13/01/2014 BBC London News

showers in the west and south. That's all from the

language and sexual content. Here's our arts editor, 8

On BBC London News: An apology and pay out for two students who took

part in protests over tuition fees after The Met wrongly tried to

prosecute them. My shirt ripped. My face was crushed. Five police

officers were sitting on top of me. An investigation is under way. Also

tonight: The family of a student who died while trekking in Morocco

criticised the company which organised the school trip. After the

floods, fears of falling property prices and higher insurance

premiums. And... Preparing to put their best foot forward again. The

Strictly stars get ready for their UK tour.

Hello and good evening. Two students who took part in protests against

tuition fees in Central London have both been awarded ?20,000 pay`out

after they met a bullet in police wrongly accused them of obstruction.

The men were arrested, strip`searched and charged. The case

was dropped after YouTube footage was shown in court revealing

inconsistencies with the claims. There were large crowds. My body

sort of dragged across the floor. My shirt ripped. There were scrapes and

bruises. My face was crushed. There were five police officers sitting on

top of me. This man describes the scene in June 2011 when he was

arrested during a protest against tuition fees. He was later charged

for obstruction. The student ended up in court. Thanks to this video,

the case against him was dropped. It revealed the police account of what

happened to be inaccurate. He did not assault or obstruct officers. I

could have done six months in prison. It would have jeopardised my

PhD. My life would be entirely different in that video had not

appeared. It was a similar case to Simon Bearman. He attended the same

demonstration. Both students were awarded ?20,000 each in damages

after base you to The Met for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment

and religious prosecution. Lawyers say the cases are deeply worrying.

The police officers wildly this represented what took place. I think

that we need to be able to trust the police. We should be able to trust

that when they give evidence against the people, particularly when it can

result in a criminal conviction, they are 100% honest. The students

had not received an apology. The Met says no one admitted liability as

part of the cash settlement. Three officers are subject to an internal

investigation, supervised by the police watchdog. Coming up: The

patients in Essex being taken to hospital in police cars as ambulance

crews struggled to cope. A former psychiatric patient has

told the BBC she was raped up to 60 times by a health service care

worker. She was speaking on BBC Radio 5 live and said her attacker

had promised to secure her discharge from hospital in Dartford. She went

as far as describing psychiatric wards as playgrounds for sexual

predators. This all happened back in 2003 when she spent a year at the

hospital in Kent. We are calling this lady Catherine to protect her

identity. She says when she was admitted to hospital, she had

anorexia and was on Valium. She said her carer simply walk into her room

at night and sexually assaulted her. She said she did not murmur, move,

make a sound. She was asked why this was her reply. She said:

she went on to say her abuser ended up raping her every night he was on

duty. He promised to write up good reports and would bring her

chocolates, cigarettes and prescription drugs. This is how she

summed up her time. It is an open playing field for predators in that

environment. Who is going to speak up when they have been in a mental

health institution? There is a stigma. You are ashamed. It is not

something you tell people. To say that a member of staff raped you, it

is probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. A truly

shocking case. Her abuser was finally brought to justice. Seven

years after she was discharged, she mentioned her ordeal to a

psychiatric nurse. He was almost immediately arrested. He pleaded

guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a patient.

He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. As

for Catherine, she received a letter of apology from the NHS Trust. And

?100,000 in compensation. Tonight, the Kent and Medway NHS and

partnership trust said they cannot comment on the case because they

were not in existence when this happened back in 2003. And you can

see the full story on tonight's Newsnight with Jeremy Paxman, at

10:30pm on BBC Two. The parents of a teenager from South East London, who

died while trekking in Morocco, have criticised the company which

organised the trip. Samuel Boon collapsed in the foothills of the

Atlas Mountains in temperatures of 40 degrees. Today, the verdict of an

inquest was death by misadventure. Yvonne Hall reports. Inconsolable

grief. The mother of a 17`year`old boy who died in sweltering

temperatures during a school trip trekking in Morocco. After the

inquest into the death, his tearful father said no one had warned them

of the dangers involved. If we had known that in an emergency there

would be no helicopter, no ambulance, no medic. In fact the

best emergency response available was a minibus with no medical

assistance, we would never have allowed Sam to go. He had been

trekking in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains with ten schoolmates

from the Bexley business Academy. He collapsed as temperatures soared.

Sam was six foot tall and weighed 20 stone. He had been struggling to

keep up. The inquest into his death heard that emergency arrangements

for the trip were inadequate, with no ambulance or helicopter on

stand`by. A minibus ride more than an hour after Sam collapsed. The

cause of death was exertion or heatstroke or low salt levels. The

family had not been properly prepared for the demands of the

trip. Bexley business Academy alleges it was misled by the travel

company. This is the website for the company. It says it offers

youngsters the opportunities to expand their knowledge outside the

classroom. The company does not want to be interviewed about Sam 's

death. It says safety is its top priority and it complies with all

the British standards for expeditions abroad. It says it has

made changes since the teenager died, including in particular

monitoring the fitness of those taking part. It says, following

today's inquest, it will make further improvements if necessary. A

verdict of misadventure was recorded. His family hope that

others will learn from Sam 's death. Figures obtained by the BBC show

that nearly 200 patients in Essex were taken to hospital in police

cars last year because ambulances failed to turn up. The East of

England Service has admitted it doesn't have enough ambulances to

deal with emergency calls. Gareth George has the story. And ambulance

arrives at Colchester Hospital. Some patients are taken to hospital in a

police car when ambulances failed to turn up. Figures obtained by the BBC

shows Essex Police took 185 patients to hospital. That worries the Police

Federation. They say police officers are ill`equipped to stand in for

paramedics. While taking patients to hospital they cannot be performing

normal duties. Unions say the Ambulance Service is stretched to

the limit and that is putting more pressure on police officers. We

might have a road traffic collision that is attended by the police. They

might have a very seriously ill patient and they might have a very

tricky choice around following the rules, waiting for the ambulance, or

getting the patient to hospital and potentially saving their lives.

Today's revelations come after a turbulent couple of years for the

Ambulance Service. In the summer of 2012, plans to make savings of ?50

million were made public. MPs met with the chairman of the trust

saying delays in getting an ambulance to patients were

unacceptable. Easter last year, the Ambulance Service was forced to

wrecked and emergency tent after 17 ambulances queued outside the

Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. Doctor Anthony Marsh, before he was

appointed as new chief executive, produced a damning report into the

service. Two months later, the five nonexecutive directors resigned.

Last month, the latest figures show the service was still failing to

meet its three main targets for response times. We had a shortage of

paramedics which we have openly stated previously. Our focus is to

recruit numbers of student paramedics and establish

paramedics. Our shortage is not the vehicles but the ability to staff

the vehicles. The Police Federation fears police officers in Essex will

continue to take up the slack. Coming up later in the

programme...The Met says the police officer who killed Mark Duggan could

return to firearms duties in a number of weeks. They are the

reigning champions of Strictly Come Dancing. I will be talking to Abbey

Clancy and some of the others as they prepare for the live tour.

More now on the floods which are continuing to affect people along

the Thames. There are currently 28 flood warnings in place from Reading

in the west to Thames Ditton in the east. And with more rain forecast

overnight there are fears the flooding could be prolonged. Let's

join Sarah Harris, who's in Marlow this evening.

You can see the river is still flowing very fast behind me. It has

been raining very heavily over the last few hours. That is a big worry

for people whose homes have been flooded because the ground is still

saturated. After a lot of optimism over the weekend that those water

levels had reached their peak, for those who have been affected, life

is a long way from getting back to normal. The amphibious motor was

bought for a bit of fun. Over the last few days, it served a much more

practical purpose, transporting stranded neighbours in the flooded

village of rays bring near Windsor. It does not go very fast. It will

not go against a very strong flow. For this kind of occasion, it is

ideal. It has helped a few people out. It certainly has. Every time

there is another downpour, it is a worry for residents. The ground is

still so saturated. People are trying to get back to normal. The

Melbourne has managed to get through with two pints of milk. Not much

chance of him making it to the doorstep of the property. To do

that, he would a boat. This landlord had to use a different mode of

transport to rescue his tenants over the weekend as the floodwaters

surrounded the windmill home. We managed to get through with a JCB

digger. We brought it down the flooded road. It was the only

vehicle that could get down. I put some blankets in the front bucket

and loaded them in from the doorstep of the windmill. They put as much

stuff as they could carry in the front pocket. I lifted them up and

got them out. Being housebound in the village still has its own

challenges. What happens when the water comes up, obviously, the

drains do not work. Without going into detail, certain things do not

work. It is very primitive inside. Of course, we have had to shift up

all the furniture onto bricks. What is known as the Blitz spirit is much

in evidence here. The villages have come together to help each other and

make the most of what has been a wet and difficult start to the year.

And for those people who have been flooded, their thoughts are turning

to not only how this will affect their insurance policies, but also

their house prices. Questions also about where new houses are being

built. It wasn't exactly a Merry Christmas

from the Middleton family. Forced from their home in Reigate in Surrey

as the floods took hold. They had to grab what they could and leave

immediately. Santa will find us at the hotel. Two weeks on, I caught up

with the family of four, still living out of a suitcase. They are

trying to juggle life, mainly in a car and a hotel room. Back at their

house, and the water has finally gone, but with it, the full picture

of damages are merging. If we want to sell the house, the value will

have fallen and the insurance doesn't cover that. And what if

insurers decide they don't want to insure us any more? Those are our

biggest worries. The latest area to be hit is to the west of London

along the banks of the Thames. This park in Sunbury is underwater.

Ordinarily, there is just a small trickle of water next to me, and

then grass all the way to the river. The first problem is how long it

will take this water to recede. That could be many weeks, and only then

will the clear rock begin. Already, the questions have begun about the

need for better planning. We have been building in the flood plain and

we really haven't been building in such a way to take account for what

looked like I going to be more frequent floods. Satellite imagery

is providing the authorities with the bigger picture about how the

flood could spread. You can see that the river is very flooded. Armed

with this information, they can plan future defences. We are in the early

days of exploiting this imagery to the fullest. As we have more

information about what is on the ground, we are finding new ways to

interpret these images to identify problem areas. The question then is

where to build. London has an acute shortage of housing, after all. This

is one of the leading flood experts. I am concerned about some

of the building is taking `` that is taking place, particularly when we

know it is on flood land. We need to look at that more in future ` how we

design our societies if we are having to live with this increased

risk of flooding. The past fortnight has shown the areas most vulnerable,

and the pressing need to get flood defences right.

Let's put some of those points to Barry Russell from the Environment

Agency. It has been a tough New Year for your staff, but a lot tougher

for people whose homes have been flooded. People are saying your

agency can't cope. It has been a tough time for everyone associated

with the flooding. It isn't a nice thing to happen. We have seen over

600 properties flooded, but 240 properties have been protected by

our flood defences. After a flood, we look to see what else can be done

and where new defences can be built. At the moment, we've had a bit of

respite in the rain. Our operations team has `` has been out making the

water as free`flowing as possible. Waite later in the week, how would

you cope with even more rain, when people have lost confidence in you?

It does mean that the ground is unable to take the water as it comes

down as it would do normally. So that water makes its way into the

water courses quickly. We have had some more rain this afternoon, and

more forecast on Wednesday, but the river levels have started to reduce

the Thames, so there is more capacity there. The biggest hope

seems to be that it will not rain. With the agency facing millions of

pounds worth of cuts, if we are looking at this kind of weather over

the next few years, are we going to see more of this flooding and misery

for people? We will see that our defences are going to be tested as

we go forward. It is going to be difficult for everyone, but we look

to provide those defences as we go forward. I should just reiterate, 28

flood warning system in place, so caution is advised.

Thank you. And there's more on the flooding on

Inside Out London ` tonight at 7:30pm here on BBC One.

The army's first Muslim chaplain has publicly challenged the view that

the UK and US are waging war against Islam. Asim Hafiz, who's based at

Wellington Barracks, has been speaking to the BBC about his role

helping the 600 Muslim soldiers serving in the British army. Poonam

Taneja reports. This is where Asim Hafiz works.

Wellington Barracks, yards away from Buckingham Palace, is where the

British Army's first Imam advises the military's top brass. My role

isn't about furthering conflict, it is about reducing conflict and

supporting people. There are about 650 Muslims serving

in the Armed Forces, so is there any conflict about being a Muslim and

fighting for Britain? I have never had anybody come to me and say, I am

going to Afghanistan, I'm worried about killing a Muslim. Because the

issue isn't about taking the life of someone of a particular faith. It is

about taking life. Four. What would you say to someone who did see

operations in Iraq or Afghanistan as a problem? There is no doubt

misunderstanding is out there, amongst the Muslim community, that

this is somehow a war against Islam. But the military is out there trying

to support Afghanistan, to support the Afghan people, and they are not

there fighting, necessarily, a religion or a culture. As one of the

most prominent Muslims in the British armed forces, he has

challenged violent extremism in the UK, and condemned the murder of

Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich. These are people who are not

educated necessarily. They have not necessarily studied Islam. They have

no appreciation of what the faith is about. To consider an unarmed

individual, in a time of peace, to be a legitimate target for murder is

absolutely unacceptable, and there was nothing within Islam that will

justify that kind of behaviour. After enjoying some of the highest

TV viewing figures of last year, Strictly Come Dancing, complete with

celebrities, professional dancers and, of course, the judges, is

taking to the road. Our entertainment correspondent, Brenda

Emmanus, popped in on rehearsals in London to see how final preparations

for the Strictly Tour were going. A host of celebrities transformed

from novice to highly competent dancers. That, along with the

costume and drama, has been part of the Strictly Come Dancing success.

This is a far cry of the excitement of the Strictly Come Dancing

studio, but it is here that the professionals and celebrities are

working themselves up to a sweat as they prepare for the live tour. It's

sweat pants, not sequins, for the stars and professionals rehearsing a

group dance for their live performances around the country.

This is all about giving back to the public, because we only have about

600 seats in the studio. About 1.3 million people applied for tickets,

so this is the way of getting the tour out there so that people can

see what we do. They have kept the competitive element. Is that good

for you? It is good for me. You are not competitive at all! As with the

TV show, the celebrities and their professional dance partners compete

by performing a series of routines for the judges and the audience.

This is an entertainment show, and there are so many things that go

with that, as well as the dancing. But doing the dancing, you find a

joy you didn't really know existed beforehand. To go over the routines

we did so many times with Westlife, I am looking forward to it.

Strictly's reigning champion is delighted with the opportunity to

continue performing. It is so important `` so amazing, learning to

dance and performing every week. We had so much fun. When you go out

clubbing, everyone is going to look at you differently! There's going to

be expectations! No pressure. When the wine is there, no pressure! The

tour goes out in January and February.

Time for the weather. We saw the scene in Marlow. How is this week

looking? It just keeps on going. There is

more rain forecast this week. The day started with such promise, but

there has been rain this afternoon, and there is more on the way as we

go through this week. This tells the story of the day at first, but

through the afternoon, we had some isolated showers. The band that came

through just in time for rush`hour was really quite heavy. That has

moved away now for the most part, but there are a few showers dotted

around behind that flow, so a few more could come through during the

first part of the night. In between them, there will be just about

enough sky that is clear for a little bit of ice to form on

countryside roads, parts of Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Surrey.

He and there, on countryside roads that haven't been treated. That's

something to be aware of overnight. Another of `` another cluster of

showers working their way up from the south, circulating around

through the early areas `` early hours of the morning. Those showers

still with us first thing. It gives us quite a damp start to the day.

The best of the sunshine will always be to the west of London, even when

those showers have cleared through. There will be a fair amount of cloud

left behind. After that, the next lot comes through. We have a warm

front on Tuesday night, and a cold front after that. So there will be

more rain in the forecast as we go through Tuesday night into

Wednesday. Thank you very much.

A recap of the main headlines: Local councils are being offered millions

of pounds if they back controversial fracking schemes. Under new

Government proposals they could double the amount they raise in

business rates and collect more money from the drilling companies

themselves. You can see more on the day of

stories on our website. I'll be back with the latest for you during the

News at Ten. Have a lovely evening. Goodbye.