26/01/2012 BBC News at Six

A "sickening" catalogue of abuse by a teacher - a new report blames the

school for failing to act on warnings. Convicted paedophile

Nigel Leat was jailed last year. Now it's emerged that managers

ignored at least 30 reports of his behaviour. I found it incredible,

like other people will, that these instances were going on and were

not acted upon, were not reported to the local authority, were not

reported to the police. Also on tonight's programme:

Arrested - the head of the company behind the breast implant scare. We

report on what happens to women coping with the aftermath. We've

got enough to worry about that we've got this disgusting implant

inside us to let alone have to worry about how are we going to

find the money to replace them. Revealed for the first time - a

"shocking waste of talent" as hundreds of schools in England fail

their struggling students. The Syrians who've dared to take

their protest to the capital - we have a special report.

And the heart attack death rate - halved in the last ten years. It's

down to better NHS care and healthier living. Coming up in

Sportsday on the BBC News Channel three late wicket could prove

costly for England's cricketers as the pendulum swings back to

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six.

Management at a school where a teacher was found guilty of abusing

a number of children have been described as grossly negligent.

Last year, Nigel Leat was jailed for his behaviour, described by the

judge as "sickening". A review of the case has revealed that staff

had concerns on at least 30 occasions but they weren't acted on.

Jon Kay is in Weston-super-Mare for us tonight. Jon. This seaside town

was rocked last summer when Nigel Leat, a local primary school

teacher, admitted sexually abusing young children in his classroom.

Tonight one mum told me she feels just as numb this evening, because

today parents here were told there were warnings and concerns about

Nigel Leat nearly 15 years ago but those concerns were not followed up.

Tonight they wonder whether if they had been followed up much of this

abuse could have been prevented. Tell us how you manage to do so

keep those children silent... Teacher Nigel Leat just after his

arrest. The judge said he was a paedophile of the most sickening

kind. He abused youngsters behind the school piano and while they

read to him in class. It is now emerged that Leat's colleagues at

Hillside First School in Weston- super-Mare were worried by his

inappropriate behaviour years before he was finally arrested, but

today's report claims the school's management repeatedly failed to act.

The serious case review says staff had concerns about Leat on at least

30 different occasions, but only 11 incidents were recorded by the

school and none of them was passed to the authorities. The report says

the school's management of elite leets's case was lamentable. The

head teacher has since been sacked. I found it incredible, like other

people will, that these instances were going on and were not acted

upon, were not reported to the police or chair of governors.

Absolutely incredible. Complete anger. It is anger, it's

frustration. How can he get away with it? This woman's children were

taught by Leat. They weren't part of the criminal case against him.

She doesn't want to be identified. Tonight she told me the failings

listed in the report have horrified her and other parents.

education system failed us all, and the head teacher failed us all,

which is why he's been sacked. The place we thought was safe has now

proven not to be safe. Laws need to be changed. Today's report says

what happened at Hillside should lead to changes across the country.

It recommends training so teachers know how to raise concerns about a

colleague, and spot checks in classrooms to reveal what is really

going on. Today's report said the school concerned put academic

attainment of pupils ahead of their safety. As for Nigel Leat, he is

serving an indefinite jail sentence. Jon, thank you.

The founder of the company at the centre of an international scare

over faulty breast implants has been arrested by French police.

Jean-Claude Mas is accused of fraud and manslaughter for using

industrial grade silicone in the implants. Christian Fraser is in

Marseille, where the police are holding him. Christian.

George, thank you very much. Well, tonight Jean-Claude Mas is being

questioned by police. He has shown very little empathy with the

thousands of women worldwide who are now facing an unenviable choice

whether or not to have the implants removed. He's been taken before a

judge and the hearing is likely to last throughout the night. He's

been hiding in isolated luxury, on the green coastline of a French

Riviera and in a villa paid for by the victims of the PIP scandal. But

today Mas mass was arrested at the house he shared with a long-time

girl friend, the woman he claims to have left. His lawyer said the 72-

year-old was co-operating with police and dismissed the search of

the property as a formality. But investigators allege the 72-year-

old has been very clever in hiding his fortune. Officially this

property together with pool, spa and gym is in the name of his

girlfriend, as is the tight of his abandoned PIP warehouse. The

company was officially liquidated in March 2010. Yet today we found

the factory littered with all kinds of documents and abandoned stock.

The equipment gives the air of respectability but the reality of

course was very different. To cut his costs Mr Mas filled his

implants with an industrial gel more commonly used to fill

mattresses. In an earlier interview with police Jean-Claude Mas said

his company had fooled European inspectors for some 13 years. His

staff, he said, did what they could to hide from them what kind of gel

they were putting in the silicone implants. He said his victims were

psychologically fragile and were only after him for his money. So

far 20 women who had the implants fitted have been diagnosed with

cancer but no direct link has been established with the PIP implants.

The major problem is the rate of rupture. 5 % higher than in normal

cases. Lawyers for the women here in France who timed complaints said

the arrest is excellent news. TRANSLATION: We are relieved. Even

if it's late. We want a formal inquiry to be opened and we want

him placed on bail so he can't leave the country. Mr Mas will now

be held in Marseille for 48 hours before investigators must decide

whether to charge him with causing injury and involuntary manslaughter.

The 72-year-old complains he is not in good health. There is unlikely

to be much sympathy from the women he's duped.

Mr Mass has been -- Mr Mas has been arrested in connection with a

criminal inquiry. But 3,000 women here have had their implants

removed. PIP was liquidated two years ago and most of his wealth

Han has been transferred into the accounts of his wife and children.

More than 40,000 British women were given those substandard implants

and many have been left wondering how they'll pay to have them

replaced. Our medical correspondent, Fergus Walsh, followed one woman,

Debbie Lewis, through her surgery. His report contains images of the

implants being removed. It is a dilemma facing 40,000 British women

- what to do about their PIP implants. For Debbie Lewis the

decision is simple, as one of them is ruptured. She invite us to film

her surgery and explained why she had implants in the first place.

always wanted big boobs. When I was married I kept saying to my husband,

"Can I have my boobs done?" And he said, "No." And then we separated.

I thought to myself I'm going to treat myself, so I went and got a

credit card, saved some money and that's how I got them done.

this is the reality of a ruptured PIP implant, as the surgeon removes

it. It is so damaged the outer shell is in shreds. It feels like a

cheap beach ball! It looks pretty revolting but there is very little

evidence that this industrial-grade filler is harmful. But it is the

doubts over its long-term safety, which has prompted governments in

France, Germany and elsewhere to recommend the removal of all PIP

implants. The second implant emerges undamaged and intact. A

reason why the Government here says there is no need for routine

removal. Debbie's had her implants changed before and even these new

ones may not last forever. Her surgeon says one in three he fits

are replacements. What always amaze me as a surgeon is how many ladies,

even in their 60s, choose to have new implants in rather than a new

car. That's the value they've placed on them while they have had

them over those years. Four days after surgery and one credit card

bill has already arrived. The operation cost �6,000. Her previous

clinic wouldn't do it for free and the NHS in England will remove but

not replace cosmetic implants. We've got enough to worry about

that we've got this disgusting implants inside us let alone having

to worry how we are going to find the money to replace them,

reconstruction surgery, we shouldn't have a to be worrying

about things like that. Some private clinics are offering free

surgery, but thousands of women are in Debbie Lewis's position,

wondering should they pay like her or ask the NHS to simply remove

their PIP implants? It's been described as a shocking

waste of talent. The latest figures for secondary schools in England

show that hundreds are failing their least able students. For the

first time, the annual league tables include information on how

children from different backgrounds are coping. Only one in three

teenagers from disadvantaged homes achieved five good GCSEs. Here's

our education correspondent, Reeta Chakrabarti. How well is your

child's school doing? The Government wants you to know and it

is flooding parents with data in this year's league tables. Over 200

figures for each secondary school in England. Bottom of the year's

table is St Aldhelm's in Poole, where just 3% of pupils got five

good GCSEs. It serves three big estates and has a high proportion

of traveller children. Although it became an academy in 2010 the head

said it will take time to turn the school around. We are extremely

disappointed, of course, but not surprised. Change takes time. We've

only had these young people for 8 months of their ten-year

educational experience. We need to work on it and make sure we embed

and sustain good learns. Across England today's league tables show

shah just 34% of disadvantaged children get the Government's

benchmark of five good GCSEs. Of those who are academically weaker

age 11, just 6.5 % achieve that goal. For those who are average at

11, over 45 % don't get five good GCSEs. But at Lilian Baylis

Technology School they are riding high. It is an inner city school

with many special needs pupils but is named as one of the 200 most

improved secondaries. Students here are pleased. I know that they've

improved my grades and the grades of some of my friends as well so

I'm very proud of my school. It is one of the schools where no matter

where you come from or your background it will release your

potential. You succeed. publishing all this information the

Government wants to expose weaknesss in other schools that it

thinks have been masked by the previous league tables. But some

are sceptical about how useful all of this is: All the way this is has

been broken up start to get confusing. I feel a bit like I'm

reading Stephen Hawking. I understand the words but not the

big picture. Ministers say all this data will be useful for parents but

Government will use it too to overhaul schools which don't push

their pupils enough. And you can find out more

information about the England schools league tables on the BBC

website at bbc.co.uk/schooltables. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick

Clegg, wants the Government to speed up plans at which the -- at

which people start to pay tax. James Landale reports.

How can the Government help low paid families that are feeling the

squeeze? Nick Clegg's answer today was simple. Cut their income tax

bills more quickly and pay for it by taxing the rich. The UK's tax

system cannot go on like this. With those at the top claiming the

reliefs, enjoying the allowances, hiring other people to find the

loopholes while everyone else pays through the nose. So the coalition

is calling time on our unfair and out of whack tax system is. He said

in the Budget the Government should speed up its plans to raise the

threshold at which people pay incometa. I want the coalition to

go further and faster in delivering the full �10,000. Because bluntly

if pressure on family finances is reaching boiling point. Under the

Government's existing plans the income tax there are hold will rise

to over �8,000 in April and it was expected to carry on rising to pod

10 ,000 by 2015. Mr Clegg wants that raised sooner. He said it

could be paid for by cutting pension relief, closing loopholes

and even a "mansion tax" on houses worth �2 million. But this isn't

Government policy, just Mr Clegg's shopping list. Many Tories think

tax cuts should be used to help the economy and create jobs. Finally

Nick Clegg has woken up to the squeezing of people on middle

incomes but the problem is who squeezed the middle? It is this

Government, which has put up VAT, this Government which is cutting

tax credits and this Government which is allowing energy companies

to rip people off on their bills. On one level this is a rather

public attempt by Nick Clegg to per Tory colleagues to cut taxes faster.

But he is also trying to persuade voters that it's the Liberal

Democrats and not the Conservatives who are driving this policy of

lower taxes for the less well off So far, his strategy of joining the

Conservatives in a coalition government, doing the right thing,

he is still waiting for the pay-off. That is why the Lib-Dems want to

claim credit for cutting taxes, even if they still have to convince

the Chancellor. Our top story: A report into sexual

abuse by a teacher Nigel Leat who finds that management at his school

were grossly negligent in not acting on their suspicions.

And Harry Redknapp tells his fraud trial that he is the most

disorganised person in the world. In the business news, markets hit

record highs over hopes that talks in Athens will reach a solution to

the Greek debt crisis. And it is a bad signal for Nokia as their

mobile phone sales fall by a There have been 10 months of

violence, more than 5000 people have been killed and still there is

no sign that the Syrian uprising is going to end. Army defectors have

moved into the Damascus suburb of Douma. Jeremy Bowen was held to

enter the area by local activists and sent this report.

Look at central Damascus and you might think that this city is calm.

But when night falls, head for the suburb of Douma, 15 minutes' drive

away. Getting into Douma is not easy. But, at the end of a muddy

lane, is a checkpoint controlled by the Free Syria Army. A loose

alliance of mainly army defectors across the country are fighting

President Assad's military. Locals say they have kept the President's

men out most of the time for the last two or three weeks. Their

light weapons, shotguns and pistols, as well as Rifles, cannot stop an

assault. But they could make it costly for regime forces to stay

too long. The President says they are armed gang, directed by foreign

conspirators. They say they are protecting the people. Pass this on

to the world, our revolution is peaceful. We do not attack the

regime. They attack us. TRANSLATION: We are in control,

Douma is ours, Syria is ours and we will win. The army and security

forces to try to get in here, but Douma is forbidding and dark, with

power cuts and fuel shortages. The nights here are very cold. What has

changed around here that means we are able to move in? I saw that the

Free Syria Army are... Up some defectors are protecting us. The

army and the security are on the outskirts, OK? But inside the city,

their RADA factors. You mean these are the factors that are fighting

for you? Yes. If earth slowly, people emerged from the Evening

Prayer. Too often for them, there might have belonged to the

President's arrest squads. Now, in nervous shadows, they head to the

mosque, where numbers make them feel strong. We are not identifying

the people we are interviewing, at their request. Freedom! Freedom!

President Assad, from Syria! What do you think should happen to

President Assad? We want him killed. He has to be killed. You want him

to be dead? Of course. Everybody? Everybody, our people. Including

The young men were full of bravado. The older ones also talked about a

victory, but they were more conscious of the regime's strength.

Do you want help from abroad? Foreign intervention? Well, if

there is intervention, it is good. But we are going to win whether

there is intervention or not. But the intervention will accelerate

the stepped down. Their enemy, the President, also has strong support

as he will chant, clap and fight for him. But for protesters across

the country, there is no turning back. This is all bad news for

President Bashar al-Assad. An important part of his capital city,

in the hands of the people and defended by men who have defected

from his armed forces. The question is, how much firepower to the

President has at his disposal and whether he chooses to use it here,

to regain control of these streets. Then they said it was getting

dangerous and hustled us out. A few hours later, activists say,

security forces were back, David Cameron has sharply

criticised Europe's political leadership, saying the eurozone has

none of the characteristics needed for success. Speaking at a

gathering of political and business leaders in Switzerland, he said

that European leaders should be Bill Dee in dealing with their

economic problems. -- ball there. A violent prisoner is still on the

run after a gunman threatened two prison guards escorting him on a

visit to hospital. Andrew Farndon escaped with the gunmen from a

hospital in Bury St Edmunds. Daniel Boettcher is there.

Yet today evening, police received a 999 call from hospital staff that

had witnessed the escape. A short time later, another call from

prison officers that had brought Andrew for done here. -- at Andrew

Farndon. Police believe this was well planned. The prisoner was

being taken to the accident and emergency department with a stab

wound that may have been self- inflicted. He was brought in a taxi,

handcuffed to a female prison officer. A second officer was with

her. A waiting gunman confronted them, holding a handgun to the

female officer's head, forcing her to release Andrew Farndon. A having

a hand gun pressed against your head is clearly a dip -- are

upsetting incident. 26-year-old Andrew Farndon is serving an

indeterminate sentence for a hammer attack in which his victim suffered

a fractured skull. He has escaped before, from the dock while he was

on trial. At Highpoint Prison, near Newmarket, where he is serving his

sentence, he is a category C prisoners. An inmate considered

unlikely to make a determined attempt to escape. The Prison

Service is to hold an inquiry into the circumstances. His prison cell

has been searched and police say various items have been recovered.

They are trying to establish at any mobile-phone as we used in the

escape. Police believe that Andrew Farndon and the gunman are unlikely

to have remained in the area and they are liaising with several

forces. They are advising the public not to approach the men.

This is the second escape of a prisoner this week, in different

circumstances. On Monday, John Anslow escaped when the van taking

him to court was ambushed. He is still on the run tonight as well.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has told his fraud trial that he is the

most disorganised person in the world. He denies trying to avoid

paying tax on the �189,000 paid to him as part of transfer deals

involving his former club Portsmouth. James Pearce is at

Southwark Crown Court. What is the latest? Well, the jury was played a

recording from a police interview conducted with Harry Redknapp in

2009, when he was axed to explain the existence of the Monaco bank

account that is at the heart of the case. He said that his accountant

ran his life, I am the most disorganised person in the world, I

have never used a computer, I have never sent a fax or even a text

message. In fact, I have never written a letter. I write like a

two-year-old and I cannot spell. To emphasise how disorganised he is,

he talked about a conversation he had with his accountant. He said,

where are the cheques for the column he writes for The Sun. He

said, I don't have them, so they must be in the bank. It turned out

he had not been paid for 18 months. A Harry Redknapp and Milan Mandaric

deny the charges. It has been announced in the last

few minutes that the chief executive of the Royal Bank of

Scotland, Stephen Hester, will receive a �900,000 bonus this year.

The bonus, which will be paid in shares, has just been agreed by the

largely taxpayer owned bank's renumeration committee. Let's join

Robert Peston in Davos, Switzerland. What is your reaction? I'm not sure

it has actually been announced. I have learned that they have indeed

agreed to pay him �900,000 in shares, as a bonus for his

performance in 2011. They were under a lot of pressure, as a bank,

to reduce the bonus paid to him from the �2 million that he

received in 2010. The Prime Minister made it clear to RBS that

he was to receive significantly less than �1 million. That is

indeed what the renumeration committee of the Royal Bank of

Scotland agreed. It will, despite the fact that it is much lower,

proved hugely controversial. We have already had trade unions today,

in advance of the announcement, saying that any bonus payments that

to him would be outrageous, given the job reductions they have been

at the bank and that the bank's share prices have performed very

badly. The bank itself argues that the poor performance of shares is

due to the general climate for banks and that Stephen Hester has

taken great strides in reducing the risks taken by disorganisation,

which matters to all of us because we own 81% of the Royal Bank of

Scotland. In the end, it is the fact that this is, in a sense, a

public institution, that makes it so controversial. �900,000 for an

individual that many would see as a public servant is an awful lot of

money. Well, it is time to look at the

It is turning increasingly wintry. Today we have seen plenty of

showers, particularly these three clubs in central Scotland, northern

England and the south-west. Sleet and snow, quite a bit of snow on

the M5. Showers are moving into the West, so a story of further showers

for many of us. When a clear, it will turn increasingly icy. We will

see showers pushing from east to west. Many areas will stay largely

dry. In the clear skies between and after the showers, temperatures

will get close to freezing, if not below. A risk of ice that just

about anywhere. The greatest rest will be across Scotland and

Northern Ireland for Friday morning's for a shower.

Predominantly dry, but to the north-west and across Northern

Ireland, bringing in heavy showers. A mix of rain, sleet and snow.

Babel piloted northern England during the rush-hour. The

transpennine roots could even see a covering of snow before the rush

hour is completely through. Many will start the day dry and bright.

The wind will pick up across England and Wales and that will

drive the showers further southwards and eastwards. At the

same time, Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England will

turn dry and brighter with lighter wind. Wherever you are, it will

feel cold, particularly where the show was pushed through and with

the strength of the wind. The showers clearing to Saturday

morning. Sunny spells developing for many through the day. A cold

day with a developing easterly wind. As the cold air pushes in command