30/04/2013 BBC News at Ten

$:/STARTFEED. Tonight, more than six months after little April Jones

disappeared in mid-Wales, a man goes on trial charged with her

murder. Mark Bridger is accused of a sexually motivated attack. The

prosecution reveals that child pornography was found on his

computer. The unsuccessful search for April was the biggest operation

in police history. She was playing near her home in October last year

in Machynlleth. Also, the uninsured car that led to

the discovery of a terrorist plot. Six men have admitted planning a

bomb attack. Amanda Knox speaks out. She faces a retrial. I felt like

after crawlling through a field of bashed why it turned out it was the

or rise on. A hunger strike by prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.

President Obama says he'll make another attempt to close the camp.

And Sam Warburton of Wales will captain the British Lions' tour of

Australia. He'll be joined by no fewer than 14 of his Welsh team-

mates. Later, I'll be here as the first of the Champions League

finalists makes it to Wembley. We Good evening, more than six months

after the disappearance of April Jones in the mid-Wales town of

Machynlleth, a man has gone on trial. Mark Bridger denies the

charges. The prosecution revealed that blood matching the five-year-

old's DNA was found in his home and they accused him of a sexually

motivated attack. Our reporter is at Mold Crown Court for us tonight.

April Jones' disappearance shocked not only the small community where

she lived, but many parents following the story across the

world. Today, April's own parents were in court to see the man

accused of her murder in the dock. Mark Bridger was described as a man

with a clear interest in child pornography and child murder

victims. A search of his computer showed he had also stored pictures

of local girls, including April. Tracked by the lenses of the press,

Mark Bridger arrived, his head covered by a blanket. Brought to

stand trial. He's accused abducting five-year-old April Jones and

taking her from outside her home before killing her and destroying

the evidence. April Jones' parents arrived knowing that what they were

about to hear would be harrowing. Both wore pink ribbons, a symbol of

the search for their daughter. In court, Mark Bridger stared straight

ahead, as the jury was told April's friend had watched him talking to

the five-year-old and was smiling as se got into his Land Rover. The

prosecution what happened next could only be known to April, Mark

Bridger, but she can't tell us and the defendant won't. Mark Bridger

told police he had run April over with his vehicle and claimed after

driving her away, his memory of what happened next is blank. The

April's disappearance triggered the largest search in British policing

history. When officers went to Mark Bridger's home they found blood

stains that match April's DNA and fragments of a child's skull in the

fire place. The forensic teams found his laptop contained hundreds

of indecent images of children. Mark Bridger also had photographs

of local schoolgirls, including April and her half-sisters. And a

folder of young murder victims, including those killed in Soham.

April's parents listened as the jury was played the first 999 call

reporting her disappearance. Her mother's voice pleading, "Someone's

kidnapped April." The wept as it was played. He denies the charges

of abduction, murder and perverting the course of justice. He'll return

to the court tomorrow morning. The prosecution case will continue

tomorrow. On Thursday, the jury will visit Machynlleth. There, they

will go to the home of Mark Bridger and also to the estate where April

and her family lived and where she was last seen alive. The trial's

expected to last for up to six weeks.

Thank you very much. Six men from Birmingham have

admitting planning a terrorist attack last summer on a rally

organised by the English Defence League. West Yorkshire Police said

it would have caused mayhem had it been successful. The police and

security services apparently had no intelligence, despite one of the

men was under surveillance at the time. A summer evening last year

and police on the M1 in South Yorkshire have pulled over a

vehicle in a random check. What the police here didn't realise is that

by stopping this car, they were breaking up a terrorist cell. The

passenger, Jewel Uddin and the driver, Omar Khan were told the car

was being impounded for no insurance. They were exposed as

part of a group of six violent extremists, who today pleaded

guilty to terrorism charges. Five of the money had travelled to

Dewsbury in West Yorkshire to mount an attack. CCTV showed them in the

town. And this was their intended target, a rally by the far-right

English Defence League, but by the time the men got herele the rally

was over. Its with after the car was impounded that the contents of

the boot were discovered. There were knives, machetets and guns and

live ammunition. As well as an I am provised explosive device and pipe

bombs in the making. There was also a message to the EDL and the Queen.

They called her the female devil and the self-proclaimed queen and

her her Jubilee fooling a nation of blind sheep. They told the EDL,:

you read from their letter they are targeting the EDL, but they mention

David Cameron, they mention the Queen and they probably could have

targeted other Muslims and innocent members of the public there. Police

officers who were there too. These men had no care for who they

targeted. It quickly emerged that one of the men in the car with the

weapons, Jewel Uddin was known to the police and the security service

MI5. He was an associate of a group of Birmingham men jailed last week

for a suicide bomb plot. He had been involved in the street

collections which the would-be suicide bombers had used to finance

their plot. While not arrested or charged over that, he was

subsequently put under surveillance, although not constantly. It is said

there was no intelligence he was a serious threat. Just five days

before the EDL rally he was observed going into this shop with

a police undercover team. When he came out of the shop here, he was

carrying a bag. What the police didn't establish was that in that

bag was a set of knives. And he was planning to use them in the attack.

They were among the weapons recovered in the car. We definitely

didn't have information that either in the previous plot or since that

he was involved in attack planning or getting together as a larger

group to put the public in danger. It seems it was only timing that

stopped the men from causing carnage on the streets and a lucky

traffic check meant they were prevented from trying again

anywhere else. We'll talk more about this. June is

with me here. June, given the circumstances that you described

there, do police and the security service acknowledge or say this was

a major intelligence failure? they don't. What they say is

they've reviewed the decisions they made on this man, Jewel Uddin and

they say that on the intelligence they had at the time they would not

have done things differently, but this case does have echoes of 7/7,

because the leaders of that plot had cropped up in a previous

counter-terrorism investigation. They weren't considered as serious

threats and they went on to lead a plot in which 52 people were

murdered and if this had succeeded the authorities would have been

facing the same questions. Why wasn't he put under greater

scrutiny. Since the attack, the police and MI5 have foiled a series

of plots, working on intelligence and stopped them getting through.

It's a well-worn phrase they only have to get lucky once and in this

case the luck was on the side of the police and MI5 and the men will

be sentenced in June. Thank you.

In Syria an explosion in the capital has claimed the lives of at

least 14 people, according to State television there. More than 70

people were injured in a commercial district, which the authorities

blamed on terrorists. It comes a day after the Syrian Prime Minister

survived a car bomb attack in the capital.

Government departments in Whitehall have just a few hours left to

submit their spending plans for 2015-16 and to outline how they

intend to deliver cuts of up to 10%. The debate among ministers about

the departments most in need of protection is intensifying, so over

now to James Landale at Westminster. He has more on the debate, as it's

going on. James. As you say, the Government's

looking to find cuts of around �11.5 billion from the spending and

ministers have until midnight tonight to tell the Treasury where

they think the axe should fall. Normally this debate takes place

behind closed doors, but today Nick Clegg went public, making two key

points. He said first that he would accept no further cuts to welfare

unless they were to pensioner benefits, things like the winter

fuel allowance, that he thinks richer pensioners shouldn't claim

and secondly, no cuts to the protected budget like health,

schools and overseas aid. The reason he said that, was because

there are some ministers like the Defence Secretary and the Business

Secretary who think their departments are facing

disproportionate cuts, because so many of the other departments are

being protected. They are, I am told, looking for gaps in the ring

fence p fences that are protecting these -- ring-fencing -- ring-

fences that are protecting these departments. They will have many

repercussions in two years' time. We'll find out who has won this

particular important game in June. A woman has been found guilty of

murdering five members of the same family, including three children,

by deliberately starting a fire at a block of flats in Prestatyn in

North Wales. Mold Crown Court was told that Melanie Smith, who lived

in the flat below the victims, set light to a pushchair in a dispute

about a shared haul way. -- hallway. They were killed because of a

trivial row over a pushchair. Lee- Anna Shiers, her partner Liam and

their 15-month-old son Charlie, died along with her nephew Bailey

and niece Sky, as fire for through their first-floor flat. Today,

their downstairs neighbour, Melanie Smith, sobbed in the dock as she

was convicted of their murder. Smith, who had a history of violent

and drunken behaviour had been angered by the family's buggy

clocking the communal hallway and set it alight. Outside the court,

friends and relatives of her victims welcomed the guilty

verdicts. They said her actions have left them devastated. How do

you get over something like this? Not only have they took my daughter,

my grandchildren, they've took my best friend and they've took our

way of life. She has took a lot of stuff away from us, not just them.

Melanie Smith made no secret of her contempt for her neighbours. She

told Lee-Anna Shiers, "I'm going to set fire to your home with you and

your kids in it." After the blaze, she betrayed -- portrayed herself

as a victim, claiming she had climbed out of a window. Neighbours

tried to rescue the family, but were beaten back. The father of

Bailey and Sky was among those watching on helplessly. I seen them

when they brought my kids out. I seen the condition they were in.

And I knew they had already gone. They were hoding me back, saying I

couldn't go near them and let the paramedics do their jobs. As if I

would stop them trying to save my children, but I wanted them to know

I was there. Smith was also found guilty of trying to burn down

another woman's home. The family of Lee-Anna Shiers will return to

President Obama says he wants to renew his efforts to close the

Guantanamo Bay detention centre. He has called on Congress to help him

find a long-term legal solution. There are currently 166 prisoners

being held in Guantanamo Bay. It is thought 100 of them are currently

on hunger strike, and 21 are now being force-fed by medical staff,

as our correspondent reports. It is where the US military act as live,

judge and jury to men captured in President Bush's war on terror.

Some have been left in legal limbo here for more than 10 years, out of

reach, and mostly out of sight. One of his first acts when he became

President was to sign an order to shut Guantanamo down within a year.

Five years on, it still has not happened. But today, President

Obama insisted he had not given up. I am going to go back at this.

have asked my team to review everything that is currently being

done, everything that we can do, and I am going to re-engage with

Congress to try to make the case that this is not something which is

in the best interests of the American people. This is why he has

had to renew old fouls - the growing protest, with most

prisoners are now refusing food. In the past, when I have visited

Guantanamo, medical staff were already well versed in explaining

how they dealt with those on hunger strike. The this catheter is passed

through the nostril, into the stomach. We saw the chair in which

prisoners are restrained and force- fed. But this latest protest is on

a much larger scale, and some say it is a sign of growing despair.

Six people have committed suicide in that camp, and only three people

have been convicted, which is not good odds for a place which is

meant to bring justice to America. There will be deaths, no doubt

about it. President Obama says he does not want anybody to die. Extra

medical staff have been sent to deal with the protest. But he may

find it hard to persuade a sceptical public to close down

Guantanamo, when the alternative is holding prisoners closer to home.

Former as Americans, it is out of sight, out of mind. As long as they

view this as an us and them proposition, the public do not seem

to care a lot. Congress blocked his efforts to transfer some prisoners

for trial in the US. The President says he will start those talks are

fresh, but so far, his words have not been matched by deeds, and for

now, closing Guantanamo remains a Two men are on the run after

escaping from a prison van in an armed ambush. The two were freed by

three masked men who attacked the vehicle in Salford this morning.

Police say Stevie McMullen and Ryan MacDonald should not be approached.

Amanda Knox, the American student who spent four years in an Italian

jail for the murder of her British flat mate, Meredith Kercher, has

given her first television interview. She asked to be

reconsidered as a person. She was acquitted two years ago, but faces

a retrial. This report contains flash photography. Released on

appeal 18 months ago after serving four years in an Italian prisoner.

Last month, Amanda Knox was told the Italian authorities intend to

re-try her for the murder of her British flat mate Meredith Kercher.

Today, she gave her reaction the shop it was incredibly painful. I

felt like after crawling through a field of barbed-wire and finally

reaching what I thought was the end, it just turned out that it was the

horizon, and I had another field of barbed-wire which I had ahead of me

to go through. Meredith Kercher's body was found in the bedroom of

the home she shared with Amanda Knox in the Italian town of Perugia.

Amanda Knox maintains in her autobiography that she was not

there at the time, and she can hardly believe the way she has been

portrayed in the press. She did well with an angel face, Sphinx of

Perugia... I have not heard those. I mean, have hurt the gist of them.

And they are wrong. It is one thing to be called certain things in the

media, it is another thing to be sitting in a courtroom, fighting

for your life, while people are calling you a devil. For all

intents and purposes, I was a murderer. Whether I was or not. And

I had to live with the idea that that would be my life. It to the's

Supreme Court cannot compel Amanda Knox to return for the retrial, but

it could ask the US to extradite her. Legal experts believe the

memoir could be used in court. Should the judges of the new

trialled consider this book to be relevant, it will be acquired as

new evidence in the criminal proceedings. Italian prosecutors

are not the only ones who do not by Amanda Knox's claims of innocence.

Neither do members of Meredith Kercher's family, who said tonight

they had no interest in reading the book. Here in America, meanwhile,

the effort to reveal her image is already well under way. -- to

rebuild. NASA has revealed striking images of an enormous hurricane on

Saturn. It is almost 300 miles wide. The images were captured by the

Cassini spacecraft, which first detected the Harry Kane back in

2004. Sam Warburton will captain the British and Irish Lions on

their tour of Hong Kong and Australia. 14 of his Welsh

teammates will be joining him. He was picked as captain ahead of more

experienced players, like Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell. The

squad also includes 10 English, nine Irish and three Scottish

players. Lions selection represents the pinnacle of a player's Korea.

16 years after the last series victory, pride needs restoring.

Today we learned that Sam Warburton will be the captain. The 24-year-

old flanker has commanded his Welsh side with distinction. And today,

he told me exactly what the captaincy of the lions means to him.

A absolutely delighted. It is an honour which very few players have.

Amid the attention, Sam Warburton has an awesome responsibility, to

lead the British and Irish Lions to a much needed series victory. The

squad is dominated by the Six Nations champions. The Welsh

provide 15 members of the squad. provide 15 members of the squad.

England have the next biggest contingent, followed by Ireland,

with just three Scots included. One man not going is Jonny Wilkinson.

The former England fly-half has been in fantastic form for his

French club, Toulon, but it has French club, Toulon, but it has

emerged that he ruled himself out. I rang him, he appreciated the call,

but he was not available for the start of the tour. He is committed

to Toulon. He also said he was struggling physically. Chris

Robshaw is another name notable by his absence, despite being England

captain. The lions last won a Test series down Under in 1989. One of

the heroes of that tour had this message for those surplus to

requirements. The few have not been picked, do not worry. I was not

picked to go in the first place. I think there will be players who are

not in that 37 who will play on the tour. They do not know who they are

yet. But whatever you do, keep training. This is a golden era for

Welsh rugby. Now, if the British and Irish Lions are to taste

success, the chances are, it will be a victory forged in Britain's

rugby heartland. The people of the Netherlands have the first king in

more than a century. King Willem Alexander was sworn in at a

ceremony in Amsterdam. His mother formally gave up the throne this

morning, after 33 years. It was a day for dressing in orange. The

national colour dominated the square in front of Amsterdam's

Royal Palace. This is an informal country, with an informal kind of

monarchy. There was little ceremony. Her Majesty simply signed herself

off the throne. A mother passing on the job to do son. He, their first

king in 123 years - power goes to the eldest child, regardless of

gender. It is a once-in-a-lifetime event, which was why I wanted to

come. My husband is Republican, so he is not into the monarchy, but I

think it is a very good thing. fact that everybody can get so

close is a sign of how down-to- earth the Royal Family hear is, or

at least, wants to appear to be. Unlike the monarchy in Britain,

they do not have that same untouchable feel about them. The

new King has already said that he wants to be seen as a man of his

people. He will not stand on ceremony. The guests filed in, not

for a crowning, rather an inauguration. Among them, and other

future king, almost 20 years older than Willem Alexander. Then, enter

the monarch and his new Queen, Maxima, an Argentinian born

economist. His mother said it was time for a new generation. This was

his message... A TRANSLATION: As King, I would like to encourage

people to actively use the opportunities available to them,

however great medal diversity, however different our convictions

and dreams may be. Everyone is allowed to make their

voice heard. But the pomp did not last long. This evening, the king

and Queen were feted in a frenzy of And in this city built on water,

they hold a River Pageant. This appears to be a monarchy at ease