08/05/2014 BBC London News

combat for the first time. That's all from the BBC News.

Tonight on BBC London: Gathering video evidence. Hundreds of

Metropolitan Police officers are fitted with cameras attached to

their uniform. This gives an opportunity to have a victimless

prosecution. We can take the evidence and put it before a court.

But some civil liberty campaigners say the strategy is open to

corruption. Also tonight: Abu Hamza tells a US

court he's not a radical and says he's worked with MI5 to keep London

safe. A bumper year for London's tourism

trade with a record number visiting the capital last year. Nearly 17

million tourists visited, spending billions of pounds. I'll have more

on the capital's top attractions. Good evening. Hundreds of police

officers have been equipped with portable cameras attached to their

uniforms. Scotland Yard says the state`of`the`art gadgets will help

the force deal with stop`and`search operations and cases of violence.

It's also hoped the technology will bring speedier justice for victims

and improve trust in the force. But some civil liberty campaigners say

the cameras are open to abuse. A warning that this report from

Matthew Prodger has some disturbing scenes.

Police responded to a report of domestic violence. The evidence from

a police body camera is undeniable. Your children are here? At your

mother's. The attacker pleaded guilty and his victim was spared the

further ordeal of attending court. Sometimes victims are so terrified

they feel unable to take forward the prosecution. It enables a victimless

prosecution. We can take the evidence and put it before a court.

And what is important for me, as you will see in that footage, you will

see the terror. This scheme will establish our effective body cameras

can be. Officers say they have boosted the number of guilty pleas

and helped to avoid costly trials. A similar exercise in California also

found that police officers fitted with cameras were less likely to use

force and complaint against the police dropped by to B `` 88%. If a

criminal knows there is recorded evidence of their wrongdoing, they

are more likely to plead guilty early. If somebody knows they are

being filmed, they are less likely to be violent. Camera use will focus

initially on reports of violence and stop and search. Video will be

stored for a month and then deleted unless it is needed for evidence in

a prosecution or complaint. Police in Lambeth have been trying out a

different body camera to carry out an independent record searches on

the street, a flash point for animosity between police and the

public. But there are concerns that police could abuse their power to

stop and start recording. Clearly there is a risk that if an officer

recognises a situation is arising and does not want it recorded, then

that officer can turn the camera off. If that does happen and

evidence is not created, then the Met Police have got to crack down on

that very hard. The Met predicts that in London alone ten to 20,000

body cams will eventually be in use. And many more across the UK.

Stay with us, as there's lots more to come on tonight's BBC London

including: Protecting London from flooding. The Thames Barrier

celebrates its 30th year. Lawyers for the radical Muslim

cleric Abu Hamza have claimed he secretly worked with MI5 to keep the

streets of London safe. The cleric has been giving evidence at his

trial in New York on 11 terrorism charges. Our home affairs

correspondent Guy Smith has this report.

For many years, he was the face of Britain's battle against extremism.

Abu Hamza, a radical Muslim cleric, was jailed in the UK for inciting

murder and racial hatred. Two years ago, he was extradited to the United

States and now faces 11 terrorism charges there. In a New York

courtroom, he repeatedly denied his part in the kidnapping of Western

tourists in Yemen in 1998, a plot to set up a jihadist training camp in

Oregon, and calling for holy War in Afghanistan. The court has also been

told about claims he secretly worked for British intelligence agency MI5

to keep the streets of London safe. Abu Hamza's lawyer claims he was a

moderating influence within the Muslim community, seen here around a

decade ago preaching outside the Finsbury park mosque in North

London. The defence wants to introduce documents from Scotland

Yard, showing how he cooperated with police to calm tensions and help

release hostages. At the US judge has ruled that evidence

inadmissible. The version Abu Hamza is presenting to an American court

is very different to the one he was accused of here, that of running a

global terror network from this mosque in Finsbury Park. Claims of

him working with British intelligence will only go to the all

conspiracy theories about why he was able to preach hatred in the UK for

so long. Meanwhile, Abu Hamza told the court his life story, of how he

started out on the wrong side of morality, running a strip club in

Soho, but then turned to Islam. He said he had been a member of the

royal Society of Engineering and also worked at Sandhurst, the

military Academy in Surrey. Abu Hamza's testimony is expected to

last until next week. He has already spent eight years in prison in the

UK. If found guilty this time of aiding terrorism, he faces life in

jail in the USA. Police are still questioning the

violent armed robber known as the Skull Cracker who has been

recaptured in London after squandering from an open prison in

Kent. Michael Wheatley was arrested in Tower Hamlets yesterday hours

after allegedly robbing a villain society at Sunbury`on`Thames.

The mother of a teenager who was stabbed to death has bagged for help

in finding his killers. `` begged for help. The teenager was stabbed

to death on Tuesday in Feltham. His mother has said she is in

unimaginable pain and has asked for witnesses to come forward.

It's been a bumper year for London's tourism trade. Around 17 million

people visited the capital last year. That's a record number with

tourists spending more than ?11 billion. We can get more on this

from Helen Drew who's at one of our most popular attractions.

I am at Trafalgar Square and just behind me is the National Gallery,

the second most visited tourist attraction not just in London but in

the UK. They saw just over 6 million visitors last year and say this

could have been because of exhibitions including Turner and

Monet. The only place with more visitors was the British Museum. Of

course there are many other sites as well. History, culture and heritage.

London has a huge amount of tourist sites and they are attracting more

visitors than ever before. 16.8 million foreign visitors came to

London last year, an increase of 9% in 2012. And they spent more than

?11 billion. Every place we have visited has been magnificent and the

people are magnificent. We have had a wonderful time. It is attractive

with a lot of monuments. Beautiful, very beautiful. Wonderful, except

for the weather. We are from Florida. One of the most visited

sites as the Tower of London, with 2.5 million visitors last year. One

of the biggest attractions of coming to London is the enduring interest

in heritage, especially royal heritage. We are kind of popular

again, and we have always been successful with inbound visitors,

but at the moment we are one of the must see parts of a visit to this

amazing capital city of ours. Small businesses can also benefit, like

this cafe close to the Tower of London. Tourists come here on their

way to Tower Bridge. So of course we see a lot of tourists coming here.

And the impact of tourism is felt far wider than just these sites. The

great thing about a rise in tourism is that it equals a rise in jobs.

All that foreign currency flowing in will provide jobs, especially for

young people from Bromley, Bexley, Redbridge, those areas that do not

necessarily access financial services at the Stella and the jobs

market, they can find volume jobs with a good wage. `` the Stella

end. London seems to be the only city where visitor numbers have

increased since the Olympic Games. Their hopes are it will continue.

The highest number of visitors come from America and the biggest

increases from the emerging markets, like China. If you would

like to know who spends the most in London, an average American tourist

spends ?700. The average Chinese visitor ?3500. What an amazing

difference. Thank you very much. The Green Party currently only has

to councillors in London and one MEP. Today they launched their

campaign to change all that. They say they want to curb bankers'

bonuses, improve air quality and make a London living wage

compulsory. Party Leader Natalie Bennett has been speaking to our

political correspondent Karl Mercer. The weather does not respect

political whim, just ask the Green party. Timing, as they say, is

everything. Huddled beneath a tree, this was the launch of the London

campaign, a wet affair with spirits and dampened. After the rain comes

the sunshine so let's go out and make some sunshine. Thank you. The

Greens have one MEP at the moment and two members of the London

Assembly but they are looking to improve and this time round they are

fielding their biggest number of candidates for the town hall

elections. There are 1800 councillors in London and you just

have two. We do and that was a significant fall from 2010 but we

have strong campaigns. Candidates in Camden and Lewisham have strong

campaigns and so does Islington. Haringey and Lambeth are looking

strong. We are the party of real change, the party offering different

ideas. Recent polling has seen the Green party edging upwards and they

are talking about beating the Lib Dems in the European vote and they

are talking tough on banking bonuses. We have a banking sector

that is fuelling our problems are not solving them. Would you be happy

to see the bankers upped sticks and moving? Anyone who does not want to

pay any tax and is threatening to leave, my reaction is that he

favours that way. Fairly blood? Exactly. `` blunt? If you are making

a lot of money, it is not because of individual brilliance. That income

comes from the society. Businesses will not necessarily agree with that

or with plans to make a living wage compulsory. One of the things we

have to do, which is for the good of London and the rest of the country,

is that we have a problem with regional development policies. Eight

out of ten new jobs created since 2010 have been in London. That is

not ultimately for the good of London. We need an all England and

all Wales economy, and Scotland, that London is part of. We don't

want to concentrate everything in London. That will not win you folks

in London. Spreading out the economy. I think people fully

understand that if we proffered the North and the Midlands, we're

impoverishing all of us as a community. `` if we impoverish the

North. King's College hospital, the largest

liver disease centre in Britain, has carried out a record number of

transplants over the last year, accounting for a quarter of all

transplants in the UK. Rice has been fuelled partly by an increase in the

number of donors coming forward. `` the increase has been fuelled. Tracy

knows she is one of the lucky ones. These pictures tell the story. Until

only a few months ago, she was gravely ill with an inherited liver

disease. Thanks to an emergency transplant, her life has been

transformed. Since my operation, I feel amazing. I can get out and I am

not in pain. I was in discomfort before and I did not want to go

anywhere. I still get tired, but I am not as tired as I was. Not in

pain like I was. She was treated at King's College hospital, one of the

country's leading liver transplant centres. And in the last year they

have helped more people than ever before. 220 patients had successful

operations, an increase of 25%. The more transplant we can do, the

better it is, because of the less people dying on the waiting list. As

a doctor we have always had this terrible problem of people getting

listed, thinking their life will be saved, then not being transplanted

and dying. It is terrible for us but much more terrible for the patients

on the list. Just ten days after being placed on emergency transplant

list, Tracy got a phone call. I was really shocked. They told me the

ambulance would be there in 20 minutes and I needed to have

breakfast and get ready. The thought of eating at that time just was not

going to happen. That and expect a call has given Tracy what she wanted

most of all. Hope. She is now back at work. 90% of those that receive a

liver transplant at Kings live for more than five years and doctors are

keen for more of us to become organ donors.

It is a terrific team at the hospital. It has been quite a year

for the Thames Barrier in Woolwich. It has just had its busiest period

in history after an unusually wet winter. It proves that 30 years to

the day since it officially opened, the barrier remains effective at

protecting London from flooding. I want to congratulate all of those

responsible for this great feat of engineering. It was strange,

brilliant and beautiful. The pushing of a Britain that showed that London

was ambitious. Nowadays they are not ones for a big show. The birthday

was not privately with a cup of tea and slice of cake. And for the

celebratory ways `` raising, they worked slowly to not create waves.

We always have to work with the tide. We are just waiting at the

moment. The barrier was built in response to the 1953 floods which

claimed the lives of 300 people, a third of whom lived in the Thames

estuary. It enables scientists to predict with complete accuracy what

effect the sea will have on the structure. Gradually sciences taming

the waters to work for man. What they chose was simple and adaptable.

3500 tonne plates, rotating slowly. From their vantage point in the

middle of the river, the people who work here have watched London

expand. My name is Bill and I have been here since 1984. What has built

up is mainly apartments on the North side. Canary Wharf as well. We

actually watched the tower being built from the barrier. Canary Wharf

has been built since we came here. It has worked its hardest this year.

We have used the barrier 50 times in a three`month period this winter.

Out of a grand total of 174, that means it has got busier. Given what

has sprung up around it, the barrier no longer seem strange. Questions

have now been asked about its life span and there is work being done to

find a replacement. Slowly but steadily the barrier plans to shield

London for three decades more. The gift, , from Sir Michael and Lady

Hinz, is the biggest single donation it's been dashed back as been

received in its history. Angelina Jolie is as much known for her

humanitarian work as for her acting. But tonight she's back in London

promoting her new film Maleficent. Before we catch up with her, let's

see a clip of the film where Jolie plays the villain in the story of

Sleeping Beauty. Well, well. I shall bestow a gift on the child. Before

the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she will fall into a sleep like

death. Angelina Jolie is as much known for her humanitarian work as

for her acting. Various costumes used in the film are being exhibited

at Kensington Palace, which is where our entertainment correspondent,

Brenda Emmanus caught up with the star of the film. We celebrate the

costumes and props of this Disney offering. A host of celebrities and

designers are expected this evening to join the cast, joining me now,

looking magnificent as Maleficent, is Angelina Jolie. How exciting was

to explore the villain of this true Disney classic? It was great fun, a

dream. I've loved her since I was a kid. She's wonderfully wicked and

really a great deal of fun to play. Once I got... I was nervous at first

that I would do it right and pay respects to the original, then once

I got my horns on and decided to just try to entertain and be as open

as possible, I had a great time. Is it true you found this one of the

most difficult, challenging the most emotional roles? I did, the story is

emotional. It's a proper film, it has all the different elements that

make for a great film and complex characters. I was really nervous

because you can't do this halfway. I'm not a theatre actress and as a

film actress you keep things inside and are quite cool about it. She has

to be big and loud and funny, and I don't do funny. To really kind of

play it up, that little bit camp and a bit wild, it was something that

was a little frightening for me because I hadn't done it and I

wasn't sure I would do it right. You also wore the executive producer hat

in this film. How much are you enjoying being behind the camera as

well as in front? I love directing. Is it just another personal

challenge? As an actor, you come in and out. You come in, do your part

and are aware of the whole story but you... You're not handling every

aspect of it. When you direct, it's two years of your life where you get

to study this period of history and these people and you really get to

know the crew. You really become a family in a very different way. The

actors do a bit, but you kind of stay back and in your character. As

a director, you get to be a member of the team. You are here tonight

celebrating a very exciting project, it's out on May the 28th. Some

breaking news, the football Association has announced that

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been fined ?10,000. It follows

comments made by him about referee Mike Dean, and the referee's chief,

following Chelsea's match against Sunderland last month.

It's thoroughly miserable. It looks like it will be a bit better

tomorrow but as we head into the weekend, it looks like it will be

pretty unsettled. We had a lot of rain around today, particularly this

morning's heavy bursts. A slow improvement in the afternoon, it

became a bit lighter. The picture from earlier, some of the heaviest

rain moved through just before lunchtime. Some rain left in its

wake, we may see some glimmers of brightness towards western areas

before the day is out. Most of the rain eventually clearing up through

the course of the night. For most, the night should be dry bar the odd

bit of rain across the far North. The temperatures will keep up.

Tomorrow, a better looking day. Writer, breezy, there will be a few

showers around, particularly in the morning. We have a few heavier ones

around northern and eastern parts. Eventually they push away and we see

plenty of sunshine through the afternoon. Maybe the odd shower, but

most places should stay dry. Quite different to today. That will impact

on the temperatures. Up to 19 sources across some sheltered

eastern parts of the city. The evening commute looks like being a

fine, dry one, too, with lovely spells of sunshine. If you cast your

mind back to last weekend, high`pressure, lots of sunshine.

It's looking far more unsettled, low`pressure, rain at times and

pretty windy. This is the picture for Saturday morning. Quite wet and

windy. The heavy rain pushing eastwards. Then some heavy, blustery

showers moving in from the West, maybe containing a bit of hail and

under. But in between that there will be some sunshine. That is how

it's looking for Saturday. On Sunday there will be a few showers will

store maybe a degree or so cool as we head in towards the start of next

week. It will be cooler and we will see West, north`westerly winds.

Still a few showers. It is set to stay unsettled.

Women soldiers in the British army could be allowed to serve on the

front line for the first time. A review of whether women should be

allowed to fight in close combat has been brought forward. Barclays has

said it's to cut 19,000 jobs by 2016. Just under half of them will

be in the UK this year. The bank is drastically reducing its investment

division. The Nigerian President has said the kidnapping of more than 200

schoolgirls is a turning point in the battle against extremists.

Britain, the United States and France have joined the rescue

effort. Metropolitan Police officers are to start wearing cameras on

their uniforms, which will capture evidence at crime scenes. 500

devices are being given to officers in ten London boroughs, as part of a

trial. And lawyers for the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza have claimed

that he secretly worked with MI5 to keep the streets of London safe. The

cleric has been giving evidence at his trial in New York on terrorism

charges. That's it. I'll be back later during the 10 O'Clock News on

BBC One. But for now, on behalf of everyone on the team, have a very

good evening. No-one would have believed, in the

first years of the 21st century, that Britain's affairs were being

watched and scrutinised With the help

of our three political parties, who lie to the British public

about their intentions, minds immeasurably

more bureaucratic than ours slowly and surely drew

their plans against us. smashing our democracy

and destroying our laws...