Terrorist groups are exploring AI-powered drone attacks against Britain, MI5 chief Sir Ken McCallum warned on Tuesday.

He said artificial intelligence was “supercharging” the terrorist threat, creating new possibilities for attacks in the UK involving drones and biological weapons.

The warning follows rapid advances in drone warfare in Ukraine, where explosives can be deployed remotely from miles behind enemy lines. MI5 fears terrorist organisations could adapt and export that technology for use in attacks on British soil.

Sir Ken also cautioned that terrorists and hostile states could misuse AI to develop novel pathogens capable of causing widespread death and disease.

In his annual speech, the MI5 director-general said the national security risks emerging from AI were receiving “serious attention” within the agency. That work is taking place alongside efforts to confront a rapidly intensifying threat from hostile states.

MI5 is now “devoting more resources to countering state threats than during the Cold War”, Sir Ken said, revealing that the agency’s caseload in this area has quadrupled over the past decade.

However, the spy chief stressed that MI5 must also prepare for the threats that could emerge in the years ahead.

“Today [Tuesday], AI is already supercharging the cyber-security contest between attackers and defenders. It can produce propaganda and radicalising material tailored to the individual,” he said.

“We’ve caught terrorists seeking to exploit AI to improve their reconnaissance and attack methodologies, with AI-enabled drones adding a new twist.

“Not yet realised – but the misuse case to which I’d attach greatest weight is AI’s potential to change the stakes on existing or even new bioweapons. These risks are real.”

Chinese AI developer Moonshot is carrying out an internal review after researchers persuaded two of its models to provide information on making biological weapons and conducting assassinations.

A threat intelligence report published by Anthropic last month said criminals and state-backed groups had tried to use its AI models to design missiles and bombs, as well as create deadly pathogens.

The company said the Houthis in Yemen – who in recent days have terrorised Saudi Arabia with airstrikes, killing more than a dozen people – had launched three weapons programmes using its Claude product.

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Sir Ken said AI could also help organisations such as Al Qaeda find weaknesses in security surrounding virus research and development in the UK.

Asked whether AI could turn the common cold into a lethal virus, he said: “One concern would be that comparatively low sophistication actors may have an ability uplift in the AI era if these guardrails do not function as intended.

“It has long been the case that many terrorists would dearly love to have some capability around chemical, biological or radiological weaponry, but that has not been easy for them to achieve.

“One risk – this has not yet manifested – but one risk is that AI could enable dangerous knowledge to get into the hands of those who we all would rather didn’t have that knowledge.

“A second different risk, much discussed on open source and I am not in any way seeking to hype this risk but it deserves sober attention, is the possibility that AI could generate a number of novel pathogens not previously seen.”

Sir Ken also announced that MI5 will establish an AI threat assessment centre to examine and assess emerging risks.

In a wide-ranging speech at the Thames House headquarters, Sir Ken warned of proxy attacks on the UK from both Russia and Iran.

He described how Tehran has ambitions to ‘come at harder targets, like military sites’, adding that the alleged terror plot at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire was ‘not unique in the UK’. 

There have been more than 50 arrests in the UK in 12 months related to Iran.

But Russia remains ‘aggressor number one as Putin continues to lash out at the UK and its allies’ in an intimidation tactic over the war in Ukraine, Sir Ken said. 

He outlined how MI5 is also fighting off an espionage threat from China and a ‘significant’ increase in extreme Right-wing terrorism, linked to the migrant crisis.

He said: ‘Over the last year the most marked trend has been an increase in cases where extremist versions of anti-immigration and anti-Muslim grievance are tipping into terrorist intent. 

‘We’ve dealt, for example, with would-be terrorists aspiring to attack mosques and venues connected to immigration and asylum.’

– Senior banking official told me he’s stashing cash in case artificial intelligence crashes the financial system: ALEX BRUMMER 

Australian house prices could fall by as much as 40 per cent in some suburbs as the country heads towards its most severe property downturn on record, a prominent economist has warned.

The forecast comes as borrowers contend with four interest rate rises from the Reserve Bank this year, while another increase remains possible in November.

Chris Joye, founder and chief investment officer of Coolabah Capital Investments, said Sydney property prices were already declining at an annualised rate of 18 per cent.

Speaking on Mark Bouris’ Straight Talk podcast on Monday, Mr Joye predicted a 17 per cent peak-to-trough fall in house prices.

‘Based on our numbers, individual suburbs in Sydney will fall by as much as 20 to 40 per cent,’ Mr Joye said.

‘National house prices are currently falling at an annual rate of about 16 per cent. We expect the peak-to-trough decline nationally to be around 13 per cent.

‘On our numbers, we’ll break the record for the biggest fall in house prices before Christmas. Sydney is falling at 18 per cent a year, Melbourne is a little lower, but declines are in double digits across the country.’

Mr Joye said the property downturn could be compounded by a recession, rising business failures and a sharp increase in unemployment.

He warned Australia faced a genuine risk of recession, saying there could be ‘a big increase in unemployment, a lot of businesses are going to go bust and a lot of people are going to lose their jobs’.

‘I think it’s going to be tough,’ he said.

‘There will be adversity. Your house will not be worth as much as it was, your superannuation probably will not be worth as much as you expected, and you may have to work a little longer.

‘Perhaps you won’t retire when you thought you would.’

Other property analysts are also predicting an extended downturn, although their estimates are less severe.

A survey of 384 real estate experts found that property prices could decline by between 8 and 11 per cent from their March peak and may not begin to recover until September 2027.

The figures suggest the housing market may be only halfway through its decline, with dwelling values already down 5.2 per cent since March, according to property data firm Cotality.

In Sydney and Melbourne, an 11 per cent decline would push property values back to levels last recorded as early as February 2021.

Australian Property Institute research head Sherman Chan said uncertainty over interest rates and government policy was keeping buyers on the sidelines.

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‘People are worried about more interest rate hikes on the horizon, and they are after greater clarity,’ Dr Chan told AAP.

Higher interest rates were the experts’ biggest concern, followed by inflation and changes to tax concessions for property investors.

The cash rate was raised to a 15-year high of 4.6 per cent at the Reserve Bank’s September 29 meeting, with governor Michele Bullock warning further increases could follow before the end of the year.

The RBA has made clear it is prepared to tolerate a weaker labour market and falling property prices to bring inflation under control.

An International Monetary Fund outlook on Tuesday forecast inflation would remain above the RBA’s two-to-three per cent target until the end of 2027.

But Dr Chan said interest-rate fears alone could not explain the property slump, arguing uncertainty surrounding Labor’s tax changes was also weighing heavily on buyers.

‘There’s a lot of “wait and see”. High inflation and cost-of-living concerns… (don’t) really justify the slump that we are seeing,’ she said.

‘It is really about the lack of clarity about the policy changes that’s holding people back.’

Under the government’s proposed changes, negative gearing would be limited to new builds, while real capital gains would be taxed at a minimum rate of 30 per cent from July 2027, the same month the API expects the housing market could begin recovering. 

Dr Chan said a recovery could come earlier if buyers gained greater certainty about the changes before they took effect.

‘I won’t rule that out,’ she said.

‘Some are even optimistic enough to think that it will rebound in the start of 2027, and some are more pessimistic, thinking that it will drag into 2028. What we present is that medium perspective.’

AMP is forecasting a 15 per cent fall in Australian house prices that could become the worst downturn on record. 

Such a fall would wipe about $139,971 from national home values and $241,057 from Sydney prices, potentially leaving recent buyers who purchased near the peak facing mortgage stress and negative equity, where they owe the bank more than their home is worth.

Mr Joye blamed the inflation problem largely on government spending, population growth and weak productivity, dismissing claims that the war between the US and Iran and resulting surge in fuel prices was the main culprit.

He said state and federal governments had racked up $660 billion in spending on cheap credit since 2022. 

‘It’s all public spending. It’s all population growth and migration,’ he said.

‘And it’s all productivity. I mean, the oil price stuff is at the margins.  

‘It’s not… the reason the RBA hasn’t hit its inflation target since 2021. That’s a recent event. So, he’s just bulls***ing.’

Jurors were shown CCTV footage capturing the moment a university student was allegedly stabbed 30 times in the garden of his home and left to die.

The footage, described by prosecutors as showing a “carefully planned and cold-blooded execution”, was recorded in Filton, South Gloucestershire, on April 8 this year.

Bristol Crown Court heard that Jamie Collins, 21, was ambushed shortly before 6pm by his housemate, Zack Coughlan, 23, in the garden of the property they shared.

The court was told the two men had previously argued about the amount of rent Coughlan was charging Mr Collins.

Mr Collins, who was from Swansea, was allegedly stabbed repeatedly before Coughlan left him dying in an alleyway. Coughlan is said to have cycled away on his housemate’s bicycle while dressed in black and wearing a mask.

Coughlan, of Cleve Road, Filton, accepts that he killed Mr Collins but denies murder.

The attack took place shortly after Mr Collins returned from the University of the West of England in Bristol, where he was studying robotics alongside Coughlan.

Afterwards, Coughlan abandoned the bicycle at a nearby retail park, bought different clothes and discarded his bloodstained clothing in a pond.

He later returned to the house they shared on Cleve Road at about 9pm. Jurors had previously heard that the property was fitted with three CCTV cameras. Coughlan then went for a walk and bike ride shortly before 12.45am on April 9.

Separate footage shown to the jury recorded Coughlan entering the garden with a torch at 2.06am. Mr Collins could be seen lying on the ground in the gateway.

At 2.07am, Coughlan called police and reported that his friend had been stabbed.

On Tuesday, CCTV and video investigator Helen Bartlett showed jurors footage recorded in the days before and after the attack.

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At 5.58pm, Mr Collins was seen arriving at the garden gate with his bicycle moments before the fatal attack.

Coughlan looked down and wiped his eyes as the footage played in court. Several members of Mr Collins’ family left the public gallery after watching the video.

Adam Vaitilingam KC, prosecuting, told jurors on Monday that Coughlan had shown police the CCTV of the fatal attack and was initially treated as a witness.

However, an Avon and Somerset Police investigation uncovered “clear evidence” that Coughlan was the killer, Mr Vaitilingam said. He was subsequently arrested and charged with murder.

The court heard Coughlan and Mr Collins were both final year robotics students at UWE Bristol and lived in the house, which was owned by the defendant.

There had previously been disagreements about paying rent and whether Coughlan was charging too much but these had been resolved, Mr Vaitilingam added.

He said Coughlan accepts he killed Mr Collins and has admitted manslaughter but will tell the court he had ‘lost control of himself’ and was in fear for his life in the lead-up to the attack.

However, Mr Vaitilingam told jurors the case involved a ‘carefully planned and cold–blooded execution’.

‘Far from being out of control, Zack was very much in control of what he did, and you will see that as we show you his movements in the hours and minutes before he killed Jamie,’ he said on Monday.

‘His actions afterwards, disposing of his clothes, pretending he had been climbing trees so as to explain knife cuts to his hands, coming home and playing online games with his friends, looking at the CCTV app on his phone, trying to deceive the police when he called them at 2am.

‘Those were further acts of someone very much in control.’

Coughlan denies murder. The trial continues.

The family of former child actor William Chapman, who was fatally attacked by a tiger at a Yorkshire zoo, have remembered him as a “bright, warm and engaging” son and revealed that he had lived with “significant mental illness.”

Mr Chapman, 24, died on Saturday after entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster. He was attacked by Altai, a 200kg Siberian tiger.

As the investigation continues, his devastated relatives have urged the public not to share distressing footage showing the final moments of his life.

In a statement issued through police on Tuesday, the family said: “William was a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back.

“Sadly, William suffered from significant mental illness over a number of years and was consequently prescribed strong medication.

“It will be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death. We would ask everybody to respect that process.”

The family also described the widespread circulation of footage from the fatal attack on social media as adding to their suffering.

“The family are utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened,” they said.

“The publication and circulation of deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time. We ask people to stop doing this.

“The family are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their utmost to establish why our amazing son did what he did.”

Mr Chapman’s past as a child actor has since come to light. He appeared alongside Harry Potter star Shirley Henderson in an ITV comedy drama.

In 2009, he appeared in the two-part ITV comedy May Contain Nuts, which starred Shirley Henderson, widely recognised for playing Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films.

Mr Chapman played Alfie Chaplin, the son of Henderson’s character Alice Chaplin. In the drama, Alice pretended to be her 11-year-old daughter in order to sit a school entrance examination. Darren Boyd also featured in the acclaimed production.

He later appeared in the BBC series True Stories, which explored the lives of historical figures. In 2012, he portrayed a young Edward Jenner, the English physician and scientist who went on to become known as the father of immunology and a pioneer of vaccination.

Mr Chapman also had a role in Breathless, an ITV period drama broadcast in 2013. The series followed hospital staff who secretly carried out illegal abortions in the 1960s, according to a 2014 blog post written by his mother.

His acting career appeared to largely end during his teenage years. There was no indication that he had undertaken further screen work for many years before his death in the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster.

The mother revealed her son’s early enthusiasm for acting in her post 12 years ago, saying that he became a pupil at the Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe, Berkshire, when he was just four years old.

She recalled in her blog how he was aged only around five when he went for an audition for May Contain Nuts.

Describing his time at the stage school, she said: ‘He has learnt a great deal in his time there, and whilst he doesn’t enjoy singing and dancing so much now he’s a teenager, he is passionate about acting and drama.

‘Over the years he has attended many auditions, and I have a few stories to tell there… The most notable one was when he went for the part of Alfie in ‘May Contain Nuts’ the ITV two part drama adaptation of John O’Farrell’s satirical book.’

She went on to describe having her car impounded after she left it on double yellow lines to get him to the audition in central London because she could not find a proper parking space.

The mum wrote: ‘William was only about five then, and unburdened by the nerves he can sometimes suffer from these days. He seemed to relax and thoroughly enjoy himself.

‘We left and went back into the road, and walked to where I parked the car; only there was no car. With my car gone, and the kids in tears, I ran back into the casting agency and became somewhat hysterical.

‘They were brilliant; they called Westminster Council and established where my car had been taken, then called me a taxi to get there.’

The mother told how her son’s other acting work includes roles on radio, commercials, children’s TV, a Snow White panto, as well as filming & photo shoots for Oxford University Press and a part as an extra playing a ‘tribal kid’ in the Warner Bros film Pan in 2015.

Her blog included a passage where Mr Chapman wrote about his experience on Pan, saying: ‘Working as an extra in Pan is amazing; it’s such an awesome experience!

‘But it’s hard work though, ten hour days plus one hour journeys each way to the studios. It was very tiring. I normally had a 6.45am start at the rendezvous, where we travelled by minibus to Cardington Studios in Bedfordshire.

‘Luckily we always had a warm welcome and a warm breakfast to wake us up. Costume fitting and makeup took about an hour, but it was good to admire all the costumes.

‘Once on set we were sheltering from the pirates under the ship’s floorboards and we had to be terrified! Our chief gets shot by Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman), so remember to look out for that scene if you watch the movie.

‘After lunch we just did more tutoring then we went back on set for a retake of the earlier scene, but we were lucky enough to meet and say hi to Hugh Jackman! We gave him a high five, awesome right? Well, that’s my day as an extra.’

His mother added: ‘It was great to collect him at the end of a busy day, and hear him enthuse about a multitude of impressions such as: exploding mud, the energy of being on set, watching the actors practising their sword fighting skills, the delicious meals they had for lunch, meeting other young actors from a few other stage schools, including Levi Miller who plays Peter Pan.

‘It has been a wonderful experience for him. For most of June and some of July he was filming (about 15 days), so I’m hoping it won’t be a case of blink and you’ll miss him when I get to see it! It’s due for release on 26th June 2015, I can’t wait…’

Mr Chapman posted a series of bizarre pictures and footage on social media in the days leading up to his decision to climb into the tiger’s cage on Saturday.

It included a terrifying video of the moment he entered the pen and approached a lone tiger lying on a raised wooden platform. Just minutes later, he was attacked and killed by the animal.

In the background, he can be heard breathing heavily as shocked onlookers cry out ‘oh my God’.

His Instagram account included a selfie taken at the gym, which he uploaded to social media hours before sharing the video of him slowly approaching the big cat.

Another picture shows him holding a bible and a crossbow while wearing the same clothes he had on when he entered the pen at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. In the image, shared on the day of his death, he has a crossbow bolt between his teeth.

Eyewitnesses at the zoo told how Mr Chapman, who was described as vulnerable by police, had been dancing to music and had asked a parkgoer to take a picture of him with the 200kg male Siberian tiger, Altai, in the background.

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He then began climbing into the enclosure as a woman desperately tried to hold him back, before dropping 12ft to the floor.

When the tiger attacked, Mr Chapman screamed ‘stop’ several times and appeared to make a gesture for ‘bad’ in Makaton – a sign language system generally used by individuals who struggle to communicate.

The horrifying drama unfolded just minutes before emergency services were called at 1.35pm.

It comes as a witness who took the final photograph of the man fought back tears as she pleaded with ‘not very nice’ trolls to think before they post.

Elsewhere on social media, Mr Chapman posted photographs of himself on a visit to the Pantheon in Paris, and of a Greek-style helmet on a stand, while other posts included references to social media influencers.

Visitors to the park on Saturday told how he shouted ‘stop’ several times and told the tiger to ‘stop being naughty’ after it attacked him. Onlookers said he appeared ‘not attached to reality’.

Distressing footage was uploaded to social media and showed the tiger pawing at and toying with the man. Parkgoers said they then saw it jump onto his neck.

Visitors were rapidly evacuated and emergency services, including an air ambulance, rushed to the scene, but the man was confirmed to have died. Mr Chapman’s family are aware and are being supported by specialist officers.

Zookeepers were said to have done ‘everything they could’ to drive tiger Altai off, firing five loud acoustic gun blasts in attempts to scare him.

Two ambulances and a helicopter rushed to the park at 1.35pm, with a ‘black screen’ erected around the enclosure as lifesaving treatment was attempted.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which remains closed, confirmed that Altai will not be euthanized in the wake of the incident.

It comes as a woman who took a picture of Mr Chapman just moments before he entered the enclosure appealed for trolls to stop posting about the incident in a tearful video on social media on Monday.

Del Taylor asked people joking about the attack online to ‘think about why maybe he’d do something like this’.

An emotional Ms Taylor said it was ‘upsetting’ to know she had taken the last photograph of him, and hit out at ‘not very nice’ and ‘presumptuous’ comments online.

‘I’ve seen a lot of speculation online about this person, this man, and a lot of it is not very nice, very presumptuous,’ she said in a video posted on TikTok.

‘I just wish people would take a moment to think about why maybe he’d do something like this.

‘Maybe it was a lack of danger, awareness of danger. I just feel if somebody had seen this man like myself and a few other people had that day, and you’d seen him dancing his way up and down the bridge with his AirPods in.

‘He was so happy. And then he’s come and placed himself next to us and he’s passed me his phone, and he’s asked me for his photo, and if you’d have seen him, without saying too much, you would understand why I’m saying what I’m saying.’

She continued: ‘It’s so upsetting to think that apart from that awful viral video of him being attacked by the tiger online that the last photo of that man probably alive is the one that I’ve taken on his phone for him.

‘But, I’m just asking people to keep a broader mind on what’s happened.’

Ms Taylor said she was speaking out after her name appeared ‘all over’ social media, after witnesses described the minutes before the fatal attack. The video was later deleted.

Those at the scene described Mr Chapman as having been dancing up and down a walkway above the enclosure before asking Ms Taylor for the picture.

A video clip appeared to show him moments before he entered the enclosure asking fellow parkgoers to take a picture of him with the animal.

He says: ‘Excuse me, can you grab a shot of myself with the tiger?’ while Altai lies in the background under a shaded tree, playing with a fallen branch.

A woman, believed to be Ms Taylor, agrees and takes a photo, before he asks three times for ‘one more’ picture and then says: ‘Thank you, lady.’

An animal ranger at the zoo, Charlotte Pywell, said: ‘I was not there. I don’t know who the guy was or what made him jump.

‘It was not the tiger’s fault at all. It was just something else to play with. The keepers are all distraught. It was not a very nice day.’

In a statement, the park said: ‘Many, many people have contacted us about Altai, the tiger.

‘We can reassure everyone that he is safe and well and will not be euthanized as a result of this incident.

‘We would like to thank everyone who has expressed their concern following yesterday’s [Sunday] tragic incident.’

His former school also released a statement on Tuesday which said: ‘We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our former student, William Chapman.

‘Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with William’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time.

‘We loved watching William grow, both as a person and as a performer, during his time with us. It was a privilege to be part of his journey, and he will be remembered with great fondness by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.

‘William will be truly missed, and he will always hold a special place in our hearts. Rest in peace, William.’

The licensing authority for Yorkshire Wildlife Park, City of Doncaster Council, has now launched a health and safety investigation into the man’s death.

Dan Swaine, executive director of place at City of Doncaster Council, said: ‘As the relevant licensing authority for the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, I can confirm that, in line with our statutory duties, the council has launched a health and safety investigation.

‘We are also working with multiple agencies, including the police and health agencies, and are supporting the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in response to the incident.

‘At this time, we won’t be commenting further on the individual or the investigation and we ask that the privacy of those involved is respected at this difficult time.’

Yorkshire Wildlife Park opened in 2009, with the Land of the Tigers attraction opening in 2011.

The attraction is a purpose-built, two-acre reserve for Amur tigers, an endangered subspecies with around 500 left in the wild.

Photos of the enclosure on the park’s website show a high walkway for visitors and fencing above the section where the tigers can roam.