BBC will bring back Play School, with Humpty and co reimagined in shorter episodes to fit the “expectations of today’s children”. In what year did the show finish? 1. 1984 2. 1985 3. 1988 4. 1989 Click one of the options to reveal the answer...   Puzzles Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.   Yesterday’s Panagram was COURGETTE. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle.   Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor Please let me know what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. Try 1 year for just £29 Unlock this newsletter, plus full access to our website and app for less than £2.50 a month. Claim your offer

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