18/02/2012 BBC Weekend News

Good evening. Detectives have begun a nationwide hunt for a 47-year-old

man in connection with the murder of a vicar in his home in

Gloucestershire. Police say Stephen Farrow travels widely across the

country using public transport and hitchhiking and is extremely

dangerous and should not be approached. The Reverend John

Suddards was found stabbed to death at his home in Thornbury on Tuesday,

as Tim Reid reports. Thornbury is a village under a cloud, it remains a

scene of crime five days after its vicar was brutally murdered. There

is a high police presence on the streets. Police have today released

an image of a man they seek in connection with the murder, six-

foot four-inch Stephen Farrow, he was 47, and known to travel around

England hitch-hiking and camping. He is a dangerous man and under no

circumstances should he be approached. If sighted, I would ask

that you dial 999 immediately. Reverend John Suddards had only

moved here last July from Essex where he had been filled by the BBC.

His body was discovered at St Mary's Vicarage on Tuesday, he had

suffered multiple stab Boyens. A 43 year-old man arrested shortly after

has been released on police bail. Tonight, while Thornbury mourns its

vicar, every police force is on the lookout for his killer.

The Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned that Iran's nuclear

ambitions could plunge the Middle East into a new Cold War. In a

newspaper interview, Mr Hague said that if Iran built an atomic bomb,

it would trigger "the most serious round of nuclear proliferation

since nuclear weapons were invented". Here's our World Affairs

Correspondent Peter Biles. Iran's nuclear ambitions continue to be a

matter of international concern. The West has long suspected Iran

wants to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its nuclear

programme is purely for generating electricity and says it has a right

to press ahead with these plans. William Hague says if Iran does

develop a nuclear weapon at this could trigger an arms race in the

region. In an interview with the Analysts agree that if Iran got the

bomb, then Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East would

want to follow suit. Saudi Arabia would look to Pakistan to get its

own, Egypt and Turkey would consider their Non-Proliferation

policies, although both those countries probably would not obtain

a bomb in any short-term. And other countries would look to the outside

world for assistance. This week President Ahmadinejad attended an

elaborate ceremony to show of new developments in the run's nuclear

programme. It said it had used home-made nuclear fuel in a reactor

for the first time. The West wants to know if Iran can go further.

West should keep its nerve, keep in proper perspective the nature of

any threat Iran may pose to other countries, to their in mind this is

the time for diplomacy now rather than more high-flown language about

military threats. Not for the first time, Iran has just sent a couple

of naval ships through the sewers Canal into the Mediterranean. Today,

Israel said a nuclear run was the threat to the whole world.

Diplomats here at the Foreign Office have had a more complicated

a relationship with Iran since the spat last year that led to the

closure of the embassies in London and Tehran. But the diplomatic

pressure is being maintained through sanctions and in dealing

with Iran, all options remain on Syrian forces are reported to have

opened fire with live ammunition to break up a protest against

President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. At least four people have

been wounded according to witnesses. This unverified footage appears to

show the shooting broke out at the funeral of three youths killed in

earlier protests against Assad on Friday. In the last hour the

funeral service of the signer Whitney Houston has begun at a

church in New Jersey. She died a week ago, found unconscious in a

hotel room in Beverly Hills. Our Correspondent Laura Trevelyan is

outside the church in Newark. is the church where Whitney

Houston's journey began. She used to sing here in the gospel choir

when she was a child. That has been reflected in the congregation here,

her journey from this deprived area of New Jersey all way to recording

fame and Hollywood. Stevie Wonder is due to perform during the

service and the actor Kevin Costner, who starred with her in a film,

will also deliver an address. Let listening to what has been going on.

We thank you for gathering here and again, I want to say we love you,

Whitney Houston. Thank you. So this is an invitation only funeral, that

is how the family wanted it. It is also being screened live on the

internet to her millions of fans around the world. But many of her

most dedicated fans wanted to be here in person today to witness the

scene and reflect on her talent and turbulent life. Many thanks. After

nearly 40 years, there are new claims this evening that Lord Lucan

fled to Africa to avoid being questioned about the murder of his

children's nanny and the attempted murder of his wife. The unsolved

mystery of the peer's disappearance is one of the most infamous cases

in British criminal history. But now a former employee of one of

Lord Lucan's closest friends has shed new light on the case, as

Glenn Campbell reports. Lord Lucan vanished on the night of 7th

November, 1974 after murdering his children's nanny and attempting to

murder his estranged wife at the couple's Belgravia home. His car

was found abandoned here in New Haven in Sussex and detectives

suspected he may have been smuggled abroad by powerful friends. Today

that suspicion has finally been confirmed by a former personal

assistant to Lord Lucan's close confidant, John Aspinall.

Instructions were to make arrangements for Lord Lucan to see

his children and to do that I had to book his two eldest children on

flights to Africa. I do not know the exact dates, it was between

1979 and 1981. The woman, who has asked not to be identified, said

she arranged the flights twice to the children's Fugitive father

could see them. As some stage their father would observe them and see

them which is what he wanted to do, just see how they were growing up

and look at them from a distance. It was quite clear he would not

meet them, or speak to them, or make himself known to them because

that would make it difficult for them going back to their mother

saying I saw Daddy. That was it. The theory Lord Lucan fled to

Africa has been confirmed by the detective who led the Lucan inquiry

during the 1980s. I made a few inquiries and it was quite of this

people were aware he was not dead. The word was he was in Africa.

Aspinall never publicly admitted any involvement in Lord Lucan's

disappearance. He died in 2000 of cancer. But his former personal

assistant say she is now willing to talk to detectives about the role

she played in a Lord Lucan's live abroad. And viewers in London and

the South East can see more on the Lord Lucan mystery on Inside Out on

BBC One on Monday at 7.30pm. Sport now and in today's FA Cup fifth

round matches Chelsea's stuttering season continues as they were held

to a 1-1 draw by Birmingham. David Murphy put the visitors ahead in

the first half but Daniel Sturridge saved Chelsea's blushes with an

angled header 30 minutes from time. Three other fifth round matches

have also finished. Everton beat Blackpool 2-0. Bolton won at

Blackpool 2-0. Bolton won at Milwall by the same scoreline and

David Nugent scored Leicester's In Scotland, thousands of Rangers

fans have demonstrated outside the club's Ibrox ground ahead of this

afternoon's match against Kilmarnock. It's the first time

Rangers have played in the league since the club was put into