:00:08. > :00:12.Tonight, tortured and drowned by a member of his own familiarly 15-
:00:12. > :00:17.year-old Christie Bamu's murders believed he was possessed by demons.
:00:17. > :00:26.We will talk to church leaders and child protection experts to explore
:00:26. > :00:31.the links between the belief in evil spirits, kindoki, and religion.
:00:31. > :00:36.Thousands of children have been sent here to people they have never
:00:36. > :00:40.met and come under contact of the authorities. We have had cases of
:00:40. > :00:44.extreme physical and sexual abuse of these children, and if they are
:00:44. > :00:48.in school, nobody asks questions about their immigration status.
:00:48. > :00:55.Fighting gives way in Homs, the army may take further revenge on
:00:55. > :00:59.civilians, it is feared. We will ask an activist what he is hearing
:00:59. > :01:03.about the rebellion. We are on the road with the IMF.
:01:03. > :01:07.She's on the road, Newsnight interviews, as a double act.
:01:07. > :01:17.Christine Lagarde's talents have impressed George Osborne, but can
:01:17. > :01:18.
:01:18. > :01:22.anyone really solve the eurozone crisis?
:01:22. > :01:27.There were more than 100 injuries on the body of Kristy Bamu, within
:01:27. > :01:31.I was finally drowned in a bath in a flat in East London on Christmas
:01:31. > :01:36.Day. Today his sister and her husband
:01:36. > :01:42.were convicted of one of the worst cases of child abuse seen in
:01:42. > :01:46.Britain. Their brutality was driven by a belief in kindoki, that he was
:01:46. > :01:52.possessed by an evil spirit that had to be driven from him. We
:01:52. > :02:02.report on extremely disturbing case. What took place in the Kristy Bamu
:02:02. > :02:07.case is a leap to something utterly ferral, it goes way beyond the
:02:07. > :02:11.bounds Feral, it goes way beyond the bounds of normality. We know
:02:11. > :02:16.lots of children are dying in silence and suffering in silence.
:02:16. > :02:23.Two years ago Kristy Bamu travelled from Paris, with his siblings, to
:02:23. > :02:28.spend Christmas with their sister, Mag alie, he arrived at this tower
:02:28. > :02:33.block in London in East London in September, but he never left.
:02:33. > :02:38.Christmas Day 2010, paramedics are called to this flat, 248, in the
:02:38. > :02:42.bath they find a 15-year-old boy, he's dead. He has 100 separate
:02:42. > :02:49.injuries. There is blood splattered on the floor, on the walls, even on
:02:49. > :02:54.the ceiling. The abuse began when he wet himself, the bathroom door
:02:54. > :03:03.was locked and he couldn't get in. Embarrassed he hid his underpants
:03:03. > :03:11.in the kitchen, Eric Bikubi found them, and accused him of trying to
:03:11. > :03:16.pollute the food using kindoki, they were forced to fast and pray.
:03:16. > :03:20.But Kristy was singled out, being hit with the hammer in the face and
:03:20. > :03:26.tortured with a pliers. He was begging them to let him die.
:03:26. > :03:32.Finally he was put into a bath of water, as Kristy drowned, Eric
:03:32. > :03:36.Bikubi talked about the power of God. In the hours before Kristy
:03:36. > :03:40.died, he spoke to his father in Paris, he begged to be collected
:03:40. > :03:45.from London, because he said Eric was going to kill him.
:03:45. > :03:53.But by the time his father had borrowed the money for the ferry,
:03:53. > :03:58.his son was already dead. TRANSLATION: There is a pain in my
:03:58. > :04:08.heart, this pain, I can't explain it. It took me at least a week-and-
:04:08. > :04:08.
:04:08. > :04:12.a-half before I started eating again. It is tough, really tough.
:04:12. > :04:22.This is unimaginable. The children went to London, because I had
:04:22. > :04:26.confidence in Eric, but one of them came back in a coffin.
:04:26. > :04:36.But to understand what happened to Kristy Bamu, you have to look at
:04:36. > :04:38.
:04:38. > :04:44.the Congalese culture of kinddoky. What has happened in -- What has
:04:44. > :04:47.happened is this idea of kindoki possession has taken hold in the
:04:47. > :04:51.Congalese. It is hard to find people now who don't think it is
:04:51. > :04:55.real or believe in it. We could be talking about 25 million people in
:04:55. > :05:00.the Congo, and other parts of Africa and outside Africa, who
:05:00. > :05:06.believe in this possession by witchcraft, or wind doky. In the
:05:06. > :05:13.past -- Wind doky. In the past it was believed -- Kindoki. In the
:05:13. > :05:19.past it was believed only old people can be possessed. Because of
:05:19. > :05:24.war children were made into child soldiers and became objects of fair.
:05:24. > :05:29.Evangelical Chris tannity has flooded the country, mixing
:05:29. > :05:39.religious and culture. It is now children who are seen to carry the
:05:39. > :05:39.
:05:39. > :05:44.contagion of kindoki. These beliefs know no borders, they
:05:44. > :05:50.have simply followed migrants as they have moved to Europe. Where it
:05:50. > :05:58.is very, very prevalent is in these communities where everything is
:05:58. > :06:02.justified on the basis of belief, misfortune, poverty, sickness. It
:06:02. > :06:08.can lead to neglect, because people will stop looking after the child,
:06:09. > :06:12.and here we have seen cases where children have been refused food, to
:06:12. > :06:21.starve them, in the belief that to weaken the evil spirit. That's
:06:21. > :06:27.completely wrong. This woman and her sister Christine,
:06:27. > :06:31.grew up with Magalie Bamu, they say the believe in kindoki is
:06:31. > :06:36.widespread here as it is in the Congalese. Is it possible for
:06:36. > :06:40.somebody to be kindoki or possessed by evil spirits. It is very
:06:40. > :06:46.possible. When you say is it possible, they are, there are many
:06:46. > :06:51.people who are. If you watch Harry Potter that is kindoki, I would
:06:51. > :06:58.personally not let my child watch those kinds of programmes, Harry
:06:58. > :07:03.Potter, scam charmed, it is exactly what happens, you watch these
:07:03. > :07:09.movies and see how an evil spirit would go into someone. In the
:07:09. > :07:12.Jamesd of Jesus Christ. In 2005, Newsnight investigated how some
:07:12. > :07:20.churches with African roots, operating in Britain, were
:07:20. > :07:24.fostering the idea of demonic possession, of adults and children.
:07:24. > :07:28.Since the death of Victoria Climbie, in the year 2000, who was killed
:07:28. > :07:32.partly because of that belief, the authorities have not been idle.
:07:32. > :07:38.There has been widespread training of police, social workers and
:07:38. > :07:43.pastors, a special police unite, Project Violet -- unit, project
:07:43. > :07:47.Violet was set up, and there is a working group chaired by a minister.
:07:47. > :07:50.Despite those efforts, African churches continue to spring up
:07:50. > :07:55.across London, as migrant communities search for identity and
:07:55. > :08:00.security, most are entirely begin nine, but some do preach a muscular
:08:00. > :08:05.belief in witchcraft. There is little outside regulation of any of
:08:05. > :08:09.their activities. We now know that Eric Bikubi came here, to the
:08:09. > :08:13.Holloway Road in London, looking for Nigerian churches, looking to
:08:13. > :08:18.back up his belief in spirit possession.
:08:18. > :08:22.This is a film released by one of the most high-profile evangelical
:08:22. > :08:30.churchs in Nigeria. Children receive their instructions from the
:08:30. > :08:36.devil, to wreek havoc in their homes.
:08:36. > :08:41.- in the UK, cases like the one moving Kristy Bamu and Eric Bikubi
:08:41. > :08:45.are very rare. But professionals believe that potentially dangerous
:08:45. > :08:49.beliefs are escaping the relative control of churches and going
:08:49. > :08:53.underground. One of the most disturbing aspects of the case,
:08:53. > :08:58.this is at least the third case where an and deliverance or
:08:58. > :09:03.something of that sort has taken place in a home, Victoria Climbie,
:09:03. > :09:09.Child B, and now this case, Kristy Bamu. In the Congo, in the DLC, and
:09:09. > :09:14.other parts of Africa, I'm not condoning what pastors do for a
:09:14. > :09:17.second, I'm condoning the churches, but at least there was a measure of
:09:17. > :09:20.control. What happened here was totally feral and out of control,
:09:20. > :09:26.and nobody seemed to notice what was going on, because they did it
:09:26. > :09:31.in their home, that is frightening. Though not regular churchgoers,
:09:31. > :09:39.Kristy's killers had strong beliefs, but from where, 24-hour religious
:09:39. > :09:43.channels on TV or on-line, or on DVDs, easily on this market in East
:09:43. > :09:48.London. My guide doesn't want to be identified for fear of being
:09:48. > :09:52.ostracised by his community. How easy would it be for you here to
:09:52. > :09:57.buy videos talking about kindoki? There is a shop there, with that
:09:57. > :10:03.guy, round the corner. Do people take them seriously or is it just
:10:03. > :10:10.entertainment? A bit of both. But it is never questioned. So people
:10:10. > :10:15.never question kindoki? Never. that children can be po tesed. We
:10:15. > :10:22.took -- possessed. We took what we bought to a cafe to watch. We
:10:22. > :10:28.bought this around the corner. Some have lurid covers and others
:10:28. > :10:35.are bootlegs. Yeah. All of them have scenes of deliverance. Heavy,
:10:35. > :10:42.especially this one. This drama, made in kins Shas is a, a pastor
:10:42. > :10:47.miraculously heels a blind boy, by miraculously delivering him of the
:10:47. > :10:51.evil spir rite We don't know what is going -- Spirit. We don't know
:10:51. > :10:58.what is going on underground, what abuse there is. The evil spirit,
:10:58. > :11:01.that is the spirit of infestation, and diseases. There are those in
:11:01. > :11:08.the Congalese community that want to tackle the problem head on, here
:11:08. > :11:15.a group of teenagers perform a play about kindoki, a pastor accuse as
:11:15. > :11:19.child, performs an exorism and then demands payment. It has been shown
:11:19. > :11:22.to churchgoers and workers. Since the death of Victoria Climbie, the
:11:22. > :11:26.authorities have focused on tackling abuse, not the beliefs
:11:26. > :11:32.behind it. Some, though, feel it is time to recognise there are ideas
:11:32. > :11:36.just too toxic to leave unchallenged.
:11:36. > :11:43.The block is white middle-class people who don't want to touch the
:11:43. > :11:46.liberal multicultural agenda. John Sentamu saying once that the
:11:47. > :11:50.ultimate no-no for a white liberal was to tell a black person that
:11:50. > :11:54.they are wrong. But we have to get through this, it is beyond just
:11:54. > :11:57.skin colour. We have to grow up. It is only a matter of time, I'm
:11:57. > :12:04.afraid, unless we take action, before there are more children that
:12:04. > :12:09.are abused, or indeed, horrendous though it will be, killed because
:12:09. > :12:15.of this belief system, that is why we have to tackle it. The Old
:12:15. > :12:18.Bailey was old that Eric Bikubi and Magalie Bamu, came from chaotic,
:12:18. > :12:22.dysfuntional backgrounds, for them witchcraft was real and powerful,
:12:22. > :12:25.it gave an explanation for every misfortune. In their fear and anger
:12:25. > :12:31.they turned on a child, who couldn't defend himself. Kristy
:12:31. > :12:37.paid with his life for their warped and distorted faith.
:12:37. > :12:45.We will hear more on that in a moment. I'm joined now by bishop
:12:45. > :12:50.Joe Aldred, Ariyo from AFRUCA, and Modeste Muyulu, a Congalese pastor
:12:50. > :12:55.of the French Christian community at Beth they will church. How swied
:12:55. > :13:03.spread -- Bethel Church. How widespread is the belief of kindoki
:13:03. > :13:08.in the UK? It would apear that the belief may well be widespread --
:13:08. > :13:16.appear that the belief is widespread. It is also that it can
:13:16. > :13:20.be set in a wider context. It is not unusual that we have the word
:13:20. > :13:24."witch-hunt" in the English vocabulary, it goes back centuries
:13:24. > :13:30.and is universal. This particular strain, while we are clear that not
:13:30. > :13:35.every day it appears we get this kind of incident, but every time it
:13:35. > :13:41.happens it is so traumatic, and though a specialist end of the
:13:41. > :13:45.whole thing, it is pretty scary. you find a lot of pastors equate
:13:45. > :13:50.some bad behaviour in children with some kind of possession by spirits?
:13:50. > :13:53.That's not my experience. In fact, my role with Churches Together, is
:13:53. > :13:58.largely to support the black Christian community across the
:13:58. > :14:02.country. I would say, I come across this hardly at all. But the reason
:14:02. > :14:08.for that, of course, is because by the time you come to churches which
:14:08. > :14:14.are members of Churches Together in England, you are dealing very often
:14:14. > :14:19.with the safer end of the Christian community. The challenge is how we
:14:19. > :14:24.reach those operating largely on the boundaries of Christianity, and
:14:24. > :14:28.behaving in ways which are dangerous to children. Modeste
:14:28. > :14:33.Muyulu, you believe some people can be possessed by evil spirits?
:14:33. > :14:37.I do believe that some people can be possessed by evil spirits, and
:14:37. > :14:43.that I also believe that witchcraft is real, but the problem is how you
:14:43. > :14:50.deal with it. How do you know, to begin with, how do you know that a
:14:50. > :14:53.child, for example is possessed with a spirit? I cannot be
:14:53. > :14:58.suspicious to somebody and accuse him to be possessed by the evil
:14:58. > :15:02.spirit. I cannot do that, because it is not my duty to do that.
:15:02. > :15:06.you believe it does happen. For instance, in this case, we heard of
:15:06. > :15:10.a 15-year-old who wet himself, I mean, is that something that would
:15:10. > :15:15.be some kind of sign that this person potentially could be
:15:15. > :15:21.possessed by evil spirits or not? To me, wetting the bed could not be
:15:21. > :15:25.a sign of being possessed by the evil spirit, that's my belief.
:15:25. > :15:28.those who are possessed or you have reason to believe are possessed,
:15:28. > :15:34.relieving them of the spirit, getting rid of that demon, is that
:15:34. > :15:40.being seen as doing something good for that person? Yes. We can pray
:15:40. > :15:44.just a simple prayer, with love, with kprags, without doing any --
:15:44. > :15:48.compassion, without doing any harm to the person, without being
:15:48. > :15:53.violent. If the person thinks he might be possessed. It is the
:15:53. > :15:57.person who needs the prayer, I'm not going to accuse people and
:15:57. > :16:02.force people to be prayed for. But if somebody thinks that he might
:16:02. > :16:09.need the prayer, if he thinks that he might have a demon in him, just
:16:09. > :16:15.a simple prayer with love, with compassion, without any violence we
:16:15. > :16:19.can do that. Is that the line that people can believe as they wish but
:16:19. > :16:25.no question of violence, that is where you draw the line? You can't
:16:25. > :16:30.question what people choose to believe in, you can question
:16:30. > :16:34.people's religion, we have a problem where religion mutates into
:16:34. > :16:38.a harmful practice, where children are harmed and abused. As we have
:16:38. > :16:43.seen in this case, children are actually killed. If you said to a
:16:44. > :16:48.child, or of a child, this child is possessed, this child is possessed
:16:48. > :16:55.by demons, isn't that harmful? believe it is harmful, because I
:16:55. > :17:00.think that it is difficult, as we have seen now, to actually
:17:00. > :17:04.determine what constitutes spirit possession. How do you know a child
:17:04. > :17:09.is possessed of evil spirits, how do you know a child has witchcraft,
:17:09. > :17:15.how can you tell? I haven't seen anybody who has been able to tell
:17:15. > :17:19.me exactly how that diagnosis can be made. How do you tell, that is
:17:19. > :17:24.surely the question if somebody is suspected of being possessed by
:17:24. > :17:30.demons, how can you tell or how do you have a clue? As I earlier, it
:17:30. > :17:37.is not a part that I have to play to accuse somebody, but if somebody,
:17:37. > :17:42.if the person thinks that he might have an evil spirit, that is my
:17:42. > :17:46.duty as a minister, just to pray for him. Do you take the point if
:17:46. > :17:51.you say, particularly to a child, you are possessed by an evil spirit,
:17:51. > :17:55.that is child abuse, isn't it? of the things I have been accusing
:17:55. > :17:59.pastors to be wary of, of a case where somebody comes into a church
:17:59. > :18:08.with a child and asks for prayer for the child because therapysed.
:18:08. > :18:13.You have to be careful, I'm -- they are possessed. I'm saying don't do
:18:13. > :18:17.that. You need to counsel further with that family to find out what
:18:17. > :18:27.is going on with that child. There is a part of my Christian faith
:18:27. > :18:32.
:18:32. > :18:37.that seemed to pander just too much to you know evil spirit possession.
:18:37. > :18:41.And the need to cast out or exorcise that demon. I'm getting on
:18:41. > :18:44.in age, I have been a Christian all my life, it is not something that
:18:44. > :18:50.is an every day occurrance. Those churches that seem to deal heavily
:18:50. > :18:56.in this business of casting out demons, I feel they are being
:18:56. > :19:00.called in the film, evangelicals and African, I think it is an abuse
:19:01. > :19:06.of a term of evangelical. Just on the question of what you can
:19:06. > :19:11.actually do about it now, how can you be engaged, we heard of project
:19:11. > :19:14.Vie -- Project Violet there and a Government working group, but if it
:19:14. > :19:18.is happening in people's homes, as we heard in the report, is
:19:18. > :19:24.particularly scary? It is absolutely scary. I completely
:19:24. > :19:30.agree with what the Bishop said. We have many organisations operating
:19:30. > :19:35.on the periphery of Christianity, who are actually very dominant in
:19:35. > :19:42.our communities, absolutely. This is where people go to for help and
:19:42. > :19:46.support. These organisations are very largely unregulated, nobody
:19:46. > :19:51.knows they are there. They are operating in people's homes, in
:19:51. > :19:55.garages, school halls and so forth. Nobody actually is bothered about
:19:55. > :20:02.doing anything to, at least, control them some how, so they are
:20:02. > :20:09.growing, they are spreading, and, of course, people go there, they
:20:09. > :20:16.can actually be abused and exploited in different ways. Angus
:20:16. > :20:19.nodded to the fact that money is a factor in some cases, is that true?
:20:19. > :20:23.If a child goes to one of the called churches on a Sunday, and
:20:23. > :20:28.the pastor looks at the child and says this child has an evil spirit,
:20:28. > :20:32.that is branding. For that child to be delivered, or exorcised, the
:20:33. > :20:38.parents will have to pay some amount of money for that child to
:20:38. > :20:45.be exorcised. That is, in my view, exploitation. Have you any idea how
:20:45. > :20:55.much of it goes on, how much of the exploitation, how many exorisms
:20:55. > :20:56.
:20:57. > :21:01.there are, or issues of deliverance. I don't have an idea, I don't know
:21:01. > :21:06.what is going on in the local churches, I focus on the church I
:21:06. > :21:11.lead. How often would it happen in your church? From my experience, as
:21:11. > :21:15.a minister for ten years, I have never come across a case where the
:21:15. > :21:18.parent brought a child and accuse him of witchcraft. That hasn't
:21:18. > :21:23.happened to me before, being in the ministry. If it does happen, I will
:21:23. > :21:27.know, as the bishop says, how to handle the case. I cannot go
:21:27. > :21:34.straight away to exorcise the children, maybe counsel the parent
:21:34. > :21:38.and just help them, as the bishop just said. Briefly, do you think,
:21:38. > :21:42.this is obviously a shocking case, will we have other cases like this,
:21:42. > :21:45.because so much of it goes on underground? I hope it is not
:21:45. > :21:55.inevitable, we don't know the extent of it. Some research was
:21:55. > :21:55.
:21:55. > :22:04.done by the Department of Education between 2000-2005, it identified 38
:22:04. > :22:08.cases of child abuse linked to possessions. We know it is not a
:22:08. > :22:13.regular thing. The message I want to send to everyone, yes, we are
:22:13. > :22:17.not trying to prescribe what you believe, but whatever it is you
:22:18. > :22:21.believe, you are not permitted to abuse, let alone kill a child.
:22:21. > :22:24.Eric Bikubi and Magalie Bamu shared more than a belief in witchcraft
:22:24. > :22:29.and spirit possession. Newsnight has uncovered startling details
:22:29. > :22:34.about their chaotic childhoods, as a 13-year-old Magalie Bamu was sent
:22:34. > :22:38.to live in Britain and treated like a domestic servant. She and Eric
:22:38. > :22:42.Bikubi were involved in private fostering arrangements. It has led
:22:42. > :22:48.to concerns about the lack of regulation, and the potentially
:22:48. > :22:56.catastrophic impact such arrangements can have on children.
:22:56. > :22:59.A child arrives alone in the UK. She's picked up by a family she
:22:59. > :23:05.doesn't know. Once out of the airport, as far as the authorities
:23:05. > :23:13.are concerned, she disappears. There is no promised better life,
:23:13. > :23:16.no school, just hard work. Shift, nonsense, stupid, rush
:23:16. > :23:20.bishop girl. Charities believe thousands of children arrive every
:23:20. > :23:25.year in the UK to be fostered privately. Some are well looked
:23:25. > :23:30.after, but for the vast majority, what happens to them is a mystery.
:23:30. > :23:34.This case, though, has revealed the fate of two such children.
:23:34. > :23:37.Magalie Bamu told the court she was sent to London at the age of 13 to
:23:37. > :23:43.live with a family she had never met. She was made to cook, clean,
:23:43. > :23:47.look after the children, and didn't go to school. Eric Bikubi was also
:23:47. > :23:52.privately fostered by someone he wasn't related to. And, at the age
:23:52. > :23:58.of 24, was allowed to become the main carer for two teenage girls he
:23:59. > :24:04.said were his sisters. A claim Newsnight has discovered was false.
:24:04. > :24:09.But why was Eric Bikubi allowed to foster two girls aged 15 and 16. As
:24:09. > :24:12.a child himself, he had been looked after by a family friend, before
:24:12. > :24:16.going into local authority foster care in Camden. He was last in
:24:16. > :24:20.touch with social services there in early 2007.
:24:20. > :24:25.That same year Hackney, where he was briefly living, approved the
:24:25. > :24:29.private fostering arrangement. Eventhough, by then, he already had
:24:29. > :24:34.three criminal convictions, one for having a knife in a public place.
:24:34. > :24:39.Hackney told us they made all relevant checks as did barking and
:24:39. > :24:46.Dagenham, where the girls had originally been staying. This man,
:24:46. > :24:52.who has asked to be called BB is Eric's cousin, the girls were, in
:24:52. > :24:58.fact, his sisters, brought from the Congo to live with him. In 2007 the
:24:58. > :25:02.girls told social services that BB hit them, allegations later to be
:25:02. > :25:07.proved false. Eric became their carer, after telling the council he
:25:07. > :25:14.was their brother. These two girls were not his sisters, but he said
:25:14. > :25:17.they were. They weren't his sisters, but his their cousin. Why did
:25:17. > :25:21.social services allow your sisters to go and live with Eric? They
:25:21. > :25:24.don't know what they are doing, that is all I can say. Many
:25:24. > :25:29.children from diverse backgrounds come to the UK to be looked after
:25:29. > :25:34.by their extended families, and thrive, others, though, become
:25:34. > :25:39.commodities, moved across borders and exploited. The death of
:25:39. > :25:43.Victoria Climbie, in the year 2000, threw the unregulated nature of
:25:43. > :25:47.private fostering arrangements into sharp focus. The inquiry into her
:25:48. > :25:52.death heard that she came here with her great aunt on a false passport,
:25:52. > :25:59.didn't go to school, and was used for benefit fraud. Finally she was
:25:59. > :26:03.beaten and starved to death. You, go through. New regulations
:26:03. > :26:07.introduced in 2005 required private foster carers to register with the
:26:07. > :26:14.local authorities. But seven years on, Newsnight has learned that in
:26:14. > :26:18.many cases this simply isn't happening. Charities say as many as
:26:18. > :26:23.10,000 children may be privately fostered, but official figures show
:26:23. > :26:25.there are 1500 in England, just over a thousand in Scotland, 68 in
:26:25. > :26:31.Wales, and just six in Northern Ireland.
:26:31. > :26:35.So as many as 75% may be unregistered, unknown to social
:26:35. > :26:39.services, and unsupervised by the child protection system.
:26:39. > :26:42.Currently what will happen is a child will come in on a visitor
:26:42. > :26:47.visa, with either a parent or a relative, they will then be lift
:26:47. > :26:51.with a relative, friend, whom ever, and the other adult who brought
:26:52. > :26:54.them will go back to the country of origin. The child will then
:26:55. > :26:58.overstay their visitor visa, they will stay beyond six months, maybe
:26:58. > :27:03.three years, maybe ten years, we have had cases that they have been
:27:03. > :27:11.in the UK. They may be impress soned in the home, or their
:27:11. > :27:14.movements completely circumscribed, or worse, we have had cases of
:27:14. > :27:18.extreme sexual and physical abuse with these children, or they are
:27:18. > :27:24.home help. If they are in school, nobody asks questions about their
:27:24. > :27:31.immigration status. That is exactly what happened to Gabrielle, sent
:27:31. > :27:35.from London from Jamaica at the age of 12, her great uncle picked her
:27:35. > :27:39.up from the airport and left her with a family she didn't know, and
:27:39. > :27:44.then left. He told me he was going to come back. Had you met the
:27:44. > :27:51.friends before? No, he just told me they were friends. I was crying,
:27:51. > :28:01.every night I was crying. I was thinking what is this? It wasn't
:28:01. > :28:06.
:28:06. > :28:15.good. How safe did you feel in this house? If you would like to stop
:28:15. > :28:22.for a while? I wasn't safe. I was nowhere near safe. I used to lock
:28:22. > :28:32.myself in, because I used to be there by myself most of the time.
:28:32. > :28:34.
:28:34. > :28:38.Did the woman hurt you? She would hit me.
:28:38. > :28:48.Unlike some children, Gabrielle did eventually go to school. But no-one
:28:48. > :28:49.
:28:49. > :28:52.tried to find out how she was living, or who with. Lisa Nandy is
:28:52. > :28:55.a Labour member of the Education Select Committee, she believes a
:28:55. > :29:00.combination of ideology and budget cuts, means even the limited
:29:00. > :29:05.progress made since the death of Victoria Climbie is being reversed.
:29:05. > :29:12.We know since 2005, with a lot of families struggling, that the
:29:12. > :29:17.number of children we know about in the private fostering area is
:29:17. > :29:21.growing. We know that childrens' services have taken huge cuts to
:29:21. > :29:25.their budget. The Government has pursued a course of watering down
:29:25. > :29:29.the duty to co-operate between agencies, which did so much to
:29:29. > :29:33.improve the situation post-Victoria Climbie. It is pretty apparent we
:29:33. > :29:36.are moving in the wrong direction. We should be putting more focus
:29:36. > :29:40.into resources and changing the culture to keep children safe.
:29:40. > :29:44.Instead we are doing less. In court, in her defence, Magalie
:29:44. > :29:51.Bamu spoke about the damaging impact of her time being privately
:29:51. > :29:55.fostered. We also know that Eric Bikubi, who now faces life in
:29:55. > :29:59.prison for killing a child, was both privately fostered, and
:29:59. > :30:02.allowed to foster two teenage girls. The case of Bamu and Bikubi, though
:30:02. > :30:06.unique in its brutality, also shines a light on a system which
:30:06. > :30:11.still allows children to vanish into a world free from official
:30:12. > :30:15.oversight. Where thousands remain hidden in plain view.
:30:16. > :30:20.Joining us now from Birmingham is Hilton Dawson, chief executive of
:30:20. > :30:24.the British Association of Social workers. Talk us through your
:30:24. > :30:29.concerns about the private fostering? I think it is well
:30:29. > :30:37.revealed by your film. We believe there are thousands of children, we
:30:37. > :30:41.have no idea how many there are. You quote something like 10,000, it
:30:41. > :30:43.could easily be 20,000 children in this country. Who have no
:30:43. > :30:48.protection, they are not living with their parents, who may be
:30:48. > :30:52.living in good circumstances, but some of whom may be living in
:30:52. > :30:57.disastrous ones. It is true that there may be some, teenagers,
:30:57. > :31:00.getting into trouble, go and live with a family friend for a while,
:31:00. > :31:05.that is probably a good thing for them. How do you make sure you
:31:05. > :31:10.don't stop that, while you stop some of this? I have no idea why
:31:10. > :31:15.successive Governments haven't brought in a simple registration
:31:15. > :31:19.system, where one agency would have a particular role to make sure that
:31:19. > :31:23.people who were interested, legitimately, in private fostering,
:31:23. > :31:28.registered, were checked out, were given training, and were given
:31:28. > :31:33.support for what is a very, very important job. It is no good simply
:31:33. > :31:38.to blame this Government. The previous Government and I was a
:31:38. > :31:43.backbencher under it, had at least three opportunities to amend
:31:43. > :31:51.legislation to bring such a system in. Is that what it would take,
:31:51. > :31:57.would it take new legislation in order to do this? There would be a
:31:57. > :32:01.need to change the legislation. But that could be done very easily. It
:32:01. > :32:05.is the political will that's lacking. I don't even think there
:32:05. > :32:09.would need to be a huge investment. What there needs to be is a focus
:32:09. > :32:12.and a clear determination to protect these children. Isn't one
:32:12. > :32:15.of the problems, I know you must come across this all the time in
:32:15. > :32:20.your work, there is no amount of regulation, or legislation, or
:32:20. > :32:24.indeed work by social workers, which can actually regulate human
:32:24. > :32:29.wickedness? That's absolutely the case. You can help by putting
:32:30. > :32:35.effective systems in place, you can ensure that, as I say, that people
:32:35. > :32:40.who do properly want to do private fostering, and provide, and want to
:32:40. > :32:44.provide decent circumstances for children, whose parents
:32:44. > :32:51.legitimately need to have them looked after, in which they can get
:32:51. > :33:00.support, in a way where you can target those out to exploit and
:33:00. > :33:05.abuse and vilely mistreat children. The United Nations Security Council,
:33:05. > :33:09.in an unusual display of single mindedness on Syria, tonight
:33:09. > :33:14.demanded that the UN's humanitarian chief, Valerie Amos be allowed into
:33:14. > :33:18.the country immediately Russia and chine knee even agreed. It comes as
:33:18. > :33:23.the rebel Free Syrian Army said it was withdrawing from the Baba Amr
:33:23. > :33:29.district of Homs, in the hope of protecting civilians from
:33:29. > :33:36.continuing bloodshed. Pictures on the Internet appear to show further
:33:36. > :33:40.fighting. And what looks like the civilians collecting snow to use as
:33:40. > :33:45.drinking water. President Assad's Government has said they will be
:33:45. > :33:48.allowed in tomorrow to provide aid. I'm joined by a Syrian opposition
:33:48. > :33:52.activist, who has been trying to find out what is going on in Homs
:33:52. > :33:57.and elsewhere. What kind of picture is emerging in Homs, do you think?
:33:57. > :34:02.It has calmed down, the last four or five hours. Before that the
:34:02. > :34:06.level of violence inflicted on that particular district of Homs has
:34:07. > :34:09.been horrendous. We have been losing people on a daily basis,
:34:09. > :34:13.especially people who have taken it upon themselves to get the
:34:13. > :34:18.information out, and provide us with information on the numbers of
:34:18. > :34:23.the casualties that this particular part of the city is suffering. This
:34:23. > :34:27.isn't available any more, they say they can't even count the bodies.
:34:27. > :34:32.There are bodies trapped inside flats. Especially in the western
:34:32. > :34:38.side of the district, where the Syrian regular army personnel have
:34:38. > :34:42.actually reached, and now they are raiding those areas, house-to-house,
:34:42. > :34:46.and conducting house-to-house arrests. Some families, we have
:34:46. > :34:52.confirmed information of some familiar lose that have been killed
:34:52. > :34:56.from a short distance, by the security officers of the Syrian
:34:57. > :35:01.regular army. What do you mean by a short distance, as close as we are?
:35:01. > :35:08.Yeah, yeah. I appreciate how difficult it is to find out
:35:08. > :35:12.anything reliably from there. Presumably with the Red Crescent
:35:12. > :35:16.and the Red Cross going in tomorrow, that is good news, isn't it? It is
:35:16. > :35:19.good news. This is what we have been calling for. We want observers,
:35:19. > :35:25.international NGOs to access those areas, because the regime, believe
:35:25. > :35:28.it or not, take into consideration the presence of foreign media and
:35:28. > :35:31.journalists and international observers. They don't want any
:35:31. > :35:36.evidence to emerge about what they are doing. Part of the problem that
:35:36. > :35:41.we have faced is actually the regime attempt to cut off the city
:35:41. > :35:45.of Homs entirely. They haven't managed, only because of the
:35:45. > :35:49.closeness of Homs to Lebanon, and because of some satellite phones
:35:49. > :35:55.that were available to some of the activists. But the regime is trying
:35:55. > :35:59.to keep everyone out, and this is getting those international NGOs
:35:59. > :36:04.inside those areas, is actually what we want, and what we have been
:36:04. > :36:11.calling for. To get the regime to stop this military assault on the
:36:11. > :36:15.area. What do you make of the free Syrian armyo saying they are having
:36:15. > :36:19.a tactical withdrawal. They have small arms and they can't take
:36:19. > :36:24.head-on tanks and heavy artillery, it is more than a tactical retreat,
:36:24. > :36:28.it is just a retreat? I'm afraid the whole picture about the Free
:36:29. > :36:32.Syrian Army has been exaggerated, partly because some elements of the
:36:32. > :36:42.opposition itself in exile, and by some of the officers, the defected
:36:42. > :36:43.
:36:43. > :36:47.officers in exile. Who are actually building up this illusion about the
:36:47. > :36:52.capability of the free Syrian army. They are inexperience conscripts
:36:52. > :36:57.who defected from the army fearing foretheir lives, and actually,
:36:57. > :37:05.armed lightly with Kalashnikovs, they are no match for the Syrian
:37:05. > :37:09.regular army. The problem is, the regime now is using that kind of
:37:09. > :37:14.talk about what they are capable of to raise the level of aggression,
:37:14. > :37:19.and the military operation, as an excuse that there are actually more
:37:19. > :37:23.than just a group of lightly armed people. There is actually an army
:37:23. > :37:27.there, a Free Syrian Army. This Free Syrian Army thing does not
:37:27. > :37:30.exist. We have groups of people, defected conscripts who have
:37:30. > :37:35.gathered together and stuck together, because this is their
:37:35. > :37:40.only chance of survival, until they make it to the closest borders to
:37:40. > :37:44.them, in this case it would be Turkey. Thank you for your insights.
:37:44. > :37:48.Now, European leaders met, yet again, in Brussels today, this time
:37:48. > :37:53.not with the immediate Greek bailout on the agenda, but how to
:37:53. > :37:58.stop a future eurocrisis from wrecking the world economy. The
:37:58. > :38:01.International Monetary Fund wants an extra �500 billion dollars for
:38:01. > :38:04.the firewall. Christine Lagarde says European countries must pay up
:38:04. > :38:09.first. We have had special access to Christine Lagarde over the past
:38:10. > :38:19.month, as she tries to stitch together a plan which "might"
:38:20. > :38:20.
:38:20. > :38:23.prevent the next financial disaster. As Europe lurchs from crisis to
:38:23. > :38:31.crisis, Christine Lagarde is on a mission to warn the world not to
:38:31. > :38:37.ignore the lessons of history. could easily slide into what we
:38:37. > :38:41.call a 1930s moment. A moment ultimately leading to downward
:38:41. > :38:45.spiral, that could very much engulf the entire world. To her friends
:38:45. > :38:49.she's the "Trillion Dollar Woman", pushing Europe to help itself,
:38:49. > :38:54.before seeking help from others. has taken one of their own to tell
:38:54. > :38:59.the truth. To critics she's a former French Finance Minister, who
:38:59. > :39:03.is still too soft on her native continent. To put the fox in charge
:39:03. > :39:07.of the hen house is a high-risk strategy. What friend and critics
:39:08. > :39:11.agree on is that Christine Lagarde is a central figure in the biggest
:39:11. > :39:16.financial crisis of our lifetimes. What were you looking for in some
:39:16. > :39:22.where to live? A place where I could see the sky and be able to
:39:22. > :39:26.open windows in the morning. Almost 40 years after interning on Capitol
:39:26. > :39:30.Hill, Christine Lagarde is back in Washington, as the first female
:39:30. > :39:36.head of the International Monetary Fund. We are not walking very fast.
:39:36. > :39:40.Normally I walk a lot faster. I work so hard and such long hours, I
:39:40. > :39:45.don't have much time to exercise. We will pick up the pace for you?
:39:45. > :39:50.Good, good, good. You can wake up every day to a new crisis? Yes.
:39:50. > :39:54.Every morning I wake up and I wonder where is it going to crack.
:39:54. > :39:58.You arrive at work and think how will you fix it? Thank you, I will
:39:58. > :40:02.see you later. The biggest cracks right now are in Europe. In our
:40:02. > :40:07.first interview, Lagarde made it clear, her real fear is that this
:40:07. > :40:12.crisis could easily spread right around the globe. All countries,
:40:12. > :40:15.all economies of the world are likely to be affected by what is
:40:15. > :40:19.happening in one key region of the world. Much more so than at the
:40:19. > :40:23.time of the Latin American crisis or the Asian crisis. That is why
:40:23. > :40:27.Lagarde believes that, like it or not, everyone has an interest in
:40:27. > :40:31.paying for the financial medicine. It is a tough sell when there is so
:40:31. > :40:36.much scepticism over whether the latest bailout has really cured the
:40:36. > :40:40.cause of the illness, Greece. Isn't this really just a sticking
:40:40. > :40:47.plaster for what is effectively a gaping wound? It is a huge big Band
:40:47. > :40:51.Aid in my view. The problem that -- band aid in my view. The problem is,
:40:51. > :40:55.will it be implemented, given the magnitude of efforts that need to
:40:55. > :41:00.be undertaken. Or are you throwing good money after bad money? That is
:41:00. > :41:06.the whole question, it is a question of trust. Do the European
:41:06. > :41:09.partners trust their partner, Greece, to actually deliver on this
:41:09. > :41:15.ambitious programme. But if Greece continues not to deliver, then why
:41:15. > :41:20.is the IMF fighting so hard and paying so much to keep the eurozone
:41:20. > :41:26.intact. The IMF's former chief economist
:41:26. > :41:30.says the fund's fund strategy simply ignores the truth about
:41:30. > :41:37.Greece's finances. The European political leadership and the
:41:37. > :41:42.European bankers have agreed among themselves to pretend this is not a
:41:42. > :41:46.default situation. Madame Lagarde has, on some aspects, hifrpbted at
:41:46. > :41:50.the truth -- hinted at the truth, and perhaps we should commend her
:41:50. > :41:57.for that, relative to the alternatives. But has the IMF come
:41:57. > :42:00.clean, or emphasised, or spoken sufficiently frankly about the true
:42:00. > :42:04.nature of the European problems, wait in which those can still
:42:04. > :42:08.spread within the eurozone, and what you must now do with regard to
:42:08. > :42:13.Italian sovereign debt, I don't think it has. Lagarde bristles at
:42:13. > :42:18.the suggestion that she has given Europe special treatment. I feel
:42:18. > :42:23.very much managing director of the IMF, which includes 188 members,
:42:23. > :42:27.I'm no longer French and European. Lagarde is on her way to Mexico
:42:27. > :42:32.City for the G20 Summit, and she has invited to us join her. How
:42:32. > :42:37.many flights have you taken this year? Oof, too many, but many, many,
:42:37. > :42:44.many, many. If I couldn't sleep on a plane, I couldn't do the job I'm
:42:44. > :42:48.doing. Her job on this trip is to raise an extra $500 million for the
:42:48. > :42:52.IMF. That would double the size of the global firewall, designed to
:42:52. > :43:02.insulate the world's global economy against any worsening of the
:43:02. > :43:07.European crisis. It is on this stage of global finance that
:43:07. > :43:11.Lagarde performs best. She is the rock star for whom the Japanese
:43:11. > :43:17.Finance Minister waits, a little nervously. The woman in a largely
:43:17. > :43:21.male world, who is trying to convince America, Europe, and the
:43:21. > :43:27.increasingly confident emerging economies, to each surrender their
:43:27. > :43:30.domestic political interests to the greater global good. I would love
:43:30. > :43:34.some tea, I haven't had anything today. It is pretty horrible, I
:43:34. > :43:39.made it myself. We caught up with Lagarde and her staff as they
:43:39. > :43:44.planned the G20 sessions. The night before is a dinner with ministers
:43:44. > :43:49.only, ministers and governors of Central Banks only. Today, during
:43:49. > :43:54.the course of the meeting, there will be more people in the room.
:43:54. > :43:57.Generally the dinner is the time when people can make some pointed
:43:57. > :44:00.comments that they would not necessarily make very publicly.
:44:00. > :44:08.country that has no problem saying what it thinks in public is
:44:08. > :44:12.Europe's dominant player. Unflapable, even under the
:44:12. > :44:17.considerable discomfort of five pints of beer down her back, Angela
:44:17. > :44:21.Merkel is resisting pressure to add more funds to Europe's firewall.
:44:21. > :44:26.You have a good relationship with Angela Merkel, isn't it frustrating
:44:26. > :44:29.for you that she won't move faster? It is a matter of patience and
:44:29. > :44:33.resilience, I won't give up. Equally, she does not want to be
:44:33. > :44:39.rushed into a process, unless she has covered all the angles and all
:44:39. > :44:44.the issues. I think it is one of her many, many talents. It is the
:44:44. > :44:46.same way Lagarde herself operates. She's always very good with the
:44:46. > :44:52.British media, does endless Newsnight interviews, we have done
:44:52. > :44:56.it a couple of times as a double act. She has used it to build a
:44:56. > :45:00.powerful alliance of non-eurozone politicians, that includes the man
:45:00. > :45:03.who first nominated her for this job. Christine Lagarde is here in
:45:03. > :45:08.Mexico, effectively with a begging bowl, asking the other countries of
:45:08. > :45:12.the world to step up money for the IMF firewall, will you contribute
:45:12. > :45:16.to that? Britain would only think about contributing if the eurozone
:45:16. > :45:20.puts more money into its own firewall. That is a position that
:45:20. > :45:23.is also shared by the Japanese, the Canadians, the Australians and many
:45:23. > :45:28.other countries in the world. Until we see the colour of the eurozone
:45:28. > :45:33.money, we're not prepared to put our own money in. And right there
:45:33. > :45:38.is Lagarde's biggest hurdle, democratically elected politicians
:45:38. > :45:42.will always put their own interests first. It is the reason tackling
:45:42. > :45:49.global debt has been so hard. It is why, amid signs of progress,
:45:49. > :45:54.Lagarde leaves us with this warning, this crisis isn't over yet.
:45:54. > :45:58.A quick look atom morning's front pages, the Independent has Kristy
:45:58. > :46:04.Bamu on the front page and a story about Vince Cable begging US bosses
:46:04. > :46:14.not to shut the UK car plant. The Vauxhall factory at Ellesmere
:46:14. > :46:36.
:46:36. > :46:46.That's all from Newsnight tonight, back with more tomorrow. We wanted
:46:46. > :46:48.
:46:48. > :46:53.to leave you with news that 75- year-old Eng lebert Humperdink has
:46:53. > :46:56.been selected by England to represent them in the Eurovision
:46:56. > :47:06.Song Contest, up against Jedward, they have been favourite to win up