22/12/2015 BBC Newsline

Here, on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

The police are treating a fire which destroyed a family

home in Rathfriland in County Down as suspicious.

The blaze broke out and spread from a recycling centre

The Peden family were woken up by a neighbour and escaped unhurt.

Just ten minutes later the house was engulfed in flames.

This was home to Rebecca, Andy and two and a half year old Daisy.

Its roof now gone, its walls are unstable,

and all their treasured belongings lost.

Having left in only their nightwear, they sat this morning

As soon as I opened the door, the embers and the heat just met me

My immediate reaction was to grab the child.

I grabbed her tight and bolted through the door.

It seemed as if the gable of the house was on fire.

But I just wanted my family to be safe.

Safe and sound, all thanks to the neighbours across the road.

I just ran to the door and I hammered on it

And this is the recycling centre where the fire started,

a fire that police are now treating as suspicious.

At its height, there were seven fire appliances here,

and 40 firefighters from across counties, Armagh and Down.

The high last night and that several houses were also at risk

If the fire has been a malicious act, I just want whoever has done it

All our wee photographs, our wedding photographs.

Things could have been very, very different.

The police have apologised to a former officer

who was seriously injured in a dissident republican bomb attack.

A former Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland has been told

he will not face charges following an investigation

into allegations of bribery and misconduct in public office.

The allegations related to the awarding of police vehicle

Mr McCausland will be on BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster

The police have apologised to a former officer

who was seriously injured in a dissident republican bomb attack.

Peadar Heffron was the victim of a booby trap bombing

near Randalstown in County Antrim nearly six years ago.

A Police Ombudsman report found that four officers had failed to pass

information to detectives investigating the attempt

A meeting of the Policing Board heard today that two of the officers

had not been disciplined as severely as the Ombudsman had recommended.

The High Court has been told that a young father was beaten to death

in retaliation for an earlier fight in West Belfast.

20-year-old Christopher Meli was killed near houses in Twinbrook

Today, a judge granted bail to one of three teenagers

Christopher Meli's family and a group of friends were in court

Stephen McCann, 18, denies involvement in the murder.

He appeared at the hearing to a video link.

Prosecuting barrister outlined how police believe events unfolded

after a fight at a local kebabs shop earlier in the evening.

Christopher Meli was in one of the two groups.

The barrister said his group then left the scene,

and the other group went off and told friends that they had been

jumped on, and the bigger group was formed to get revenge.

They said they then confronted Christopher Meli's group

with the intention to cause serious harm.

Today's hearing heard that Stephen McCann admitted to police

that he was involved in a fight with Christopher Meli earlier on the

Stephen McCann told police, "I was in the fight last night.

"I was fighting with the wee man who was murdered".

However, Stephen McCann denies involvement in the murder

The hearing heard that three people have been charged in connection

with the murder and seven others have been released on bail.

The defence barrister told the hearing that none

of the witnesses so far had implicated Stephen

The barrister added that Stephen McCann is prepared to be

a witness during the hearing Christopher Meli's mother

The judge has ordered Stephen McCann to live at an undisclosed address 30

A little girl from Ballycarry in County Antrim has had pioneering

Sophie Mathers, who is seven, has cerebral palsy.

That means her legs are stiff and awkward, making walking,

But doctors at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool decided Sophie

was suitable for a complicated operation and they cut nerves

in her spine to alleviate the problem.

Sophie Mathers and her parents played together on the morning

Sophie was eight weeks premature, and has cerebral palsy.

That means her legs are stiff and rigid.

She is affected in her legs, so her legs are very stiff

Day-to-day living is a struggle for her.

Sophie can walk with a frame, but the stiffness makes it hard.

This morning's operation is aimed at loosening her leg muscles.

Give her more confident in herself, a wee bit more freedom.

It is not a miracle cure that will mean she can walk unaided,

but doctors say it can be life changing.

Just to be made more comfortable, and hopefully gain more independence

about the house, and do more for herself.

Sophie knows how she wants the surgeons to make her legs.

Alder Hey is the only hospital in the north-west where this

It involves cutting nerves in the spine to relieve stiffness.

We were nervous, yes, really nervous.

But we had to do it because we have tried other solutions

The surgeon uses a powerful microscope to carry

She stimulates the nerves in Sophie's back.

Another doctor can tell her which nerve roots to cut,

We know that those roots are involved in the spasticity

circuit, and if we cut some of them, the spasticity will get better,

which is what we have just done on Sophie.

When I see the parents, when they go home if he wants after,

and they come to me and it is a different child,

and they can't even say why, it is just better.

Tomorrow, we will see how Sophie is progressing after the surgery.

Next is Cecilia Daly with the weather forecast.

lots of showers around a night-time quite blustery winds as well.

Temperatures will drop below enough for Frost and I. There will be

wintry nurse in the showers on the hills by the end of the night.

Tomorrow is not looking too bad but you will have two wrapped up warm.

Tomorrow night the area of low pressure which has been named a

either, will bring wet and windy weather. Quite nasty first thing

with the showers and ice but amid onwards it is drying up in the

sunshine. Fine weather for the Republic of Ireland many parts of

Britain as well. Snow showers over Scotland will move away and tomorrow

night it turns wet and windy across north-west Scotland and western

areas of Britain as well. An orange warning has been issued on the west

coast of Ireland. Still dry and bright tomorrow afternoon. Cold and

here is the rage knocking on the door to evening. There will be

strong winds with it possibly bringing a few trees down. The worst

of it is out of the way by the morning but a drop in temperatures

mean frost and ice on Christmas Eve morning. A Christmas Day on

Christmas Eve with a few snow showers around on the high ground.

Christmas Day itself could could start frosty but it is likely to end

up where it. That is it. Good.