06/11/2013 BBC London News

from the west That

Tonight on BBC London News. An innocent game of tag ended in

tragedy. A coroner rules a schoolgirl's death was accidental.

She was an adoring older sister to her brother and a loving, caring

friend and daughter. She lived and loved life to the fullest. The

school said losing Freya was the darkest moment in its long history.

Also tonight. The Mayor promises safer cycle routes as he opens the

first segregated Superhighway. A first look at how human excrement is

being turned into quality fertiliser in Slough. Lots of fellows have

asked me who Mike Taylor is. And Talking Perfect Nonsense. Matthew

MacFadyen and Stephen Mangan bring Jeeves and Wooster to the West End

stage. Good evening and welcome to the

programme. She was described by her parents as a beautiful girl with an

intoxicating smile. An innocent game of tag in a school playground cost

eight`year`old Freya James her life. She was playing with a group of

friends at Trafalgar Junior School in Twickenham when she was knocked

over by a pupil and fell onto a ornamental feature made from a

railway sleeper. An inquest heard she suffered such catastrophic

injuries she could not have been saved and ruled accidental death.

Alice Bhandhukravi reports. Nick and Anneka James said today they had

lost their past, present and future. Eight`year`old Freya had been on her

lunch break when an 11`year`old fellow pupil knocked over at

Trafalgar Junior School last Fabbri. He had been playing British

Bulldog, an energetic game of tag and bumped into her at speed. The

collision caused her to fall onto a wooden railway sleeper, an

ornamental feature in the playground. The pathologist said the

impact of falling onto the railway sleeper would have been like being

hit by a boxer. Their injuries were catastrophic with a major rupture to

her liver and internal bleeding. her liver and internal bleeding.

Teachers tried to administer first aid and she was taken by ambulance

to West Middlesex University Hospital. But she died shortly

after. On Thursday the 14th of Fabbri, Freya went to school

excited. We were planning to fly to Germany the following day to stay

with her grandparents. The next time we saw her, she was fighting for her

life in hospital and died two hours later and we didn't get the chance

to say goodbye nor to tell her how much we loved her. Her skills as it

created a garden in her name along with an annual prize. Since that

tragic afternoon, all of us with a connection to the school have spent

many hours reflecting on what happened, asking why and was there

anything we could have done differently? Asking is anything more

we could do to make sure such a tragedy doesn't ever happen again?

Today, the coroner described as an emotional tragic and terribly sad

case. The jury reached a verdict of accidental death. Lots more to come

including. Jonathan Culverwell took his own life aged 31. We hear from

his family and their struggle to find mental health care in the

capital. The cyclist who died last night on one of the Mayor's cycle

superhighways has been named as 62`year`old Brian Holt a porter at

Mile End Hospital. He was the third cyclist to die on Cycle Superhighway

two. Today the Mayor opened a segregated cycle route in Stratford

which he says should make cycling safer. But critics say it has taken

many years of campaigning for the Mayor to act. Here's our Transport

Correspondent Tom Edwards. Expect to see more of these. This is the first

segregated cycle superhighway. The Mayor, trying it out today, says he

wants more of them. This new section is on the controversial cycle

superhighway two, on which three cyclists died. The latest, last

night. Do you regret encouraging cyclists to use this route on the

superhighway? Is a regret after the death last night? I think it's very

early to make any judgement about what happened last night. Another

tragic accident. I don't know the details, they are far from clear.

It's the beginning of an accelerated programme of cycling superhighways

in London. Cycling continues to expand in popularity. We have got to

make it safer, and what we're doing here is, in a way, very unusual,

here is, in a way, very unusual because this is segregated. You

can't do that everywhere. It encourages cyclists to use certain

foods and they were heavily criticised from the start. And

dismissed as a blue paint. A coroner recently described them as

confusing. The latest fatality was a 62`year`old man, a game involving an

HGV on cycle superhighway two. `` again. That route would get a ? 0

again. That route would get a ?20 million upgrade with more

segregation and better junctions, and another route from elephant to

Blackfriars will also see separate lanes. It will take a long time to

get better coverage, but now it s get better coverage, but now it's

very good. You feel pretty safe and you know you're not going to

obstruct any cars. I think it's all right, yes. Critics say the changes

are taken far too long. And the Mayor and TEFL only acted after a

number of cycling deaths provoked a campaign for action. It's a major

victory for common sense. Opening the new segregated lanes here is a

fantastic move, providing safe space for cycling, protected space, and

the decision by TEFL and the Mayor to extended from Aldgate, where some

where it `` someone died last icon it will save lives. You can expect

to see much more of this, called a floating bus stop, a bypass, which

takes the cyclist behind the actual bus stop. It could, though, take

some getting used to. For pedestrians and cyclists. All the

existing cycle superhighways will also see improvements. After a long

concerted campaign, this could be just the start of big changes on the

roads. Next tonight, the struggle to find mental health care in London.

Jonathan Culverwell was among an increasing number of Londoners

desperately needing help, but his family claim he didn't get it,

blaming a lack of beds on psychiatric wards. Jonathan took his

own life. A recent BBC investigation revealed 1,500 beds have been cut in

recent years. According to a council report, in Culverwell's own borough

of Haringey, up to eight patients a day are trying to get a bed, forcing

some into hospitals as far away as Yorkshire. Ayshea Buksh reports Say

hi. Hi. He was very generous with his friends, and there was something

in him which always helps out his friends, in a way. Compassionate

person. Jonathan Culverwell's mother has fond memories of her son, and he

worked hard and had a large circle of friends but in his late 20s he

develops paranoid schizophrenia and began taking drugs. This is Jonathan

Willis family and friends in North London celebrating his 31st

birthday. A few months later, he took his own life. He wasn't talking

at all. He secluded himself, not from me, but from the world. I tried

to contact the mental health team and said until he harmed himself or

someone else, they couldn't do anything about it. After threatening

his sister with a knife, he was excellent and spent time in two

different hospitals receiving psychiatric treatment before being

released. At the time, he was on a recall, supposed to be in hospital

when they contacted them to come and get in but they didn't, so my

brother would still be here if they got him. He was one of 3000 patients

in Haringey suffering with severe mental health problems. These are

the minutes from recent Haringey Council meeting in which the

pressure on mental health services was discussed. It noted there are

currently 49 beds available in the borough with seven or eight people a

day waiting for one to become available and patient was recently

told the nearest bed available was in in Yorkshire. It shocks me that

there's not enough beds. How do the families feel? How do these mentally

ill patients feel? Where are they going to go? Who will they turn to?

A spokesman for the local NHS Trust said there had been an increase in

demand and there are currently reviewing bed numbers. He also said

the trust offers the highest standards of treatment care and

support to patients and carers. The recent inquest into his death was

not concluded, and his family are still waiting for answers. With me

now is Marjorie Wallace, the chief executive of the mental health

charity SANE. Thanks for joining us, Marjorie. In that report, we heard

mental health patients are being sent out of their boroughs and out

of London. This problem isn't just confined to Haringey, is it?

Absolutely not. It's a scandal. We have lost 10,000 psychiatric beds in

the last ten years nationwide. It's not just in Haringey. At some

points, over the last months, there has been not a single psychiatric

bed available in London. Now, that have terrible consequences and means

people are shunted across the country, hundreds of miles, or they

have to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act and the liberty

taken away. Or they are sent back home and have to fend for themselves

with diminishing community services and then they may be picked up by

the police because they could be suicidal and then they are taken to

a police cell. I mean, they are doubly punished. They are very ill

people, they need treatment, and they end up being turned away and

come at that point, I know quite a number of cases have got to the

stage where they are suicidal or have taken their lives. Government

cuts have been blamed. Care Minister Norman Lamb said, "There is an

institutional bias in the NHS against mental health and I am

determined to end this." Is he right? Can he end it in the current

climate of cuts? But one way he can end it is to change this relentless

policy the government has had of closing down psychiatric beds and

units. They save the most expensive part of care. It's a government

policy. This has been going on for a long time. They say it should be

diverted to community services and sounds very good but those services

have been cut at the same time, so crisis teams have no time to come to

a lot of people and also, a lot of them have been diverted to people

who are moderately ill. That leaves the seriously ill, like the case we

just had, with nowhere to go, and the family is absolutely desperate.

They are contacting us all the time. It is really unforgivable that we

are not providing care and treatment. The government says there

should be a parity between physical health and mental health. As you

have just said, mental health loses out and went there are taken into

hospital, they are taken into hospital, they're taking into wards

which are crumbling, and then they are discharged. And they are left

somehow to live however they can. This is putting pressure on people.

It's very unfair on both patients and their families. Shocking to

hear. Many thanks for joining us. On other news now. An official

complaint has been made against the Mayor for claiming ?4,000 in

expenses for a flight to the Gulf. It was a business trip but the

complaint brought by the Assembly's Labour group claims Boris Johnson

and two of his senior aides breached GLA guidelines on the amount they

can claim for flights. The Mayor's office said they they were

comfortable the claims were within the rules and they will deal with

the complaint. British Airways short`haul services are the quietest

planes at Heathrow, according to the first survey of airline noise

performance at the airport. The noisiest of the major carriers was

Polish airline LOT, with Israeli carrier El Al and Thai Airways just

behind. The scores were based on noise levels and were measured

between July and September. It has emerged the London Fire

Brigade has expressed concerns in the past over the number of times

they were called to help doctoral 's tourist boats that were in trouble.

Officers were given evidence `` were giving evidence to a London Assembly

committee meeting after an accident took place on the Thames in

September. Helen Drew was at today's committee meeting and joins us from

City Hall now. This was the first time we had heard these concerns and

they came out of City Hall after the committee meeting set up to discuss

the fire. Let 's remind ourselves of the accident. Children and adults

jumped into the Thames after the boat they were on caught fire. It

happened close to the Houses of Parliament and luckily nobody was

hurt, but today, the London Fire Brigade said that whilst previous

incidents haven't been anywhere near as serious, they have been called

out by London doctor was several times before. We have provided

assistance in the past to the tours. Including towing of the vehicles.

And the commissioner wrote to the assembly about concerns that we were

having to attend to a number of Duck Tours. Was there much discussion

about safety in future? There was a lot of discussion about that. They

found the cause of the fire was the foam used to create the buoyancy on

the boat. It was packed to tightly around the machinery and overheated

and caught fire. This afternoon one and caught fire. This afternoon one

of the London Assembly members said it seemed to him there was a dilemma

between the boat sinking or burning. Earlier, I spoke to the managing

director of London Duck Tours in what is his first interview since

the accident, and asked him what he plans to do. The regulators and

ourselves have been and continue to be in discussion about the balance

between the buoyancy foam that you heard about this afternoon and the

risk of fire, and that we believe that between the two parties, an

appropriate balance can be struck. And what if the balance cannot be

struck? I think... I haven't anticipated that question. The

balance will be struck because these Duck Tours will be here in 2014. The

tours have not been on the river since the accident and they have

been operating a land only system. Someone else who gave evidence this

afternoon was the passenger boat Association and they said when

surveys done about what tourists like about London, one of the top

five things is to see the capital from the river. And when summing up

today, the committee chair said that London Duck Tours is a vital asset

for London and that everything should be done to try to get them

operating back on the river if possible. Thank you.

Still to come... I am Jeeves. I am Wooster. And we will shortly be

telling you about our new play. And eye will have the full forecast for

you later in the programme. Human excrement is being turned into

quality fertiliser in Slough. Thames Water has powered up a new ?2

million sewage works which experts claim could help secure future

global food supplies, as Gareth Furby reports.

Sly was well`known to many motorists on the M4 because of the unique

odour. That is of the sewage works. At today, Thames water was making a

bit of a stink about this. It's a ?2 million machine that reduces nice,

clean fertiliser pellets out of something a lot more unsavoury.

It's a characteristic smell of Slough. And for Thames Water, which

has pretty much unlimited access to the raw material, this could yet

prove to be a bit of a money spinner. Phosphorus pearls have

formed as this flows up the reactor, and they form and as they get

bigger, they dropped through the flow coming up, and we collect the

poll phosphorus at the bottom of the cone. Until now, this was the main

way to get fertiliser or Mark to spread out of sewage. The new idea

has come from Canada. And this is set to be the first machine in

Europe. What is different about this is we are extracting just the

nutrients from the water that is being treated here so that, for one

thing, it is a lot more potent in terms of nutrient content compared

to the other way of discarding waste, but, more importantly, it is

highly pure. Thames Water is insisting this isn't just window

dressing about appeasing customers. It will actually help to keep bills

down. This plant has cost us ?1 million to ?1.2 million but it will

sell save us `` it will save us much, much more each year. This

environmental campaigner says it really is a step change. The amount

of phosphate we have in the world food production is limited and there

will come a point where demand outstrips supply, and the further we

can go in capturing nutrients before they are wasted into the

environment, the letter that will be for future security. The price of

the pellets has yet to be decided but they could soon be coming to a

lawn near you. Just don't think perhaps, too much about where they

came from! Arsenal and Chelsea are both in

Champions League action tonight. Arsenal are in Germany to take on

last year's runners`up Borussia Dortmund ` more on them in a moment

` while Chelsea play Schalke at Stamford Bridge. Our sports

reporter, Chris Slegg, is there. Chris, Jose Mourinho's looking for a

response from his players after Saturday's defeat. He certainly is

because that was a shock defeat, 2`0, away to Newcastle at the

weekend. And it has hit their Premier League hopes. So Jose

Mourinho questioned his players attitude in that match. He wants to

see them back in the Champions League. They play Schalke tonight

and they did keep them in Germany a fortnight ago so you would expect

them to be OK tonight, but Jose Mourinho, in his own unique way,

them to be OK tonight, but Jose Mourinho, in his own unique way has

warned his players against any further complacency. You cannot

think you win just because... You have a nice shirt or you are in a

good run or you are in a lucky moment. When you think that, you are

in trouble. You never can forget why you are winning matches and maybe we

forgot. That's Chelsea. As for Arsenal,

Chris, a tough game for them tonight? Yes, but Arsenal are

looking so impressive. Arsene Wenger's site top of the Premier

League after beating Liverpool at the weekend. They have only lost

three of their games stretching back to last season. `` Arsene Wenger's

team. It is a tough game and it is a really tight group because Arsenal

have got six points and Dortmund have six points, and the Italian

side, Napoli, also have six points. Arsenal need to avoid defeat in

Germany tonight and then hopefully pick up the remaining points against

Marseille at home and Napoli away in their final two group matches. Thank

you. They are two of literature's best

loved comic characters, and now PG Wodehouse's double act of Jeeves and

Wooster is appearing on the stage in the West End. Matthew MacFadyen

plays the unflappable valet Jeeves, while Stephen Mangan is his boss,

the bumbling Bertie Wooster. Our entertainment correspondent, Brenda

Emmanus, has been backstage. Put in that checked suit I have just

had made, will you? Are you quite sure? Yes, I need something to cheer

me up. Stephen Mangan has played a few literary characters in his

time, from Adrian mole to postman Pat. He now plays the confused but

amiable character Bertie Wooster. And Matthew Macfadyen is his butler,

Jeeves. It is not just a dry representation of the books, it is a

really theatrical thing which involves the audience. It has more

gags than you can possibly cram into two hours! It is just great fun

Lots of fellows have asked me who my Taylor is. No doubt this to avoid

him, sir. The idea is that it is telling the story of a dreadful

weekend from Bertie. He has rented a theatre and been told he is very

good at telling stories, and so he does, and that is the idea. It is

considered a PG Wodehouse classic. Although Andrew Lloyd Webber

produced a musical with Alan Laybourne, this is the first time

the state has given their blessing to a stage play. `` Alan Ayckbourn.

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie portrayed the quintessential English

double act during the popular 1 90s double act during the popular 1 90s

television series. Now, these long`term friends hope to replicate

the chemistry on stage. We know each other well, which is a huge relief

when you are playing one of the most iconic double acts of all time, that

you know you get on and have the same sense of humour! And you are

friends. PG Wodehouse died at the age of 93 in 1975 and was recognised

as one of the great humanists of the 20th century. He himself tried to do

it with this very book but he gave up because it was impossible. But

what we have done is bring in all sorts of other areas of comedy as

well. If it makes anybody pick up a PG Wodehouse novel, they will

realise what a comic genius he was. And so much the better. Jeeves and

Wooster make their debut in Perfect Nonsense in London.

Now the weather, with Peter. It s been a wet day, so is it looking any

drier tomorrow? Well, it will be getting colder.

This evening, we keep the grey and overcast conditions and the heavy

rain will return. If you look at the computer sequence, you will be able

to see that blue area becoming more widespread with those pieces of rain

joining up. You will also notice some dark blue in there. It won t

joining up. You will also notice some dark blue in there. It won't be

a particularly cold night. Looking at the butchers of nine Celsius.

a particularly cold night. Looking at the butchers of nine Celsius ``

looking at temperatures. A Dell, Bach morning, but then the cloud and

rain will clear away. `` a dark morning. And then lots of blue sky

out there but it will feel chilly with the breeze feeling chilly

tomorrow, despite the sunshine. Top temperature tomorrow or something

like ten, 11, 12 degrees, bearing in mind that despite the rain today, we

have been up to 15 degrees. Then we keep the clear skies across counties

to the north of London, so that is where it could get cold enough in

the L3 veil and the Chiltern Hills for a touch of frost on the grass.

Further east, some showers will arrive and they will stay with us

till Friday. So you can expect sunshine but also blustery showers

to end the week. And that is how we start the weekend. Cold air,

sunshine with showers on Saturday. At the moment, it looks as though it

will be milder form Remembrance Sunday but then again it is likely

to be a rather grey and drizzly day. For the Outlook, in the short`term,

it will turn quite a bit colder. We it will turn quite a bit colder We

have not lost the wet weather but at least it won't be chucking it down

all the time because we have a mix of sunshine and showers to take us

into the weekend. I will keep you updated on what the weather is

likely to be like for those ceremonies on Remembrance Sunday.

That is your forecast. A reminder of the main headlines:

Shipbuilding will come to an end in the South of England after defence

giant BAE Systems announced job cuts at its yards across the UK. Almost

1,800 jobs will go, more than half of them in Portsmouth.

The mother of a four`year`old who was mauled to death by the family's

bulldog desperately tried to save her daughter by stabbing the dog

with a kitchen knife. Lexi Branson was attacked in her home near

Loughborough yesterday. Five disabled people have won their

court battle to stop the Government abolishing a scheme that provides

them with money and support. The Independent Living Fund was due to

be shut in 2015. An inquest has ruled the death of

eight`year`old Freya James, who died after being knocked over playing tag

at school in Twickeham, was accidental. Her parents described

her as a beautiful girl with an intoxicating smile.

And the capital's first segregated cycling section has been officially

opened in Stratford. The route separates cyclists from other

traffic for nearly two miles. That's it. I'll be back later during

the Ten O'Clock News, but for now, from everyone on the team, have a

lovely evening, good night.