15/03/2017

:00:07. > :00:12.I'm Victoria Derbyshire, welcome to the programme.

:00:13. > :00:15.This morning, why was a vulnerable 15-year-old girl removed

:00:16. > :00:18.from her safe and loving foster family without any warning or even

:00:19. > :00:27.We'll speak to the couple who had cared for the girl they brought up

:00:28. > :00:31.After six years, they've finally been given an apology

:00:32. > :00:39.After six years. We'll talk to them shortly.

:00:40. > :00:41.Also on the programme, living in their trucks and claims

:00:42. > :00:47.The truck drivers transporting your Ikea goods.

:00:48. > :00:52.Look at the conditions. In many places there is no parking. There is

:00:53. > :00:54.no toilet. No running water. This is not a good life. It is a

:00:55. > :00:57.catastrophe. We'll bring you the full

:00:58. > :00:59.exclusive story shortly. And the Royal Marine who shot dead

:01:00. > :01:03.an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan will learn the result

:01:04. > :01:05.of an appeal against his murder Throughout the morning we'll bring

:01:06. > :01:25.you the latest breaking news The latest unemployment figures

:01:26. > :01:31.are due out in the next half hour. We'll also bring you the outcome

:01:32. > :01:33.of some interesting court cases. A little later a mother of five

:01:34. > :01:37.who was left out of her own mother's will will find out whether she's

:01:38. > :01:40.entitled to any of the 6 figure sum her mother left

:01:41. > :01:47.to three animal charities. It is a lengthy legal case which has

:01:48. > :01:53.gone on for years now. Do get in touch on all the stories

:01:54. > :01:58.we're talking about this morning - use #Victoria Live and if you text,

:01:59. > :02:01.you will be charged Our top story today,

:02:02. > :02:07.an investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

:02:08. > :02:10.found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

:02:11. > :02:12.and other retailers are living out The truckers, who are employed

:02:13. > :02:19.by haulage firms based in Eastern Europe, say they can't

:02:20. > :02:22.afford to live in the countries where they're actually

:02:23. > :02:34.working and driving, What have you found Zoe? Well, it is

:02:35. > :02:40.extraordinary. We spent four months on the road in Germany, Denmark and

:02:41. > :02:45.Sweden and in the Netherlands and we went to truck stops and we met

:02:46. > :02:50.drivers and they're being minibused into Western Europe to work for

:02:51. > :02:56.months on end moving goods for a number of companies including IKEA

:02:57. > :02:59.and they're minibused back again. They are spending months on the road

:03:00. > :03:05.at a time, they are washing, sleeping and eating in their cabs.

:03:06. > :03:10.One of the most extraordinary scenes was outside the IKEA warehouse in

:03:11. > :03:15.Dortmund, the biggest in the world, we found truck drivers cooking and

:03:16. > :03:19.butchering chickens and cooking omelettes and hanging out their

:03:20. > :03:26.washing. It was like a campsite. It was an extraordinary thing to watch.

:03:27. > :03:32.Why are they living like this? We met people on 150 euros a month

:03:33. > :03:38.salary and Romanians on 250. They get expenses between 30 to 50 euros,

:03:39. > :03:42.around ?40 a day which sounds like a lot, but actually, out of that, they

:03:43. > :03:46.have got to pay for hotels and meals and if you're living in a really

:03:47. > :03:50.expensive country like Denmark or Germany that doesn't go very far and

:03:51. > :03:54.if you are on a wage of let's say ?100 a week, well then you're going

:03:55. > :03:58.to use the expenses to top it up. So that's why some of them are talking

:03:59. > :04:05.about feeling imprisoned in their cabs. What does IKEA say? They say

:04:06. > :04:08.they take our report seriously and they say that they're piloting an

:04:09. > :04:12.investigation into their subcontracting chain. We are talking

:04:13. > :04:17.about big hauliers who are subcontracting this out to companies

:04:18. > :04:21.in Eastern Europe and so IKEA are taking very seriously what we're

:04:22. > :04:27.saying. You can see Zoe's film after 9.30am.

:04:28. > :04:29.Joanna is in the BBC Newsroom with a summary

:04:30. > :04:32.A rare glimpse into President Trump's private

:04:33. > :04:34.finances has emerged with the leak of his

:04:35. > :04:38.He refused to make the documents public

:04:39. > :04:40.during his election campaign and was accused by Hillary Clinton

:04:41. > :04:44.But the US TV network MSNBC has now published two

:04:45. > :04:58.Presenter Rachel Maddow disclosed the numbers.

:04:59. > :05:01.Aside from the numbers being large, these

:05:02. > :05:06.He took a big write-down of $103 million.

:05:07. > :05:11.If you add up the lines for income, he made more than $150

:05:12. > :05:19.The people of the Netherlands are voting in the first of three

:05:20. > :05:21.crucial elections in Europe this year which are being viewed

:05:22. > :05:28.as important tests of the popularity of nationalist parties.

:05:29. > :05:30.The anti-Islam, anti-EU, far-right leader Geert Wilder's

:05:31. > :05:33.party performed best in polls leading up to the vote, but his

:05:34. > :05:40.The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutter, has said the election

:05:41. > :05:42.is an opportunity for voters to "beat the wrong

:05:43. > :05:50.A Conservative MP has been questioned for six hours by police,

:05:51. > :05:52.about the expenses he claimed during his general

:05:53. > :05:57.Craig MacKinlay beat the former Ukip leader, Nigel Farage,

:05:58. > :06:09.He submitted expenses for ?15,000 which is just under the legal limit.

:06:10. > :06:10.With us now is our political correspondent Iain Watson.

:06:11. > :06:16.Craig McKinlay beat Nigel Farage narrowly. It was a major target seat

:06:17. > :06:20.of the his election expenses are beneath the legal limit, but this is

:06:21. > :06:25.significant because if there were any evidence of wrongdoing and I say

:06:26. > :06:29.if, then MPs can be disqualified and elections re-run and Nigel Farage

:06:30. > :06:34.has indicated that he'd be willing to restand again in Kent. So we may

:06:35. > :06:38.well see his return if this investigation was to conclude in a

:06:39. > :06:42.way that wasn't favourable to Craig McKinlay. He denied any wrongdoing,

:06:43. > :06:46.this is significant because, of course, Theresa May has a narrow

:06:47. > :06:50.Parliamentary majority and there are 17 separate investigations going on

:06:51. > :06:57.into election expenses around the country and in a separate

:06:58. > :07:00.development, the Lincoln MP, Karl McCartney has been complaining about

:07:01. > :07:05.the attitude of Conservative Party staff at head office. He suggested

:07:06. > :07:08.he and his colleagues have been cast adrift during these investigations

:07:09. > :07:14.and people at central office have been covering their own backs. So, I

:07:15. > :07:17.think, that level of frustration shows how concerned some MPs and

:07:18. > :07:20.indeed the police questioning someone under caution shows how

:07:21. > :07:23.seriously they're taking the investigations, but no one has

:07:24. > :07:30.charged and the investigations are continuing. Thank you, Iain.

:07:31. > :07:33.A major appeal has been launched to help sixteen million people

:07:34. > :07:35.facing starvation in what's being described as "the worst famine

:07:36. > :07:43.The Disasters Emergency Committee, which is made up of

:07:44. > :07:45.13 UK aid agencies, says drought and conflict

:07:46. > :07:48.are to blame for the crisis which has left tens of thousands

:07:49. > :07:50.of children at risk of starving to death.

:07:51. > :07:52.The United Nations says the crisis in the four

:07:53. > :07:54.affected countries - Nigeria, South Sudan,

:07:55. > :07:56.Somalia and Yemen - is the worst since the Second World

:07:57. > :07:59.Our Diplomatic Correspondent James Landale has more.

:08:00. > :08:01.The Disasters Emergency Committee says drought and conflict has left

:08:02. > :08:04.millions in East Africa in immediate need of food, water

:08:05. > :08:07.Across South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, it says

:08:08. > :08:10.16 million people don't know when they are next going to eat.

:08:11. > :08:12.More than 800,000 children are severely malnourished,

:08:13. > :08:17.The 13 aid agencies that make up the Disasters Emergency Committee

:08:18. > :08:19.are already on the ground, delivering clean drinking water

:08:20. > :08:25.But they are now appealing to the public for funds,

:08:26. > :08:32.so they can do even more to help these people.

:08:33. > :08:34.The Government has already promised ?200 million in emergency aid

:08:35. > :08:37.for South Sudan and Somalia, and the International Development

:08:38. > :08:39.Secretary, Priti Patel, said her department would match

:08:40. > :08:45.the first ?5 million donated by the public in the new appeal.

:08:46. > :08:47.She also urged other countries to follow Britain's lead,

:08:48. > :08:49.before the crisis became what she called a stain

:08:50. > :09:02.The world, she said, cannot afford to wait.

:09:03. > :09:05.Police in Goa in India say they've found the body of a female

:09:06. > :09:09.The body of the victim, believed to be in her late twenties,

:09:10. > :09:11.was found in an isolated spot on Tuesday and police

:09:12. > :09:16.say they are treating the death as murder.

:09:17. > :09:17.Local reports suggest the woman was Irish.

:09:18. > :09:20.A Royal Marine who shot and killed an injured Taliban fighter

:09:21. > :09:22.in Afghanistan in 2011, will learn the result of an appeal

:09:23. > :09:33.Sergeant Alexander Blackman was sentenced to life in prison.

:09:34. > :09:36.But new psychiatric evidence has since emerged

:09:37. > :09:39.that he was suffering from mental illness at the time of the killing

:09:40. > :09:44.A group of men - who were filmed posing for a Mannequin Challenge -

:09:45. > :09:46.are being sought in connection with two robberies in Salford.

:09:47. > :09:49.The video was found on a phone in a car driven

:09:50. > :09:52.It was made shortly after one of the crimes took place.

:09:53. > :09:55.Officers said footage of the social media challenge was discovered

:09:56. > :09:58.on the mobile in a Ford Focus used to flee the scene

:09:59. > :10:03.Australian authorities have warned about the dangers

:10:04. > :10:06.of using battery-powered devices on flights after a woman's

:10:07. > :10:07.headphones caught fire, leaving her with a blackened

:10:08. > :10:12.The woman was dozing on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne

:10:13. > :10:15.when she was woken by the sound of an explosion and felt burning.

:10:16. > :10:17.It's thought a fault with a lithium-ion battery

:10:18. > :10:26.That's a summary of the latest BBC News.

:10:27. > :10:44.Do get in touch with us throughout the morning.

:10:45. > :10:46.Use #Victoria LIVE and if you text, you will be charged

:10:47. > :11:00.Let's get some sport with Tim Hague - and Leicester City fans have

:11:01. > :11:03.to wait until friday to see who'll they'll face in the Champions League

:11:04. > :11:09.quarter finals after last night's victory.

:11:10. > :11:17.Wes Morgan got the first. Leicester lost the first leg in Spain 2-1. The

:11:18. > :11:25.victory last night sent them through on aggregate. It was pretty nervy at

:11:26. > :11:29.times. They villa have won the Europa League for the last three

:11:30. > :11:39.seasons and were a constant threat. Not only hitting the crossbar, but

:11:40. > :11:44.missing a penalty too. Kasper Schmeichel saved one. His dad,

:11:45. > :12:04.Peter, infamous in the English game, celebrating like he'd saved it!

:12:05. > :12:07.Wes Morgan, the captain and scorer last night simply says: "Just wow"

:12:08. > :12:15.Andy King wrote "Unbelievable performance from the boys.

:12:16. > :12:18.What a night, Leicester city into the last eight of the champions

:12:19. > :12:24.league" and Christian Fuchs put "No words needed.

:12:25. > :12:28.Gary Johnson is a leicester City fan who's

:12:29. > :12:31.a friend of the show having done a video blog during their title

:12:32. > :12:40.Gary, how are you feeling? I don't think, all the Leicester fans in the

:12:41. > :12:43.stadium last night, around the world, wherever you were watching,

:12:44. > :12:49.no one has got a voice left this morning. It was a fantastic evening

:12:50. > :12:54.at the King Power stadium. I tell you what, the fairytale continues.

:12:55. > :13:00.Did you believe Gary beforehand that Leicester could pull this off to get

:13:01. > :13:03.through? This is Leicester City we're talking about! I wouldn't,

:13:04. > :13:07.after last season, after the previous years that we've had, we've

:13:08. > :13:11.come from League one and we've made our way up and become champions of

:13:12. > :13:14.the championship and become Premier League champions, I was never going

:13:15. > :13:19.to say that this wouldn't happen. A lot of the media, a lot of the

:13:20. > :13:23.public and managers have been on record saying that Leicester City

:13:24. > :13:26.are going to get knocked out and here we are and we're in the last

:13:27. > :13:31.eight. Gary, I'm loving that flag in the background. Who do you want in

:13:32. > :13:36.the next round then Gary? Well, they were talking about this last night

:13:37. > :13:40.because we're at a stage where there is big cluns left and of course,

:13:41. > :13:45.there was always big clubs in the Champions League, but we're getting

:13:46. > :13:52.to it the nitty-gritty. I would like to go to Barcelona to see our team

:13:53. > :13:58.play the very best. I have got a suspicion that we may end up at Man

:13:59. > :14:04.City. And Champions League win or League title, Gary? The impossible

:14:05. > :14:07.question! I tell you, as I say, we never ever dreamt that we would get

:14:08. > :14:12.that trophy that's sitting behind me here on the flag, before mind into

:14:13. > :14:17.the last eight. Let's just keep focus on the task in hand. We need

:14:18. > :14:22.to stay in the League. This is a journey and an adventure that is

:14:23. > :14:28.just creating magic at every opportunity. Who knows what would

:14:29. > :14:32.happen with Leicester City? Gary Johnson, our Leicester fan, So good

:14:33. > :14:43.to see those Doctor Who posters in his bedroom as well!

:14:44. > :14:47.Two days until they find out who they will face. Jose Mourinho does

:14:48. > :14:52.not enjoy long coach rides apparently! Victoria, we have spoken

:14:53. > :14:57.about Jose Mourinho before. He's angry at times, isn't he? Manchester

:14:58. > :15:01.United players didn't get back from their FA Cup defeat at Chelsea on

:15:02. > :15:05.Monday night until 4am because the plane supposed to be taking them

:15:06. > :15:09.home wasn't at Heathrow Airport. Now, Jose Mourinho, annoyed by this,

:15:10. > :15:13.this is the Manchester United team arriving at Chelsea on a coach

:15:14. > :15:16.incidentally, but Jose Mourinho probably not so much annoyed, the

:15:17. > :15:22.fact that the plane wasn't there, but because he wasn't told until the

:15:23. > :15:27.team coach was actually approaching Heathrow, it meant united had no

:15:28. > :15:30.alternative, but to drive back north which took four-and-a-half hours

:15:31. > :15:38.because of motorway road works on the M6. They didn't get back to 64

:15:39. > :15:42.hours before the second leg of their Cup tie which is tomorrow night. It

:15:43. > :15:52.has been a long week for Jose Mourinho and Manchester United.

:15:53. > :15:56.The foster parents of a teenage girl who was dramatically removed

:15:57. > :16:03.from their care say she still has "nightmares" about what happened.

:16:04. > :16:05.Aimee Gardiner, who has severe learning difficulties,

:16:06. > :16:09.had lived with her aunt and uncle for most of her life when at the age

:16:10. > :16:12.of 15 she was abruptly taken away without even being allowed

:16:13. > :16:23.She was moved to a new family where she says she wasn't looked

:16:24. > :16:26.after and had to eat cat biscuits because she was so hungry.

:16:27. > :16:28.Aimee then ended up running away from that family.

:16:29. > :16:30.Now the watchdog for councils, the Local Government Ombudsman,

:16:31. > :16:40.has criticised Essex County Council for the way it handled the case.

:16:41. > :16:43.The council now says it's reviewing all its decisions to remove

:16:44. > :16:45.children from foster parents in the last 12 months.

:16:46. > :16:47.Aimee is now back living with her aunt and uncle,

:16:48. > :16:49.Carrie and Chris Stevens, who are here now along

:16:50. > :16:51.with Mary and Alan Gardiner, Aimee's grandparents.

:16:52. > :16:55.They join us now for their first TV interview.

:16:56. > :17:09.Tell us about Aimee and the fact she is like one of your own. She is. She

:17:10. > :17:16.has lived with me since she was two. Her cousins are like brothers. She

:17:17. > :17:28.calls as mum and dad. She... She was very happy, happy-go-lucky girl.

:17:29. > :17:34.This has made her very inward, all the ins and outs that went on with

:17:35. > :17:37.her. It has changed her, definitely. Without a doubt she is not as

:17:38. > :17:44.confident as he used to be and the smile was not there like she used to

:17:45. > :17:53.have. Give us an insight into what happened on the day that she was

:17:54. > :17:56.taken away. I received a phone call from our foster link worker's

:17:57. > :18:01.manager to say they are removing Aimee in and around a half from the

:18:02. > :18:08.school. We had no inkling of what was about to happen or anything, no

:18:09. > :18:16.concerns were raised to us and it was frightful. I rang Carrie, she

:18:17. > :18:22.had to come home from work. The foster link workers asked us if they

:18:23. > :18:29.wanted us to come over -- if we wanted them to come over. What do

:18:30. > :18:32.you think? You must have asked by? We did but we have still not been

:18:33. > :18:39.given that answer because they came up with so many different and so as

:18:40. > :18:43.to that question. -- also is. Emotional abuse, she is scared of

:18:44. > :18:54.you, this and that. Not one of them has been proven. To us. The

:18:55. > :18:57.ombudsman have looked into it. She did not meet the threshold for her

:18:58. > :19:05.removal. Why was the protocol not followed? We will talk about that in

:19:06. > :19:09.a moment. Grandparents, Aimee used to come and stay with you every

:19:10. > :19:13.other weekend. What was it like when this happened to your family?

:19:14. > :19:25.Devastating. We could not understand why. We had no concerns whatsoever

:19:26. > :19:31.with the care and we could not understand why they had removed her.

:19:32. > :19:35.We asked the questions and one reply was that she was being removed on

:19:36. > :19:40.the grounds of emotional abuse and when that was challenged by Chris

:19:41. > :19:45.the following day they denied she was being removed on that basis and

:19:46. > :19:48.it was her wishes. When I challenged this the following day I was told to

:19:49. > :19:55.was being removed because the carers had broken their contract with the

:19:56. > :20:02.social services. Every time you ask the question the seemed to change.

:20:03. > :20:08.What was it like for you? Nightmare. We did not eat or sleep properly.

:20:09. > :20:15.Inkling about all the times when I had her, I was a respite care. She

:20:16. > :20:22.used to cook with me. With nanny and granddaughter time, I used to take

:20:23. > :20:27.on into town. She cannot judge money. If you give her ?5 she would

:20:28. > :20:33.not know how much change she should have back if there's thinking to ?4.

:20:34. > :20:41.She did not know the times. I used to go on the bus with her. Because

:20:42. > :20:50.of higher learning difficulties? She had the mental capacity of somebody

:20:51. > :20:54.a lot younger. I totally understand. When they removed her we had no

:20:55. > :21:01.contact. No phone calls, this was sorted out sometime later during a

:21:02. > :21:06.stay at the other foster care's home but initially we had no contact, we

:21:07. > :21:11.did not know where she was. We could not understand what was going on.

:21:12. > :21:15.Presumably your minds are in overdrive thinking what have we

:21:16. > :21:23.done? Is it something we have said? Going crazy. Precisely. Our main

:21:24. > :21:27.concern was Aimee's welfare. Is she all right? Knowing her she would

:21:28. > :21:32.have been crying for us. We could not speak to her. We did not know

:21:33. > :21:38.where she was. Aimee is not able to join us but we * she would write

:21:39. > :21:43.down how she felt. You are comfortable reading them out. This

:21:44. > :21:47.is what Aimee wrote to contribute. When they took me away I did not

:21:48. > :21:51.want to stay there. I felt really horrible and hurt when they took me

:21:52. > :22:02.away from you guys. I just wanted to come home. When I was home... Are

:22:03. > :22:11.you all right? You do not have to carry on. She is back and has been

:22:12. > :22:17.with you for some time. It has turned out how you would have

:22:18. > :22:21.wanted. My goodness, it has been a long time getting the council to

:22:22. > :22:30.acknowledge they made mistakes. You may game complaint about what they

:22:31. > :22:35.did. Yes. Asked several questions. We contacted a helpline for foster

:22:36. > :22:44.carers who advised me everything to ask them. I ask those questions,

:22:45. > :22:51.what meetings were held, and it never got answered. That was six

:22:52. > :22:55.years ago. Indeed. You have finally had a report from the local

:22:56. > :22:58.government ombudsman which says if it's going to council should not

:22:59. > :23:07.have done this, they made a number of mistakes. How did you feel when

:23:08. > :23:16.you got that? Relieved. Because we knew we were right from day one. We

:23:17. > :23:20.knew. It has just been a battle. It is all we wanted from day one, an

:23:21. > :23:25.apology. We would have accepted that. Because we never got that

:23:26. > :23:30.apology we had to go through this prolonged complaints process that

:23:31. > :23:35.has taken nearly six years and we were obstructed all the way by Essex

:23:36. > :23:44.social services. And Essex local authority. I have a statement from

:23:45. > :23:50.the council which I will read in a moment. It is worth talking about

:23:51. > :23:53.how Aimee said she was treated in the other foster family. What did

:23:54. > :24:00.she tell you about that period of time? Very unhappy there. Used to

:24:01. > :24:07.sit in her room most of the time. Writing letters that she would store

:24:08. > :24:13.in a box for us asking to come home. Those letters were promised to be

:24:14. > :24:21.given to us but never came until she returned back to us. She said at

:24:22. > :24:26.night she was so hungry she walked down the stairs into a cupboard and

:24:27. > :24:35.eat cat biscuits because she was hungry. Goodness me. It is shocking

:24:36. > :24:45.to hear that. Why was she? Why was she hungry? She ran away from there.

:24:46. > :24:49.She did. And turned up where? There was a knock at the door and I could

:24:50. > :24:55.see the shape and I looked and I thought that is Aimee. I told Gary

:24:56. > :25:04.and she did not believe me at first. I opened the door and Aimee said,

:25:05. > :25:09.can I come home, dad? How had she got to your place? She was in a

:25:10. > :25:17.parkland left alone and she hitched a ride with a male person back to

:25:18. > :25:28.our house which in itself... Evil child, a child -- a vulnerable

:25:29. > :25:33.child, anything could have happened. We asked Essex County Council

:25:34. > :25:36.to come on the programme. In a statement Cllr Dick Madden,

:25:37. > :25:39.Essex County Council's Cabinet Member for Adults and Children says

:25:40. > :25:42."It is clear that mistakes were made We've sent letters of

:25:43. > :25:46.apology to the family. I am confident appropriate

:25:47. > :26:01.procedures are now being followed We still have not had an apology.

:26:02. > :26:07.You have not had a letter? No. Maybe it is in the post. Probably. We do

:26:08. > :26:14.not think that is adequate anyway. We would like a face-to-face

:26:15. > :26:16.apology. We need an explanation. We need face-to-face contact with

:26:17. > :26:24.someone in senior management to explain exactly what was going on.

:26:25. > :26:29.We know for a fact that the correct procedures were not for lost when

:26:30. > :26:36.they removed Aimee and the children's act states quite plainly

:26:37. > :26:40.that before a foster care less and can be terminated that has to be a

:26:41. > :26:44.review of the tile's case which would involve the child, parents,

:26:45. > :26:53.carers, grandparents and extended family. That never took place.

:26:54. > :26:57.Incredible. So many things. As the council acknowledge, not that that

:26:58. > :27:10.is particularly any consolation after six years, so many procedures

:27:11. > :27:16.were not followed. Some messages. LP says social services destroy another

:27:17. > :27:19.child's life. It is absolute incompetence. Someone else's well

:27:20. > :27:25.done to the team for highlighting issues regarding this Council

:27:26. > :27:28.decision. How can Essex council justify taking Aimee away from her

:27:29. > :27:36.family without any explanation? Heads should roll. Do you agree?

:27:37. > :27:40.Absolutely. We have asked why these people have not been disciplined. It

:27:41. > :27:45.is not within the ombudsman's remit to recommend disciplinary action but

:27:46. > :27:55.someone from the council should be looking towards some form of

:27:56. > :28:00.discipline against these people that have gone through and caused all

:28:01. > :28:11.this trauma. You said Aimee is different, more insulin. Does she

:28:12. > :28:15.still have flashbacks -- insular. She has nightmares. Very frequent

:28:16. > :28:23.when she came back. Less frequent now but she's all has them. -- still

:28:24. > :28:30.has them. She is frightened this person will taken away again. It

:28:31. > :28:38.says here, I still worry they are going to take me away again. Roger

:28:39. > :28:42.says that poor family, I am in shock and tears, how can something so

:28:43. > :28:48.cruel happen? Throw the book at the council. I hope Aimee regains her

:28:49. > :28:52.happiness and smile soon. If any other foster family find themselves

:28:53. > :28:59.in a scenario similar to this, what would your advice be? Do not give

:29:00. > :29:04.up. Keep fighting. Immediately contact the Member of Parliament

:29:05. > :29:06.because that way you can ensure to a certain degree that the local

:29:07. > :29:15.authority will be following the correct procedures. You did that. We

:29:16. > :29:22.did. The complaints procedure put in place for such cases is less we

:29:23. > :29:29.tried to follow but we were obstructed virtually every step.

:29:30. > :29:34.Yes. Putting obstacles in our way. Not returning phone calls or emails.

:29:35. > :29:40.Not answering our questions. Still you would say do not give up. No. Do

:29:41. > :29:45.not give up. The ombudsman have been fantastic. They have dealt with that

:29:46. > :29:51.within six months maximum. From the phone call. Bearing in mind we had

:29:52. > :29:56.contacted them once before with the complaint and they were told to go

:29:57. > :30:01.back and do the surgery again, the stage two and three mag again. As

:30:02. > :30:12.part of the complaints process. Thank you. Best wishes to Aimee.

:30:13. > :30:16.An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's

:30:17. > :30:18.Today programme has found that lorry drivers moving goods

:30:19. > :30:21.in Western Europe for Ikea and other retailers are living out

:30:22. > :30:25.We'll bring you that exclusive report shortly.

:30:26. > :30:28.And the appeal against the murder conviction of a Royal Marine

:30:29. > :30:31.who shot an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan.

:30:32. > :30:42.We'll bring you that judgement as it happens.

:30:43. > :30:49.Here's Joanna in the BBC Newsroom with a summary of today's news.

:30:50. > :30:51.An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

:30:52. > :30:54.found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

:30:55. > :30:57.and other retailers are living out of their cabs for months at a time.

:30:58. > :31:00.The truckers, who are employed by haulage firms based

:31:01. > :31:03.in Eastern Europe, say they can't afford to live in the countries

:31:04. > :31:04.where they're actually working and driving,

:31:05. > :31:10.Ikea said it was "saddened by the testimonies" of the drivers.

:31:11. > :31:17.We will have the full report after 9.30am.

:31:18. > :31:19.A rare glimpse into President Trump's private finances has

:31:20. > :31:21.emerged with the leak of his 2005 tax return.

:31:22. > :31:23.He refused to make the documents public

:31:24. > :31:25.during his election campaign and was accused by Hillary Clinton

:31:26. > :31:39.But the US TV network MSNBC has now published two pages of the document.

:31:40. > :31:43.The people of the Netherlands are voting in the first of three

:31:44. > :31:45.crucial elections in Europe this year which are being viewed

:31:46. > :31:50.as important tests of the popularity of nationalist parties.

:31:51. > :31:52.The anti-Islam, anti-EU, far-right leader Geert Wilder's

:31:53. > :31:55.party performed best in polls leading up to the vote, but his

:31:56. > :32:03.The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutter, has said the election

:32:04. > :32:05.is an opportunity for voters to "beat the wrong

:32:06. > :32:09.A Conservative MP has been questioned for six hours by police

:32:10. > :32:11.about the money he claimed during his general

:32:12. > :32:17.Craig MacKinlay beat the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage

:32:18. > :32:23.He submitted expenses for ?15,000 which is just under the legal limit.

:32:24. > :32:27.Police in Goa in India say they've found the body of a female

:32:28. > :32:35.The body of the victim, believed to be in her late 20s,

:32:36. > :32:37.was found in an isolated spot on Tuesday and police

:32:38. > :32:39.say they are treating the death as murder.

:32:40. > :32:44.Local reports suggest the woman was Irish.

:32:45. > :32:49.That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 10am.

:32:50. > :32:56.The unemployment figures are in. Unemployment fell by 31,000 to 1.58

:32:57. > :33:02.million. That's according to official figures. Unemployment fell

:33:03. > :33:11.by 31,000 to 1.58 million in the three months up to January this year

:33:12. > :33:18.and we've got average earnings. Average increases increased by 2.2%,

:33:19. > :33:21.but that's down by 0.4% on the previous month.

:33:22. > :33:25.Down by 0.4% on the previous month. Here's some sport

:33:26. > :33:29.now with Tim Hague. Leicester City manager

:33:30. > :33:30.Craig Shakespeare says they could be "the surprise team"

:33:31. > :33:33.in the Champions League That's after they beat Sevilla 2-0

:33:34. > :33:37.last night, 3-2 on aggregate. They join the likes of Barcelona,

:33:38. > :33:40.Bayern Munich and Real Madrid It has emerged that

:33:41. > :33:45.Manchester United had to get a coach back north

:33:46. > :33:49.after their defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup on Monday

:33:50. > :33:52.because their plane didn't Jose Mourinho was not best pleased

:33:53. > :33:56.as he was only told when they were And can Nicky Henderson pick up

:33:57. > :34:00.more winners on day two He became the most successful

:34:01. > :34:06.trainer of the Champion Hurdle This morning a joint investigation

:34:07. > :34:23.by this programme and Radio 4 Today's programme has discovered

:34:24. > :34:25.lorry drivers transporting goods for Ikea and other retailers

:34:26. > :34:28.in Western Europe are camping out in their cabs for months at a time

:34:29. > :34:32.because they can't afford to live The East European drivers

:34:33. > :34:35.are being paid at the levels they would receive in their home

:34:36. > :34:38.countries, yet they are only working in more expensive countries

:34:39. > :34:40.like Germany and Denmark. A judge has described as "inhumane"

:34:41. > :34:43.the practice where companies are able to exploit loopholes

:34:44. > :34:45.in European law. Ikea says it doesn't just

:34:46. > :34:59.care about furniture. It wants to have a positive

:35:00. > :35:01.effect on people. But just how positive do the people

:35:02. > :35:11.transporting Ikea goods feel? We've met truck drivers camping out

:35:12. > :35:20.in their cabs for months at a time. They work for companies paid

:35:21. > :35:22.by Ikea to move their goods It has being called

:35:23. > :35:26.an inhumane state of affairs. In a trailer on the edge

:35:27. > :35:56.of Copenhagen in Denmark, Kristian and Emilian

:35:57. > :35:58.are building their very There's a breakfast

:35:59. > :36:04.bar, a tablecloth, Making their meals from scratch is

:36:05. > :36:16.how they save money, and stay warm. So, this is very clever,

:36:17. > :36:28.the way that you've assembled Is this how you want

:36:29. > :36:32.to have your breakfast? I don't want to live like this,

:36:33. > :36:38.but this is the condition. You can't afford to go

:36:39. > :36:40.to a cafe, or a canteen? No, today we are lucky

:36:41. > :36:53.because it's the weekend. Yes, we have a table,

:36:54. > :36:56.which is very good. It's empty, but in the middle

:36:57. > :36:59.of the week, we sleep and we make our food on the side

:37:00. > :37:03.of the road. We don't have nothing

:37:04. > :37:09.like a human person. Do you think that Ikea know

:37:10. > :37:11.that this is how you live? Emilian is wearing

:37:12. > :37:27.the uniform of Bring, He's moving goods for Ikea,

:37:28. > :37:39.but Bring Norway does not employ His actual employer

:37:40. > :37:42.is a Slovakian subsidiary, A Danish driver can expect to go

:37:43. > :37:48.home every couple of weeks, but Emilian spends up to four months

:37:49. > :37:51.on the road, sleeping, This is my language,

:37:52. > :38:03.this is my Romanian flag, EU law states that drivers must take

:38:04. > :38:10.45 hours weekly rest away from their cabs,

:38:11. > :38:12.although governments have Emilian says that he cannot afford

:38:13. > :38:22.to sleep anywhere else. He gets a 45 euros or ?40 a day

:38:23. > :38:26.in expenses, which is meant to cover Bring says Emiliano is responsible

:38:27. > :38:30.for taking his rest breaks, and the company says he can go home

:38:31. > :38:33.whenever he likes. What is it like to be

:38:34. > :38:36.in the cab all the time? It's not good for drivers,

:38:37. > :38:51.and it's not good or safe for other Emilian has just driven Ikea stock

:38:52. > :39:16.from Denmark into Sweden. He only ever works

:39:17. > :39:18.in Western Europe. Sometimes it might be

:39:19. > :39:24.Germany or Norway. Yet he is being paid

:39:25. > :39:27.as if he was driving in Slovakia, Emilian shot this mobile

:39:28. > :39:31.phone footage last month. This minibus took him

:39:32. > :39:33.from Slovakia to Denmark, After a few months on the road,

:39:34. > :39:44.he will be minibused back European Union rules state that

:39:45. > :39:49.a driver posted temporarily away from home should be guaranteed

:39:50. > :39:51.the host nation's minimum rates But, it seems that companies

:39:52. > :39:57.are exploiting loopholes in the law. A Danish driver can expect

:39:58. > :40:01.to take home 2,200 euros, Emilian is being paid

:40:02. > :40:08.as if his place of work is Slovakia. He's been taking home an average

:40:09. > :40:10.monthly salary of 477 Bring says that when it

:40:11. > :40:25.comes to pay, it follows We've seen the contracts of drivers

:40:26. > :40:34.working for some of Ikea's Each paid lower east European wages,

:40:35. > :40:37.whilst working for months It's clear, this way of treating

:40:38. > :40:47.drivers is widespread. Not just within the Ikea supply

:40:48. > :40:49.chain, but in those of several This is how they spend the day

:40:50. > :41:02.of rest, in Dortmund, Germany. It's a truck parked turned

:41:03. > :41:22.campsite, right outside of the biggest Ikea distribution

:41:23. > :41:26.centre in the world. They're almost all

:41:27. > :41:31.from Eastern Europe. There are Lithuanians

:41:32. > :41:35.and their luggage, waiting for a minibus to take them home

:41:36. > :41:38.after months on the road. There are Moldovans

:41:39. > :41:40.who told us off camera that their salary is 150 euros,

:41:41. > :41:48.or ?130, a month. And there is this Bulgarian driver

:41:49. > :41:51.who is really fed up. And, not just because he has to make

:41:52. > :41:56.his mash on top of a fuel tank... There is no toilet,

:41:57. > :42:19.no running water. We live like primitive people,

:42:20. > :42:22.but at least this is work. The salary of 250 euros,

:42:23. > :42:35.or ?215, a month. He's fully aware of what

:42:36. > :42:38.he could be getting. Here in Germany, the minimum wage

:42:39. > :42:40.is 8 euros 50 cents, That would work out

:42:41. > :42:48.at ?1,200 a month salary. To create a better everyday life

:42:49. > :42:59.for the many people, Ikea has never been shy

:43:00. > :43:04.about talking about its values. We send as many containers

:43:05. > :43:06.as possible directly The way we work with our suppliers,

:43:07. > :43:11.I think is one part We have a very, very

:43:12. > :43:15.close corporation with Ikea says it expects their suppliers

:43:16. > :43:21.to follow a code of conduct, Suppliers must comply with the most

:43:22. > :43:24.demanding demanding requirements, By systematically applying IWAY,

:43:25. > :43:33.and supporting Ikea suppliers, Ikea has been able to initiate

:43:34. > :43:36.thousands of improvements in social But when it comes to

:43:37. > :43:40.who transports their goods, trade unions accuse Ikea of failing

:43:41. > :43:43.to audit their supply Legal action is now being taken

:43:44. > :43:47.against Ikea's contractors. In the Netherlands last month,

:43:48. > :43:52.a court ruled that Brinkman, who deliver Ikea flowers

:43:53. > :43:54.to the UK and Scandinavia, The court found that drivers

:43:55. > :43:58.pay was not consistent The judge said it was an inhumane

:43:59. > :44:05.state of affairs, that drivers were camping in their cabs and not

:44:06. > :44:08.taking their weekly rest breaks, Ikea has been made aware

:44:09. > :44:14.of trade union concerns. The International transport

:44:15. > :44:19.Federation, the ITF, met with Ikea several times last

:44:20. > :44:25.year to discuss the issue. Your trade union says that laws

:44:26. > :44:29.are being broken right European driver resting time

:44:30. > :44:35.legislation, methods We even see fake companies,

:44:36. > :44:42.falsifying documents. There's a whole list of breaches,

:44:43. > :44:50.and it happens like this. But Ikea would say this is many

:44:51. > :44:53.different layers of companies Yeah, but these guys, the Moldovan,

:44:54. > :45:03.Ukraine, Polish guys, So actually, there is

:45:04. > :45:14.a direct connection? Yes, Ikea is the economic employer

:45:15. > :45:16.of all of these workers. Ikea have to change their business

:45:17. > :45:23.model with an eyeblink. In Immingham, Lincolnshire,

:45:24. > :45:24.East European drivers There is so much cleaning going

:45:25. > :45:35.on they look positively house-proud. This truck park reveals how

:45:36. > :45:38.the industry here is changing. Increasing numbers of foreign

:45:39. > :45:39.haulage companies are They are working for hundreds of

:45:40. > :45:47.different companies, including IKEA. We spoke to a Polish

:45:48. > :45:50.driver working for a Dutch company moving IKEA goods,

:45:51. > :45:58.who wanted to stay anonymous. TRANSLATION: We spend a lot

:45:59. > :46:03.of time living in lay-bys, where there are no toilets,

:46:04. > :46:06.no showers, no facilities. The British road haulage

:46:07. > :46:16.industry is nervous. They are worried they will be

:46:17. > :46:19.undercut by companies that We are seeing far more foreign

:46:20. > :46:28.lorries that are frankly less compliant with drivers' hours

:46:29. > :46:30.and roadworthiness regulations. We believe they are driving

:46:31. > :46:36.a coach and horses There is a road safety risk

:46:37. > :46:41.and the Treasury is losing a fortune in tax revenue from employment taxes

:46:42. > :46:44.and from general business tax. Big, well known, UK retailers

:46:45. > :46:54.and other companies are making increasing use of these firms that

:46:55. > :46:56.don't cost very much In a statement, IKEA said

:46:57. > :47:00."We take the reports by the BBC very seriously,

:47:01. > :47:02.and recognise the fact that there is a discrepancy

:47:03. > :47:04.between these reports and what we find in

:47:05. > :47:09.our auditing process. We are saddened by the testimonies

:47:10. > :47:13.and sympathise with the drivers. We put strict demands on suppliers

:47:14. > :47:16.when it comes to wages, working conditions,

:47:17. > :47:17.and following applicable We follow up and make regular audits

:47:18. > :47:24.to check compliance. We are currently running

:47:25. > :47:27.a pilot to investigate the subcontracting chain,

:47:28. > :47:34.to reduce the risk of breaches and social conditions

:47:35. > :47:36.within the chain, such as noncompliance with minimum wages,

:47:37. > :47:38.working and rest times, They say they want to have

:47:39. > :47:48.a positive affect on their workers? This company is not having

:47:49. > :47:59.a positive effect on you? What would you like to say

:48:00. > :48:08.to the boss of IKEA? I want to say come and work one week

:48:09. > :48:12.with me in the same conditions. Because, with this situation,

:48:13. > :48:18.they can see what has happened in reality,

:48:19. > :48:42.with our lives. And it says he has to sleep in his

:48:43. > :48:46.cab, they are not forced to hand they have the choice to take the

:48:47. > :48:52.job. Graham says HGV drivers living in trucks is widespread across

:48:53. > :48:56.Europe and the UK. Someone else says IKEA should be ashamed of

:48:57. > :49:04.themselves, another good investigation. David says, I was a

:49:05. > :49:12.tramper for years. I lived out of my cab for weeks on end. That is what

:49:13. > :49:17.sleeper cabs were for. Stop this sensationalism turned out by this

:49:18. > :49:24.sordid little programme. Do not laugh! Someone else is the sort of

:49:25. > :49:27.horror story will continue until bosses are prohibited from abusing

:49:28. > :49:33.workers from poorer countries. Backdated wages as a fine mate was

:49:34. > :49:44.somewhere to making bosses think twice before abusing the poll. We

:49:45. > :49:53.are going live to the Supreme Court. Anybody who has written a well, this

:49:54. > :49:56.is significant. Identified areas of principal, substituting its own

:49:57. > :50:05.decision, that decision was to award the claimant ?143,000 to buy at a

:50:06. > :50:11.sitting tenant's discount the house where she and her family lived plus

:50:12. > :50:21.an option to receive ?20,000 more in one or more instalments. The appeal

:50:22. > :50:28.is against that decision. This Court unanimously allows the appeal

:50:29. > :50:35.against that decision. It restores the order which the judge originally

:50:36. > :50:42.made. There is a single judgment of mind with which everybody agrees and

:50:43. > :50:53.an additional supplemental judgment addressing particularly claims by

:50:54. > :50:56.adult non-dependent children and the other Lords agree with that also.

:50:57. > :51:02.The principal decision is that the judge had not made either of the

:51:03. > :51:07.errors of principal which the Court of Appeal thought he had. It follows

:51:08. > :51:21.from that that the Court of Appeal had no basis to read the case. --

:51:22. > :51:27.re-decide. Without appreciating that a lump sum would reduce the

:51:28. > :51:33.claimant's entitlement to benefits because of means testing. It is

:51:34. > :51:37.thought that as a result the judge's order would be of little or no

:51:38. > :51:43.advantage to her because she would lose in benefits what she gained

:51:44. > :51:49.from the award. In fact the judge had been very well aware of the

:51:50. > :51:55.benefits rules. He had made his order to give the claimant a lump

:51:56. > :52:04.sum so that she could put decent modern household equipment into her

:52:05. > :52:09.home instead of the very old and totally worn out things that the

:52:10. > :52:16.family was currently managing with. That meant that the money was for

:52:17. > :52:21.her maintenance and more if she spent it in that way she would not

:52:22. > :52:30.retain a capital sum and her benefits would not be lost. The

:52:31. > :52:34.judgment also deals with some of the rather technical questions about how

:52:35. > :52:38.claims under this act ought to be approached. There is no need to

:52:39. > :52:45.summarise all of them. Apart from what I have already mentioned just a

:52:46. > :52:51.few will go. The judgment deals with how far it is relevant to ask

:52:52. > :52:56.whether the deceased acted unreasonably. The answer is that is

:52:57. > :53:02.not the main question, the main question is whether the outcome of

:53:03. > :53:06.the will is to make for the claimant reasonable financial provision for

:53:07. > :53:16.her maintenance in all the circumstances. So for example if an

:53:17. > :53:19.adult son or daughter has her own independent finances and does not

:53:20. > :53:24.need maintenance the court cannot alter the will even if it thinks

:53:25. > :53:30.that the deceased or morally to have done something different. On the

:53:31. > :53:36.other hand the behaviour of both the deceased and the claimant may well

:53:37. > :53:40.be factors which go into the question of what it would have been

:53:41. > :53:48.reasonable to do by way of maintenance provision. And they were

:53:49. > :53:53.here. Secondly the judgment explains that these cases cannot be decided

:53:54. > :54:00.simply by comparing the expectations or needs of the claimant with the

:54:01. > :54:08.expectation or needs of the chosen beneficiaries. The people to whom

:54:09. > :54:18.the test date chooses to leave her money, whether relatives, friends or

:54:19. > :54:22.family, famine relief or other charity, those people do not have to

:54:23. > :54:32.justify their entitlement by need or by expectation. So far as they are

:54:33. > :54:37.concerned, being the choices enough. Their claim has to be balanced

:54:38. > :54:41.against any application made by the limited class of people who are in

:54:42. > :54:53.total to ask the court to change the world. -- entitled to ask to change

:54:54. > :54:57.the world. In working out what was reasonable financial provision. It

:54:58. > :55:05.holds the judge was right to say that it was significant. The

:55:06. > :55:10.judgment confirms existing case law which reminds courts that although

:55:11. > :55:15.you can make provision for maintenance by way of a lump sum for

:55:16. > :55:23.either immediate or gradual spending on maintenance, as happened here, it

:55:24. > :55:28.will not normally be right to Bristol appreciating capital on the

:55:29. > :55:37.claimant because that goes beyond maintenance. If housing is to be

:55:38. > :55:44.provided usually a life interest in the house will be the more

:55:45. > :55:47.appropriate way of doing it. Lastly the court confirms what is again

:55:48. > :55:54.well-established existing case law which makes it clear that an appeal

:55:55. > :56:02.will not succeed unless the judge has made some error of principal.

:56:03. > :56:10.Neither side can appeal... We will leave the Supreme Court ruling. The

:56:11. > :56:13.Supreme Court effectively have reasserted the principal that you

:56:14. > :56:20.can leave your money in your will to whoever you want to leave your money

:56:21. > :56:23.too. You probably gathered, on one side of the casework three animal

:56:24. > :56:31.charities and on the other a woman cut out of mother's well. In her

:56:32. > :56:35.will she made it clear she did not want to leave anything to her

:56:36. > :56:40.daughter. They had been estranged since Heather was 17. She had gone

:56:41. > :56:47.out with a boyfriend the mother did not approve of. She left half ?1

:56:48. > :56:52.million to The Blue Cross, RSPCA and RSPB, of which she had no real

:56:53. > :56:56.connection apparently, but she was clear in the will and in a letter to

:56:57. > :57:01.lawyers, do not give anything to my daughters effectively. After her

:57:02. > :57:06.death. Challenge that. On the basis that did not make reasonable

:57:07. > :57:11.provision for her. The Supreme Court has unanimously allowed an appeal by

:57:12. > :57:22.those three animal charities and they have won. We will bring you

:57:23. > :57:28.reaction. We may hear from Heather. We will hear from lawyers on the

:57:29. > :57:30.significance of this case. We will bring you the latest news and sport.

:57:31. > :57:40.First, the weather. I pressure dominating the weather.

:57:41. > :57:46.Things will be more unsettled later in the week. Plenty of sunshine

:57:47. > :57:50.across the country. Cloud across southern and south-west areas and

:57:51. > :57:55.cloud across the north-west but glorious morning pictures like this

:57:56. > :58:02.one. The sunshine has been abundant across much of central and North

:58:03. > :58:06.Wales. Showing how sunny the skies have been. We have high pressure

:58:07. > :58:10.dominating the scene. This will bring thicker cloud, outbreaks of

:58:11. > :58:16.rain across the west of Scotland and increasing wind. Not as wild across

:58:17. > :58:19.Scotland as yesterday. The winds will continue to strengthen. Plenty

:58:20. > :58:25.of sunshine across central, southern and eastern parts of the UK but

:58:26. > :58:27.cloudier for north and west Scotland as afternoon with some of the rain

:58:28. > :58:32.heavy across the north-west Highlands. The east of Scotland

:58:33. > :58:37.probably staying dry with one or two back showers. Northern Ireland,

:58:38. > :58:45.after sunshine this morning, the will thicken. A little bit of cloud

:58:46. > :58:52.across south-western parts of Wales." The. The best of the

:58:53. > :58:55.sunshine through the Midlands. A good-looking afternoon for the

:58:56. > :59:03.Tottenham festival. Tomorrow looks cloudier and windier and we could

:59:04. > :59:08.see a few spots of rain. The cloud will thicken up across the south and

:59:09. > :59:12.the west. Increasing amounts of rain across Scotland and Northern Ireland

:59:13. > :59:18.with Wales reaching gale force. Try your across the south-east with

:59:19. > :59:22.coastal fog. It will be mild. Thursday, this weather front in the

:59:23. > :59:25.north-west moves southwards and eastwards into not in England and

:59:26. > :59:30.western parts of Wales and the south-west of England. Brighter with

:59:31. > :59:39.sunshine and showers. Ahead of today's still went to be quite mild.

:59:40. > :59:43.This is the remnant of Storm Stella. It will be heavily modified as it

:59:44. > :59:47.crosses the Atlantic and it will reach as as a rain event with fairly

:59:48. > :59:52.strong winds. Pretty wet across northern and western parts of the UK

:59:53. > :59:57.with rain spreading to all areas and it will feel cooler. That is the

:59:58. > :00:04.tone for the weekend, unsettled with weather fronts moving and, cooler,

:00:05. > :00:14.temperatures close to normal, rain interspersed with sunshine.

:00:15. > :00:16.An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

:00:17. > :00:19.found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

:00:20. > :00:34.and other retailers are living out of their cabs for months at a time.

:00:35. > :00:36.It's not good for drivers, not good and it's not

:00:37. > :00:40.on the road, but this is the conditions.

:00:41. > :00:46.Three animal charities have won a Supreme Court battle over a six

:00:47. > :00:52.figure award to a woman who was left out of her estranged mum's will.

:00:53. > :00:57.We'll bring you reaction. This court unanimously allows the appeal

:00:58. > :00:59.against that decision and it restores the order which the judge

:01:00. > :01:03.originally made. A Royal Marine who shot and killed

:01:04. > :01:06.an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan in 2011,

:01:07. > :01:09.will learn the result of an appeal That's expected in the next

:01:10. > :01:16.half an hour or so. We will bring it to you live as soon

:01:17. > :01:25.as it happens. Good morning, here's

:01:26. > :01:36.Joanna in the BBC Newsroom Three animal charities have won a

:01:37. > :01:41.case at the Supreme Court. When the woman died in 2004 she made it clear

:01:42. > :01:44.she didn't want her estranged daughter to benefit and left her

:01:45. > :01:52.500,000 pound estate to three animal charities instead. In 2007, the

:01:53. > :01:56.woman challenged her late mother's will.

:01:57. > :01:59.An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

:02:00. > :02:01.found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

:02:02. > :02:05.and other retailers are living out of their cabs for months at a time.

:02:06. > :02:07.The truckers, who are employed by haulage firms based

:02:08. > :02:10.in Eastern Europe, say they can't afford to live in the countries

:02:11. > :02:11.where they're actually working and driving,

:02:12. > :02:19.Ikea said it was "saddened by the testimonies" of the drivers.

:02:20. > :02:22.A rare glimpse into President Trump's private finances has

:02:23. > :02:28.emerged with the leak of his 2005 tax return.

:02:29. > :02:30.He had refused to make the documents public

:02:31. > :02:32.during his election campaign and was accused by Hillary Clinton

:02:33. > :02:37.But the US TV network MSNBC has now published two pages of the document.

:02:38. > :02:39.Presenter Rachel Maddow disclosed the numbers.

:02:40. > :02:45.In terms of what is on here, let me give you the basics.

:02:46. > :02:48.Aside from the numbers being large, these pages are straightforward.

:02:49. > :02:52.He paid $38 million, it looks like $38 million in taxes.

:02:53. > :02:55.He took a big write-down of $103 million, more on that later.

:02:56. > :02:57.If you add up the lines for income he made more

:02:58. > :03:10.The unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest

:03:11. > :03:12.since the summer of 1975, with a record number

:03:13. > :03:16.The number of people out of work fell by 31,000

:03:17. > :03:18.in the three months to January, to 1.58 million.

:03:19. > :03:20.But there was a big increase in the number of people

:03:21. > :03:23.on zero-hours contracts in their main job, with 905,000

:03:24. > :03:25.people on the controversial contracts in the last quarter

:03:26. > :03:40.That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 10.30am.

:03:41. > :03:49.Thank you for your comments. Many about the foster family who had

:03:50. > :03:53.their foster daughter removed. The council acknowledge they have made

:03:54. > :03:58.mistakes. The foster daughter is back with the family. LJ says, "This

:03:59. > :04:04.is shocking. Foster placements are so precious." Amy was in a long-term

:04:05. > :04:10.placement, it is little wonder she is traumatised. Another viewer says,

:04:11. > :04:17."Well done to the family for fighting." This texter says, "I had

:04:18. > :04:21.to fight four years to have my children. The foster carers helped

:04:22. > :04:26.me regain custody. I was told everything is OK. Have your children

:04:27. > :04:30.home. We know you are a good parents. My children are still

:04:31. > :04:32.damaged by this and I have never had an apology."

:04:33. > :04:39.Do get in touch with us throughout the morning.

:04:40. > :04:42.Use #Victoria LIVE and if you text, you will be charged

:04:43. > :04:50.Another special performance from Leicester City, Victoria,

:04:51. > :04:53.having stunned everyone last season with that Premier League title,

:04:54. > :04:55.they stunned Sevilla last night in the Champions League.

:04:56. > :04:57.Since Craig Shakespeare took over from Claudio Ranieri last month,

:04:58. > :04:59.Leicester have won all three of their games.

:05:00. > :05:04.And they went ahead last night thanks to the captain Wes Morgan.

:05:05. > :05:05.In the second-half Marc Albrighton, another

:05:06. > :05:08.ever-present in that title winning team, got the crucial second.

:05:09. > :05:10.Leicester lost the first leg in Spain 2-1 so the 2-0

:05:11. > :05:13.victory last night - sent them through to the

:05:14. > :05:23.Some of the players reacted on social media afterwards.

:05:24. > :05:29.Wes Morgan, the captain and first scorer

:05:30. > :05:34.Midfielder Andy King wrote "Unbelievable

:05:35. > :05:42.Leicester city into the last 8 of the Champions League".

:05:43. > :05:44.And Christian Fuchs put "No words needed.

:05:45. > :05:47.Well, here's what the manager thought.

:05:48. > :05:53.We're in there on merit. Make no mistake about that. We might be the

:05:54. > :05:57.surprise team, but we know the quality of teams in there is getting

:05:58. > :06:00.down to the real serious business now.

:06:01. > :06:04.Some brilliant teams left in there. So Leicester will have to wait

:06:05. > :06:10.until Friday to find out who they'll They are among some of biggest teams

:06:11. > :06:18.in football as you can see. Barcelona are there after that

:06:19. > :06:21.amazing win when they came from 5-1 down to beat Paris Saint Germain

:06:22. > :06:23.in the second leg, Holders Real Madrid too,

:06:24. > :06:42.as well as multiple winners So you can leave your money to

:06:43. > :06:54.whoever you want. Clive Coleman is outside the court. Fill us in. Are

:06:55. > :06:59.you entitled to leave your children out of the will? Are you entitled to

:07:00. > :07:03.cut them out? That was the issue that was at the heart of this case

:07:04. > :07:07.because when Melita Jackson died in 2004 she made it crystal clear that

:07:08. > :07:20.she didn't want her estranged daughter to get a penny.

:07:21. > :07:29.Her estate was worth ?500,000. Her daughter, Heather Ilott, challenged

:07:30. > :07:32.decision. You can amy to a court and ask for reasonable provision and

:07:33. > :07:36.reasonable maintenance if you have been cut out of a will. She did that

:07:37. > :07:41.and a district judge awarded her ?50,000. She appealed that to the

:07:42. > :07:45.Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal were far more generous. They made

:07:46. > :07:51.the ruling that she was entitled to a third of the estate, ?140,000 to

:07:52. > :07:58.buy her housing association property and another ?20,000 in a capital sum

:07:59. > :08:03.that was structured so she would retain her state benefits. The

:08:04. > :08:06.charities involved in this case, for them, it was a really important

:08:07. > :08:12.issue and they appealed the case to the Supreme Court because the

:08:13. > :08:17.charities get a huge amount of their income through legacies, the RSPCA,

:08:18. > :08:21.one charity gets 50% of its income through legacies. So one in every

:08:22. > :08:25.two animals that it looks after, that is funded through legacy

:08:26. > :08:31.income. So it was a very important issue for them to appeal. The broad

:08:32. > :08:35.principle as to whether people have the right to leave their estates to

:08:36. > :08:40.charities, even if that means cutting their children out, of their

:08:41. > :08:46.will. Today we have had, I can only describe as a thumping judgement

:08:47. > :08:51.from the Supreme Court. A unanimous judgement by seven of the justices

:08:52. > :08:56.of the Supreme Court that dismantles that Court of Appeal award and

:08:57. > :09:00.restates, reaffirms a fundamental principle of our law in this

:09:01. > :09:05.country, that you are entitled to leave your money to whoever you

:09:06. > :09:11.choose to leave it to. Even if that means your children get little or

:09:12. > :09:14.nothing. Now, I have with me James Aspen the solicitor from Wilson's

:09:15. > :09:17.solicitors, who are the solicitors for the three animal charities.

:09:18. > :09:23.First of all, James, you must be delighted. Thank you very much. This

:09:24. > :09:26.is a very important decision, it reaffirms from the highest court in

:09:27. > :09:30.the land that principle that we are free to choose who will benefit when

:09:31. > :09:36.we die. Vital principle. And what we have seen the Supreme Court do today

:09:37. > :09:40.is clear things up in the sense of how the inheritance Act works and

:09:41. > :09:43.how far the freedom goes and our hope and our belief is we have a

:09:44. > :09:47.better idea where we all stand. So, if we want to go out and make a

:09:48. > :09:51.will, the solicitor should be better equipped now to advice us, how far

:09:52. > :09:55.can you go with that? How free are you? An important principle

:09:56. > :10:00.confirmed today. Thank you. Let's clear up what happened as a result

:10:01. > :10:04.of this. The court has reaffirmed the original order for ?50,000, but

:10:05. > :10:09.the court also said there have been discussions, there has been

:10:10. > :10:12.agreement between Heather Ilott, the daughter, who was disinherited and

:10:13. > :10:16.yourself and the three charities. Can you tell us about that? I have

:10:17. > :10:19.to keep that private. It is a discussion about the mechanics of

:10:20. > :10:24.how it works because the charities wouldn't want this to have an

:10:25. > :10:29.adverse effect on Heather Ilott. What it means for everyone, the

:10:30. > :10:33.broader picture here which is this is the highest court restauting

:10:34. > :10:38.something we believed we had, but now we know we have which is freedom

:10:39. > :10:43.to choose who will benefit when you die under your L your wishes matter

:10:44. > :10:47.and this is what this confirms. One of the important issues was the

:10:48. > :10:50.Court of Appeal, the court below, had said the charities need to prove

:10:51. > :10:55.that they need the money. This court wasn't having any of that. They said

:10:56. > :10:58.that's irrelevant? Again, it is a very important point because if you

:10:59. > :11:03.think about it, charities are in the same position as you or me or anyone

:11:04. > :11:07.else that someone chooses as their beneficiary in a will and what the

:11:08. > :11:10.court is saying is, it is not about us interfering and saying whether we

:11:11. > :11:14.approve of your choice, whether we think you should have left your

:11:15. > :11:18.money to charity or to someone you cared about, you're free to make

:11:19. > :11:21.that decision and it has to be a limited power the court has to do

:11:22. > :11:25.anything about that. So, vital decision as far as all of us are

:11:26. > :11:31.concerned. We still have freedom to choose who benefit under our will.

:11:32. > :11:35.The court was very clear, a long estrangement and clear wishes that

:11:36. > :11:38.you don't want a particular child or your children to get any of your

:11:39. > :11:42.money, that really matters in how the courts interpret whether the

:11:43. > :11:46.child is entitled to anything? Precisely, that's one of the things

:11:47. > :11:48.it clear up today. It is a misunderstanding about whether these

:11:49. > :11:52.personal contributions could be taken into account. I think the

:11:53. > :11:56.conclusion you have to come to is well, that's part of free do. That's

:11:57. > :12:02.part of having freedom choose is the ability to take those things into

:12:03. > :12:04.account. So all cleared up for us. John McCain Aspenu thank you very

:12:05. > :12:07.much indeed. There you have it Victoria, a very, very clear

:12:08. > :12:10.judgement from the highest court in the land that you can leave your

:12:11. > :12:13.money to hover you want to, even if that means your children getting

:12:14. > :12:19.little or nothing. Zl thank you very much, Clive. Thank you.

:12:20. > :12:20.Clive Coleman live at the Supreme Court for that fascinating judgement

:12:21. > :12:24.this morning. An investigation by this programme

:12:25. > :12:30.and Radio 4's Today progrramme has found that lorry drivers moving

:12:31. > :12:32.goods for Ikea and other retailers across Europe are camping out

:12:33. > :12:35.in their cabs for months at a time, because they can't afford to live

:12:36. > :12:38.in the countries they're working in. The Eastern European drivers

:12:39. > :12:40.are receiving pay rates for their home countries

:12:41. > :12:42.despite working in more expensive A judge has described

:12:43. > :12:46.as "inhumane" the practice where companies are able to exploit

:12:47. > :12:48.loopholes in European law. We played you Zoe Conway's

:12:49. > :12:50.full report earlier, Ikea says it doesn't just

:12:51. > :12:59.care about furniture, But just how valued do the people

:13:00. > :13:10.transporting Ikea goods feel? In a trailer on the edge

:13:11. > :13:13.of Copenhagen, Denmark, Kris Jenner and Emilian have created

:13:14. > :13:17.their very own pop-up kitchen. Cooking from scratch

:13:18. > :13:19.saves them money. Is this how you want

:13:20. > :13:24.to have your breakfast? No, I don't want to live

:13:25. > :13:27.like this, but this is the Emilian is moving goods for Ikea,

:13:28. > :13:33.but they don't employ him. His actual employer is a Slovakian

:13:34. > :13:38.firm, Bring Tracking. European Union employment

:13:39. > :13:46.rules state that a driver temporarily posted away from home

:13:47. > :13:51.should be guaranteed the host nation's minimum rates

:13:52. > :13:53.of pay and conditions. But companies are exploiting

:13:54. > :14:00.loopholes in the law. A Danish driver can expect to take

:14:01. > :14:03.home 2,200 euros, or ?1,900 a month, But Emilian has been taking

:14:04. > :14:06.home an average monthly salary of 477 euros,

:14:07. > :14:11.or ?418, a month. This is my home.

:14:12. > :14:14.This is how I live. Danish drivers go home every couple

:14:15. > :14:20.of weeks, but Emilian spends Bring says Emilian is

:14:21. > :14:28.responsible for taking his rest breaks, and the company

:14:29. > :14:31.says he can go home whenever he Emilian has just driven some Ikea

:14:32. > :14:41.stock from Denmark into Sweden. He only ever works

:14:42. > :14:43.in Western Europe. Sometimes it might be

:14:44. > :14:45.Germany or Norway. But, he's being paid

:14:46. > :14:47.as if he was driving in This truck park turned campsite

:14:48. > :14:55.is right outside the Drivers are making stew,

:14:56. > :15:04.and truck drying their clothes. Many of the East European

:15:05. > :15:05.truck drivers we spoke to said that they are

:15:06. > :15:12.on a similar deal to Emilian. It's clear that this way

:15:13. > :15:17.of treating drivers is widespread, not just

:15:18. > :15:19.within the Ikea supply chain, but in those of several

:15:20. > :15:21.other household names. The number of foreign truck

:15:22. > :15:26.companies moving goods in Britain is We are seeing far more

:15:27. > :15:39.foreign lorries that are frankly less compliant with

:15:40. > :15:41.drivers' hours and roadworthiness We believe they are driving

:15:42. > :15:47.a coach and horses through In a statement, IKEA said

:15:48. > :15:51."We take the reports by the BBC very seriously, and

:15:52. > :15:54.recognise the fact that there is a discrepancy between these reports

:15:55. > :15:56.and what we find in our auditing We are saddened by the testimonies,

:15:57. > :16:01.and sympathise with the We put strict demands on suppliers

:16:02. > :16:08.when it comes to wages, working conditions, and following

:16:09. > :16:09.applicable legislation. We follow up and make

:16:10. > :16:11.regular audits to check We are currently running

:16:12. > :16:17.a pilot to investigate the subcontracting chain, to reduce

:16:18. > :16:21.the risk of breaches and social conditions in the chain, such

:16:22. > :16:24.as noncompliance with minimum wages, working and rest times,

:16:25. > :16:33.and breaches of EU legislation". Let's talk now to one of the drivers

:16:34. > :16:36.we saw in Zoe's film and who joins us from his home in Romania,

:16:37. > :16:42.Clive Mills who runs a haulage firm in the UK and drives

:16:43. > :16:45.in the UK and Europe, Dutch MEP Agnes Jongerius who sits

:16:46. > :16:48.on an EU committee and is looking into how EU law can help change

:16:49. > :16:51.these practices, and Sam McIntosh from the International

:16:52. > :16:53.Transport Federation, who researched these

:16:54. > :16:57.practices across Europe. You are the one driving

:16:58. > :17:00.on the roads, we saw how you live at times,

:17:01. > :17:14.how do you want the law Hello. I want the law protects for

:17:15. > :17:25.all drivers and workers and it is not possible living in the cab a

:17:26. > :17:31.long time. But I hope the politician make a lot for workers in the

:17:32. > :17:39.future. How widespread is this? How many drivers are living like we saw

:17:40. > :17:48.you living? 99%. Drivers east European living like me in the cab.

:17:49. > :17:53.Some drivers take three, four, five months because it is expensive to go

:17:54. > :18:01.home to Romania Bulgaria and come back. We make this with our money.

:18:02. > :18:07.You run a college company. I these conditions familiar to you? Indeed.

:18:08. > :18:13.It happens all over. We truck across Europe and then spend up to two

:18:14. > :18:19.weeks away. We do not do months away. I would not put my drivers

:18:20. > :18:25.into that. The problem we have, this goes down to the big companies. Over

:18:26. > :18:31.the last few years prices of all each have crashed. The prices are

:18:32. > :18:35.coming down. We cannot compete because of the minimum wage. Weepy

:18:36. > :18:46.all of our drivers above the minimum wage. Two years ago traders coming

:18:47. > :18:52.in and accompanied so they put a trailer on a boat to come into the

:18:53. > :18:58.country and there used to be some where it needed to go under time to

:18:59. > :19:05.port to go back to Europe but now you have Eastern European lorry

:19:06. > :19:09.drivers camped in docs in Portsmouth. Between 15 and 20 of

:19:10. > :19:14.them all the time for weeks on end living out of their lorries

:19:15. > :19:23.undercutting our prices. We cannot compete. It is a big problem. You

:19:24. > :19:30.have done research into this. Where do you think the responsibility

:19:31. > :19:35.lies? Straight at the top. Meaning? The pressure comes from the top of

:19:36. > :19:40.the supply chain. The retailers? Retailers like IKEA. Drivers then

:19:41. > :19:47.back cabs feel like prisons on the road. Retailers have to step up and

:19:48. > :19:51.take responsibility. They have to be made accountable. When you say take

:19:52. > :19:58.responsibility what does that mean in practical terms? They can start

:19:59. > :20:04.by meeting their standards, their codes of practice, this is basic

:20:05. > :20:07.human rights. As the first step they need to order what they say they

:20:08. > :20:13.will do. Companies who trade on ethics,... IKEA's statement

:20:14. > :20:24.acknowledging there is some work they can do. What can you do to help

:20:25. > :20:30.drivers? It is good that usual a picture of his drivers because

:20:31. > :20:35.people in Europe should know that this is how we treat our drivers

:20:36. > :20:39.nowadays. It is important that we close down all the loopholes in the

:20:40. > :20:49.European system because on the one hand what is happening is not

:20:50. > :20:52.illegal, it seems like, because if you are driving from Slovak to

:20:53. > :20:59.Germany or Belgium or the Netherlands then you can pay your

:21:00. > :21:03.Slovak wages but not a few key people camping throughout Western

:21:04. > :21:07.Europe all the time and that is a loophole we have to stop. It should

:21:08. > :21:14.be clear that the host member states wages should apply if people work

:21:15. > :21:20.for longer time in that country and that is clearly the case. In this

:21:21. > :21:24.case IKEA also should feel ashamed of itself because they know that the

:21:25. > :21:33.prices they pay cannot afford a liveable wage for all these drivers

:21:34. > :21:38.driving around for IKEA. You were shaking your head in disagreement.

:21:39. > :21:43.Indeed. A few years ago Germany bought in if you are driving in

:21:44. > :21:46.their country, does not matter if you are going through Germany, you

:21:47. > :21:53.have to pay and prove you are paying the minimum wage for Germany. Also

:21:54. > :21:58.Austria and also France. England have not brought that in yet of all

:21:59. > :22:03.for our employers we have to pay the minimum wage. What we ought to be

:22:04. > :22:07.doing, the trouble is it is enforcing. We bring these laws in,

:22:08. > :22:14.it is enforcing laws. This is the problem. You represent billions of

:22:15. > :22:20.transport workers across the globe. From Britain's point of view leaving

:22:21. > :22:24.the EU, it will not happen for a while, what difference is that going

:22:25. > :22:28.to make for the UK? I do not think it will make any difference because

:22:29. > :22:32.fundamentally the problem is at the top of the supply chain so until you

:22:33. > :22:38.tackle the root cause, the retailers like IKEA, until you tackle the root

:22:39. > :22:44.cause, you are not going to get anywhere. Enforcement is important.

:22:45. > :22:48.Critical. We have to improve enforcement, make sure we are

:22:49. > :22:52.sharing information, making the system work, making it cohesive.

:22:53. > :23:04.Until you tackle the top of the supply chain this story is not going

:23:05. > :23:05.to change. Thank you all of you. If you want to see the fulfilment is on

:23:06. > :23:10.our programme age. Hollywood film star Ben Affleck has

:23:11. > :23:13.said that he has completed treatment The American actor and director said

:23:14. > :23:18.in a Facebook post that he had dealt with addiction in the past

:23:19. > :23:20.and that it was something Newsbeat's reporter

:23:21. > :23:31.is here with me now. The strongest part of the statement

:23:32. > :23:35.is where he says I want my kids to know there is no shame in getting

:23:36. > :23:38.help when you need it. He says he is lucky to have their help of his

:23:39. > :23:49.family and friends including his core parent, his ex-partner Jennifer

:23:50. > :24:00.I wonder why you think he has revealed this. There has been lots

:24:01. > :24:05.of speculation about him and his personal life. We'll about the

:24:06. > :24:09.divorce, whether it is happening or not with Jennifer Garner. He is

:24:10. > :24:15.pictured a lot out of the Hollywood stars, a lot of pictures of him. I

:24:16. > :24:17.was discussing with some entertainment reporters earlier, we

:24:18. > :24:21.remember interviewing him a while ago and we thought he did not look

:24:22. > :24:26.fantastic and this kind of makes sense now. He is probably doing it

:24:27. > :24:32.for his kids. They know what is going on. He wants to be a positive

:24:33. > :24:36.role model. It has not been the greatest couple of years for him

:24:37. > :24:43.professionally or personally. The breakdown of his marriage but also

:24:44. > :24:47.he directed and starred in Batman versus Superman which is renowned as

:24:48. > :24:51.one of the worst films in the last couple of years and that was him

:24:52. > :24:56.directing. He has won an Oscar for directing. Professionally and

:24:57. > :25:00.personally it has been quite difficult. This may be marked the

:25:01. > :25:06.start of a fresh start for him going forward. A step down -- he has

:25:07. > :25:11.stepped down from directing the next Batman movie.

:25:12. > :25:14.Still to come, a Royal Marine found guilty of murdering a wounded

:25:15. > :25:17.Taliban fighter will hear the result of his appeal against

:25:18. > :25:25.We think that will be in the next ten minutes or so.

:25:26. > :25:28.We'll bring you that result from the High Court,

:25:29. > :25:41.Three animal charities who were left nearly ?500,000 by a mother

:25:42. > :25:44.who cut her estranged daughter out of her will have won

:25:45. > :25:47.the right to keep the money, in a case at the Supreme Court.

:25:48. > :25:50.When Melita Jackson died in 2004 she made it crystal clear she didn't

:25:51. > :25:54.want her estranged daughter Heather Ilott to benefit,

:25:55. > :25:56.and so left her half a million pound estate to three

:25:57. > :26:06.In 2007, Mrs Illott challenged her late mother's will on the basis it

:26:07. > :26:08.did not make "reasonable provision" for her.

:26:09. > :26:11.She won her challenge, but that has now been overturned

:26:12. > :26:19.The unemployment rate has fallen to its laws level since the summer of

:26:20. > :26:27.1975 with a record number of people in work. It is at 1.58 million. A

:26:28. > :26:31.big increase in the number of people on zero hours contracts in their

:26:32. > :26:36.main job. Average earnings rose by 2.2% in the year to January.

:26:37. > :26:39.An investigation by this programme and Radio 4's Today programme has

:26:40. > :26:41.found that lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for Ikea

:26:42. > :26:45.and other retailers are living out of their cabs for months at a time.

:26:46. > :26:48.The truckers, who are employed by haulage firms based

:26:49. > :26:50.in Eastern Europe, say they can't afford to live in the countries

:26:51. > :26:52.where they're actually working and driving,

:26:53. > :26:59.Ikea said it was "saddened by the testimonies" of the drivers.

:27:00. > :27:02.A rare glimpse into President Trump's private finances has

:27:03. > :27:05.emerged with the leak of his 2005 tax return.

:27:06. > :27:08.Mr Trump refused to make the documents public

:27:09. > :27:10.during his election campaign and was accused by Hillary Clinton

:27:11. > :27:17.But the US TV network MSNBC has now published two pages of the document.

:27:18. > :27:24.Presenter Rachel Maddow disclosed the numbers.

:27:25. > :27:31.He had paid about $38 million in tax that year.

:27:32. > :27:34.The foster parents of a teenage girl who was dramatically removed

:27:35. > :27:36.from their care have told this programme she still has "nightmares"

:27:37. > :27:40.Aimee Gardiner, who has severe learning difficulties,

:27:41. > :27:42.had lived with her aunt and uncle for most of her life when,

:27:43. > :27:45.at the age of 15, she was abruptly taken away without even

:27:46. > :27:48.The watchdog for councils, the Local Government Ombudsman,

:27:49. > :28:01.has criticised Essex County Council for the way it handled the case.

:28:02. > :28:03.The council now says it's reviewing all its decisions to remove

:28:04. > :28:06.children from foster parents in the last 12 months.

:28:07. > :28:08.Aimee's uncle Chris Stevens says he still doesn't know why

:28:09. > :28:10.Aimee was taken from them in the first place.

:28:11. > :28:13.We still are at the stage where we still have not been given

:28:14. > :28:16.that answer because they came up with so many different

:28:17. > :28:21.Emotional abuse, she is scared of you, there is this, there is that.

:28:22. > :28:39.Not one of them has been proven to us.

:28:40. > :28:42.After the ombudsman looked into it, she did not meet the threshold

:28:43. > :28:44.Therein lies the question why wasn't all the protocol followed?

:28:45. > :28:50.Someone says they should practice walking a mile in their shoes and

:28:51. > :28:55.think about the effects of their actions. Caroline says there seems

:28:56. > :29:02.to be happening too often. Some parents do not fight and lose their

:29:03. > :29:05.child for good. Sharon says I have experienced social services

:29:06. > :29:09.first-hand when we raised concerns for our grandchildren. We phoned dad

:29:10. > :29:15.emailed on a weekly basis. One of our grandchildren already lived with

:29:16. > :29:21.us. The council dismissed a school and police report amid concerns of

:29:22. > :29:25.the remaining children at home. They acted when ex-daughter-in-law was

:29:26. > :29:29.admitted into mental health hospital. My grandchildren were

:29:30. > :29:33.living in squalid conditions. Social services were abysmal. Keep getting

:29:34. > :29:40.in touch. Leicester City manager

:29:41. > :29:44.Craig Shakespeare says they could be "the surprise team"

:29:45. > :29:46.in the Champions League That's after they beat Sevilla 2-0

:29:47. > :29:53.last night, 3-2 on aggregate. They join the likes of Barcelona,

:29:54. > :29:56.Bayern Munich and Real Madrid It has emerged that

:29:57. > :30:00.Manchester United had to get a coach back north

:30:01. > :30:05.after their defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup on Monday

:30:06. > :30:08.because their plane didn't Jose Mourinho was not best pleased

:30:09. > :30:13.as he was only told when they were And can Nicky Henderson pick up

:30:14. > :30:19.more winners on day two He became the most successful

:30:20. > :30:24.trainer of the Champion Hurdle In normal times, it's fair to say,

:30:25. > :30:31.few outside Holland would have paid much attention

:30:32. > :30:33.to the parliamentary But today's poll takes place

:30:34. > :30:37.against a backdrop of election results that have taken

:30:38. > :30:42.many by surprise. The anti-Islam, anti-EU politician

:30:43. > :30:44.Geert Wilders is pitted against the conservative

:30:45. > :30:46.Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Our reporter Jim Reed

:30:47. > :30:56.has the background. On 15th March, 13 million people get

:30:57. > :30:59.to vote in the Dutch election. Much has been made of this

:31:00. > :31:04.man, Geert Wilders. We have to close our borders,

:31:05. > :31:06.for all asylum seekers, and for all immigrants

:31:07. > :31:10.from Islamic countries. The front-runner in the polls

:31:11. > :31:13.until just recently, his Freedom Party wants to leave

:31:14. > :31:15.the EU, close down mosques, These elections, for

:31:16. > :31:29.sure, are historical. But Geert Wilders has been sliding

:31:30. > :31:32.in the polls recently, and even if he wins the most votes,

:31:33. > :31:35.the way that the Dutch political system works means

:31:36. > :31:39.that he is unlikely to win power. The current Prime Minister

:31:40. > :31:47.Mark Rutte, who's been He has a business background,

:31:48. > :31:50.and a fondness for playing We've done a great deal

:31:51. > :31:55.in the last couple of years, Whoever wins this election will also

:31:56. > :32:03.tell us something about where Europe If Geert Wilders gets the most

:32:04. > :32:06.votes, then other populist leaders, in countries like France

:32:07. > :32:13.and Germany, will get a boost. To have criticism about

:32:14. > :32:16.the Islamisation of our societies, which I believe is an enormous

:32:17. > :32:21.threat... I do believe that there is a real

:32:22. > :32:26.risk that on March the 16th, we can wake up in this country

:32:27. > :32:28.and Geert Wilders is The polls can, of course,

:32:29. > :32:31.the very wrong. Just this week, more than half

:32:32. > :32:34.of the Dutch electorate said they still haven't decided

:32:35. > :32:36.who to vote for. And with 28 different

:32:37. > :32:38.parties all campaigning up to the last minute,

:32:39. > :33:01.no one can ever be sure Breaking news. Alexander Blackman,

:33:02. > :33:06.the Royal Marine who shot and injured a Taliban fighter in

:33:07. > :33:09.Afghanistan has just had his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter

:33:10. > :33:18.by five judges at the court marshal Appeal Court in London. So Sergeant

:33:19. > :33:22.Blackman who became known as Marine A had his murder conviction for

:33:23. > :33:26.shooting dead an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, he has had

:33:27. > :33:32.his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter which is what he wanted

:33:33. > :33:35.by five judges at the court marshal Appeal Court in London. That

:33:36. > :33:41.breaking news in the last couple of seconds. You will remember that

:33:42. > :33:48.Marine A has been serving a life sentence for murdering the wounded

:33:49. > :33:51.Afghan insurgent. The fresh evidence that the five judges, at the court

:33:52. > :33:56.marshal Appeal Court have been considering were the mental health

:33:57. > :34:00.condition of Marine A, of Sergeant Blackman, he said he had

:34:01. > :34:04.post-traumatic stress disorder so they have considered that fresh

:34:05. > :34:09.evidence in the appeal today and those five judges have been

:34:10. > :34:17.persuaded that Sergeant Blackman's murder conviction should be reduced

:34:18. > :34:22.to manslaughter. That just in from the appeal in court. Let's talk to

:34:23. > :34:28.our correspondent Daniel Bircher who is there. Daniel, fill us in on

:34:29. > :34:33.this. Yes, this judgement has just been handed down. So what has

:34:34. > :34:39.happened is that Alexander Blackman's murder conviction has

:34:40. > :34:43.been quashed and the five judges have substituted a verdict of

:34:44. > :34:49.manslaughter on the grounds diminished responsibility. Now, this

:34:50. > :35:02.follows a hearing last month in front of five senior judges who were

:35:03. > :35:07.sitting as the court martial Appeal Court. Alexander Blackman remains in

:35:08. > :35:12.prison and there will be a further hearing to decide what sentence will

:35:13. > :35:17.be appropriate and we expect to hear reaction here on the steps of the

:35:18. > :35:22.court shortly. In the meantime if I just fill you in on the background.

:35:23. > :35:29.What happened was that Alexander Blackman was convicted following a

:35:30. > :35:36.court martial in 2013. He was convicted of murder. This was after

:35:37. > :35:39.he had shot a Taliban, a wounded Taliban insurgent in Helmand

:35:40. > :35:44.province in 2011. The following year he appealed. That appeal did not

:35:45. > :35:50.succeed though his minimum term was reduced from ten to eight years. The

:35:51. > :35:53.case was then referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

:35:54. > :35:58.This is the independent body which looks at potential miscarriages of

:35:59. > :36:04.justice and the CCRC then brought the case back to the Appeal Court

:36:05. > :36:11.for a fresh appeal. That, as I say, was heard last month and has now led

:36:12. > :36:15.to this conclusion that the murder conviction has been quashed. Instead

:36:16. > :36:16.he is convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished

:36:17. > :36:20.responsibility. Thank you very much, Daniel.

:36:21. > :36:25.Reaction to come in a second. This is the culmination of a long, legal

:36:26. > :36:32.fight and campaign on behalf of Sergeant Blackman who killed the

:36:33. > :36:36.insurgent dead in September 2011. He had been filmed, Sergeant Blackman

:36:37. > :36:50.had been filmed on a colleague's webcam.

:36:51. > :36:55.Sergeant Blackman's appeal focussed on claims he had been plagued by

:36:56. > :36:59.mental scars after facing death every day while on the frontline in

:37:00. > :37:03.Afghanistan. In an exclusive interview in September 2015, his

:37:04. > :37:11.wife Clare Blackman, told us about the moment her husband was arrested.

:37:12. > :37:17.The first we knew was the knock on the door for him to be aretsed. It

:37:18. > :37:23.was a huge shock. Happened? It was a quiet weekend morning and there was

:37:24. > :37:28.a knock on the door. I opened the door and invited the individuals in

:37:29. > :37:35.who announced who they were and as they came in, my husband came

:37:36. > :37:40.downstairs and they read out the charge of breaches of the Geneva

:37:41. > :37:45.convention at that stage. And did you know what that meant then? No,

:37:46. > :37:52.not at all. When did it become clear that he was going to be charged with

:37:53. > :37:58.murder? I think as the investigation continued, the charge changed a week

:37:59. > :38:07.or so after that first arrest. How did you react? Shocked. Completely

:38:08. > :38:12.shocked. It was something, as I said, was totally out of the blue,

:38:13. > :38:19.but obviously, talked to my husband about it. Talked through what had

:38:20. > :38:25.happened. More live reaction to come from the court. The news in the last

:38:26. > :38:29.few minutes is that Sergeant Blackman who became known as Marine

:38:30. > :38:34.A who had been serving a life sentence for murdering a wounded

:38:35. > :38:38.Afghan insurgent has had his murder conviction quashed and replaced by

:38:39. > :38:42.one of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. We can

:38:43. > :38:49.talk to Patrick Hennessy who served as an officer in Afghanistan in 2007

:38:50. > :38:56.and works as a barrister. He is an author and wrote The Junior Officers

:38:57. > :39:01.Reading Club. How do you react? It is good news for Simon Blackman and

:39:02. > :39:04.one of the things that his appeal has been focussed on is it really

:39:05. > :39:08.suit yble for him to be in prison still? He is clearly not a threat to

:39:09. > :39:13.society. It is probably good for him and his family that he's released,

:39:14. > :39:17.but will be fascinating is to see the reasons that the Appeal Court

:39:18. > :39:20.have given because if this is, it has been reduced to manslaughter on

:39:21. > :39:24.the grounds of diminished responsibility so they have

:39:25. > :39:28.considered expert evidence as to his mental state and there will be a

:39:29. > :39:34.really interesting ramification into what that mental state was. If

:39:35. > :39:36.you're a commander in the field, well, not Afghanistan anymore, there

:39:37. > :39:40.is going to be a responsibility on all commanders to look at all their

:39:41. > :39:43.soldiers and think because of the pressures that they have been under,

:39:44. > :39:47.can I even allow them out of the gate? I think there is a mismatch. I

:39:48. > :39:51.thinked the public will watch that video and listen to the awed dwro

:39:52. > :39:55.and they will hear a man who is not under fire and who was calm and

:39:56. > :40:01.collected and who shoots somebody who is injured. He's posing no

:40:02. > :40:05.threat to him or his men and says to his colleague, "Don't tell anyone.

:40:06. > :40:09.I've just broken the Geneva convention." We will have to look at

:40:10. > :40:12.the detail the Court of Appeal considered. You accepted that the

:40:13. > :40:17.short clip doesn't necessarily tell us the whole picture about the state

:40:18. > :40:19.of mind of Sergeant Blackman, having served for however long he had been

:40:20. > :40:23.serving in Afghanistan until that point? That's why the detail, the

:40:24. > :40:27.medical evidence, they have considered is going to be crucial,

:40:28. > :40:31.but you could see now if you were a general, you would be looking at

:40:32. > :40:36.this and thinking this is potentially problematic for me. If a

:40:37. > :40:40.Tour of Afghanistan lasts six to seven months and you send 8,000

:40:41. > :40:44.troops and old at most a few thousand will be on the front,

:40:45. > :40:48.frontline, but are we going to have to look very carefully at the

:40:49. > :40:53.guidelines for how much we expose our soldiers too? The reality is if

:40:54. > :40:58.you're... I'm going to interrupt. We're going to hear from Clare

:40:59. > :41:05.Blackman on the steps of the court. Is my old friend Freddie Forsyth who

:41:06. > :41:10.did not know Blackman and did not know Clare, but who knew a

:41:11. > :41:16.miscarriage of justice when he smelt one and he brought me in, was it

:41:17. > :41:24.last summer? And when I read these papers I was staggered at what I

:41:25. > :41:31.read. And the heroine is of course, Clare Blackman because without her

:41:32. > :41:36.efforts to keep the flame alive on behalf of her husband and to get

:41:37. > :41:42.that debate in Parliament which sparked the interest of the public

:41:43. > :41:47.and The Daily Mail and which led directly to today's victory, none of

:41:48. > :41:57.this would have happened. So with that I'm going ask Freddie to say a

:41:58. > :42:01.few words and then Clare. Thank you. It is really not, it's not merited.

:42:02. > :42:13.I just want to say this however. It's not over yet. We always wanted

:42:14. > :42:21.to get justice, an elusive word word. It is a two-playeded weapon.

:42:22. > :42:24.Firstly one blade, to get a man who should never haven't been put in

:42:25. > :42:29.prison, out of prison. Secondly, we go after those people who wrongly

:42:30. > :42:36.and I think villainously put him there. The Establishment won't do

:42:37. > :42:39.that, it is our job. We're the media, we do the examining, we

:42:40. > :42:42.uncover things that we're not supposed to know. From now on, what

:42:43. > :42:46.really happened there is down to you. I think we'll do our job just

:42:47. > :42:51.as well as the lawyers did theirs and the judges did theirs. Because

:42:52. > :42:58.there are things that need to be said about what was done to that man

:42:59. > :43:03.and who did it to him and why and how and how they got away with it so

:43:04. > :43:12.far, but not much further. So back to the mead why now. The ones who

:43:13. > :43:18.will not be discouraged from doing what has to be done. OK, let's go

:43:19. > :43:31.for it. APPLAUSE

:43:32. > :43:34.We are delighted at the judges' decision to substitute manslaughter

:43:35. > :43:38.by diminished responsibility. This is a crucial decision and one that

:43:39. > :43:42.much better reflects the circumstances that my husband found

:43:43. > :43:48.himself in during that terrible tour of Afghanistan. We must now wait for

:43:49. > :43:52.the sentencing hearing and hope to secure a significant reduction in

:43:53. > :43:59.Al's sentence. We would, of course, like to thank our fantastic legal

:44:00. > :44:04.team, Jonathan Goldberg, Jeffrey Israel for their excellent work to

:44:05. > :44:08.date and we must also thank the tens of thousands of supporters

:44:09. > :44:11.especially from the Royal Marines family who stood behind us

:44:12. > :44:20.throughout and who have played such an important role in getting us to

:44:21. > :44:24.this point. Thank you. We'll stick with this in case the

:44:25. > :44:33.media ask any questions of Clare Blackman.

:44:34. > :44:35.We heard from Clare Blackman, Sergeant Blackman's wife who has

:44:36. > :44:42.been campaigning for years on this issue. We also heard from author,

:44:43. > :44:46.Frederick Forsyth. And you heard Patrick Hennessy Clare Blackman say

:44:47. > :44:52.that for her husband it was a terrible tour of Afghanistan. Some

:44:53. > :44:57.indication which is what he has persuaded the judges' of that he,

:44:58. > :45:01.his mental health was not as it should have been when he was out on

:45:02. > :45:04.the battlefield? I know there will be questions to be answered as to

:45:05. > :45:10.who was in the role of monitoring the mental health of someone like

:45:11. > :45:16.Simon Blackman? Should he have been leading patrols if he was under that

:45:17. > :45:22.pressure? Should there have been greater rotation of individual

:45:23. > :45:28.units. I'm not how much of a conspiracy there is to unearth. The

:45:29. > :45:34.court was obviously persuaded by the evidence. You were telling us that

:45:35. > :45:39.this will have real implications for officers and their groups of

:45:40. > :45:46.soldiers and who they allow to be on the frontline?

:45:47. > :45:53.You are looking at the robustness of people you put in leadership roles

:45:54. > :45:56.and how they are responding over the duration of a tour. And people will

:45:57. > :46:00.be in perfect mental health at the beginning and go through things that

:46:01. > :46:03.degrade them and the implication here is that his unit had been

:46:04. > :46:07.involved in such a degree of fighting that had been so intense,

:46:08. > :46:13.the losses they had encountered were so severe it had that effect on him.

:46:14. > :46:17.All individuals are different. Some people who are totally fine soldiers

:46:18. > :46:21.may take more to break them or less. That is something you are going to

:46:22. > :46:26.have to be realigned to in future. You cannot have this sort of thing

:46:27. > :46:34.being somehow justified or allowed because at the end of the day in a

:46:35. > :46:37.matter what crime he did did not commit this is bad at being a

:46:38. > :46:42.soldier. You do not want to be sitting, shooting injured

:46:43. > :46:45.insurgents. It is going to be damaging for the international

:46:46. > :46:49.reputation of the British military. We have to find a way to look after

:46:50. > :46:53.the mental health of our people but maintain the highest possible

:46:54. > :46:59.standards in the field. Someone says I come from a military family and I

:47:00. > :47:03.disagree with this verdict. With the case of his mental health should the

:47:04. > :47:06.man in the grips of battle be trusted with a loaded rifle and the

:47:07. > :47:11.feet of another human being, regardless of him being a Taliban

:47:12. > :47:16.insurgent? With regards to the video he clearly knew what he had done was

:47:17. > :47:19.wrong and illegal, it did not sound like someone of Owens and blamed.

:47:20. > :47:25.Where is the justice for the family of the young man murdered? Another

:47:26. > :47:30.person says this judgment will serve to put people off joining the armed

:47:31. > :47:34.forces on the whole. The country does not deserve people like Sargent

:47:35. > :47:37.Blackman, that they will be make the rules do not have the balls to do

:47:38. > :47:43.what people like sergeant like-minded. You raised your

:47:44. > :47:47.eyebrows. I do not think it will put people off joining the armed forces.

:47:48. > :47:52.I do not think people join thinking they will be looked after completely

:47:53. > :47:55.if they should somebody who was injured and posing no threat. They

:47:56. > :47:59.have not said you did not do anything wrong, they have said you

:48:00. > :48:03.should not be convicted of murder. It sounds as if there were failings

:48:04. > :48:07.in the original court martial. There may have been failings in the way

:48:08. > :48:17.the defence was prepared. Perhaps from the outset they should've been

:48:18. > :48:19.looking more closely at the ministry sponsored ability and that was not

:48:20. > :48:22.done. A host of reasons why the verdict might be quashed which do

:48:23. > :48:29.not go so far as to say it is acceptable to do what he did.

:48:30. > :48:32.Because it is not. The manslaughter option was not available at the

:48:33. > :48:37.original trial. What about the mental health of people who serve in

:48:38. > :48:42.Afghanistan and elsewhere? You believe the Ministry of Defence

:48:43. > :48:45.takes it seriously? It is something the Ministry of Defence has been on

:48:46. > :48:51.a steep learning curve for. When I first joined the armed forces in

:48:52. > :48:56.2004 it was not done particularly regular slip it in the brief time I

:48:57. > :49:03.served we got much more aware of the importance of looking after people.

:49:04. > :49:06.My unit was attacked by suicide bombers than the driver of one of

:49:07. > :49:12.the vehicles was the only survivor and it had clearly rattled him --

:49:13. > :49:16.one of the only survivors. We did not want to serve him on but we

:49:17. > :49:20.thought we would take a couple of weeks and give him a different role,

:49:21. > :49:24.do not make him feel like a dead weight, he is doing something useful

:49:25. > :49:28.but he is not in quite a pinch point and he gets his mental fortitude

:49:29. > :49:32.back-up, and it maybe that was not being done in this case. As he been

:49:33. > :49:41.in a situation similar to the one sided Blackman found yourself --

:49:42. > :49:44.found himself in? I have been responsible for recovering severely

:49:45. > :49:48.injured insurgents who up to ten minutes before had been shooting at

:49:49. > :49:54.us. Part of your training is the ability to switch from trying to

:49:55. > :49:58.kill the enemy while they are engaging new to then giving them

:49:59. > :50:02.first eight and making sure they get back to a hospital in one piece.

:50:03. > :50:05.There is a very powerful military imperative to do that. If he is

:50:06. > :50:09.alive you do not know what information he is going to give you.

:50:10. > :50:13.We fight to break the will of the enemy. If the enemy thinks the only

:50:14. > :50:19.thing that is going to happen to them is they are going to get shot,

:50:20. > :50:22.they will fight to the death, but if they know they are going to be

:50:23. > :50:26.treated well, the first signs of things getting to the crunch

:50:27. > :50:31.Biddulph Road down their arms. There is a vast historical precedent for

:50:32. > :50:35.effective military operations being carried out humanely. It is bad at

:50:36. > :50:48.being a soldier of people think the only way out of it is if you tell

:50:49. > :51:00.them or they kill you. -- Umax to them or they kill you. You rock that

:51:01. > :51:04.on the head? I do not think there is a conspiracy. It sounds as if

:51:05. > :51:08.possibly mistakes were made by the first defence team. There were

:51:09. > :51:11.verdict is not available. It sounds as if might have been issues as to

:51:12. > :51:19.how rotations were being done at the camp. It will be interesting to see

:51:20. > :51:26.but who knows what is out there? When a ruling like this happens what

:51:27. > :51:30.sort of significance to the MOD in terms of the MOD, how significantly

:51:31. > :51:34.will they be looking at this? They will be looking at it because they

:51:35. > :51:40.will think we need to keep a very close eye on everyone going out on

:51:41. > :51:43.offensive operations. They will think maybe there has to be

:51:44. > :51:49.re-emphasis of certain parts of the education we are doing. They will

:51:50. > :51:56.also see a slight indication insofar as what the court appeal said is

:51:57. > :51:59.this guy is not a murderer, he had a very illustrious career and was a

:52:00. > :52:04.good marine up until that point. While you want to take something

:52:05. > :52:08.like that on board you do not want to drastically think, we are going

:52:09. > :52:12.to have to rethink everything we do. There remained over the course of

:52:13. > :52:17.the Afghan conflict tens of thousands if not hundreds of

:52:18. > :52:20.thousands of rotations of British service personnel and an incident

:52:21. > :52:30.like this very rare which is how it should be. Thank you. Patrick served

:52:31. > :52:32.as an officer in Afghanistan in 2007 and works as a barrister and is also

:52:33. > :52:38.an author. Let's get more on that

:52:39. > :52:40.Supreme Court ruling, saying people should be able

:52:41. > :52:42.to leave money to The case today focussed

:52:43. > :52:46.on a mother who gave most of her estate to charity,

:52:47. > :52:48.rather than to her The daughter had argued she should

:52:49. > :52:53.get more money from her mother and the daughter won

:52:54. > :52:56.in early court cases. But today the Supreme Court

:52:57. > :52:58.reduced the amount that Joining us now is Martin Oliver,

:52:59. > :53:16.the lawyer representing The reaction of you and your clients

:53:17. > :53:21.to this today? My client is very disappointed by the judgment today.

:53:22. > :53:25.As you said she was awarded ?50,000 at the very first instance by the

:53:26. > :53:31.district judge and the Supreme Court has found that is reasonable

:53:32. > :53:35.financial provision for her. As it is the highest court in the land,

:53:36. > :53:44.that is it. How is this going to affect Heather? Heather is naturally

:53:45. > :53:47.very disappointed by everything. This is the highest court. It is not

:53:48. > :53:52.going to go any further than this and this is the final judgment. In

:53:53. > :53:58.practical terms? She is not going to get any more money. In practical

:53:59. > :54:05.terms years of very hard-working mother who brought this claim. She

:54:06. > :54:07.was looking for in her opinion reasonable financial provision.

:54:08. > :54:11.She's going to struggle going forward. She certainly did not wish

:54:12. > :54:19.to be brought into the limelight on this type of matter. In the end

:54:20. > :54:23.probably most sensible people will think the Supreme Court came to the

:54:24. > :54:30.correct decision today. When you write a well you leave your stuff to

:54:31. > :54:34.whoever you want to. I can understand why they may come to that

:54:35. > :54:39.but there is legislation that says that reasonable financial provision

:54:40. > :54:44.if it has not been left, and Heather was in that category to bring the

:54:45. > :54:48.claim, it is an objective test, but there is quite a wide discretion as

:54:49. > :54:52.to the amount people are entitled to. He had been estranged for some

:54:53. > :55:01.time. What was the relevance of that? The strange and is one of the

:55:02. > :55:05.factors that was looked at by the judge but it was phoned by the

:55:06. > :55:08.district judge at the beginning that the reasons for the estrangement,

:55:09. > :55:17.there was some fault on behalf of the mother which led her to make the

:55:18. > :55:28.will that she did. Thank you. The lawyer representing Heather. Our

:55:29. > :55:32.correspondent has been bringing you the news about marine marine A who

:55:33. > :55:41.has had his murder conviction register manslaughter on the grounds

:55:42. > :55:45.diminished responsibility. This a decision by five senior judges. They

:55:46. > :55:50.heard there's fresh appeal last month setting of the court-martial

:55:51. > :55:55.Appeal Court. The judgment was handed down a short time ago and in

:55:56. > :55:58.that judgment they have quashed his conviction for murder and

:55:59. > :56:04.substituted a verdict of manslaughter on the grounds of

:56:05. > :56:09.diminished responsibility. This is the second appeal. He appealed after

:56:10. > :56:13.he was convicted initially of murder. He was sentenced to life

:56:14. > :56:19.with a 10-year minimum turn. That was reduced to eight years but that

:56:20. > :56:26.first appeal did not succeed. The case was considered by the criminal

:56:27. > :56:30.cases review commission, the independent body that looks that

:56:31. > :56:34.potential miscarriages of justice and it was referred back for this

:56:35. > :56:38.fresh appeal and that judgment today that the murder conviction is

:56:39. > :56:43.quashed. Alexander Blackman was not in court himself to hear the

:56:44. > :56:48.judgment. He remains in prison and what happens is a date will be set

:56:49. > :56:53.for a further hearing at which the appropriate sentence will be

:56:54. > :56:58.decided. That is the point at which Alexander Blackman will find out how

:56:59. > :57:01.much longer he will serve in prison. They could make a decision to

:57:02. > :57:10.release him. He could go free finally. Yes. It is possible. We

:57:11. > :57:16.will have to wait and see what they consider the appropriate sentence to

:57:17. > :57:22.be. At the moment because of his murder conviction he had been

:57:23. > :57:28.sentenced to a minimum of eight years. That has been quashed and we

:57:29. > :57:31.have to see what the judges decide will be appropriate for the

:57:32. > :57:36.substituted manslaughter conviction and at the moment we do not have a

:57:37. > :57:41.date for that. His wife in her statement as she came out of court

:57:42. > :57:46.said this was the crucial aspect to find out what the sentencing would

:57:47. > :57:51.be and said this manslaughter conviction was more appropriate to

:57:52. > :57:56.what had happened, a more appropriate conviction than the

:57:57. > :58:04.murder conviction which she had faced until today. The reaction from

:58:05. > :58:12.clear Blackman, third and Blackman's wife, she was delighted. Yes, it has

:58:13. > :58:26.been a long campaign. For her and for other supporters. That have been

:58:27. > :58:31.in court throughout this long illegal process. -- legal process.