20/12/2013 BBC News at Ten

How 17 separate agencies failed to predict or prevent the sexual abuse

of young girls in Rochdale. The girls were groomed over ten

years, but let down by the organisations meant to protect them,

including the police. I think a particular culture of

hopelessness had been created in Rochdale. We had at the time a

particular group of girls who were being abused who did not recognise

themselves as victims. The review comes on the same day

that five men were jailed for grooming another young girl in

Rochdale. Also tonight, Nigella Lawson's two

assistants are acquitted. They'd claimed they were allowed to spend

her money if they kept quiet about her drug use.

But the celebrity chef attacks the trial as a ridiculous sideshow of

false allegations. New revelations about surveillance

by British and American spy agencies, this time on EU officials

and the UN. And seasonal cheer, but will it be a

cut price Christmas on the high street?

Coming up in Sportsday, Cardiff owner, Vincent Tan, is meeting

tonight to decide the future of manager Malkay Mackay who is

expected to take charge of tomorrow's game at Liverpool.

Good evening. A "widespread pattern of weaknesses

and failures" - that's one of the conclusions of two serious case

reviews into how seven young girls were groomed and sexually exploited

in Rochdale over the last decade. All 17 agencies involved in the

cases, including charities, social services and the police, that could

have acted to predict or prevent a "significant part" of the abuse,

failed. And in a separate case today, five men have been jailed for

the prolonged abuse of another young girl in Rochdale, as Jeremy Cooke

reports. Convicted of child sex abuse, in

court today to be handed sentences totalling 26.5 years. But the police

admitted they had made mistakes. They failed to protect a vulnerable

teenage girl. It all sounds too familiar, another victim failed by

those who were supposed to protect her. This is not the first time the

streets of Rochdale have been the centre of an investigation into the

sexual exploitation of young women. Last year, nine men were convicted

and sentenced, but only after some victims suffered years of abuse. The

girls would hang around food takeaway shops, be given drink and

drugs, then repeatedly sexually abused. The case prompted today's

report into what emerged as a widespread problem in Rochdale. It

asked what went wrong, who is to blame? It concludes everything and

everybody. Failures by all 17 agencies involved. Greater

Manchester Police admit mistakes but say they were dealing with young

girls who did not see themselves as victims. I think a particular

culture of hopelessness had been created in Rochdale. We had a

particular group of girls who were being abused to did not recognise

themselves as victims. Clearly, we had weaknesses in social services as

well. The trouble was a culture of hopelessness had been created.

Today's report says one girl reported being raped in 2007 but no

investigation followed. It is a message which may have discouraged

other girls from coming forward, an important lesson. Just listen to

young people, respect them. Listen, and most of all make sure we provide

them with some safety. Often they will disclose bits of information

and test out. The biggest fear for young women is that there will be

some retribution if they tell anybody. The trial of nine men in

Liverpool last year was the subject of high security and media

attention. It has triggered today's review, which heavily criticised the

Crown Prosecution Service for failing to bring other cases to

court. They insist things are different now. The landscape had to

change. It took this case for the landscape to change. Additionally,

people who may have been victims in 2003, 1993, who are courageous

enough, confident enough now to come forward, will get justice. Already,

several key decision-makers have been replaced, but the failings here

have consequences which victims will carry forward into their adult

lives. Two former assistants to the

celebrity chef Nigella Lawson have been cleared of spending huge

amounts of her money without permission. Francesca and Elisabetta

Grillo claimed that Nigella Lawson approved their high spending in

return for their silence about her alleged habitual drug use. Following

the verdict, Ms Lawson said her experience as a witness was deeply

disturbing and she called for a reform of the court process. Luisa

Baldini's report contains some flash photography.

After three and a half weeks of attending court nearly every day,

the Grillos left as free women. Even before departing, they had started

negotiations with newspapers to sell their story. And so they, like

Nigella before them, find themselves the focus of intense media

attention. Their solicitor spoke on their behalf. This has been a long,

hard fight, played out in the gaze of the world's media. Elisabetta and

Francesca would like to thank their friends and relatives for their love

and support. Additionally, they would like to thank those members of

the public who have expressed their best wishes. Nigella Lawson, who

appeared as a main prosecution witness, had told the court she

never gave them leave to spend on the credit card is provided to them.

They claim that she did. Their defence was that they had specific

and implied authorisation from Nigella Lawson that they could spend

if they did not reveal her alleged drug habit. In the witness box, the

TV cook denied being an habitual drug user and said she had only

taken cocaine once during her second marriage. The defence asked the jury

to consider whether that evidence was credible, or whether her drug

use was wider than she admitted. In a statement, she said she is

disappointed but I'm by the verdict. She goes on, the jury was faced with

a ridiculous sideshow of false allegations about drug use which

made focus on the actual criminal trial impossible. I did my civic

duty, only to be maliciously vilified.

At times, it seemed the celebrity chef was herself on trial, given the

grilling she got in court, but the extent of her alleged drug use

became central to the case. It was after these photos at a Mayfair

restaurant were published, showing Charles Saatchi appearing to tweak

her nose and assaulting her, that the sisters said they decided to

come out with the drugs allegations, allegations which Charles Saatchi

initially seemed to support, writing to Ms Lawson accusing her of being

off her head on drugs. Although he told the court he had no evidence of

her ever having taken any. It is a living soap opera, with two public

figures fighting it out in court. Any PR man would advise his client

never to go to court to watch their dirty laundry being aired, washed

and the stains removed for the edification of the public. Nigella

Lawson and the Grillos sisters were like family. Elisabetta even

appeared in her cookery programmes. The sisters contributed recipes and

were acknowledged by Mr Lawson in several of her books. With the

demise of their friendship in her court case, what is not clear is

what an American audience will make of the verdict. The second series of

the show in which Nigella stars as a judge begins next month.

Our legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman joins me. Nigella

Lawson has been very critical of this trial. Does she have a point?

Let's remember that she was a prosecution witness, not a

defendant, not on trial. Persecution witnesses do get protection. Defence

lawyers cannot throw mud at them and attack their credibility, unless

they make a special application, a bad character application, to the

judge, and the judge rules that such cross-examination is critical,

probes a key issue in the trial and is relevant. In this case, after the

now famous female was shown to the court, sent by Charles Saatchi to

Nigella Lawson, in which he said, you were so off your head on drugs

that you allowed the sisters to spend whatever they liked, after

that was presented to the court, a bad character application was made

and the judge-made his ruling that it went to a key issue in the case.

The defence case was that the Grillos sisters said Nigella Lawson

had a guilty secret about her drug use. She denies that but that was

their case. In order to make that case, the judge said they should be

able to cross examine her about her drug use. It is worth mentioning

that the judge remained throughout the whole of the trial, and part of

his job is to protect prosecution or defence witnesses from any

questioning that is improper. There are more damaging revelations

today about the number of targets placed under surveillance by British

and American spy agencies. Newly emerged documents leaked by the

former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden suggest targets

included the European Union, the UN, aid agencies and national leaders,

including the Israeli Prime Minister. The European Commission

said the claims, if true, were unacceptable. Gordon Corera reports.

And embrace between the Prime Minister and Germany's Angela Merkel

at a European summit in Brussels which ended today. The next time

they meet, things might be more awkward, after fresh allegations

about Britain spying on allies, including some in Europe. Two months

ago, a row broke out after claims the US had bugged Angela Merkel's

phone. Now it seems Germany and other allies may have been on a

joint British and American list of targets. Reports in the Guardian

claimed that German government buildings in Berlin and embassies

abroad were on the list, which had over 1000 names. Controversially

also on the list, the vice president of the European Commission in charge

of economic competition issues. Unacceptable, if true, says the

commission, and a leading MEP agrees. Relationships between the EU

and the US on commercial activities, particularly with a competition

commissioner, will be taken seriously. It is not just European

officials on the list. There are reported to be some companies are

like a French oil giant and even humanitarian organisations, the

United Nations children's charity, and a French medicine charity, who

expressed surprise. We are bewildered by these allegations.

Doctors, nurses and midwives are no threat to national security, and

British taxpayers will be horrified that taxpayers money has been wasted

on snooping on aid workers. GCHQ said it did not comment on

intelligence matters but operated under one of the strongest systems

of democratic accountability in the world. Even so, and even though many

other countries, including European allies, do spy, next time leaders

meet around the summit table there might be more awkward questions.

Two former soldiers who threw petrol bombs at a mosque in Grimsby have

been jailed for six years. The attack took place just four days

after Fusilier Lee Rigby was killed, just one of the wider repercussions

of his murder. Arriving at a mosque in Grimsby, two ex-soldiers about to

launch a petrol bomb attack. This was four days after Lee Rigby's

murder. It was described today as an act of retribution. The men's own

CCTV had recorded them making the bombs and they mistakingly thought

the CCTV at the mosque wasn't turned on. Muslims who had been at prayer

raised the aam la. Today the men were jailed for six years. The very

reason that this mosque was targeted was because of the defendants' false

belief that the Muslim religion was responsible for what happened at the

tragic events in Woolwich. In the aftermath of Lee Rigby's murder

there was a spate of anti-Muslim incidents. In the fee rile

atmospheres the killers were labelled with the message that they

did not represent Islam. This was Michael Adebowale close to St Paul's

Cathedral. Five months laters he was committing murder. Also present the

well-known extremist, Anjem Choudary. He is said to have been an

influence on the other killer, Michael Adebolajo. Today Anjem

Choudary repeatedly refused to condemn the Woolwich murder. This

was him at a were test, just behind him, Michael Adebolajo. In one

mosque in London today, the imam made plain what he thought of the

killers' defence, that they were soldiers of Allah. How can you claim

to be the soldier of Allah when there is not even an iota of ala's

qualities and attributes in you. And as for Anjem Choudary's refusal to

condemn the killing. The Muslim community are outraged by an gem's

words. Would he not get away with it if it was a Muslim country. He is

abusing the democracy we give him. Muslims around the country know

extremists are doing damage to the reputation of Islam and as the fire

bomb in Grimsby shows, making them vulnerable to attack.

It's three years since the Arab uprisings began in Tunis is a and

swept across the Arab world. Authoritarian leaders were driven

from power by a younger generation, demanding greater democracy and

accountable. But as peaceful protests gave way to armed conflict

in some of the countries, the oldest division in the Middle East, the

divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims, has become more pronounced.

On one side of the faultline are the countries where Sunni Muslims are

the majority or the rulers, on the other, the countries where Shia

Muslims dom name. One country which is riven by the conflict is Lebanon.

Tripoli, Lebanon's second city, unquiet, divided and often

dangerous, it's feeling the pressure of the Syrian war on the other side

of the mountain. It has turbo-charged a long-standing local

conflict between Sunni Muslims and alawhites from the same Shia sect as

President Assad. This is one end of the Shia/shun any faultline. In a

shed in his garden only itly's frontline, abut a far as and his

friends still eye dollise Saddam Hussein, the Sunni strongman who

fought Shia Iran. The 22-year-old son of Faraz died when two Sunni

mosques were bombed in August. They blamed the Shia. TRANSLATION: Of

course God almighty will kill them. But we ask God almighty for

permission and help to eradicate them. The local Commander said grief

and anger had pushed abut a Faraz to extremes but every sectarian

killings deepens and spreads hatred. The dispute goes on to who should

succeed the Prophet Muhammad after his death in 632. Those hob wanted

his position to be inherited by his closest associate became Sunnis.

Those who nt with aed him to be followed by his descendents, became

Shia. Just as in the split in the Christian church between Catholics

and Protestants, it's been as much about power, as religion.

In modern times, the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 started a

new upheaval in Islam's sectarian divide.

The removal of Saddam Hussein, Shia Iran's most bitter enemy, was a blow

to the traditional Sunni ascendcy in the Middle East. Thousands of Iraqis

have been killed in sectarian violence since then. This was an

attack in 2007 on Shia pilgrams in Karbala, the site of a battle

between the two sides of Islam in the 7th century. At the other end of

the Gulf if Bahrain a long-standing political conflict between the poor

Shia majority and the mainly Sunni ruling class, has become more

overtly sectarian. In Syria itself, an uprising has

become an increasingly sectarian war. Sunni extremist groups,

generally Al-Qaeda followers, now dominate the armed opposition to

President Assad, who's from a Shia sect.

In Beirut in November, suicide bombers attacked the embassy of eye

ravenlt many assumed it was the latest escalation in a proximitiy

war between Shia Iran, the Syrian regime's backers and Saudi Arabia,

which supports the rebels. I discussed the tensions with Iran's

Foreign Minister last month. It's probably the most serious security

threat, not only to the region but to the world at large and I think

all of us, regardless of our differences over Syria, we need to

work together on the sectarian issue. This is a funeral for Shia

fighters in Damascus. Even where sectarianism is less acute than

here, there's economic crisis, political failure, and renewed

repression. Three years after the Arab uprising

started, the weight of a millennium-and-a-half of sectarian

rivalry, now creating a new generation of martyrs, is crushing

hopes of a better future. One of President Putin's political critics,

the oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been freed after spending ten

years in prison. He had been convicted of tax evasion and

em-Bazlement but today was pardoned by the President.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky being welcomed at Berlin airport today by the

former German Foreign Minister who helped negotiate his release.

Whisked away for his first taste of freedom, the former oligarch who

became Russia's most famous political prisoner. Only this

morning he was still behind bars in this remote and snowy penal colony

in north-west Russia. Then came the decree on his liberty. It was Mr

Putin himself who confirmed he was prepared to offer clemency after

Mikhail Khodorkovsky requested a pardon so he could see his ageing

parents again. An extraordinary turn-around after ten years rivalry

between president and prisoner, a move that no-one was expecting. Once

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was a powerful oil magnate, Russia's richest man.

Then he was put on trial and charged with fraud and tax evasion. He

always insisted he was innocent. The victim of a Kremlin plot to prevent

him from challenging Mr Putin. So, why is he being released now? Well,

it comes as a wider prison amnesty looks set to release protesters from

Greenpeace, including some Britons, and the Pussy Riot rock band. So

possibly it's all aimed at improving Russia's image ahead of next year's

Winter Olympics in Sochi. But maybe it's also a signal that President

Putin no longer fears opposition rivals, so he can afford to be

generous in releasing them. All the historic theeters in

London's West End have back in business tonight after carrying out

a series of safety checks. It follow the collapse of part of the ceiling

at the Apollo Theatre last night. More than 70 people were injured and

two remain in hospital this evening. London's theatreland, thronged once

again tonight by audiences keen to move on from the scenes which

shocked visitors yesterday, and which raised questions over the

safety of the West End's most famous venues.

Definitely thought about it. There were people in the theatre looking

at the ceiling before the show started.

By chance, a BBC team were filming with London's Ambulance Service when

the first emergency calls came in. The number of casualties their crews

encountered led to some quick thinking.

In this case, police common deared a bus to move the first victims to

hospital. As far as we know, the roof

collapsed above us. And I think - I just obviously got a bang, a very

sharp bang on the head. The next thing I know I was in the foyer.

Neighbouring theatres became Carbonualty-clearing stations as

paramedics treated dozens of theatre-goers, some with head

injuries, others with breathing difficulties One of the actors said

- watch out. In a split second a loud bang and the whole place

covered in dust. And debris flying everywhere.

With all the injured accounted for, the fire prix guide could begin to

establish what had happened. -- Fire Brigade. They said a section of

ornate plaster and its support had mrunged four storeys, striking the

front of the desk circle and leaving debris across the stalls.

The elaborate deco is also here at the Noel Coward theatre. Most of the

theatres are 150 years' old which poses a challenge for owners. But

safety is paramount. Ceilings have to be he can chd every three years,

in fact they are checked more often than that. It is terrible when

incidents like that happened, like last night but it is a one-off Ince

dant our theatres are safe for the public. The owners of the

aapproximate polo said their safety certificate had been removed in

September -- of the Apollo. There had been no indications that the

ceiling was unsafe. As if you didn't know it, there are

four days left to get your Christmas shopping done. Retailers say they

know a battle is on to persuade us to part with our cash. Researchers

say they are expecting ?12 billion to be spent over the next four days

as much as we spend in a fortnight. Online sales are expected to be

higher than this time last year and nearly 75% of shops are already

having sales to entice us in. You can't miss the discounts on the

high street. It's been a slow start to festive trading and prices are

being cut to persuade shoppers to spend.

Here in Bristol today, people were on the lookout for deals.

We've managed to get things reduced, things we wanted. You never know

what is coming around the corner, do you? Yeah, on a budget this year but

don't tell my children that. We leave Christmas everyyear but this

year it seems later than ever. That makes retailers nervous. They have a

lot of shock and they discount it to shift it and get people in store. It

is great for consumers, lots of bargains, not so good for retail

margins. In other words, profits. Some City analysts have already been

cutting their forecasts for several retailers.

Order online and pick up in store. Click and collect is one of the

reasons why shoppers are more confident to wait until the last

minute. In the future, it could be... The boss of Argos, Terry Duddy

is one of retail ears longest-serving CEOs, I theys it is

more competitive than ever. Over the years, it's got tougher and tougher

but this is the game that we are in. This is the opportunity for

retailers to prove themselves. # Tis the season to be jolly... #

Retailers certainly hope so. There are prediction that is overall this

festive season will prove better than last. It's just unlikely to be

a ufrp abouter one. Tonight London's West End is

sparkling and packed full of people. Here at least the dash to the shops

is well under way. The next few days could make all the

difference for retailers. As ever, there will be winners and losers.

We'll know who they are in the New Year.

That's all from us. There is a first look at the papers on the