27/02/2018 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at ten, heavy snow causes

serious disruption across large

parts of the UK as bitterly cold

weather takes hold.

In Southern England up to 10

centimetres fell in some places

and hundreds of schools were closed

across the UK.

On the roads, driving conditions

were treacherous with dozens

of accidents reported.

We will have the latest on the snow

and icy conditions with tonight

already looking much worse than last

night.

Also tonight...

Brexit and the Irish border -

Downing Street categorically rules

out any return to a "hard

border" after a leaked

memo from Boris Johnson.

A ceasefire in the Syrian suburb

of Eastern Ghouta collapses,

meaning the UN can't deliver aid

to hundreds of thousands

trapped there.

A man wrongly accused of assault

is saved by this CCTV evidence,

but why was it only disclosed

to lawyers at the last minute?

Supposing you didn't go that

far back, that's right.

And the film director Lewis Gilbert

- the man behind Bond films

like You Only Live Twice -

has died at the age of 97.

And coming up on Sportsday

on BBC News...

No old boys routine for Swansea City

boss Carlos Carvalhal,

as he looks to knock his former club

Sheffield Wednesday

out of the FA Cup.

Good evening.

Snow and freezing temperatures have

caused major disruption across many

parts of the UK today

with forecasters warning that there

is much worse to come this week.

More than 560 schools have been

closed across England,

Wales and Scotland.

Driving conditions were

"treacherous" in some places -

in Lincolnshire there were 20

accidents in the space of just

of just three hours,

including one which left

three people dead.

There've been big problems

on the railways, with more than 300

cancelled by Southeastern

and Greater Anglia.

Dozens of flights

were cancelled too.

In a moment we'll hear

from Danny Savage in North Yorkshire

but first this from Robert Hall

from Ashford in Kent.

The warnings had been clear, but the

snow which swept in from Europe

still gave travellers a taste of

what this week as in store. On this

motorway in Kent, is drivers filmed

traffic gridlock as ice and snow

closed roads. The county declared a

snow emergency but the freezing

weather overwhelmed the efforts of

the gritting teams. Police reported

dozens of accidents. These images

are from the A120 in Colchester,

littered with damaged and abandoned

vehicles. In Lincolnshire, three

people died in a collision on the

A15 near Baston. Elsewhere, school

children escaped unhurt when their

bus veered off the road. Across the

worst affected Southern counties,

traffic crawled and journeys

lengthened. As is always the case,

the greater hazards lie away from

main roads, where there is less

traffic and the snow has had time to

settle and freeze. That has brought

a series of accidents which began

before dawn, it has disrupted bus

services and caused the closure of

dozens of schools. The village of

Leeds near Maidstone was complete

the cut off for a time as ice and

compacted snow stranded cars and

lorries. Landlord Jason Tharp helped

to clear the road. You have seen the

forecast, are you worried about the

rest of the week?

Yes, it will be

the same tomorrow, and Thursday

evening as well. It will be the same

again.

Norfolk also saw school closures.

At Mulbarton Primary school,

the head teacher said

she'd had no option.

I felt it was't safe to open.

You know, I'm here, but I can't

look after 420 children,

so that was why I made the decision,

it's still snowing now,

the roads aren't safe,

and I just didn't want staff

being put at risk.

Tonight, rail operators who had done

their best to protect timetables are

reflecting on a day of

cancellations. Temperatures have

dived again. And more snow has

fallen. Travelling will remain

unpredictable and potentially

hazardous in the coming days.

Robert Hall, BBC News, Kent.

On high ground near the east coast

of Yorkshire tonight, these are

typical driving conditions.

Few are venturing out.

Earlier, some of the biggest

problems were in Teesside.

Traffic came to a standstill on many

roads through the morning rush hour,

and several schools were closed.

There is a little van stuck here,

so I've got to go round him,

so I'm going to hope

there is nothing

coming the other way.

20 miles further south, on one

of the steep roads over the moors,

negotiating Sutton Bank

was like an uphill slalom.

And as the snow came down

again, things got worse.

What this illustrates

is just how little snow

is needed to cause a problem.

There's hardly any on the surface

here, but it's frozen up,

it's got really slippery.

And it's caused chaos

on this road this morning.

In the towns and cities on lower

ground, snow wasn't such a problem,

but the freezing temperatures were.

These homeless men in Leeds

haven't got shelter.

Even in this weather.

I shouldn't be doing

this, I know that.

But I've nowhere to go.

I've nowhere to live,

so I've nowhere to go.

So...it's all about survival.

I'm out in the cold,

and nobody tends to help you,

because people are skint.

Back on the hills late morning,

and the clouds briefly parted

to reveal stunning views.

There is life, and trade, up here -

carrying on as normal,

despite the conditions.

Dave and Kath Wood were digging

out their driveway.

They're used to bad weather

but expect it to get

worse later in the week.

We're clearing it now so that

when the next lot comes,

we don't have so much to clear

after that, you see,

because I don't want it

padding down particularly.

So no, it's just a light flurry.

To be honest, this is

the worst winter that we've

had for quite a while.

Last year, we hardly had any

snow, but like I say,

going back a few years,

I just couldn't believe the amount

that we actually had.

There was feet and feet of it.

With lambing already

underway in some areas,

these are not conditions farmers

need at the moment.

Weather warnings for snow and ice

are in place until at least Saturday

for the vast majority of the UK.

Plenty more of this is to come.

And the snow has been falling

steadily this evening across large

parts of northern England and Kent

as well. As a result, there are

scores of roads now closed because

of stranded vehicles and police are

appealing on Twitter for people not

to travel unless absolutely

necessary. Anticipate a much worse

rush hour tomorrow morning than we

had today. 40 centimetres of snow

expected in some areas by Thursday

evening. Temperatures as low as -15

Celsius. More problems to come over

the coming days. Sophie. STUDIO:

Danny Savage, thank you.

Train services were

badly affected today -

though not all because of snow.

Network Rail had to apologise

to passengers after it closed rail

lines in areas where heavy snow

was forecast but then didn't fall.

Our transport correspondent

Victoria Fritz is at

London Bridge station.

Those cancellations and severe

disruptions were met with

incredulity and even some anger from

commuters trying to get into work

today. Perhaps not even seeing a

single snowflake when they started

their day. In terms of the amount of

disruption on the network,

south-eastern, for example,

operating trains in out of London

Bridge here saw cancellations of

more than 100 services between Kent

and London today. Southern also had

a reduced service. And the real big

part of the transport story today

was on the East of England, talking

about Greater Anglia, great

Northern, C2C, they are all focusing

their efforts on trying to get as

many people as possible through the

arterial train routes and into

London and into Cambridge. We are

going to see lots more disruption

coming up later on this week. There

is a brief reprieve from people

working on the train lines and also

for passengers across England

tomorrow. It will be Scotland that

is affected by high wind, high

snowfall. We will see big snowdrifts

and anyone travelling on ScotRail is

like

like to see severe delays tomorrow.

The later part of the week will fit

the biggest part of the network

around south-western, south-eastern

and Seven. When it comes to

disruptions, the worst may be yet to

come.

Downing Street has categorically

ruled out any return to a "hard

border" between Northern Ireland

and the Republic after Brexit.

It comes after the leak of a letter

from the Foreign Secretary Boris

Johnson to the Prime Minister

in which he appears to contemplate

the possibility of future customs

border checks after the UK leaves

the EU customs union.

Earlier today the International

Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned

against remaining in a customs union

with the EU saying that would be

a "complete sellout".

Here's our Deputy Political

Editor John Pienaar.

They are the Cabinet's

true believers.

Foreign Secretary, does the UK need

a fairy godmother?

Brexit's wishful thinking say

the critics today, but no,

senior ministers agreeing that

Britain, all of Britain

and Northern Ireland, too,

will stick together and win,

despite all the obstacles

and all the doubts.

APPLAUSE

So, today, the International Trade

Secretary said critics were wrong

to say that Britain should stay

in a European customs union and give

up the freedom to strike

independent trade deals.

Not just wrong...

We would be in a worse

position than we are today.

It would be a complete sell-out

of Britain's national interests

and a betrayal of the voters

in the referendum.

But even before that warning,

the critics were joined

by the former head of Dr Fox's

own Department, and free to speak

out, he is not holding back.

If we go to Brussels and say we want

access to the single market,

but we want it on our terms,

all of the benefits and we will

decide which obligations,

no negotiator in the world can bring

you that - you would

need a fairy godmother.

How would the Trade

Secretary deal with that?

Is the greatest danger that Brexit

could lead to national self

harm or there are simply not enough

true believers like you?

We cannot afford to be

bound by the practices

and the patterns of the past.

We have to take the opportunities

available unfettered by those

who would make the rules

on our behalf.

What we need is a hard-headed

leader, not a fairy godmother.

What else could block

the Brexit plan?

Dublin wants a written

guarantee of no north-south border

checks,

even if that means a customs union.

Tonight, Downing Street

has had to restate,

there will be no hard border,

after Boris Johnson seemed

to suggest, in a leaked

paper, one might return.

Even though very few

checks need to take place.

He is now saying no-one

wants border checks,

but was it even helpful earlier

to compare the border to managing

traffic through the congestion

charge zone in London?

There is no border between

Camden and Westminster,

but when I was Mayor of London,

we

And aesthetically and invisibly...

aesthetically and invisibly...

took hundreds of millions

of pounds from the accounts

of people travelling between those

two boroughs without any need

for border checks, whatsoever...

Come on, you cannot compare two

boroughs of London with the kinds

of difference in the arrangements

that would be in place

between the UK and EU.

I think it is a very

relevant comparison.

Either way, the path to Brexit

is still being mapped out

by ministers from Theresa May down,

and it is anything but clear.

Today the government's Brexit

ambitions have been attacked as the

stuff of fairy tales. Labour wants

Boris Johnson sacked for what the

opposition is calling his Brexit at

all costs approach to the border.

Dublin has demanded Britain signs up

to staying in the customs union as a

last resort could yet jeopardise

hopes of a transition period. The

Prime Minister has budgeted talk

about when she sets out her latest

thinking in a big speech on Friday.

STUDIO: John Pienaar, thank you.

Our Europe Editor Katya Adler

is in Brussels tonight.

A big day in Brussels -

a draft of the Brexit treaty

is being published -

setting out the terms

of the Uk's departure.

Explain what it is and how

significant this moment could be.

Let me start off by saying what is

not in the document will stop its

not about a future trade

relationship between the EU and UK,

and that's because those

negotiations have not yet started.

This document is about the European

Commission looking into legally

binding texts the agreements so far

reached between the sides. Those

divorce issues, citizen 's rights,

the so-called Brexit bill and the

Irish border, and also the

transition agreement. That is what

will be in the 120 page document.

When it goes in black and white like

this, it'll be interesting to see to

what extent the UK Government and

European Commission are on the same

page. When it comes to issues where

no final agreement was reached, such

as political hot potato is like the

future role of the European Court of

Justice, or the Irish border, well

we will hear from the commission

what its fallback position is. When

it comes to Northern Ireland, that

is controversially keeping it inside

a customs union within the EU as

part of the single market to

safeguard, says the commission, the

Good Friday Agreement. That is

likely to cause uproar tomorrow

inside and outside government

circles. But we must remember it is

a draft legal text that will still

be discussed and amended by the

other 27 EU countries and will then

be passed to the UK Government for

negotiation, and I am sure they will

have a lot to say about it.

Catty

Adler in Brussels, thank you.

More than a thousand defence lawyers

in England and Wales have reported

failures in the disclosure

of evidence, by police

and prosecutors, in cases

they were involved in.

97% of the solicitors and barristers

who responded to a BBC survey said

they'd experienced problems

in the last year.

The former director of public

prosecutions, Lord MacDonald,

has described the situation

as a crisis in the criminal

justice system.

Clive Coleman reports.

You know, who could be

dreaming up some sort

of monstrous thing against me?

William, a teacher for 40

years, has never been

in trouble with the police.

Last year, he was accused

of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old

girl in a supermarket.

He couldn't remember the incident,

but was convinced the store's CCTV

would exonerate him.

But in interview, the police

told him the CCTV was poor quality

and too far away to identify him.

My lawyer wrote to the Crown

Prosecution Service six times,

and thank goodness we got it before

the trial because our entire

defence was based on that CCTV.

Contrary to what the police had

said, William was clearly

visible on the CCTV.

For legal reasons,

the complainant is not shown.

I never saw these two girls.

I brushed past one of them,

and that's what the CCTV shows.

Based on the video, the court threw

the case against William out.

Thames Valley Police told

us its officers carried out

a full investigation

and followed standard procedures.

Now, 1,300 criminal lawyers have

provided a picture of widespread

disclosure problems to the BBC.

97% had encountered disclosure

failings in the last year.

Half of these were in

the magistrates' court.

And nearly a third believed it had

resulted in a possible

wrongful conviction

or miscarriage of justice.

The snapshot provided by this survey

blows away the idea that disclosure

problems are limited to a few

high-profile cases

in the Crown Court.

It paints a picture of daily

difficulties in magistrates' courts

like these, where the overwhelming

majority of criminal

cases are tried.

We're facing a crisis

around disclosure.

If courts are not able to trust

that the disclosure process has been

completed fairly and accurately,

they're not going to have

faith in prosecutions,

and I think we'll see that

reflected in verdicts.

In a statement, the Crown

Prosecution Service said it had

serious concerns about the BBC

survey, which presents a highly

skewed and one-sided picture.

But it acknowledged that there

are systemic disclosure

issues across the entire

criminal justice system.

For William, it's just a relief

he finally got the evidence that

proved his innocence.

If people were at all doubtful

of me, it could have

destroyed my reputation with family

and friends, and I'm just very lucky

that I have the kind

of friends who believe in me.

Clive Coleman, BBC News.

A mother and her two teenage sons

are believed to be among

the five people who died

in an explosion in Leicester.

Mary Ragoobeer and her sons,

Shane and Sean, lived in the flat

above the shop on Hinckley Road,

which was destroyed

in the blast on Sunday.

The other two victims were thought

to be working in the Polish

supermarket on the ground floor.

A 27-year-old man has been arrested

on suspicion of murder after three

people died in a house fire

in Northern Ireland.

Police, who were called

to the rural bungalow

in County Fermanagh early this

morning, believe the fire

was started deliberately.

The three victims are thought to be

members of the same family.

Fighting has resumed

in Eastern Ghouta, the rebel-held

suburb of Syria's capital Damascus,

despite what was supposed to be

a "humanitarian pause."

It was hoped that the daily

five hour ceasefire,

ordered by Syria's ally Russia,

would allow civilians to leave,

but the United Nations

says it collapsed before

it was due to expire.

Nearly 400,000 people

are trapped in the area,

which has been besieged

by government forces since 2013.

Our Middle East editor,

Jeremy Bowen, reports.

It was supposed to be a chance

to get some aid into Eastern Ghouta,

but the temporary ceasefire,

at best, was ragged.

No civilians left down the newly

designated safe corridors.

Once again in Syria,

the Russians are setting the pace.

This Russian officer, stationed

in the humanitarian corridor,

claimed armed opposition groups

were stopping civilians leaving.

The day turned into a demonstration

of Russian power in Syria.

Their jets were in the sky

and their soldiers,

alongside the Syrians,

were on patrol and they showed off

clinics for displaced people.

The humanitarian pause

was President Putin's

decision, not the UN's.

He seems to have put aside

the UN resolution calling

for a 30 day ceasefire.

The people of Eastern

Ghouta are being failed

by international diplomacy.

Eastern Ghouta is big,

about the size of Manchester,

a mix of farms and concrete suburbs.

The 400,000 people there have spent

most of the last week in cellars.

The Russian humanitarian pause

won't be enough to silence

critics of their military

operations in Syria.

The plan to suspend shelling

from 9:00am in the morning to 2:00pm

seems to have broken down

on the first day.

Persuading civilians it's safe

to leave will be difficult.

The UN ceasefire is not close

to coming into effect.

It's supposed to last for 30 days,

right across Syria.

Jihadists like Al-Qaeda

are excluded, but the Russians have

said that all armed opposition

groups are terrorists.

The ceasefire resolution has no

start time, at Russian insistence,

and that is a fatal flaw.

This was Eastern Ghouta today,

filmed by a local resident.

Humanity, love, asserts itself

in the most desperate places.

And this was 24 hours earlier.

Another assertion of humanity,

White Helmets civil defence

risking their lives to rescue

children after an air strike.

War is the reality in Syria.

Since it started, every

ceasefire has failed,

and nothing suggests the latest

attempt will be any different.

Jeremy Bowen, BBC News.

Police have launched a child

protection investigation

at a suspected unregistered school

in Essex following

a BBC investigation.

The synagogue says it's closed

the school on its grounds while it

examines allegations

about the treatment of children.

More than 350 schools

in England and Wales

are thought to be unregistered.

The schools' regulator,

Ofsted, says it lacks

the powers to close them down.

Here is our special

correspondent, Lucy Manning.

Young children on their way

to school, except this one

is believed to be unregistered.

8.55am, and a school bus arrives

at the house in north London

with the last of the children.

We counted at least 30 going in.

Schools need to register

if they teach more than five

children for at least 18

hours a week.

When we knocked at the door,

we were told it was a club.

Suri - not her real name or voice -

lives in Stamford Hill,

in North London.

She says her son will be expected,

because of community pressure,

to enrol in a different,

unregistered school for 13

to 16-year-olds, known as a yeshiva.

She's distraught about his

education - or lack of it.

We're living in Britain.

Boys can't speak English.

They're going to be

dependent on benefits

for the rest of their lives.

It's just not giving

children any choice.

She told the council and Ofsted

the school was unregistered.

How did it leave you feeling,

that none of these people

who you approached seemed to be able

to do anything about this

unregistered school?

It's really, really upsetting.

I was really angry because I'd

gone out of my way.

I'm doing something that

I shouldn't be doing,

and they turned me away.

They told me they can't help me.

Madrasahs and other centres

providing religious education only

after school don't need to be

registered, but there

is still concern about

the associations of some.

The Qadria Trust Community

and Education Centre in Birmingham

teaches children for three

hours a day.

During an event at the centre,

where some children are present,

they sing the anthem

of a Pakistani militant group.

Its leader is said to be

an inspiration for the killer

of a Glasgow shopkeeper,

murdered for his religious views.

One verse promotes an enthusiasm

to die for the sake of religion.

The centre said the singer

had added his own words

and they had strongly objected.

Last night, we reported

on a suspected unregistered school

in Southend where a child was man

handled and another

appeared to be slapped.

Police have now launched a child

protection investigation.

The community here denied this

was a school, but we've now

discovered there was even

a brochure advertising it.

It says, "The entire atmosphere

at the school is one of love

and personal attention."

It's now been closed

while the synagogue investigates.

The BBC has obtained a copy of legal

guidance which might help to explain

why so few of these schools have

been shut down.

Drawn up in 2014 for Jewish

religious yeshivas, it's also known

to have been cited internally

by the Department for Education.

It says places only providing

religious education can't be classed

as schools and therefore can't

be shut down.

The implication - the less

maths and English taught,

the easier it might be

to escape inspection.

We do not want kids growing up

here who are only taught one

religious way of thinking,

and that religion covers

their whole way of life,

from what they can work as,

who they can be, what type

of jobs they can do,

how they should treat women.

That's crazy.

So even if it's technically

legal, it's wrong.

The Department for Education says

it can't comment on legal

opinions prepared by others.

It says where a school

is operating illegally,

action must be taken.

But thousands of children

are still arriving each morning

at suspected unregistered schools.

Lucy Manning, BBC News.

Shares in Sky have risen sharply

today after the American media giant

Comcast made a surprise takeover bid

for the British broadcaster,

pitting itself against

Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox,

which had already made an offer.

Our media editor,

Amol Rajan, is here.

Something of a surprise, is this a

game-changer?

I think it is, Sofie.

There are three separate bids for

Sky. The first is the 21st Century

Fox from Rupert Murdoch's family for

full control of Sky the 61% they

don't know. The second bid from

Comcast, the US cable giant. A key

difference between the two bids.

Rupert Murdoch's bid, the Fox bid,

is stuck in a quack

is stuck in a quack mire whether the

Murdoches have too much power. There

is a separate bid from Disney for

Fox. The reason all these bids are

happening is because there is a

frenzy of deal making an

consolidation going on in

international media where basically

the owners of great content, the

programmes, the ideas and the

stories, are joining forces with the

owners of the distribution channels,

like Sky, who have access to 23

million customers in Europe. It's

good news if you are a Sky customer.

A third massive company that wants

to give you great programmes.

Fantastic news if you are a minority

shareholder in sky. If you are

Rupert Murdoch and you face the

prospects of becoming a minority

shareholder unless you fork out more

cash, that isn't the Hollywood

ending that Rupert Murdoch was

hoping for.

Amol, thank you.

Germany's second biggest city,

Hamburg, is going to start banning

older diesel vehicles from April

following a landmark ruling.

A federal court says German cities

can stop the most heavily polluting

diesel cars from using their streets

in a bid to tackle air pollution.

The German government

and its powerful car industry have

always opposed a ban.

Jenny Hill reports from Hamburg.

Time to clear up

Germany's dirty secret.

On this Hamburg street,

all but the knew newest diesel cars

are to be banned at certain times.

It's a first for the country,

and Charlotte's delighted.

We are worried about our health.

I've got heart problems

and I realise it's getting worse.

There are some days, you know,

when the pollution is higher

than other days and you can

really notice it.

In court today, an historic moment.

The judges can't order reluctant

cities to impose diesel bans,

but the environmental lobby

is ready to try.

After all, 70 cities regularly

exceed EU air pollution targets.

TRANSLATION:

There's

a whole range of measures -

develop public transport,

build bike lanes, but they only

work in the long-term.

We have an acute problem

for the population now.

The only immediate solutions

are a driving ban or

lowering the speed limits.

More bad publicity for Germany's

beleaguered car manufacturers.

Diesel sales slumped

after the emissions scandal.

Angela Merkel, who opposes diesel

bans, widely seen as a bit too

close to the industry.

"Most German cities",

she said today, "don't exceed

pollution levels by much.

But, she added, she'd work

closely with those that do.

In a country where the car is king,

today's ruling is controversial.

People living along this stretch

of road worry that by banning

diesel vehicles here,

the problem is simply

sent elsewhere.

Those who really want to clean up

this country's air believe that

what's needed isn't a court

decision, but a change in culture.

Jenny Hill, BBC News, Hamburg.

The British film director

Lewis Gilbert, the man behind some

of the most famous Bond films,

like the Spy Who Loved Me

and Moonraker, has

died at the age of 97.

He directed more than 40 films

during his long career,

including Alfie and Educating Rita

starring Michael Caine.

David Silito looks back at his life.

That's it, that's fine.

When Lewis Gilbert took on Bond

in You Only Live Twice,

he was already a director with more

than 20 films to his name.

He'd directed Orson Welles,

Kenneth Moore, Dirk Bogart, but 007,

with its seemingly unlimited budget,

was new territory.

I've made 25 films and I've never

been on a film where this

doesn't ever come up.

If I said today, "Look, I want 5,000

people flown in from Tokyo",

I'm sure they'd be flown

in, you know.

Cover up.

In the '50s, Lewis Gilbert had

made his name with a string of tales

of stiff upper lip wartime

British valour.

And then in the '60s,

a film that helped define

a very different era -

Alfie.

My understanding of women only goes

as far as the pleasure.

No, no, no, Michael,

we're going right.

On set, he was easy-going,

charming, unflappable.

The child of musical

performers, he'd spent his

life in show business.

And 17 years after Alfie,

he was reunited with

Michael Caine in Educating Rita.

My God, I thought it

was something serious.

And after that came

Shirley Valentine.

Lewis Gilbert, a career that reads

like a greatest hits

of the British film industry.

The film director Lewis Gilbert,

who's died at the age of 97.

That's all from us.