02/08/2013 BBC News at One

Pelka have been jailed for a minimum of 30 years. The judge said the pair

were guilty of income pre-handsome or brutality. Daniel, who was four

and a half when he died in March last year, had been beaten, she

really two, intimidated and systematically starved, said the

judge. -- of incomprehensible brutality. Also this lunchtime, out

of the red, the Royal Bank of Scotland posts a profit and has

appointed Ross McEwan as the new chief executive. Battered by the

recession, a major study in household finances suggests that

millions of families are feeling the squeeze. Two groups of observers

have declared the election in Zimbabwe to be free and fair,

despite widespread claims of fraud. The ingenuity and cunning of French

prisoners of war, who managed to film daily life under the noses of

their German guards. Here at Old Trafford, the Ashes has seen the

return of a pantomime villain today. The main event, however, Australia,

piling on the runs. On BBC London, the spot where a man died in the

Thames, we speak to the teenagers who tried to save him. And the

London flats being marketed to the minutes, the mother and stepfather

of Daniel Elko have been sentenced to life in prison for his murder.

They have been given a minimum term of 30 years each. The judge, Mrs

Justice Cox, said they had submitted the four-year-old two in

comprehensible brutality, and that neither of them had shown a single

sign of remorse. She said Daniel had been the victim of chronic and

systematic starvation, so severe that he had bones had ceased to

grow. A serious case review will examine whether any opportunities

were missed to stop the abuse. Ben Ando is at Birmingham Crown Court.

Take us through this morning's proceedings door call by the end of

it, some of the juror 's were in tears. It has been a nine week trial

leading up to this morning's sentencing. A police investigation,

taking many, many hours of police time, took place into Daniel 's

death. There are wider questions to be answered. There is a serious case

review into why the alarm was not raised sooner, why teachers,

doctors, social workers, even the police, did not see anything wrong.

But today, Daniel Pelka's stepfather, Mariusz Krezolek, and

his own mother, Magdelena Luczak, have been given 30 years in prison.

They stood in the dock to receive their life sentences, stepfather

Mariusz Krezolek and mother Magdelena Luczak. They will have to

serve a minimum of 30 years. The judge said Daniel, a four-year-old

boy, had suffered unimaginable acts of cruelty. Since the trial, it has

come to life that Mariusz Krezolek has been wanted I police in Poland

for a drink-driving offence, and since 2006 he has been sentenced to

at least 15 months for driving offences in the UK. He has been

fined for theft, and West Midlands Police say that he was arrested for

assault, but not charged. This was Daniel for his first day at school

in 2011. By March of the following year, he was dead. He had suffered a

fatal blow to the head. During his last six months, the jury were told

he had suffered immense suffering - beating, starvation and abuse.

Neighbours had suspected something was wrong. This lady remembers

Mariusz Krezolek as a violent neighbour, who one occasion had

attacked her husband. He was really short tempered, insulting all of the

time. He pushed your husband into a wall? Yes. He was really scared, he

said, how come we live next to him? Others heard shouting and crying but

did not want to get involved. Parents said Daniel went from being

playful and friendly to withdrawn and alone. He used to say hello to

me at one point, and then he stopped, and then he would keep

looking back at his mum, as if to say... But you cannot say that

because you don't know what his mother had said. There is anger that

despite Daniel's emaciated appearance at school, and contact

with doctors, social workers and the police, no one helped him. A serious

case review is under way, but the NSPCC says it is hard to see how

this suffering could have been missed by so many professionals.

These types of cases must be acted on, and children like Daniel, in the

future, should be protected. serious case review will report in

six weeks. It is expected to highlight shortcomings and recommend

areas for improvement. But as his mother and stepfather begin their

life sentences, exactly why they chose to inflict such cruel and

finally fatal abuse on a little boy remains unknown. Well, perhaps when

she passed sentence, the judge reflected on that lack of any

apparent motive, when she said that there was no real mitigation in this

case, and no clue ever that either Mariusz Krezolek or Magdelena Luczak

showed any kind of sign of remorse. Throughout the trial, they sat

impassive in the dock, even when the verdicts were given on Wednesday.

The wider questions remain to be answered. There will be that serious

case review, and there are calls for a public inquiry. But this

lunchtime, Mariusz Krezolek and Magdelena Luczak, the stepfather and

mother who brutally tortured and then killed a four-year-old boy are

starting sentences that will last not less than 30 years. Royal Bank

of Scotland has moved out of the red, reporting a pre-tax profit of

�1.4 billion in the first six months of this year, compare it with a loss

of �1.7 billion one year ago. RBS, 81% owned by the taxpayer, has

confirmed that Ross McEwan, head of retail banking, will succeed Stephen

Hester as chief executive. Our business correspondent, Emma

Simpson, reports. Meat was McEwan, the New Zealander who has now been

given the toughest job in British banking. -- Ross McEwan. He is the

new boss at RBS, and it is a big change at the top. He is a keen

cyclist, but his new job will be no easy ride. He has already decided

not to take a bonus for the next 15 months. He will be making do on a

salary of �1 million. Here at RBS, they were not giving any interviews.

Instead, the company posted a message online from the man who

takes over in October. There is a special bond between RBS and the

communities we operate in, so there is a major response ability for me

to guide this organisation to focus very strongly back on our customers.

I am looking forward to that opportunity. For the last year, Ross

McEwan was in charge of this bit of RBS, its retail bank. Before then,

he was working at Australia's list bank. Now, here is taking on one of

the most high-profile roles in British business. For the city, it

ends the uncertainty over who is going to steer RBS back into private

hands. What it tells me is that from his back ground in retail, this is

where the focus of RBS will be. I think there is a clear desire from

the Government to see RBS refocusing on the domestic, primarily retail

and commercial activities. Today, we got an update on RBS's financial

health. It made pre-tax profits of �1.4 billion for the first half of

this year, and paired with a loss of �1.7 billion for the year before. --

compared. But these figures failed to impress the City. However, Ross

McEwan will inherit a bank much stronger than it was, but there is

no sign of us taxpayers getting our money out of RBS any time soon. I am

joined in the studio by our business editor, Robert Preston. RBS have

posted big profits, and the share price has gone down sharply - why?

It is suffering by comparison with the other semi-nationalised bank,

Lloyds, which yesterday announced really considerable progress in the

rehabilitation of the bank, very strong growth in profits. Yes, there

was a swing from lost a profit at RBS, but actually, much of that was

as a result of the eccentricities of the way that banks are forced to do

their accounting. If you strip away that rather weird accounting effect,

the progress is actually, in underlying terms, pretty modest. And

the thing that worries shareholders most is that in the part of RBS

which is thought of as being the best bits of RBS, the call of the

bank, the return being earned by the bank has actually been falling for a

bit. So, yes, this is a bank which is much stronger than it was, but

the owners of the bank would like to see further evidence of profits

growth, which just is not there at the moment. And what do we know

about the new man at the helm, Ross McEwan? Well, almost anybody who

gets appointed to these enormous jobs these days is younger than me,

and he is actually older than me, which is a very pleasant change. He

has been in the finance industry for 35 years, he has worked in

investment and in life insurance, but for the last ten years, his

career has been in retail banking. That is perceived by the Chancellor,

who looks after our 81% stake in the bank, as terribly important, the

cars he wants to see RBS much more focused on the UK, much more focused

on helping companies and households, and much less involved

in compensated, Easter Tarik investment banking. He believes that

Ross McEwan is the right person at this stage to refocus the bank, so

that it becomes much more of the kind of bank which all of us

understand a bit better. More than half of adults in the UK are

struggling to pay their bills, according to the Money Advice

Service, an independent body set up by the Government. It found a

general feeling that people worry about their ability to make it to

the next payday. Here is our personal finance correspondent,

Simon Gompertz. More families are feeling the financial heat, along

with the businesses which serve them, like this chip shop in Crewe

town. We have altered the menu, in that we now do smaller fish, which

are more affordable. Also, a potato fritter in a bout, for just 30p.

Many customers have virtually no cash by the end of the month.

runs out into three days. This man cannot find regular work as a

builder, but has small children to support. I have had to go hungry

because I am feeding the kids. you say you are struggling? 100%.

Back in 2006, according to this research, before the financial

crisis, one in three adults said they were struggling to keep up with

bills and credit commitments. Now, when asked the same question in a

survey, 52% say they are struggling. That's equivalent to 25 million

people. In some parts of the UK, it is even worse than that. The English

is even worse than that. The English region where it is highest is the

is even worse than that. The English region where it at 60%, but Northern

Ireland is even higher than that, with 66% saying they are

struggling, and even in the West Midlands, which has the lowest

Midlands, which has the lowest figure, 44% are under severe

financial pressure. One in five adults has had a sudden drop in

income recently, often because of losing the job. For this man, who

spent �1 50 on lunch, his partner has had her working hours cut.

have just been paid today, and that has all gone out on bills, so we

have got �10 to live on until next week. We have got two kids, so it is

quite hard. There are signs of the economy reviving, with income is

tight and prices high, there is still a painful squeeze on household

budgets. -- incomes. Exploratory drilling exploration operations have

started in West Sussex. Anti-fracking demonstrations have

entered their ninth day, meanwhile. The project has been delayed because

of the protests. Our correspondent is there for us. It has been a long

time waiting, but exploratory drilling is finally getting under

way? It did finally get under way at 11.15 this morning, following nine

days of protests, day and night, by protesters having come from around

the country. They have been throwing themselves in front of the road to

try to stop lorries getting to this site. They brought in an old fire

engine to block the entrance. They have superglued their hands around

that gate, all to no avail, for the moment, because the drilling has got

under way. It must be said, it is conventional drilling. We have heard

from the company, Cuadrilla, this morning, and they say it is not

fracking at the moment. They say that if it were to turn to fracking,

they say it is safe, they say they have got experience from all over

the world, and they say that claims that it causes earthquakes and

pollute the water table are simply not true. They say we need to get at

that gas to help with our future energy mix. They say that in any

case, communities like these will be compensated. But that message has

not gone down well. They say they will continue their protests for as

Pelka have been jailed for a minimum of 30 years. The judge said the pair

were guilty of incomprehensible retarded tea towards Daniel. He was

beaten in, intimidated and systematically starved.

Still to come, Texan singer Kelly Clarkson pleads with the government

to show some sentence and stability of the Jane Austen ring she wants to

take out of Britain. Later on BBC London: How the

National citizens services working in the capital.

And it is the biggest event since the Olympics. Ride London starts on

life inside a prisoner of war camp has been honoured in Paris. The

footage was filmed by French prisoners themselves during the

Second World War. They recorded it on a secret camera they had built in

a hollowed out dictionary from the camp library. The film shows the

prisoners at work on one of the 32 tunnels that word dog during the

camp's lifetime. 1940, the bleak surroundings of a

prison camp in Austria holding 5000 French officers. This rarely seen

footage is a 30 minute documentary shot in secret by the prisoners

themselves. Risking death, they recorded it on a secret camera which

was smuggled into the camp in sausages. The team concealed it in a

hollowed out dictionary. It is an extraordinary story in itself, but

it is what they filmed that made it all the more remarkable. This

lieutenant was a former inmate and part of the escape committee. We dug

a number of panels from the huts, he said. Guards always found them. They

were smart, they were looking for the earth we dug out.

But eventually they did find a way. This man, his father was also a

prisoner, showed off the plans. The Germans allowed the inmates to build

an open-air theatre between the barracks and wire. Now they had half

the distance to go. With the crudest of tools, the malnourished men set

to work. TRANSLATION: They were university professors,

mathematicians and architect said a calculated the length of the tunnel

exactly. This time, the earth was hidden in the seats of the theatre.

The tunnel was ventilated with empty teas of these -- tins of peas which

were stuck together. By September the 18th 1943, the men were ready to

go. TRANSLATION: There was so little space inside the tunnel, we were

forced to lie in the foetal position. There was very little air.

Some people fainted. But we thought about the worst, the German firing

squad which would be waiting at the end of the tunnel. Of course, once

they had gone beneath the wire, they were still deep inside German

occupied territory. Of 132 prisoners who escaped, 125 were recaptured in

a week. Only a handful made it back to France and only one survives to

this day. To celebrate his 100th birthday, John was recently honoured

by the city of Paris. In 1943, he found his way to Vienna where he

worked as a nurse in the hospital. Eventually, he secured a precious

weekend pass back to Paris. The homecoming was not enough.

Within weeks he had joined the war effort and was now fighting for the

resistance. Labour's newest peer, the mother of murdered teenager

Stephen Lawrence, has hit out at random spot checks for illegal

immigrant switch were set up at a number of London Road way stations

yesterday. Eyewitnesses said only members of ethnic minorities were

being stopped. -- railway stations. A Labour MP said the stop and search

style checks violated human freedoms.

It was the vans with the stark message which the government hoped

would show their tough approach to illegal immigrants. But sending out

fans with adverts telling people to go home caused consternation in some

quarters, and once again, immigration has become an extremely

sensitive issue. Now the focus is on what is happening at places like

train stations. At this tube station in London, some local people said

officials looking for illegal immigrant is worth stopping and

questioning passengers and targeting those from ethnic minorities. As a

new member of the House of Lords, Doreen Lawrence, whose son was

murdered in a racist attack and says she is ready to take up the issue.

Why would you only focus on people of colour? I'm sure there are

illegal immigrants from all countries. Why would you focus that

on people of colour? I think racial profiling is coming into it.

temperature is certainly rising in the immigration debate. This was the

scene in west London where there was an operation involving border agency

officials. Those who work with immigrants are worried about the way

the politics of all of this is playing out. People are getting

really concerned. There is a debate going on here which is toxic. There

is a lack of political leadership across all parties. What we want is

a more balanced debate, one which is driven by the facts and humanity.

raid on suspected illegal immigrants. Immigration is a key

issue for voters. Politicians of all parties know that. The challenge for

them is not to alienate some of the citizens of modern multiracial

Britain. Now, news of a modern romance which

could have been inspired by Jane Austen. A gold and turquoise ring,

once owned by the author of Pride And Prejudice, cannot be taken out

of Britain because of its cultural value. That is a great

disappointment to the owner, American pop singer Kelly Clarkson

who bought it at auction. Her boyfriend has been refused and

export licence so the singer has been wearing replica ring. Louisa

Baldini is at the house in Hampshire where Jane Austen lived.

It has been nearly 200 years since Jane Austen's death and yet she is

making headlines at the moment. Last week was the announcement that her

face would feature on the new �10 note and now there is this wrangle

over her turquoise and gold ring. It was bought last year by the pop

singer Kelly Clarkson. She bought it for just over �150,000 at an auction

in Sotheby 's. But she has been unable to take it home to the states

where she wants to wear it apparently as an engagement ring.

She has had to make do with wearing a replica. But is because the

British government has put a temporary export bank on the ring

and they are appealing for a UK-based buyer to come forward

instead. Is the government right to do that when the room was bought

fair and square at auction? I am joined now by the former key rate of

Jane Austen's house Museum, Louise West. Speaking objectively, is the

culture minister right when he calls to want to keep a national treasure

in the UK? Yes, she is right. There is so little of Jane Austen's

jewellery and expand. If we could get it to come here, it would make

the whole. Thank you. If no UK buyer matches the �150,000 price tag by

September then the government will grant the export licence, but having

said that, if there is proof of serious intention to raise funds,

then the export and deadline could be extended until the end of the

year. Australia lost two more wickets in

the third Ashes test match this morning. Their captain Michael

Clarke is still at the crease on 168 not out. At lunch on day two, the

Aussies are 392 45. Joe Wilson is at Trafford for us now.

A bit of everything at Old Trafford today. Sunshine, showers, it sheers

and jeers. The Australians had great fun with one player in particular.

392-5 at lunch, I reckon they will be happy with the way this match

they must win is progressing. Good morning, welcome to sunny

Manchester, day two of the Ashes. The Manchester morning came with a

weather warning but the forecast for Australia, radiant. All they needed

to do was keep on batting. Every run is a step towards their Ashes

revival. Could anyone spot the wicket on the horizon? The captain

had the chance to make a century. England's fielders could stand where

they like. Michael Clarke would just whack it harder. Graeme Swann's

hands stung. Clark was teasing England with half chances and

mis-hits. A 200 partnership for Michael Clarke and Steve Smith.

Steve Smith decided to get himself out, launching the ball. It still

took some captures. Time at last to welcome a new batsmen to the crease.

Listen to the reaction. David Warner, everyone's favourite

villain, the man who tried to punch England's Joe Root in a part as the

crowd remembered clearly. Warner was caught out. Except he still decided

he wanted to waste one of Australia's precious reviews by

calling for the replays which only confirmed his fate. One way or

another he is destined to be a bad boy. I just wonder if Australia were

worried about losing play due to rain but who would risk try to

predict the Manchester weather? Well, I have just the person to

answer that question about what the for a skydive into greater

Manchester. There is the increasing chance of one or two showers popping

up in the afternoon. Parts of the Southeast had a rude awakening this

morning. These were lightening strikes. Some heavy downpours as

well across this corner of the world. The radar picked shows the

showers but most other places have had a reasonably dry and bright

day. The showers will become more widespread through this afternoon.

Showers for western Scotland and Northern Ireland. Heavy and blustery

ones. There will be some showers developing across northern England.

Old Trafford might catch one. We will have lines of showers up

through the south-west peninsula, up through Wales and the ever present

risk of some showers, particularly to the extreme east of East Anglia.

This evening and overnight, the showers across the East will tend to

fade away. Showers in the West will keep going. Very windy across the

north-west of Scotland with persistent rain developing here. Not

as hot and sticky as it was last night across East Anglia and the

south-east. It will be a fresher feeling with temperatures easing

back into the mid-teens. Rather more unsettled. There will be some

showers around for the weekend. On Saturday, probably a bright and

sunny start across central and eastern areas. Showers to the West

will become more widespread. Windy and wet towards the far north-west.

On into Sunday, again there will be some sunshine. A few showers

developing through the day. Then something more menacing developing

in the far south-west. If we step back from this weather chart and

could develop and as we go into the early parts of next week, you do not

need to be a weatherman to see it will turn wetter. An area of low

pressure crossing the country. Water proves that the ready.