28/02/2017 London News

The police watchdog, responsible for looking

into wrongdoing, finds itself at the centre of an investigation.

It follows allegations that one of its commissioners

withheld evidence in support of an officer.

The PC was dealing with a disturbance

Alex Bushill has this exclusive report.

It is a little before three in the morning

on what was a violent night in Harrow.

A phone camera clearly records the noise of a taser.

Five years on, Mark Gatland has returned

Police had been called after a party got out of control and spilled

During the disturbance, Mark Gatland tasered this man,

an off-duty firefighter who was arrested for obstruction,

The Met also apologised to him and paid him substantial damages.

In the fallout, Mark Gatland was himself accused of acting racistly,

but his gross misconduct hearing collapsed

when the IPCC failed to provide any evidence against him.

Now the commissioner in charge of his case at the regulator

faces allegations that she suppressed crucial evidence

which today resulted in a police investigation being launched.

It's almost eight months now, and I'm disappointed

it has taken this long, because as a member of the public,

I expect prompt and effective investigation.

It was like fighting against an entire army on my own.

There didn't appear to be any support,

and there wasn't the political will to back me up.

This has now been passed on to Police Scotland,

because they're not under the jurisdiction of the police

regulator for England and Wales, that's the IPCC, removing any

possible conflict of interest they might have faced.

Nonetheless, it does represent a truly exceptional situation

where the police regulator, the IPCC,

is now subject to an investigation by a police force.

The commissioner at the IPCC who is now being investigated

Now Mark Gatland wants to know why she hasn't been

suspended from active duty, as he was.

If an allegation of this strength is made against a police officer,

yet she's still in post, affecting police officers' careers.

In short, the tables have been turned -

where once a serving police officer, Mark Gatland,

now the police regulator itself will have to explain theirs.

It was the worst tower-block fire in the UK,

in which six people died including three children.

Eight years on, Southwark Council has been ordered to pay

more than half ?500,000 for failing to maintain

fire-safety measures at Lakanal House.

When a small electrical fire broke out in a ninth floor flat, it should

have been contained, but quickly and spread, jumping floors above and

below. The victims were wrongly advised by the fire brigade to stay

in flats that were supposed to protect them. Three women and three

children died as a result. The emergency calls were used as

evidence at the 2013 inquest. Maria survived. There was a big

fire, like a dragon, but spreading. There wasn't two ways, just one way,

and we was lucky, even likely to get down, because everywhere you looked,

you couldn't say properly. Southwark council had only renovated the flats

three years earlier but there were no seals on fire doors, and there

were no partition is in suspended ceilings.

Southwark Council admitted their guilt last week,

so today was about finding out what punishment they would face.

The judge decided it should be a fine for the charges against them,

and it would have been more had they not pleaded guilty.

the total that Southwark Council has to pay is more than ?500,000.

To put that into perspective, they're operating budget last year

was ?283 million. Year in year out, we are within budget, but this will

be part of a contingency, so there won't be a direct impact on

residents as a result of the fine, albeit is significant. Do you feel

it is fair or excessive? I feel it was fair, taking into account, as

the judge did, all of the mitigating factors that we have put forward,

particularly close working relationship with London Fire

Brigade since the incident and the money that we have spent on putting

right these issues that were identified as the problem in this

fire. One man who spent 25 years keeping buildings safe from fire has

done mike hazards says lessons have been learned. This has to be an

Next month it will reopen after an ?11 million refurbishment.

Southwark residents will once again call this 14-storey

The trust behind plans for the controversial

Garden Bridge across the Thames has been cleared of

financial irregularities by the Charity Commission.

Let's cross to Claudia-Liza Armah who can tell us more.

Yes, that's right, Riz, a small victory for those

It was all over a complaint made by Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey,

who had serious concerns about spending, a worry that

individuals or companies donating money towards the construction

of the bridge were also being awarded contracts.

However, the regulator ruled that those accusations were unfounded.

That outcome has been welcomed by the Garden Bridge Trust.

Does it mean we're closer to getting this bridge? Not quite.

they've told me that there are still a few hurdles.

Firstly, they're awaiting a review by Dame Margaret Hodge.

to determine whether it provides value for money.

Then it needs Mayor Khan to sign a guarantee

that will ensure his office will pay for its upkeep,

if money can't be raised via donations.

The problem is ?36 million of taxpayers' money

has already been invested in this bridge.

If it doesn't go ahead, that money will be lost.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation

of homosexuality, but campaigners say more still needs to be done

to improve equality for people living here in the capital.

Thomas Magill has been hearing one man's story reflecting on how things

have changed over the years for the gay community in London.

A modest gathering on a momentous day,

the capital's first Gay Pride in 1972,

but it took five years after the legalisation

Thought by some as radical, welcomed by others.

There was a great feeling in these clubs

Men like Stuart - he was forced to come out

in the '50s after being spotted with his partner, a move that

and so I was met with jeers, shouting, general pandemonium.

And so that was my sort of coming-out moment.

So I decided after a bit that I'd had enough of that, and so I sort

of broke my apprenticeship, found a job in an office,

because I thought that would be a safer place than a factory.

Like many young gay men, Stuart was soon attracted to London,

and today he's returning to some of his old haunts.

so quite a discreet sort of little Soho alleyway.

Despite it being illegal, London had loads of little gay

secret underground cafes, bars and brothels scattered

all over the city, long before the Act was introduced.

As attitudes changed, London's gay scene grew,

and with it calls for more rights and acceptance.

We were saying it wasn't preferential treatment,

So Stonewall came directly out of this homophobia,

Much has changed since Stuart first came to London,

to return to a spot that holds special memories.

I spent my 21st birthday in there, actually.

The club's now gone, but the memories haven't,

Stewart and Michael agree there is still more to be achieved.

and I'll leave you with Elizabeth Rizzini for the weather.

As well as being pancake day, it was the end of the meteorological

winter, and February has worked out to be quite mild, dull, not as much

sunshine as we would have liked, drier than normal, although not

today and it will not be dry either. For the Thursday of meteorological

spring, Darryn Binder drizzly through the afternoon. Still a

chance of showers overnight, possibly a touch of frost into

tomorrow morning in rural spots, so a chilly but bright start, some

sunshine around through the morning, high cloud, patchy rain through the

second half of the day, turning windy on Wednesday night. Thursday

is the nicest day of the next view, otherwise chilly and unsettled.

Good evening. We are about to head into March, the days are getting

longer, but are they getting any warmer? Not really. We will get

there in the end, but we will have to be patient, not very springlike

at the moment. Some showers scattered around across England and

Wales will tend to diminish in number, a few left behind, wintry

showers across the north of Scotland, snow at low-level is, ice

as well as temperatures fall close to freezing. A cold night with a

touch of frost in a number of places. Plenty of sunshine across

southern areas first of all, but it will not last, rain spilling from

the south, the best brightness and eventually further north across the

UK. Mostly fine afternoon to come across northern areas, Scotland,

still wintry showers across the far north, but plenty of sunshine

further south. 5-6, not feeling too bad in the sunshine. The odd shower

for Northern