25/06/2011 BBC Weekend News

A new call to reform the justice system after complaints over the

way Milly Dowler's parents were treated at her killer's trial.

Their cross-examination in court prompted concern from the Chief

Constable of Surrey Police. Ed Miliband says Labour has to

change if the party is to get back into Government.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are among thousands across the UK

marking the third annual Armed Good evening. Fresh concern has

been raised over the way Milly Dowler's family were cross-examined

during the trial of her killer, Levi Bellfield. The Chief Constable

of Surrey Police has called for changes to the justice system

saying victims and witnesses need better protection during trials. He

said he was upset and embarrassed by the way the Dowler family had

been treated. Their daughter, her sister was

murdered but when the man who killed Milly Dowler was put on

trial the family found themselves in the spotlight. The way my

parents were questioned can only be described as mental torture. It was,

they said, a harrowing and brutal experience. 13-year-old Milly was

abducted in 2002 but when her killer finally faced justice,

Milly's family came under scrutiny, personal details were raked over in

court and exposed. Today, the Chief Constable of Surrey Police, which

investigated Milly's death, said the Dowlers' treatment in court is

proof the system needs to change. For me, it went too far. I think

all the legal commentators I have heard talking over the last 24

hours saying this looks like the rules were probably applied

properly. My response so that is we can't have a system where the rules

are like that. Levi Bellfield will now spend the rest of his life in

prison. But the Dowler family say too much consideration was given to

him in court and too little to them. Yet lawyers argued changing the

system may not be the answer. is relevant for the jury to listen

to issues being put to a witness, then it is very, very dangerous to

say well you can't ask those questions. You may end up with a

trial that isn't fair. Surrey Police has been forced to apologise

for its own mistakes made during its investigation into Milly

Dowler's murder. But its Chief Constable says his criticism of the

courts is not an attempt to deflect attention away from here, simply to

show that a system that brought the Dowlers to despair is one in need

of reform. The Labour Leader Ed Miliband has

told his party it must be less inward-looking if it is going to

win back power. In a speech to party activists in North Wales, he

defended his plans to scrap elections to the Shadow Cabinet

arguing it should be the leader that decides who is in the

frontbench team. Can Ed Miliband make voters more

likely to change the Government by changing the Labour Party? He

thinks he can. Old Labour forgot about the public. New Labour forgot

about the party. By the time we left office we had lost touch with

both. So he's asking his party to accept new rules. He wants to scrap

elections to the Shadow Cabinet so he can appoint his top team, to let

community groups and charities speak at the party's conference,

and to impose a Code of Conduct on councillors and MPs to keep them

busy in their communities. One of the reasons we got some things

wrong was because our party wasn't sufficiently connected to the

public. So as well as getting the policies right, we have also got to

be a party that is much more linked to ordinary people up-and-down this

country. Labour's picking over what it thinks were the mistakes made by

its last two leaders. But critics accuse the current man at the top

of not making anything like the impact this pair made before they

got into Government. We have important reforms going through to

the benefits system, to banking regulation, to modernise the NHS. I

don't think the public are bothered about how the Shadow Cabinet is

elected. This kind of tinkering doesn't address the real problem

which is that the unions chose Ed Miliband as leader over the

ordinary Labour Party members and over the heads of Labour MPs.

Miliband knows all his MPs are waiting to see if rewriting the

party's rules can bring him any closer to power.

A car bomber has targeted a hospital in Afghanistan killing 35

people. A health official in the eastern Logar Province told the BBC

that 53 others were hurt saying the death toll could have been higher

because many bodies had been taken away.

A British supplier of seeds has denied that its products are

responsible for an outbreak of E- coli in France. The French Health

Authority believes seeds from Thompson and Morgan in Ipswich

might be the source. But the boss of the firm claims any

contamination is most likely to have happened in France.

The leisure centre in the suburbs of Bordeaux linked to another

outbreak of E-coli. Seven of those who took seriously ill had attended

a charity event here two weeks' ago at which they had been served cold

food. TRANSLATION: The identified common

food item were the sprouts which were germinated at the centre to

decorate the food and particular soups. There were also other food

items which were identified as having been sprinkled with the

infamous sprouts. The garnish was rocket and mustard sprouts, grown

from seedlings. TRANSLATION: These sprouts had been

bought by the city of Begles and they were germinated by the parents

of the children at the leisure centre. And the French government

is now investigating whether it is the seeds supplied by a British

company, Thompson and Morgan in Ipswich, that are ultimately to

blame. The link is not definitively established but they have called on

French retailers to withdraw the company's seeds as a precaution.

The Food Standards Agency said tonight it is investigating and it

advised people not to eat raw sprouted seeds. We sell literally

hundreds of thousands of packets of these seeds throughout France,

Europe and the UK every year. For such a small number of people to

have been affected, it does suggest the problem is perhaps in the local

area. Five of the patients admitted to hospital are now suffering

severe kidney problems. Two of them are infected with a highly virulent

strain similar to the one that killed over 40 people in Germany.

Though as yet there is no evidence of a link.

Here in Paris, the Health Ministry has set up a crisis centre and is

encouraging people to report early any concerns they have. The

investigation from here is critical. This deadly organism could still be

in the food supply chain, viable and not yet contained.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have presented medals to British

troops recently returned from Afghanistan. It was part of

celebrations marking the third annual Armed Forces Day. Elsewhere,

in Edinburgh, this year's host city, 2,500 veterans and cadeted marched

down the Royal Mile. With full pomp and ceremony on

parade down the Royal Mile, Scotland's regiments drew the

crowds today despite the overcast skies. The Red Arrows left their

mark. Watching on the ground, a solemn David Cameron, the Prime

Minister now in charge of two wars - Afghanistan and Libya. He

expressed his frustration at senior officers speaking out. But today

the Chief of the Defence Staff played down any talk of tension.

the level which we are working, there is no tension. I thoroughly

enjoy the constructive debate that we have and I have made my point

and others make their point and we do what we have been asked to do.

Doing their duty this morning in Windsor, the Duke and Duchess of

Cambridge, presenting operational medals to soldiers from 1st

Battalion Irish Guards. Among those receiving their medal was this

Lance Corporal who lost his legs in a roadside bomb. There was little

mention of the defence cuts that will leave the UK with smaller

Armed Forces in the future. But the show of public support is a thank

you for those serving on the frontline. There is a huge sense of

public support here in Edinburgh today for the men and women serving

in the UK's Armed Forces. The tennis now and it's been a

straightforward day for the leading lights in the men's game. Roger

Federer cruised to the last 16 with a win over David Nalbandian. Rafael