04/09/2014 BBC London News

A reminder of our main storx: That's all from the BBC News at Six,

so it's goodbye from me, and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

news teams where you are. Police divers search a canal

near the home of missing tednager, The 14`year`old was last sedn

by her family a week ago. We'll have the latest

on the police investigation. A woman has been found behe`ded

in a garden in Edmonton. Plus, we speak to the Health

Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, on the And, Nicole Kidman stars in the

film based on a bestselling debut When she read the script and wanted

to play the part, that is when the excitement level started to rise.

Welcome to the programme, whth me, Riz Lateef.

"Please let us know that shd's safe", a desperate plea frol the

Alice Gross hasn't been seen for a week.

It comes on the day that police divers began searching a canal

Yvonne Hall has more on this now and joins us from where

This is near to where Alice was last seen last week. It's not far from

the family home. Alice is only 4. She is ill and really vulnerable.

Her family are becoming increasingly concerned for her health and safety.

Today the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Unit stepped up its sdarch.

The grim search for Alice Gross Police divers in Hanwell today

looking for clues. 14`year`old Alice is ill and vulnerable. Fears are

growing for her safety. Alice was suffering from anorexia recdntly.

That is, sort of, you know, become quite important. She's quitd a small

girl. It does get cold in the evenings. If she has been staying

outside somewhere we would be concerned about that. This hs the

last time Alice was seen. CCTV shows her walking along the towpath last

Thursday afternoon at 2.30pl and again at 3.45pm. She told hdr mother

she was going to meet friends, but never turned up. Alice was carrying

this backpack. On Tuesday, ht was found near the towpath with her

personal belongings still inside. An area along the canal is now being

searched. For her family in Hanwell, the wait is agonising. They say her

disappearance is completely out of character. We miss you. We love you.

We are desperate to know th`t you're safe. We really want you to come

home. If anyone else knows `nything about your whereabouts, ple`se can

they get in touch with the police. It's thought Alice may have walked

along these woodland paths beside the canal. They have now bedn

cordoned off while officers search through the undergrowth. Towpath is

popular with walkers and runners. The hope now is that someond's

memory will be jogged and they will provide vital clues to help find the

vulnerable 14`year`old. Polhce say they have had dozens of calls about

Alice, but they say they sthll have no idea where she is. They `re also

appealing to the boating colmunities here on the canal for any

information they may have. They are also talking to teenagers who Alice

met when she was on a songwriting course at the Roundhouse in London

last month. Tonight, Alice's family are once again urging their daughter

to just let them know she's safe. Back to you. With the latest

developments on that story. Thank you.

Coming up later in the programme: Just what sort of appetite do Scots

living in London have for an independent Scotland?

I'm thinking to myself, why am I having to work awax

This could be being done in Edinburgh, for example,

Armed police have arrested ` man after a woman was found behdaded in

London. Officers say at this stage they do not believe there's

Daniel Boettcher joins us from Edmonton.

The street behind me is still cordoned off along about 300 meters.

We have seen a lot of policd activity there this afternoon,

forensic officers in white protective suits coming out from one

of those properties behind le here. Police were called after 1.00pm this

afternoon, after reports of a man, armed with a knife, it appe`rs those

reports related to the man `ttacking an animal, perhaps a cat or dog

Local police called for backup from armed officers. When they arrived

they said that they found a woman in the back garden of one of these

houses and said the woman w`s pronounced dead at the scend. They

say that specially trained family liaison officers are now spdaking to

the next of kin. They say until that has happened it wouldn't be

appropriate to comment on any of the further details. They have confirmed

though that a weapon has bedn found. They won't say what that we`pon is.

We have had further details that the man apparently then jumped from one

garden to another, along thd row of gardens here. Police were trying to

get people out of those houses. They say in some cases they had to smash

windows to get people out. One senior officer said police put

themselves in extreme danger to protect the public. That information

came from Commander Simon Ldchford from the Metropolitan Policd who

gave a further update on thd investigation. On arrival, police

officers found a woman coll`psed in the back garden of a house. She was

pronounced dead at the scend. A 25`year`old man has been arrested on

suspicion of murder and is now in our custody. During the arrdst

officers did discharge tasers and at least one firearms officer has been

injured, affecting that arrdst, with, we believe, a broken wrist.

Police say the 25`year`old suspect that they arrested is being treated

in hospital at the moment. They say their officers will be here for some

time yet, both to continue their investigations, but also to reassure

the local community here. Thank you for bringing us up`to`date.

The Tottenham MP David Lammx says he is seeking the Labour nomin`tion

He's the first MP to throw his hat into

He confirmed his intention at the same time as publishhng a

report with recommendations to help ease the capital's housing crisis.

Three men have been arrested for violence during the year's Notting

Hill Carnival. Police say they're still looking for seven othdrs

involved in disorder which was captured on CCTV. They have also

renewed their appeal for pictures or video footage taken near thd channel

One Sound System where a sttdent was attacked. Mary Brandon was punched

after asking a man to stop groping her. Enfield Council is offdring a

reward for help in identifyhng these fly`tippers. They were caught on

CCTV dumping rubbish on Carterhatch Road in April. The council says it

spends nearly ?5 million a xear clearing up waste dumped illegal.

The Health Secretary has ch`mpioned a scheme trailed in Greenwich as the

way forward for caring for the elderly. A way of tailoring the

right care to the right people. The borough of Greenwich is one of the

first places to see emergency response teams intervening darly to

prevent unnecessary hospital visits and allocating patients namdd

professionals to represent duplication between agencies. We

need to give them joined up care where they know who is responsible

for their care. Preventing problems arising. Not waiting for thdm to

fuel critically ill and cartered to A in the middle of the night.

Phillip's partner died recently He said one key worker co`ordinating

his health and other needs lade a difference. I hate hospitals, or

anything like that. If it c`n be avoided, then I will avoid ht at all

costs. On the other hand, I felt so low that... Having the con fact

there, it helped get me back on my feet. The Government claims this can

save money through less pressure on hospitals. Some campaigners for

better healthcare in the arda say it can't work without more mondy

injected to smooth the transition. It's experimental this inithative,

at the moment. I say we shotld be putting Neuville money into these

experiments to find out what really works and only when we know what

works, we can start to reduce the hospital sector because it's

destabilising to just take funds. We have an NHS which has not got enough

funds. He says it has and it's a question of finding better ways of

using that money. The peopld of south`East London are about to find

out. Tim spoke to the Health Secretary about planned closures for

Accident Emergency departlents in the capital's hospitals. He asked

Jeremy Hunt if he would step in and stop the close sure of the @ccident

Emergency in north`West London? Let us look at what is happdning in

north`West London. The local GPs in charge of the health budget in

north`West London put together a plan that will give north`Wdst

London some of the best out of hospital care in the countrx. They

are going to employ 800 mord people to do out of hospital care. Every

single vulnerable older person will have a named GP who is responsible

for them. GP surgeries will be open on Saturdays and Sundays. They do

all the things that mean older people will get better care. They

are also, within that, making absolutely sure that emergency care

is there for people who need it I don't think we should be (inaudible

(is (about which model is rhght for which part of the country. How can

you close an A in one part of London when the supposed alternative

is not up to scratch? It's `lready stretched. Can't take the extra

patients? They have given absolute assurances that the alternatives

will deliver what is necess`ry. They are in the process of incre`sing

Jeremy Hunt capacity. There. One of London's most senior police

officers has expressed "deep regret" about alleged smear

tactics used against a black female firearms officer, who won a race

and sex discrimination case. An employment tribunal found

Scotland Yard tried to "deflect" negative press by

releasing embarrassing detahls about PC Carol Howard after she had

already been discriminated `gainst. Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick

said a review We deeply regret the whole case and

certainly regret the impact it has on Carol and the impact it will have

on others who are thinking of becoming a firearms officer or

thinking of joining the Met. I think we just need to have a little bit of

time to look at what has happened. BBC London has discovered that a

Council has failed to move ` tenant out of a flat which was deeled unfit

for purpose by its own inspdctors. The tenant is living

in a property owned by a landlord who earns hundreds of thous`nds

of pounds by renting rooms to But, as Anjana Gadgil explahns,

Brent Council says there's little it can do until new regulathons are

introduced next year. All this was offered for ?245 a

week, a room in a house, sh`red with five others. Lawrence thought his

housing benefit would cover it. This is the bed bugs. Bed bugs, cold no

fire door. He says it is seriously affecting his health. Like living in

hell. You cannot have a lifd. I have lost my tooth because of thd cold

and the stress. I have sore with all the insects. You cannot livd. I

showed the room to an indepdndent expert, who gave me his verdict He

has no means of escape in c`se of fire. No fire protection. No fire

alarms. Plus, some of the electrics in the property looked decidedly

unsafe. That increases the risk of fire even greater. Brent Cotncil

agreed. In January is, Brent Council inspectors wrote to the landlord and

told him Lawrence's room wasn't fit for use as a bedroom, it was cold

and posed a fire risk. A mornt later they wrote back saying, "further for

your response we are aagree`ble for it as a bedroom as long as xou

replace the door and put in insulated floorings." Neithdr has

been done. No housing benefht was received by the landlord for this

room. Last year, William McGowan property services received ?730 000

in housing benefit money, plus incentive payments of eight weeks

rent per household. We don't know how many homes his company rents

out. He said he didn't want to comment on camera. He said

Lawrence's case is an isolated incident. The BBC has no other

evidence that any other of his properties is in a bad condhtion.

There is a shortage of housds for families on lower incomes. 4,00

people on waitth waiting list. ,000 in temporary homes. 500 are housed

outside the borough. Brent needs landlords who will take bendfit

claimants. The is it a dangdr you turn a bad eye to bad practhce

because you need the landlords to house Brent's homeless people? Just

because they have a certain number of properties and may trying try to

influence the way we work whth them, because he has that number of

properties doesn't mean we will cave in to him. We have taken enforcement

action against individuals. Councils are loathe to push through with

enforcement action when thex find a problem. They are loathed to do that

partly for the tenants benefit, they worry they will be evicted. Partly

about self`interest if that tenant is evicted the council will have to

take responsibility for another homeless people. Sarah tethdr is

calling for changes in the law to protect tenants. Brent Council is

introducing mandatory licencing next year for shared homes. The Lawrence

doesn't want other tenants to go through the same thing.

Nicole Kidman's new film based on a bestselling novel by a London

Plus, I take a seat with sphke in Finchley and here fond memories from

his friends. So, in exactly two weeks' thme,

voters in Scotland will dechde whether their country should become

an independent nation. But what's the view of Scots

in London? And how do they think the c`pital

be affected by a yes vote? Here's our political correspondent,

Karl Mercer. There's a corner

of the capital that is forever Scottish, London Scottish.

Across town there seems to be something of an appetite for

things from north of the border You don't have to look too far in

London to find a Scottish influence. Carol Deeney has now made

the capital her home. Her business very much tradhng

on her roots. She's leaning towards supporting

independence, but knows it lay raise questions for her work.

To be honest, I haven't been given enough information

about how it might change the way that I buy from Scotland.

I don't know if we'll have an import tax, will

there be different VAT systdms? It's something that I'm going to

have to spend some time and get more information about.

Back at the rugby, London Scots are getting a bit of a beating from

their rivals north of the border. Some of

the opinions too are pretty strong. I primarily think it's to do with

Westminster and probably London in general, where a lot

of people feel there's a lot of greed, arrogance and it's nothing

to do with the rest of Engl`nd. I think a lot of the rest

of the England wouldn't mind being independent from London.

I feel Scottish, but I feel very British and I will be definhtely

voting for, we're better together. We don't know what currency.

We don't know how it's going to pan out.

It's not something you can go back on in five years' time.

It's a one way vote, really. Typically, everyone's ` oh,

can we do it? Can we do it?

Yes, we can. We can do it.

Of course we can. We've got capable people all over

the place and we can run our own country.

Opinions in London, like in Scotland, are split.

The referendum closely followed by Scots here, but also being

watched by the political cl`sses. It could have an effect on London.

If the Scots vote No, that hs vote to stay in the UK, and then get

extra tax raising powers, you could easily imagine lots of London

of politicians saying, why can't we have similar tax raising powers

If they vote Yes, and go, that would leave Britain

as potentially a more right leaning, more Conservative country,

or the remainder of Britain, where London has been tilting left.

It would create a bigger gap between London politics and UK politics

With two weeks left, there's still all to play

for with polls suggesting the Yes and No divide is shrinking.

Scots living here won't necdssarily have a vote,

but they will be watching closely. Karl Mercer, BBC London News.

And you can find out more about the referendum and follow

the latest polls on the website ` bbc.co.uk/ScotlandDecides.

It's not often your first book becomes an international bestseller

and is then turned into a film starring Nicole Kidman.

That's exactly what's happened to a former NHS worker from London

It's the story of an amnesiac who wakes up every

day with no memory, strugglhng to piece her life together.

The author's been telling Brenda Emmanus how thrilling it was

to see the Hollywood star bring his lead character to life.

You had an accident. You can store information for a day, but hn the

morning, it is gone. In thehr second big`screen adaptation, Colin Firth

and Nicole Kidman star in bdfore I go to sleep. I like the

claustrophobia of it, and how you play somebody trying to piece their

life together every day. Thdre are not a lot of female thrillers these

days. Stephen Watson wrote the novel between shifts while working as an

NHS audiologist. It became `n international bestseller. Now

full`time writer, he swapped hospital wards for film studios I

was on set with Nicole Kidm`n, playing a character I invented. It

was an amazing experience. Xou tried to kill me? Were there parts of the

city here that you felt worthy of inclusion? I wanted to set the book

here, and it is also the negative aspect of London that true leter

setting the book here, in that it can be a very isolating place. I

wanted it to be claustrophobic. You have explored the thriller genre

before. I like doing them, `nd those were the films as a kid but I sought

out. They are the films I whll pay to see. I like psychological

thrillers. SJ is now on his second book, having gained valuabld

experience from the success of his first. It has taught me a lot about

making things dramatic that perhaps I didn't do, or I wasn't quhte so

aware of, in the first book. But I think if I had sat down and thought,

I am going to write a book that somebody could turn into a

screenplay, I think that wotld have been a mistake. The film is released

tomorrow. For many, he was

the comic creator of the Goons and groundbreaking TV sketch shows.

But away from the world of comedy, Spike Milligan was

a passionate campaigner, dedicated to preserving the area of

London he called home ` Finchley. Today, a memorial was unveiled

there in his memory. And Wendy Hurrell went along.

A somewhat comical unveiling of a comedy genius. It has taken ten

years for the Finchley Socidty to raise funds for their odes to its

first president. Spike Millhgan here on the Goon show he crdated for

BBC Radio 1 the 50s. Congratulations for the second time! Then c`me a

surrealist sketch show. It was very simple. He is the father of `. ``

Python. He carried depression with him all his life, and could be

morose, but he was a great comic. He hit the lows lower than we do, but

he also got more out of a stnset than we do. A lot of people don t

think he was a generous man, but he was. Use to encourage me, rdad my

books. I don't think I would have been a writer if I hadn't mdt you.

I'm not frightened of pussycats they only eat up mice and r`ts. But

a hippopotamus could eat a lot of us. What kind of pencil chalets

choose? To be or not to be? Spike was also a passionate

environmentalist. He was he`vily into environmental issues, `nd this

was his London borough. He spent a lot of his life here and rahsed his

four children here. The sculptor lives in high Barnet, and hhs work

was forged in Limehouse before taking its permanent home in the

grounds of this house. As wdll as characters from the Goon show, the

bench remembers the happy childhood he spent in India, and the childhood

of his children for whom he made up stories about fairies at thd bottom

of the garden. It shows the many facets of this extraordinarx man.

The inimitable Spike Millig`n. Let's get a check on

the weather now with Stav D`naos. The cloud will continue to roll in

from the east. As we head through the rest of the night, it stays

cloudy. The cloud may even be thick enough for the odd spot of light

rain and drizzle. Temperature is not falling below 14 or 15 Celshus.

Tomorrow, more of the same. It looks like being pretty cloudy for most

places. We should see some spits and spots developing as we head into the

afternoon. Most places should be dry, light north`easterly whnds and

top temperatures around 21`22 Celsius. On into Friday evening we

hold on into Friday evening, we hold onto the cloud as well, and as well,

another pretty mad `` mild night. This weather front will continue to

trundle southwards through the course of Saturday, bringing fresh

air behind it, and on it, m`ybe one or two showers. We start Saturday on

a dry note. In towards the afternoon, there may be a p`ssing

shower. In the sunshine, 21 or 2 Celsius, but cooler, fresh `ir will

be moving in behind that front. As we head towards Sunday, a lhttle

cooler, but it promises to be dry with similar spells and sunshine. A

pretty fine outlook there. The main headlines:

David Cameron says military action against Islamic State is not being

ruled out, and that nations must stand together to confront

the terrorist organisation. The Prime Minister's hosting a NATO

summit in South Wales. Meanwhile, he says every possible

option is being examined to protect the British hostage being hdld

by Islamic State. The policy of the British Government

is not to pay ransom monies to terrorists.

Police divers have been searching a canal in west London for lissing

teenager Alice Gross from H`nwell. The Met's released CCTV

of the 14`year`old on a towpath near her home.

More on the day's stories on our website.

Asad Ahmad will be back with our late news.

From me and the team here, thanks for joining us

and have a lovely evening. and have a lovely evening.