15/03/2017 Victoria Derbyshire

I'm Victoria Derbyshire, welcome to the programme.

This morning, why was a vulnerable 15-year-old girl removed

from her safe and loving foster family without any warning or even

We'll speak to the couple who had cared for the girl they brought up

After six years, they've finally been given an apology

After six years. We'll talk to them shortly.

Also on the programme, living in their trucks and claims

The truck drivers transporting your Ikea goods.

Look at the conditions. In many places there is no parking. There is

no toilet. No running water. This is not a good life. It is a

catastrophe. We'll bring you the full

exclusive story shortly. And the Royal Marine who shot dead

an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan will learn the result

of an appeal against his murder Throughout the morning we'll bring

you the latest breaking news The latest unemployment figures

are due out in the next half hour. We'll also bring you the outcome

of some interesting court cases. A little later a mother of five

who was left out of her own mother's will will find out whether she's

entitled to any of the 6 figure sum her mother left

to three animal charities. It is a lengthy legal case which has

gone on for years now. Do get in touch on all the stories

we're talking about this morning - use #Victoria Live and if you text,

you will be charged Our top story today,

an investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

and other retailers are living out The truckers, who are employed

by haulage firms based in Eastern Europe, say they can't

afford to live in the countries where they're actually

working and driving, What have you found Zoe? Well, it is

extraordinary. We spent four months on the road in Germany, Denmark and

Sweden and in the Netherlands and we went to truck stops and we met

drivers and they're being minibused into Western Europe to work for

months on end moving goods for a number of companies including IKEA

and they're minibused back again. They are spending months on the road

at a time, they are washing, sleeping and eating in their cabs.

One of the most extraordinary scenes was outside the IKEA warehouse in

Dortmund, the biggest in the world, we found truck drivers cooking and

butchering chickens and cooking omelettes and hanging out their

washing. It was like a campsite. It was an extraordinary thing to watch.

Why are they living like this? We met people on 150 euros a month

salary and Romanians on 250. They get expenses between 30 to 50 euros,

around ?40 a day which sounds like a lot, but actually, out of that, they

have got to pay for hotels and meals and if you're living in a really

expensive country like Denmark or Germany that doesn't go very far and

if you are on a wage of let's say ?100 a week, well then you're going

to use the expenses to top it up. So that's why some of them are talking

about feeling imprisoned in their cabs. What does IKEA say? They say

they take our report seriously and they say that they're piloting an

investigation into their subcontracting chain. We are talking

about big hauliers who are subcontracting this out to companies

in Eastern Europe and so IKEA are taking very seriously what we're

saying. You can see Zoe's film after 9.30am.

Joanna is in the BBC Newsroom with a summary

A rare glimpse into President Trump's private

finances has emerged with the leak of his

He refused to make the documents public

during his election campaign and was accused by Hillary Clinton

But the US TV network MSNBC has now published two

Presenter Rachel Maddow disclosed the numbers.

Aside from the numbers being large, these

He took a big write-down of $103 million.

If you add up the lines for income, he made more than $150

The people of the Netherlands are voting in the first of three

crucial elections in Europe this year which are being viewed

as important tests of the popularity of nationalist parties.

The anti-Islam, anti-EU, far-right leader Geert Wilder's

party performed best in polls leading up to the vote, but his

The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutter, has said the election

is an opportunity for voters to "beat the wrong

A Conservative MP has been questioned for six hours by police,

about the expenses he claimed during his general

Craig MacKinlay beat the former Ukip leader, Nigel Farage,

He submitted expenses for ?15,000 which is just under the legal limit.

With us now is our political correspondent Iain Watson.

Craig McKinlay beat Nigel Farage narrowly. It was a major target seat

of the his election expenses are beneath the legal limit, but this is

significant because if there were any evidence of wrongdoing and I say

if, then MPs can be disqualified and elections re-run and Nigel Farage

has indicated that he'd be willing to restand again in Kent. So we may

well see his return if this investigation was to conclude in a

way that wasn't favourable to Craig McKinlay. He denied any wrongdoing,

this is significant because, of course, Theresa May has a narrow

Parliamentary majority and there are 17 separate investigations going on

into election expenses around the country and in a separate

development, the Lincoln MP, Karl McCartney has been complaining about

the attitude of Conservative Party staff at head office. He suggested

he and his colleagues have been cast adrift during these investigations

and people at central office have been covering their own backs. So, I

think, that level of frustration shows how concerned some MPs and

indeed the police questioning someone under caution shows how

seriously they're taking the investigations, but no one has

charged and the investigations are continuing. Thank you, Iain.

A major appeal has been launched to help sixteen million people

facing starvation in what's being described as "the worst famine

The Disasters Emergency Committee, which is made up of

13 UK aid agencies, says drought and conflict

are to blame for the crisis which has left tens of thousands

of children at risk of starving to death.

The United Nations says the crisis in the four

affected countries - Nigeria, South Sudan,

Somalia and Yemen - is the worst since the Second World

Our Diplomatic Correspondent James Landale has more.

The Disasters Emergency Committee says drought and conflict has left

millions in East Africa in immediate need of food, water

Across South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, it says

16 million people don't know when they are next going to eat.

More than 800,000 children are severely malnourished,

The 13 aid agencies that make up the Disasters Emergency Committee

are already on the ground, delivering clean drinking water

But they are now appealing to the public for funds,

so they can do even more to help these people.

The Government has already promised ?200 million in emergency aid

for South Sudan and Somalia, and the International Development

Secretary, Priti Patel, said her department would match

the first ?5 million donated by the public in the new appeal.

She also urged other countries to follow Britain's lead,

before the crisis became what she called a stain

The world, she said, cannot afford to wait.

Police in Goa in India say they've found the body of a female

The body of the victim, believed to be in her late twenties,

was found in an isolated spot on Tuesday and police

say they are treating the death as murder.

Local reports suggest the woman was Irish.

A Royal Marine who shot and killed an injured Taliban fighter

in Afghanistan in 2011, will learn the result of an appeal

Sergeant Alexander Blackman was sentenced to life in prison.

But new psychiatric evidence has since emerged

that he was suffering from mental illness at the time of the killing

A group of men - who were filmed posing for a Mannequin Challenge -

are being sought in connection with two robberies in Salford.

The video was found on a phone in a car driven

It was made shortly after one of the crimes took place.

Officers said footage of the social media challenge was discovered

on the mobile in a Ford Focus used to flee the scene

Australian authorities have warned about the dangers

of using battery-powered devices on flights after a woman's

headphones caught fire, leaving her with a blackened

The woman was dozing on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne

when she was woken by the sound of an explosion and felt burning.

It's thought a fault with a lithium-ion battery

That's a summary of the latest BBC News.

Do get in touch with us throughout the morning.

Use #Victoria LIVE and if you text, you will be charged

Let's get some sport with Tim Hague - and Leicester City fans have

to wait until friday to see who'll they'll face in the Champions League

quarter finals after last night's victory.

Wes Morgan got the first. Leicester lost the first leg in Spain 2-1. The

victory last night sent them through on aggregate. It was pretty nervy at

times. They villa have won the Europa League for the last three

seasons and were a constant threat. Not only hitting the crossbar, but

missing a penalty too. Kasper Schmeichel saved one. His dad,

Peter, infamous in the English game, celebrating like he'd saved it!

Wes Morgan, the captain and scorer last night simply says: "Just wow"

Andy King wrote "Unbelievable performance from the boys.

What a night, Leicester city into the last eight of the champions

league" and Christian Fuchs put "No words needed.

Gary Johnson is a leicester City fan who's

a friend of the show having done a video blog during their title

Gary, how are you feeling? I don't think, all the Leicester fans in the

stadium last night, around the world, wherever you were watching,

no one has got a voice left this morning. It was a fantastic evening

at the King Power stadium. I tell you what, the fairytale continues.

Did you believe Gary beforehand that Leicester could pull this off to get

through? This is Leicester City we're talking about! I wouldn't,

after last season, after the previous years that we've had, we've

come from League one and we've made our way up and become champions of

the championship and become Premier League champions, I was never going

to say that this wouldn't happen. A lot of the media, a lot of the

public and managers have been on record saying that Leicester City

are going to get knocked out and here we are and we're in the last

eight. Gary, I'm loving that flag in the background. Who do you want in

the next round then Gary? Well, they were talking about this last night

because we're at a stage where there is big cluns left and of course,

there was always big clubs in the Champions League, but we're getting

to it the nitty-gritty. I would like to go to Barcelona to see our team

play the very best. I have got a suspicion that we may end up at Man

City. And Champions League win or League title, Gary? The impossible

question! I tell you, as I say, we never ever dreamt that we would get

that trophy that's sitting behind me here on the flag, before mind into

the last eight. Let's just keep focus on the task in hand. We need

to stay in the League. This is a journey and an adventure that is

just creating magic at every opportunity. Who knows what would

happen with Leicester City? Gary Johnson, our Leicester fan, So good

to see those Doctor Who posters in his bedroom as well!

Two days until they find out who they will face. Jose Mourinho does

not enjoy long coach rides apparently! Victoria, we have spoken

about Jose Mourinho before. He's angry at times, isn't he? Manchester

United players didn't get back from their FA Cup defeat at Chelsea on

Monday night until 4am because the plane supposed to be taking them

home wasn't at Heathrow Airport. Now, Jose Mourinho, annoyed by this,

this is the Manchester United team arriving at Chelsea on a coach

incidentally, but Jose Mourinho probably not so much annoyed, the

fact that the plane wasn't there, but because he wasn't told until the

team coach was actually approaching Heathrow, it meant united had no

alternative, but to drive back north which took four-and-a-half hours

because of motorway road works on the M6. They didn't get back to 64

hours before the second leg of their Cup tie which is tomorrow night. It

has been a long week for Jose Mourinho and Manchester United.

The foster parents of a teenage girl who was dramatically removed

from their care say she still has "nightmares" about what happened.

Aimee Gardiner, who has severe learning difficulties,

had lived with her aunt and uncle for most of her life when at the age

of 15 she was abruptly taken away without even being allowed

She was moved to a new family where she says she wasn't looked

after and had to eat cat biscuits because she was so hungry.

Aimee then ended up running away from that family.

Now the watchdog for councils, the Local Government Ombudsman,

has criticised Essex County Council for the way it handled the case.

The council now says it's reviewing all its decisions to remove

children from foster parents in the last 12 months.

Aimee is now back living with her aunt and uncle,

Carrie and Chris Stevens, who are here now along

with Mary and Alan Gardiner, Aimee's grandparents.

They join us now for their first TV interview.

Tell us about Aimee and the fact she is like one of your own. She is. She

has lived with me since she was two. Her cousins are like brothers. She

calls as mum and dad. She... She was very happy, happy-go-lucky girl.

This has made her very inward, all the ins and outs that went on with

her. It has changed her, definitely. Without a doubt she is not as

confident as he used to be and the smile was not there like she used to

have. Give us an insight into what happened on the day that she was

taken away. I received a phone call from our foster link worker's

manager to say they are removing Aimee in and around a half from the

school. We had no inkling of what was about to happen or anything, no

concerns were raised to us and it was frightful. I rang Carrie, she

had to come home from work. The foster link workers asked us if they

wanted us to come over -- if we wanted them to come over. What do

you think? You must have asked by? We did but we have still not been

given that answer because they came up with so many different and so as

to that question. -- also is. Emotional abuse, she is scared of

you, this and that. Not one of them has been proven. To us. The

ombudsman have looked into it. She did not meet the threshold for her

removal. Why was the protocol not followed? We will talk about that in

a moment. Grandparents, Aimee used to come and stay with you every

other weekend. What was it like when this happened to your family?

Devastating. We could not understand why. We had no concerns whatsoever

with the care and we could not understand why they had removed her.

We asked the questions and one reply was that she was being removed on

the grounds of emotional abuse and when that was challenged by Chris

the following day they denied she was being removed on that basis and

it was her wishes. When I challenged this the following day I was told to

was being removed because the carers had broken their contract with the

social services. Every time you ask the question the seemed to change.

What was it like for you? Nightmare. We did not eat or sleep properly.

Inkling about all the times when I had her, I was a respite care. She

used to cook with me. With nanny and granddaughter time, I used to take

on into town. She cannot judge money. If you give her ?5 she would

not know how much change she should have back if there's thinking to ?4.

She did not know the times. I used to go on the bus with her. Because

of higher learning difficulties? She had the mental capacity of somebody

a lot younger. I totally understand. When they removed her we had no

contact. No phone calls, this was sorted out sometime later during a

stay at the other foster care's home but initially we had no contact, we

did not know where she was. We could not understand what was going on.

Presumably your minds are in overdrive thinking what have we

done? Is it something we have said? Going crazy. Precisely. Our main

concern was Aimee's welfare. Is she all right? Knowing her she would

have been crying for us. We could not speak to her. We did not know

where she was. Aimee is not able to join us but we * she would write

down how she felt. You are comfortable reading them out. This

is what Aimee wrote to contribute. When they took me away I did not

want to stay there. I felt really horrible and hurt when they took me

away from you guys. I just wanted to come home. When I was home... Are

you all right? You do not have to carry on. She is back and has been

with you for some time. It has turned out how you would have

wanted. My goodness, it has been a long time getting the council to

acknowledge they made mistakes. You may game complaint about what they

did. Yes. Asked several questions. We contacted a helpline for foster

carers who advised me everything to ask them. I ask those questions,

what meetings were held, and it never got answered. That was six

years ago. Indeed. You have finally had a report from the local

government ombudsman which says if it's going to council should not

have done this, they made a number of mistakes. How did you feel when

you got that? Relieved. Because we knew we were right from day one. We

knew. It has just been a battle. It is all we wanted from day one, an

apology. We would have accepted that. Because we never got that

apology we had to go through this prolonged complaints process that

has taken nearly six years and we were obstructed all the way by Essex

social services. And Essex local authority. I have a statement from

the council which I will read in a moment. It is worth talking about

how Aimee said she was treated in the other foster family. What did

she tell you about that period of time? Very unhappy there. Used to

sit in her room most of the time. Writing letters that she would store

in a box for us asking to come home. Those letters were promised to be

given to us but never came until she returned back to us. She said at

night she was so hungry she walked down the stairs into a cupboard and

eat cat biscuits because she was hungry. Goodness me. It is shocking

to hear that. Why was she? Why was she hungry? She ran away from there.

She did. And turned up where? There was a knock at the door and I could

see the shape and I looked and I thought that is Aimee. I told Gary

and she did not believe me at first. I opened the door and Aimee said,

can I come home, dad? How had she got to your place? She was in a

parkland left alone and she hitched a ride with a male person back to

our house which in itself... Evil child, a child -- a vulnerable

child, anything could have happened. We asked Essex County Council

to come on the programme. In a statement Cllr Dick Madden,

Essex County Council's Cabinet Member for Adults and Children says

"It is clear that mistakes were made We've sent letters of

apology to the family. I am confident appropriate

procedures are now being followed We still have not had an apology.

You have not had a letter? No. Maybe it is in the post. Probably. We do

not think that is adequate anyway. We would like a face-to-face

apology. We need an explanation. We need face-to-face contact with

someone in senior management to explain exactly what was going on.

We know for a fact that the correct procedures were not for lost when

they removed Aimee and the children's act states quite plainly

that before a foster care less and can be terminated that has to be a

review of the tile's case which would involve the child, parents,

carers, grandparents and extended family. That never took place.

Incredible. So many things. As the council acknowledge, not that that

is particularly any consolation after six years, so many procedures

were not followed. Some messages. LP says social services destroy another

child's life. It is absolute incompetence. Someone else's well

done to the team for highlighting issues regarding this Council

decision. How can Essex council justify taking Aimee away from her

family without any explanation? Heads should roll. Do you agree?

Absolutely. We have asked why these people have not been disciplined. It

is not within the ombudsman's remit to recommend disciplinary action but

someone from the council should be looking towards some form of

discipline against these people that have gone through and caused all

this trauma. You said Aimee is different, more insulin. Does she

still have flashbacks -- insular. She has nightmares. Very frequent

when she came back. Less frequent now but she's all has them. -- still

has them. She is frightened this person will taken away again. It

says here, I still worry they are going to take me away again. Roger

says that poor family, I am in shock and tears, how can something so

cruel happen? Throw the book at the council. I hope Aimee regains her

happiness and smile soon. If any other foster family find themselves

in a scenario similar to this, what would your advice be? Do not give

up. Keep fighting. Immediately contact the Member of Parliament

because that way you can ensure to a certain degree that the local

authority will be following the correct procedures. You did that. We

did. The complaints procedure put in place for such cases is less we

tried to follow but we were obstructed virtually every step.

Yes. Putting obstacles in our way. Not returning phone calls or emails.

Not answering our questions. Still you would say do not give up. No. Do

not give up. The ombudsman have been fantastic. They have dealt with that

within six months maximum. From the phone call. Bearing in mind we had

contacted them once before with the complaint and they were told to go

back and do the surgery again, the stage two and three mag again. As

part of the complaints process. Thank you. Best wishes to Aimee.

An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's

Today programme has found that lorry drivers moving goods

in Western Europe for Ikea and other retailers are living out

We'll bring you that exclusive report shortly.

And the appeal against the murder conviction of a Royal Marine

who shot an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan.

We'll bring you that judgement as it happens.

Here's Joanna in the BBC Newsroom with a summary of today's news.

An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

and other retailers are living out of their cabs for months at a time.

The truckers, who are employed by haulage firms based

in Eastern Europe, say they can't afford to live in the countries

where they're actually working and driving,

Ikea said it was "saddened by the testimonies" of the drivers.

We will have the full report after 9.30am.

A rare glimpse into President Trump's private finances has

emerged with the leak of his 2005 tax return.

He refused to make the documents public

during his election campaign and was accused by Hillary Clinton

But the US TV network MSNBC has now published two pages of the document.

The people of the Netherlands are voting in the first of three

crucial elections in Europe this year which are being viewed

as important tests of the popularity of nationalist parties.

The anti-Islam, anti-EU, far-right leader Geert Wilder's

party performed best in polls leading up to the vote, but his

The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutter, has said the election

is an opportunity for voters to "beat the wrong

A Conservative MP has been questioned for six hours by police

about the money he claimed during his general

Craig MacKinlay beat the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage

He submitted expenses for ?15,000 which is just under the legal limit.

Police in Goa in India say they've found the body of a female

The body of the victim, believed to be in her late 20s,

was found in an isolated spot on Tuesday and police

say they are treating the death as murder.

Local reports suggest the woman was Irish.

That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 10am.

The unemployment figures are in. Unemployment fell by 31,000 to 1.58

million. That's according to official figures. Unemployment fell

by 31,000 to 1.58 million in the three months up to January this year

and we've got average earnings. Average increases increased by 2.2%,

but that's down by 0.4% on the previous month.

Down by 0.4% on the previous month. Here's some sport

now with Tim Hague. Leicester City manager

Craig Shakespeare says they could be "the surprise team"

in the Champions League That's after they beat Sevilla 2-0

last night, 3-2 on aggregate. They join the likes of Barcelona,

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid It has emerged that

Manchester United had to get a coach back north

after their defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup on Monday

because their plane didn't Jose Mourinho was not best pleased

as he was only told when they were And can Nicky Henderson pick up

more winners on day two He became the most successful

trainer of the Champion Hurdle This morning a joint investigation

by this programme and Radio 4 Today's programme has discovered

lorry drivers transporting goods for Ikea and other retailers

in Western Europe are camping out in their cabs for months at a time

because they can't afford to live The East European drivers

are being paid at the levels they would receive in their home

countries, yet they are only working in more expensive countries

like Germany and Denmark. A judge has described as "inhumane"

the practice where companies are able to exploit loopholes

in European law. Ikea says it doesn't just

care about furniture. It wants to have a positive

effect on people. But just how positive do the people

transporting Ikea goods feel? We've met truck drivers camping out

in their cabs for months at a time. They work for companies paid

by Ikea to move their goods It has being called

an inhumane state of affairs. In a trailer on the edge

of Copenhagen in Denmark, Kristian and Emilian

are building their very There's a breakfast

bar, a tablecloth, Making their meals from scratch is

how they save money, and stay warm. So, this is very clever,

the way that you've assembled Is this how you want

to have your breakfast? I don't want to live like this,

but this is the condition. You can't afford to go

to a cafe, or a canteen? No, today we are lucky

because it's the weekend. Yes, we have a table,

which is very good. It's empty, but in the middle

of the week, we sleep and we make our food on the side

of the road. We don't have nothing

like a human person. Do you think that Ikea know

that this is how you live? Emilian is wearing

the uniform of Bring, He's moving goods for Ikea,

but Bring Norway does not employ His actual employer

is a Slovakian subsidiary, A Danish driver can expect to go

home every couple of weeks, but Emilian spends up to four months

on the road, sleeping, This is my language,

this is my Romanian flag, EU law states that drivers must take

45 hours weekly rest away from their cabs,

although governments have Emilian says that he cannot afford

to sleep anywhere else. He gets a 45 euros or ?40 a day

in expenses, which is meant to cover Bring says Emiliano is responsible

for taking his rest breaks, and the company says he can go home

whenever he likes. What is it like to be

in the cab all the time? It's not good for drivers,

and it's not good or safe for other Emilian has just driven Ikea stock

from Denmark into Sweden. He only ever works

in Western Europe. Sometimes it might be

Germany or Norway. Yet he is being paid

as if he was driving in Slovakia, Emilian shot this mobile

phone footage last month. This minibus took him

from Slovakia to Denmark, After a few months on the road,

he will be minibused back European Union rules state that

a driver posted temporarily away from home should be guaranteed

the host nation's minimum rates But, it seems that companies

are exploiting loopholes in the law. A Danish driver can expect

to take home 2,200 euros, Emilian is being paid

as if his place of work is Slovakia. He's been taking home an average

monthly salary of 477 Bring says that when it

comes to pay, it follows We've seen the contracts of drivers

working for some of Ikea's Each paid lower east European wages,

whilst working for months It's clear, this way of treating

drivers is widespread. Not just within the Ikea supply

chain, but in those of several This is how they spend the day

of rest, in Dortmund, Germany. It's a truck parked turned

campsite, right outside of the biggest Ikea distribution

centre in the world. They're almost all

from Eastern Europe. There are Lithuanians

and their luggage, waiting for a minibus to take them home

after months on the road. There are Moldovans

who told us off camera that their salary is 150 euros,

or ?130, a month. And there is this Bulgarian driver

who is really fed up. And, not just because he has to make

his mash on top of a fuel tank... There is no toilet,

no running water. We live like primitive people,

but at least this is work. The salary of 250 euros,

or ?215, a month. He's fully aware of what

he could be getting. Here in Germany, the minimum wage

is 8 euros 50 cents, That would work out

at ?1,200 a month salary. To create a better everyday life

for the many people, Ikea has never been shy

about talking about its values. We send as many containers

as possible directly The way we work with our suppliers,

I think is one part We have a very, very

close corporation with Ikea says it expects their suppliers

to follow a code of conduct, Suppliers must comply with the most

demanding demanding requirements, By systematically applying IWAY,

and supporting Ikea suppliers, Ikea has been able to initiate

thousands of improvements in social But when it comes to

who transports their goods, trade unions accuse Ikea of failing

to audit their supply Legal action is now being taken

against Ikea's contractors. In the Netherlands last month,

a court ruled that Brinkman, who deliver Ikea flowers

to the UK and Scandinavia, The court found that drivers

pay was not consistent The judge said it was an inhumane

state of affairs, that drivers were camping in their cabs and not

taking their weekly rest breaks, Ikea has been made aware

of trade union concerns. The International transport

Federation, the ITF, met with Ikea several times last

year to discuss the issue. Your trade union says that laws

are being broken right European driver resting time

legislation, methods We even see fake companies,

falsifying documents. There's a whole list of breaches,

and it happens like this. But Ikea would say this is many

different layers of companies Yeah, but these guys, the Moldovan,

Ukraine, Polish guys, So actually, there is

a direct connection? Yes, Ikea is the economic employer

of all of these workers. Ikea have to change their business

model with an eyeblink. In Immingham, Lincolnshire,

East European drivers There is so much cleaning going

on they look positively house-proud. This truck park reveals how

the industry here is changing. Increasing numbers of foreign

haulage companies are They are working for hundreds of

different companies, including IKEA. We spoke to a Polish

driver working for a Dutch company moving IKEA goods,

who wanted to stay anonymous. TRANSLATION: We spend a lot

of time living in lay-bys, where there are no toilets,

no showers, no facilities. The British road haulage

industry is nervous. They are worried they will be

undercut by companies that We are seeing far more foreign

lorries that are frankly less compliant with drivers' hours

and roadworthiness regulations. We believe they are driving

a coach and horses There is a road safety risk

and the Treasury is losing a fortune in tax revenue from employment taxes

and from general business tax. Big, well known, UK retailers

and other companies are making increasing use of these firms that

don't cost very much In a statement, IKEA said

"We take the reports by the BBC very seriously,

and recognise the fact that there is a discrepancy

between these reports and what we find in

our auditing process. We are saddened by the testimonies

and sympathise with the drivers. We put strict demands on suppliers

when it comes to wages, working conditions,

and following applicable We follow up and make regular audits

to check compliance. We are currently running

a pilot to investigate the subcontracting chain,

to reduce the risk of breaches and social conditions

within the chain, such as noncompliance with minimum wages,

working and rest times, They say they want to have

a positive affect on their workers? This company is not having

a positive effect on you? What would you like to say

to the boss of IKEA? I want to say come and work one week

with me in the same conditions. Because, with this situation,

they can see what has happened in reality,

with our lives. And it says he has to sleep in his

cab, they are not forced to hand they have the choice to take the

job. Graham says HGV drivers living in trucks is widespread across

Europe and the UK. Someone else says IKEA should be ashamed of

themselves, another good investigation. David says, I was a

tramper for years. I lived out of my cab for weeks on end. That is what

sleeper cabs were for. Stop this sensationalism turned out by this

sordid little programme. Do not laugh! Someone else is the sort of

horror story will continue until bosses are prohibited from abusing

workers from poorer countries. Backdated wages as a fine mate was

somewhere to making bosses think twice before abusing the poll. We

are going live to the Supreme Court. Anybody who has written a well, this

is significant. Identified areas of principal, substituting its own

decision, that decision was to award the claimant ?143,000 to buy at a

sitting tenant's discount the house where she and her family lived plus

an option to receive ?20,000 more in one or more instalments. The appeal

is against that decision. This Court unanimously allows the appeal

against that decision. It restores the order which the judge originally

made. There is a single judgment of mind with which everybody agrees and

an additional supplemental judgment addressing particularly claims by

adult non-dependent children and the other Lords agree with that also.

The principal decision is that the judge had not made either of the

errors of principal which the Court of Appeal thought he had. It follows

from that that the Court of Appeal had no basis to read the case. --

re-decide. Without appreciating that a lump sum would reduce the

claimant's entitlement to benefits because of means testing. It is

thought that as a result the judge's order would be of little or no

advantage to her because she would lose in benefits what she gained

from the award. In fact the judge had been very well aware of the

benefits rules. He had made his order to give the claimant a lump

sum so that she could put decent modern household equipment into her

home instead of the very old and totally worn out things that the

family was currently managing with. That meant that the money was for

her maintenance and more if she spent it in that way she would not

retain a capital sum and her benefits would not be lost. The

judgment also deals with some of the rather technical questions about how

claims under this act ought to be approached. There is no need to

summarise all of them. Apart from what I have already mentioned just a

few will go. The judgment deals with how far it is relevant to ask

whether the deceased acted unreasonably. The answer is that is

not the main question, the main question is whether the outcome of

the will is to make for the claimant reasonable financial provision for

her maintenance in all the circumstances. So for example if an

adult son or daughter has her own independent finances and does not

need maintenance the court cannot alter the will even if it thinks

that the deceased or morally to have done something different. On the

other hand the behaviour of both the deceased and the claimant may well

be factors which go into the question of what it would have been

reasonable to do by way of maintenance provision. And they were

here. Secondly the judgment explains that these cases cannot be decided

simply by comparing the expectations or needs of the claimant with the

expectation or needs of the chosen beneficiaries. The people to whom

the test date chooses to leave her money, whether relatives, friends or

family, famine relief or other charity, those people do not have to

justify their entitlement by need or by expectation. So far as they are

concerned, being the choices enough. Their claim has to be balanced

against any application made by the limited class of people who are in

total to ask the court to change the world. -- entitled to ask to change

the world. In working out what was reasonable financial provision. It

holds the judge was right to say that it was significant. The

judgment confirms existing case law which reminds courts that although

you can make provision for maintenance by way of a lump sum for

either immediate or gradual spending on maintenance, as happened here, it

will not normally be right to Bristol appreciating capital on the

claimant because that goes beyond maintenance. If housing is to be

provided usually a life interest in the house will be the more

appropriate way of doing it. Lastly the court confirms what is again

well-established existing case law which makes it clear that an appeal

will not succeed unless the judge has made some error of principal.

Neither side can appeal... We will leave the Supreme Court ruling. The

Supreme Court effectively have reasserted the principal that you

can leave your money in your will to whoever you want to leave your money

too. You probably gathered, on one side of the casework three animal

charities and on the other a woman cut out of mother's well. In her

will she made it clear she did not want to leave anything to her

daughter. They had been estranged since Heather was 17. She had gone

out with a boyfriend the mother did not approve of. She left half ?1

million to The Blue Cross, RSPCA and RSPB, of which she had no real

connection apparently, but she was clear in the will and in a letter to

lawyers, do not give anything to my daughters effectively. After her

death. Challenge that. On the basis that did not make reasonable

provision for her. The Supreme Court has unanimously allowed an appeal by

those three animal charities and they have won. We will bring you

reaction. We may hear from Heather. We will hear from lawyers on the

significance of this case. We will bring you the latest news and sport.

First, the weather. I pressure dominating the weather.

Things will be more unsettled later in the week. Plenty of sunshine

across the country. Cloud across southern and south-west areas and

cloud across the north-west but glorious morning pictures like this

one. The sunshine has been abundant across much of central and North

Wales. Showing how sunny the skies have been. We have high pressure

dominating the scene. This will bring thicker cloud, outbreaks of

rain across the west of Scotland and increasing wind. Not as wild across

Scotland as yesterday. The winds will continue to strengthen. Plenty

of sunshine across central, southern and eastern parts of the UK but

cloudier for north and west Scotland as afternoon with some of the rain

heavy across the north-west Highlands. The east of Scotland

probably staying dry with one or two back showers. Northern Ireland,

after sunshine this morning, the will thicken. A little bit of cloud

across south-western parts of Wales." The. The best of the

sunshine through the Midlands. A good-looking afternoon for the

Tottenham festival. Tomorrow looks cloudier and windier and we could

see a few spots of rain. The cloud will thicken up across the south and

the west. Increasing amounts of rain across Scotland and Northern Ireland

with Wales reaching gale force. Try your across the south-east with

coastal fog. It will be mild. Thursday, this weather front in the

north-west moves southwards and eastwards into not in England and

western parts of Wales and the south-west of England. Brighter with

sunshine and showers. Ahead of today's still went to be quite mild.

This is the remnant of Storm Stella. It will be heavily modified as it

crosses the Atlantic and it will reach as as a rain event with fairly

strong winds. Pretty wet across northern and western parts of the UK

with rain spreading to all areas and it will feel cooler. That is the

tone for the weekend, unsettled with weather fronts moving and, cooler,

temperatures close to normal, rain interspersed with sunshine.

An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

and other retailers are living out of their cabs for months at a time.

It's not good for drivers, not good and it's not

on the road, but this is the conditions.

Three animal charities have won a Supreme Court battle over a six

figure award to a woman who was left out of her estranged mum's will.

We'll bring you reaction. This court unanimously allows the appeal

against that decision and it restores the order which the judge

originally made. A Royal Marine who shot and killed

an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan in 2011,

will learn the result of an appeal That's expected in the next

half an hour or so. We will bring it to you live as soon

as it happens. Good morning, here's

Joanna in the BBC Newsroom Three animal charities have won a

case at the Supreme Court. When the woman died in 2004 she made it clear

she didn't want her estranged daughter to benefit and left her

500,000 pound estate to three animal charities instead. In 2007, the

woman challenged her late mother's will.

An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

and other retailers are living out of their cabs for months at a time.

The truckers, who are employed by haulage firms based

in Eastern Europe, say they can't afford to live in the countries

where they're actually working and driving,

Ikea said it was "saddened by the testimonies" of the drivers.

A rare glimpse into President Trump's private finances has

emerged with the leak of his 2005 tax return.

He had refused to make the documents public

during his election campaign and was accused by Hillary Clinton

But the US TV network MSNBC has now published two pages of the document.

Presenter Rachel Maddow disclosed the numbers.

In terms of what is on here, let me give you the basics.

Aside from the numbers being large, these pages are straightforward.

He paid $38 million, it looks like $38 million in taxes.

He took a big write-down of $103 million, more on that later.

If you add up the lines for income he made more

The unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest

since the summer of 1975, with a record number

The number of people out of work fell by 31,000

in the three months to January, to 1.58 million.

But there was a big increase in the number of people

on zero-hours contracts in their main job, with 905,000

people on the controversial contracts in the last quarter

That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 10.30am.

Thank you for your comments. Many about the foster family who had

their foster daughter removed. The council acknowledge they have made

mistakes. The foster daughter is back with the family. LJ says, "This

is shocking. Foster placements are so precious." Amy was in a long-term

placement, it is little wonder she is traumatised. Another viewer says,

"Well done to the family for fighting." This texter says, "I had

to fight four years to have my children. The foster carers helped

me regain custody. I was told everything is OK. Have your children

home. We know you are a good parents. My children are still

damaged by this and I have never had an apology."

Do get in touch with us throughout the morning.

Use #Victoria LIVE and if you text, you will be charged

Another special performance from Leicester City, Victoria,

having stunned everyone last season with that Premier League title,

they stunned Sevilla last night in the Champions League.

Since Craig Shakespeare took over from Claudio Ranieri last month,

Leicester have won all three of their games.

And they went ahead last night thanks to the captain Wes Morgan.

In the second-half Marc Albrighton, another

ever-present in that title winning team, got the crucial second.

Leicester lost the first leg in Spain 2-1 so the 2-0

victory last night - sent them through to the

Some of the players reacted on social media afterwards.

Wes Morgan, the captain and first scorer

Midfielder Andy King wrote "Unbelievable

Leicester city into the last 8 of the Champions League".

And Christian Fuchs put "No words needed.

Well, here's what the manager thought.

We're in there on merit. Make no mistake about that. We might be the

surprise team, but we know the quality of teams in there is getting

down to the real serious business now.

Some brilliant teams left in there. So Leicester will have to wait

until Friday to find out who they'll They are among some of biggest teams

in football as you can see. Barcelona are there after that

amazing win when they came from 5-1 down to beat Paris Saint Germain

in the second leg, Holders Real Madrid too,

as well as multiple winners So you can leave your money to

whoever you want. Clive Coleman is outside the court. Fill us in. Are

you entitled to leave your children out of the will? Are you entitled to

cut them out? That was the issue that was at the heart of this case

because when Melita Jackson died in 2004 she made it crystal clear that

she didn't want her estranged daughter to get a penny.

Her estate was worth ?500,000. Her daughter, Heather Ilott, challenged

decision. You can amy to a court and ask for reasonable provision and

reasonable maintenance if you have been cut out of a will. She did that

and a district judge awarded her ?50,000. She appealed that to the

Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal were far more generous. They made

the ruling that she was entitled to a third of the estate, ?140,000 to

buy her housing association property and another ?20,000 in a capital sum

that was structured so she would retain her state benefits. The

charities involved in this case, for them, it was a really important

issue and they appealed the case to the Supreme Court because the

charities get a huge amount of their income through legacies, the RSPCA,

one charity gets 50% of its income through legacies. So one in every

two animals that it looks after, that is funded through legacy

income. So it was a very important issue for them to appeal. The broad

principle as to whether people have the right to leave their estates to

charities, even if that means cutting their children out, of their

will. Today we have had, I can only describe as a thumping judgement

from the Supreme Court. A unanimous judgement by seven of the justices

of the Supreme Court that dismantles that Court of Appeal award and

restates, reaffirms a fundamental principle of our law in this

country, that you are entitled to leave your money to whoever you

choose to leave it to. Even if that means your children get little or

nothing. Now, I have with me James Aspen the solicitor from Wilson's

solicitors, who are the solicitors for the three animal charities.

First of all, James, you must be delighted. Thank you very much. This

is a very important decision, it reaffirms from the highest court in

the land that principle that we are free to choose who will benefit when

we die. Vital principle. And what we have seen the Supreme Court do today

is clear things up in the sense of how the inheritance Act works and

how far the freedom goes and our hope and our belief is we have a

better idea where we all stand. So, if we want to go out and make a

will, the solicitor should be better equipped now to advice us, how far

can you go with that? How free are you? An important principle

confirmed today. Thank you. Let's clear up what happened as a result

of this. The court has reaffirmed the original order for ?50,000, but

the court also said there have been discussions, there has been

agreement between Heather Ilott, the daughter, who was disinherited and

yourself and the three charities. Can you tell us about that? I have

to keep that private. It is a discussion about the mechanics of

how it works because the charities wouldn't want this to have an

adverse effect on Heather Ilott. What it means for everyone, the

broader picture here which is this is the highest court restauting

something we believed we had, but now we know we have which is freedom

to choose who will benefit when you die under your L your wishes matter

and this is what this confirms. One of the important issues was the

Court of Appeal, the court below, had said the charities need to prove

that they need the money. This court wasn't having any of that. They said

that's irrelevant? Again, it is a very important point because if you

think about it, charities are in the same position as you or me or anyone

else that someone chooses as their beneficiary in a will and what the

court is saying is, it is not about us interfering and saying whether we

approve of your choice, whether we think you should have left your

money to charity or to someone you cared about, you're free to make

that decision and it has to be a limited power the court has to do

anything about that. So, vital decision as far as all of us are

concerned. We still have freedom to choose who benefit under our will.

The court was very clear, a long estrangement and clear wishes that

you don't want a particular child or your children to get any of your

money, that really matters in how the courts interpret whether the

child is entitled to anything? Precisely, that's one of the things

it clear up today. It is a misunderstanding about whether these

personal contributions could be taken into account. I think the

conclusion you have to come to is well, that's part of free do. That's

part of having freedom choose is the ability to take those things into

account. So all cleared up for us. John McCain Aspenu thank you very

much indeed. There you have it Victoria, a very, very clear

judgement from the highest court in the land that you can leave your

money to hover you want to, even if that means your children getting

little or nothing. Zl thank you very much, Clive. Thank you.

Clive Coleman live at the Supreme Court for that fascinating judgement

this morning. An investigation by this programme

and Radio 4's Today progrramme has found that lorry drivers moving

goods for Ikea and other retailers across Europe are camping out

in their cabs for months at a time, because they can't afford to live

in the countries they're working in. The Eastern European drivers

are receiving pay rates for their home countries

despite working in more expensive A judge has described

as "inhumane" the practice where companies are able to exploit

loopholes in European law. We played you Zoe Conway's

full report earlier, Ikea says it doesn't just

care about furniture, But just how valued do the people

transporting Ikea goods feel? In a trailer on the edge

of Copenhagen, Denmark, Kris Jenner and Emilian have created

their very own pop-up kitchen. Cooking from scratch

saves them money. Is this how you want

to have your breakfast? No, I don't want to live

like this, but this is the Emilian is moving goods for Ikea,

but they don't employ him. His actual employer is a Slovakian

firm, Bring Tracking. European Union employment

rules state that a driver temporarily posted away from home

should be guaranteed the host nation's minimum rates

of pay and conditions. But companies are exploiting

loopholes in the law. A Danish driver can expect to take

home 2,200 euros, or ?1,900 a month, But Emilian has been taking

home an average monthly salary of 477 euros,

or ?418, a month. This is my home.

This is how I live. Danish drivers go home every couple

of weeks, but Emilian spends Bring says Emilian is

responsible for taking his rest breaks, and the company

says he can go home whenever he Emilian has just driven some Ikea

stock from Denmark into Sweden. He only ever works

in Western Europe. Sometimes it might be

Germany or Norway. But, he's being paid

as if he was driving in This truck park turned campsite

is right outside the Drivers are making stew,

and truck drying their clothes. Many of the East European

truck drivers we spoke to said that they are

on a similar deal to Emilian. It's clear that this way

of treating drivers is widespread, not just

within the Ikea supply chain, but in those of several

other household names. The number of foreign truck

companies moving goods in Britain is We are seeing far more

foreign lorries that are frankly less compliant with

drivers' hours and roadworthiness We believe they are driving

a coach and horses through In a statement, IKEA said

"We take the reports by the BBC very seriously, and

recognise the fact that there is a discrepancy between these reports

and what we find in our auditing We are saddened by the testimonies,

and sympathise with the We put strict demands on suppliers

when it comes to wages, working conditions, and following

applicable legislation. We follow up and make

regular audits to check We are currently running

a pilot to investigate the subcontracting chain, to reduce

the risk of breaches and social conditions in the chain, such

as noncompliance with minimum wages, working and rest times,

and breaches of EU legislation". Let's talk now to one of the drivers

we saw in Zoe's film and who joins us from his home in Romania,

Clive Mills who runs a haulage firm in the UK and drives

in the UK and Europe, Dutch MEP Agnes Jongerius who sits

on an EU committee and is looking into how EU law can help change

these practices, and Sam McIntosh from the International

Transport Federation, who researched these

practices across Europe. You are the one driving

on the roads, we saw how you live at times,

how do you want the law Hello. I want the law protects for

all drivers and workers and it is not possible living in the cab a

long time. But I hope the politician make a lot for workers in the

future. How widespread is this? How many drivers are living like we saw

you living? 99%. Drivers east European living like me in the cab.

Some drivers take three, four, five months because it is expensive to go

home to Romania Bulgaria and come back. We make this with our money.

You run a college company. I these conditions familiar to you? Indeed.

It happens all over. We truck across Europe and then spend up to two

weeks away. We do not do months away. I would not put my drivers

into that. The problem we have, this goes down to the big companies. Over

the last few years prices of all each have crashed. The prices are

coming down. We cannot compete because of the minimum wage. Weepy

all of our drivers above the minimum wage. Two years ago traders coming

in and accompanied so they put a trailer on a boat to come into the

country and there used to be some where it needed to go under time to

port to go back to Europe but now you have Eastern European lorry

drivers camped in docs in Portsmouth. Between 15 and 20 of

them all the time for weeks on end living out of their lorries

undercutting our prices. We cannot compete. It is a big problem. You

have done research into this. Where do you think the responsibility

lies? Straight at the top. Meaning? The pressure comes from the top of

the supply chain. The retailers? Retailers like IKEA. Drivers then

back cabs feel like prisons on the road. Retailers have to step up and

take responsibility. They have to be made accountable. When you say take

responsibility what does that mean in practical terms? They can start

by meeting their standards, their codes of practice, this is basic

human rights. As the first step they need to order what they say they

will do. Companies who trade on ethics,... IKEA's statement

acknowledging there is some work they can do. What can you do to help

drivers? It is good that usual a picture of his drivers because

people in Europe should know that this is how we treat our drivers

nowadays. It is important that we close down all the loopholes in the

European system because on the one hand what is happening is not

illegal, it seems like, because if you are driving from Slovak to

Germany or Belgium or the Netherlands then you can pay your

Slovak wages but not a few key people camping throughout Western

Europe all the time and that is a loophole we have to stop. It should

be clear that the host member states wages should apply if people work

for longer time in that country and that is clearly the case. In this

case IKEA also should feel ashamed of itself because they know that the

prices they pay cannot afford a liveable wage for all these drivers

driving around for IKEA. You were shaking your head in disagreement.

Indeed. A few years ago Germany bought in if you are driving in

their country, does not matter if you are going through Germany, you

have to pay and prove you are paying the minimum wage for Germany. Also

Austria and also France. England have not brought that in yet of all

for our employers we have to pay the minimum wage. What we ought to be

doing, the trouble is it is enforcing. We bring these laws in,

it is enforcing laws. This is the problem. You represent billions of

transport workers across the globe. From Britain's point of view leaving

the EU, it will not happen for a while, what difference is that going

to make for the UK? I do not think it will make any difference because

fundamentally the problem is at the top of the supply chain so until you

tackle the root cause, the retailers like IKEA, until you tackle the root

cause, you are not going to get anywhere. Enforcement is important.

Critical. We have to improve enforcement, make sure we are

sharing information, making the system work, making it cohesive.

Until you tackle the top of the supply chain this story is not going

to change. Thank you all of you. If you want to see the fulfilment is on

our programme age. Hollywood film star Ben Affleck has

said that he has completed treatment The American actor and director said

in a Facebook post that he had dealt with addiction in the past

and that it was something Newsbeat's reporter

is here with me now. The strongest part of the statement

is where he says I want my kids to know there is no shame in getting

help when you need it. He says he is lucky to have their help of his

family and friends including his core parent, his ex-partner Jennifer

I wonder why you think he has revealed this. There has been lots

of speculation about him and his personal life. We'll about the

divorce, whether it is happening or not with Jennifer Garner. He is

pictured a lot out of the Hollywood stars, a lot of pictures of him. I

was discussing with some entertainment reporters earlier, we

remember interviewing him a while ago and we thought he did not look

fantastic and this kind of makes sense now. He is probably doing it

for his kids. They know what is going on. He wants to be a positive

role model. It has not been the greatest couple of years for him

professionally or personally. The breakdown of his marriage but also

he directed and starred in Batman versus Superman which is renowned as

one of the worst films in the last couple of years and that was him

directing. He has won an Oscar for directing. Professionally and

personally it has been quite difficult. This may be marked the

start of a fresh start for him going forward. A step down -- he has

stepped down from directing the next Batman movie.

Still to come, a Royal Marine found guilty of murdering a wounded

Taliban fighter will hear the result of his appeal against

We think that will be in the next ten minutes or so.

We'll bring you that result from the High Court,

Three animal charities who were left nearly ?500,000 by a mother

who cut her estranged daughter out of her will have won

the right to keep the money, in a case at the Supreme Court.

When Melita Jackson died in 2004 she made it crystal clear she didn't

want her estranged daughter Heather Ilott to benefit,

and so left her half a million pound estate to three

In 2007, Mrs Illott challenged her late mother's will on the basis it

did not make "reasonable provision" for her.

She won her challenge, but that has now been overturned

The unemployment rate has fallen to its laws level since the summer of

1975 with a record number of people in work. It is at 1.58 million. A

big increase in the number of people on zero hours contracts in their

main job. Average earnings rose by 2.2% in the year to January.

An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

and other retailers are living out of their cabs for months at a time.

The truckers, who are employed by haulage firms based

in Eastern Europe, say they can't afford to live in the countries

where they're actually working and driving,

Ikea said it was "saddened by the testimonies" of the drivers.

A rare glimpse into President Trump's private finances has

emerged with the leak of his 2005 tax return.

Mr Trump refused to make the documents public

during his election campaign and was accused by Hillary Clinton

But the US TV network MSNBC has now published two pages of the document.

Presenter Rachel Maddow disclosed the numbers.

He had paid about $38 million in tax that year.

The foster parents of a teenage girl who was dramatically removed

from their care have told this programme she still has "nightmares"

Aimee Gardiner, who has severe learning difficulties,

had lived with her aunt and uncle for most of her life when,

at the age of 15, she was abruptly taken away without even

The watchdog for councils, the Local Government Ombudsman,

has criticised Essex County Council for the way it handled the case.

The council now says it's reviewing all its decisions to remove

children from foster parents in the last 12 months.

Aimee's uncle Chris Stevens says he still doesn't know why

Aimee was taken from them in the first place.

We still are at the stage where we still have not been given

that answer because they came up with so many different

Emotional abuse, she is scared of you, there is this, there is that.

Not one of them has been proven to us.

After the ombudsman looked into it, she did not meet the threshold

Therein lies the question why wasn't all the protocol followed?

Someone says they should practice walking a mile in their shoes and

think about the effects of their actions. Caroline says there seems

to be happening too often. Some parents do not fight and lose their

child for good. Sharon says I have experienced social services

first-hand when we raised concerns for our grandchildren. We phoned dad

emailed on a weekly basis. One of our grandchildren already lived with

us. The council dismissed a school and police report amid concerns of

the remaining children at home. They acted when ex-daughter-in-law was

admitted into mental health hospital. My grandchildren were

living in squalid conditions. Social services were abysmal. Keep getting

in touch. Leicester City manager

Craig Shakespeare says they could be "the surprise team"

in the Champions League That's after they beat Sevilla 2-0

last night, 3-2 on aggregate. They join the likes of Barcelona,

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid It has emerged that

Manchester United had to get a coach back north

after their defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup on Monday

because their plane didn't Jose Mourinho was not best pleased

as he was only told when they were And can Nicky Henderson pick up

more winners on day two He became the most successful

trainer of the Champion Hurdle In normal times, it's fair to say,

few outside Holland would have paid much attention

to the parliamentary But today's poll takes place

against a backdrop of election results that have taken

many by surprise. The anti-Islam, anti-EU politician

Geert Wilders is pitted against the conservative

Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Our reporter Jim Reed

has the background. On 15th March, 13 million people get

to vote in the Dutch election. Much has been made of this

man, Geert Wilders. We have to close our borders,

for all asylum seekers, and for all immigrants

from Islamic countries. The front-runner in the polls

until just recently, his Freedom Party wants to leave

the EU, close down mosques, These elections, for

sure, are historical. But Geert Wilders has been sliding

in the polls recently, and even if he wins the most votes,

the way that the Dutch political system works means

that he is unlikely to win power. The current Prime Minister

Mark Rutte, who's been He has a business background,

and a fondness for playing We've done a great deal

in the last couple of years, Whoever wins this election will also

tell us something about where Europe If Geert Wilders gets the most

votes, then other populist leaders, in countries like France

and Germany, will get a boost. To have criticism about

the Islamisation of our societies, which I believe is an enormous

threat... I do believe that there is a real

risk that on March the 16th, we can wake up in this country

and Geert Wilders is The polls can, of course,

the very wrong. Just this week, more than half

of the Dutch electorate said they still haven't decided

who to vote for. And with 28 different

parties all campaigning up to the last minute,

no one can ever be sure Breaking news. Alexander Blackman,

the Royal Marine who shot and injured a Taliban fighter in

Afghanistan has just had his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter

by five judges at the court marshal Appeal Court in London. So Sergeant

Blackman who became known as Marine A had his murder conviction for

shooting dead an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, he has had

his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter which is what he wanted

by five judges at the court marshal Appeal Court in London. That

breaking news in the last couple of seconds. You will remember that

Marine A has been serving a life sentence for murdering the wounded

Afghan insurgent. The fresh evidence that the five judges, at the court

marshal Appeal Court have been considering were the mental health

condition of Marine A, of Sergeant Blackman, he said he had

post-traumatic stress disorder so they have considered that fresh

evidence in the appeal today and those five judges have been

persuaded that Sergeant Blackman's murder conviction should be reduced

to manslaughter. That just in from the appeal in court. Let's talk to

our correspondent Daniel Bircher who is there. Daniel, fill us in on

this. Yes, this judgement has just been handed down. So what has

happened is that Alexander Blackman's murder conviction has

been quashed and the five judges have substituted a verdict of

manslaughter on the grounds diminished responsibility. Now, this

follows a hearing last month in front of five senior judges who were

sitting as the court martial Appeal Court. Alexander Blackman remains in

prison and there will be a further hearing to decide what sentence will

be appropriate and we expect to hear reaction here on the steps of the

court shortly. In the meantime if I just fill you in on the background.

What happened was that Alexander Blackman was convicted following a

court martial in 2013. He was convicted of murder. This was after

he had shot a Taliban, a wounded Taliban insurgent in Helmand

province in 2011. The following year he appealed. That appeal did not

succeed though his minimum term was reduced from ten to eight years. The

case was then referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

This is the independent body which looks at potential miscarriages of

justice and the CCRC then brought the case back to the Appeal Court

for a fresh appeal. That, as I say, was heard last month and has now led

to this conclusion that the murder conviction has been quashed. Instead

he is convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished

responsibility. Thank you very much, Daniel.

Reaction to come in a second. This is the culmination of a long, legal

fight and campaign on behalf of Sergeant Blackman who killed the

insurgent dead in September 2011. He had been filmed, Sergeant Blackman

had been filmed on a colleague's webcam.

Sergeant Blackman's appeal focussed on claims he had been plagued by

mental scars after facing death every day while on the frontline in

Afghanistan. In an exclusive interview in September 2015, his

wife Clare Blackman, told us about the moment her husband was arrested.

The first we knew was the knock on the door for him to be aretsed. It

was a huge shock. Happened? It was a quiet weekend morning and there was

a knock on the door. I opened the door and invited the individuals in

who announced who they were and as they came in, my husband came

downstairs and they read out the charge of breaches of the Geneva

convention at that stage. And did you know what that meant then? No,

not at all. When did it become clear that he was going to be charged with

murder? I think as the investigation continued, the charge changed a week

or so after that first arrest. How did you react? Shocked. Completely

shocked. It was something, as I said, was totally out of the blue,

but obviously, talked to my husband about it. Talked through what had

happened. More live reaction to come from the court. The news in the last

few minutes is that Sergeant Blackman who became known as Marine

A who had been serving a life sentence for murdering a wounded

Afghan insurgent has had his murder conviction quashed and replaced by

one of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. We can

talk to Patrick Hennessy who served as an officer in Afghanistan in 2007

and works as a barrister. He is an author and wrote The Junior Officers

Reading Club. How do you react? It is good news for Simon Blackman and

one of the things that his appeal has been focussed on is it really

suit yble for him to be in prison still? He is clearly not a threat to

society. It is probably good for him and his family that he's released,

but will be fascinating is to see the reasons that the Appeal Court

have given because if this is, it has been reduced to manslaughter on

the grounds of diminished responsibility so they have

considered expert evidence as to his mental state and there will be a

really interesting ramification into what that mental state was. If

you're a commander in the field, well, not Afghanistan anymore, there

is going to be a responsibility on all commanders to look at all their

soldiers and think because of the pressures that they have been under,

can I even allow them out of the gate? I think there is a mismatch. I

thinked the public will watch that video and listen to the awed dwro

and they will hear a man who is not under fire and who was calm and

collected and who shoots somebody who is injured. He's posing no

threat to him or his men and says to his colleague, "Don't tell anyone.

I've just broken the Geneva convention." We will have to look at

the detail the Court of Appeal considered. You accepted that the

short clip doesn't necessarily tell us the whole picture about the state

of mind of Sergeant Blackman, having served for however long he had been

serving in Afghanistan until that point? That's why the detail, the

medical evidence, they have considered is going to be crucial,

but you could see now if you were a general, you would be looking at

this and thinking this is potentially problematic for me. If a

Tour of Afghanistan lasts six to seven months and you send 8,000

troops and old at most a few thousand will be on the front,

frontline, but are we going to have to look very carefully at the

guidelines for how much we expose our soldiers too? The reality is if

you're... I'm going to interrupt. We're going to hear from Clare

Blackman on the steps of the court. Is my old friend Freddie Forsyth who

did not know Blackman and did not know Clare, but who knew a

miscarriage of justice when he smelt one and he brought me in, was it

last summer? And when I read these papers I was staggered at what I

read. And the heroine is of course, Clare Blackman because without her

efforts to keep the flame alive on behalf of her husband and to get

that debate in Parliament which sparked the interest of the public

and The Daily Mail and which led directly to today's victory, none of

this would have happened. So with that I'm going ask Freddie to say a

few words and then Clare. Thank you. It is really not, it's not merited.

I just want to say this however. It's not over yet. We always wanted

to get justice, an elusive word word. It is a two-playeded weapon.

Firstly one blade, to get a man who should never haven't been put in

prison, out of prison. Secondly, we go after those people who wrongly

and I think villainously put him there. The Establishment won't do

that, it is our job. We're the media, we do the examining, we

uncover things that we're not supposed to know. From now on, what

really happened there is down to you. I think we'll do our job just

as well as the lawyers did theirs and the judges did theirs. Because

there are things that need to be said about what was done to that man

and who did it to him and why and how and how they got away with it so

far, but not much further. So back to the mead why now. The ones who

will not be discouraged from doing what has to be done. OK, let's go

for it. APPLAUSE

We are delighted at the judges' decision to substitute manslaughter

by diminished responsibility. This is a crucial decision and one that

much better reflects the circumstances that my husband found

himself in during that terrible tour of Afghanistan. We must now wait for

the sentencing hearing and hope to secure a significant reduction in

Al's sentence. We would, of course, like to thank our fantastic legal

team, Jonathan Goldberg, Jeffrey Israel for their excellent work to

date and we must also thank the tens of thousands of supporters

especially from the Royal Marines family who stood behind us

throughout and who have played such an important role in getting us to

this point. Thank you. We'll stick with this in case the

media ask any questions of Clare Blackman.

We heard from Clare Blackman, Sergeant Blackman's wife who has

been campaigning for years on this issue. We also heard from author,

Frederick Forsyth. And you heard Patrick Hennessy Clare Blackman say

that for her husband it was a terrible tour of Afghanistan. Some

indication which is what he has persuaded the judges' of that he,

his mental health was not as it should have been when he was out on

the battlefield? I know there will be questions to be answered as to

who was in the role of monitoring the mental health of someone like

Simon Blackman? Should he have been leading patrols if he was under that

pressure? Should there have been greater rotation of individual

units. I'm not how much of a conspiracy there is to unearth. The

court was obviously persuaded by the evidence. You were telling us that

this will have real implications for officers and their groups of

soldiers and who they allow to be on the frontline?

You are looking at the robustness of people you put in leadership roles

and how they are responding over the duration of a tour. And people will

be in perfect mental health at the beginning and go through things that

degrade them and the implication here is that his unit had been

involved in such a degree of fighting that had been so intense,

the losses they had encountered were so severe it had that effect on him.

All individuals are different. Some people who are totally fine soldiers

may take more to break them or less. That is something you are going to

have to be realigned to in future. You cannot have this sort of thing

being somehow justified or allowed because at the end of the day in a

matter what crime he did did not commit this is bad at being a

soldier. You do not want to be sitting, shooting injured

insurgents. It is going to be damaging for the international

reputation of the British military. We have to find a way to look after

the mental health of our people but maintain the highest possible

standards in the field. Someone says I come from a military family and I

disagree with this verdict. With the case of his mental health should the

man in the grips of battle be trusted with a loaded rifle and the

feet of another human being, regardless of him being a Taliban

insurgent? With regards to the video he clearly knew what he had done was

wrong and illegal, it did not sound like someone of Owens and blamed.

Where is the justice for the family of the young man murdered? Another

person says this judgment will serve to put people off joining the armed

forces on the whole. The country does not deserve people like Sargent

Blackman, that they will be make the rules do not have the balls to do

what people like sergeant like-minded. You raised your

eyebrows. I do not think it will put people off joining the armed forces.

I do not think people join thinking they will be looked after completely

if they should somebody who was injured and posing no threat. They

have not said you did not do anything wrong, they have said you

should not be convicted of murder. It sounds as if there were failings

in the original court martial. There may have been failings in the way

the defence was prepared. Perhaps from the outset they should've been

looking more closely at the ministry sponsored ability and that was not

done. A host of reasons why the verdict might be quashed which do

not go so far as to say it is acceptable to do what he did.

Because it is not. The manslaughter option was not available at the

original trial. What about the mental health of people who serve in

Afghanistan and elsewhere? You believe the Ministry of Defence

takes it seriously? It is something the Ministry of Defence has been on

a steep learning curve for. When I first joined the armed forces in

2004 it was not done particularly regular slip it in the brief time I

served we got much more aware of the importance of looking after people.

My unit was attacked by suicide bombers than the driver of one of

the vehicles was the only survivor and it had clearly rattled him --

one of the only survivors. We did not want to serve him on but we

thought we would take a couple of weeks and give him a different role,

do not make him feel like a dead weight, he is doing something useful

but he is not in quite a pinch point and he gets his mental fortitude

back-up, and it maybe that was not being done in this case. As he been

in a situation similar to the one sided Blackman found yourself --

found himself in? I have been responsible for recovering severely

injured insurgents who up to ten minutes before had been shooting at

us. Part of your training is the ability to switch from trying to

kill the enemy while they are engaging new to then giving them

first eight and making sure they get back to a hospital in one piece.

There is a very powerful military imperative to do that. If he is

alive you do not know what information he is going to give you.

We fight to break the will of the enemy. If the enemy thinks the only

thing that is going to happen to them is they are going to get shot,

they will fight to the death, but if they know they are going to be

treated well, the first signs of things getting to the crunch

Biddulph Road down their arms. There is a vast historical precedent for

effective military operations being carried out humanely. It is bad at

being a soldier of people think the only way out of it is if you tell

them or they kill you. -- Umax to them or they kill you. You rock that

on the head? I do not think there is a conspiracy. It sounds as if

possibly mistakes were made by the first defence team. There were

verdict is not available. It sounds as if might have been issues as to

how rotations were being done at the camp. It will be interesting to see

but who knows what is out there? When a ruling like this happens what

sort of significance to the MOD in terms of the MOD, how significantly

will they be looking at this? They will be looking at it because they

will think we need to keep a very close eye on everyone going out on

offensive operations. They will think maybe there has to be

re-emphasis of certain parts of the education we are doing. They will

also see a slight indication insofar as what the court appeal said is

this guy is not a murderer, he had a very illustrious career and was a

good marine up until that point. While you want to take something

like that on board you do not want to drastically think, we are going

to have to rethink everything we do. There remained over the course of

the Afghan conflict tens of thousands if not hundreds of

thousands of rotations of British service personnel and an incident

like this very rare which is how it should be. Thank you. Patrick served

as an officer in Afghanistan in 2007 and works as a barrister and is also

an author. Let's get more on that

Supreme Court ruling, saying people should be able

to leave money to The case today focussed

on a mother who gave most of her estate to charity,

rather than to her The daughter had argued she should

get more money from her mother and the daughter won

in early court cases. But today the Supreme Court

reduced the amount that Joining us now is Martin Oliver,

the lawyer representing The reaction of you and your clients

to this today? My client is very disappointed by the judgment today.

As you said she was awarded ?50,000 at the very first instance by the

district judge and the Supreme Court has found that is reasonable

financial provision for her. As it is the highest court in the land,

that is it. How is this going to affect Heather? Heather is naturally

very disappointed by everything. This is the highest court. It is not

going to go any further than this and this is the final judgment. In

practical terms? She is not going to get any more money. In practical

terms years of very hard-working mother who brought this claim. She

was looking for in her opinion reasonable financial provision.

She's going to struggle going forward. She certainly did not wish

to be brought into the limelight on this type of matter. In the end

probably most sensible people will think the Supreme Court came to the

correct decision today. When you write a well you leave your stuff to

whoever you want to. I can understand why they may come to that

but there is legislation that says that reasonable financial provision

if it has not been left, and Heather was in that category to bring the

claim, it is an objective test, but there is quite a wide discretion as

to the amount people are entitled to. He had been estranged for some

time. What was the relevance of that? The strange and is one of the

factors that was looked at by the judge but it was phoned by the

district judge at the beginning that the reasons for the estrangement,

there was some fault on behalf of the mother which led her to make the

will that she did. Thank you. The lawyer representing Heather. Our