31/01/2014 BBC London News

so it's goodbye from me, and on BBC so it's goodbye from me, and on BBC

priority. This afternoon, Bill to legally under pin David I

priority. This afternoon, Bill to One we can now join the BBC's news

teams where you are. Tonight on BBC London News: Boris Johnson and Bob

Crowe still poles apart as next week's Tube strike looms.

The Mayor and RMT leader say they're both prepared to meet but what will

it take to get them around the table?

Also tonight, life in prison for the gang who stabbed to death a

16`year`old on an estate in Pimlico. The number of new builds increases,

but critics say it's nowhere near enough to deal with the housing

crisis. And being gay in the Premier League

` the new play about the difficulties of coming out in the

beautiful game. Good evening and welcome to the

programme. The Mayor says he'll negotiate with

the RMT if they call off the strike. Bob Crowe says he'll come to the

table if Boris Johnson cancels plans to close almost all of the Tube's

ticket offices. There are four days to go until 48 hours of Tube strikes

that are likely to bring major disruption to London, and both sides

seem as far apart as ever. Meanwhile, both are claiming they

have the public backing. Here's Karl Mercer.

This afternoon it was only the wind and rain Londoners had to content

with as they made their way around, but Ings are about to get worse,

with unions threatening to walk out in four days over plans to shut

every ticket office on the chew. Prospects for the strike being

called off do not look great, and were not helped today when Transport

for London released details of the survey it said showed the public

supported closure plans. The unions called it bogus. We have made

ourselves available to talk on any subject whenever they like, and we

are there to talk to them to help get this nonsense called off. The

union have said they think it is time for the mayor to step in. Do

you think his influence might be helpful? We have been talking to the

unions about our proposals, things we want to do. What the mayor does

is a matter for him. And this is what the mayor has done, and likely

to endear him to Bob Crow. But then the off the first meeting.

`` the offer of a first meeting. What chance of that? We have been

waiting to meet Boris Johnson four`year is, and suddenly he

appears just like that. I don't think that is really what this is

about. We need senior managers around the table, which we have been

doing, to try to listen to us. They have to suspend the implementation

of 1000 job cuts and booking office closures, get round the table and

take the pressure off us, off the staff, and we can talk about these

things. For the past two weeks, there have been meetings at this

central London hotel with the conciliation service, trying to find

a way out of this dispute. Both sides publicly say they want the

strike called off. Rightly, the two sides are as far apart as ever. ``

privately. The Londoners, this may be the best way of getting to work

next week. Lets talk to our transport

correspondent. What is your take on the day's developments? It is normal

to see this kind of posturing and brinkmanship in the run`up to eight

tube strike. What is not normal is to see the mayor involved. It shows

how high the stakes are. As for the meeting, someone is going to have to

back down, whether it is on the Tube strikes or the ticket office

closures. At the moment, it is very difficult to see. How likely are the

strikes to go ahead? Everyone is asking that. At the moment, as

things stand, I think the strikes will go ahead. But feasibly we could

see more talks on Monday. The RMT have just put out a statement from

Bob Crow which says the process has not yet been exhausted. Perhaps a

softening of the language. You never know. Thank you.

Lots more to come, including: A lack of dignity in his dying days.

A daughter demands to know why her father was so poorly cared for in

hospital. Five men who stabbed a teenager to

death with meat cleavers and knives have been jailed for life today.

Hani Abou El Kheir was attacked by up to ten people as he walked

through an estate in Pimlico in January last year. The judge said

today the killers were involved in a drug`related turf war and the

victim, Hani, must have been "utterly terrified as the blows

rained down on him". Alex Bushill reports.

Sunday evening in January, and the 16`year`old is walking home with his

friend and girlfriend. Without warning, a pack of young men is set

upon him. The chase began. Glinting in the twilight, you can see the

weapons used to butcher him a few minutes later. It is still not clear

why they chose him. There is no evidence he was a gang member and

police confirmed he had no criminal record. The attack was sustained and

frenzied. He was stabbed with long knives and meat cleaver is over 20

times. Injuries were horrific. It was here that Hani realised what was

about to happen to him. He turned to see the ten strong gang coming for

him, armed to the teeth wearing balaclavas and hooded tops. He ran

but only got as far as Lupus Street around the corner before he was set

upon, bludgeoned, knifed, stabbed. Local residents saw it all, just a

stones throw from Pimlico Tube station. Members of public gave

first aid, but he died a little later in hospital. Today, five men

were sentenced for their part in his killing. One cannot be named for

legal reasons. One was armed with a meat cleaver. And one was a drug

dealer who boasted how he was moving up the criminal world. The oldest

will serve 27 years in prison. Outside court today, Hani's mother

asked a priest to speak on her behalf. I cannot face the truth of

Hani's death, and cannot get over the devastating image of my son

lying dead in the hospital. The thought of a future without him

leaves me brokenhearted. For her heart rate, five gang members out of

a possible ten were jailed. There remains a ?20,000 police reward for

information leading to the arrest of the others, for those responsible

for the cold`blooded butchering of a 16`year`old boy as he wandered home.

The judge said he must have been terrified as the blows rained down

on him. It's one of London's greatest

problems, how to provide enough homes for those who need them. Well,

new figures suggest there's been a big increase in the number of new

builds since last year. The Mayor has welcomed the news but most agree

the actual number of new homes is still far too low and doesn't come

anywhere near to tackling the housing crisis. Tarah Welsh reports.

More house building means more orders for this supplier and at

their warehouse in Croydon, they've been busy recently. In the last

year, it has really picked up and we have had a lot more business.

Importantly, our customers are telling us there is more business

and they have full order books. This has been one of our best months

ever. This business supplies plastics to large home`building

companies and to distort it is those big developers choosing to build in

the capital because of investors from overseas and here that has

caused this increase in house`building.

When a developer is ready to start building it registers the plot with

The National House`Building Council. Its figures show that more than

26,000 new homes were registered in the capital last year, compared to

over 16,000 in 2012. An increase of 60%. Looking back, that is the

highest since the early 1980s, at least 30 years, so a tremendous

increase in the number coming through. Those will turn into sales

in 2014 and 2015 for the larger tower blocks.

Boris Johnson said the figures are hugely encouraging but along with

other voices, says there's still more to do. If many more people want

a genuinely affordable home, we need bold solutions, including more

innovative ways of drawing in private finance and getting smaller

builders back into the market. We need social housing and we need to

look at innovative schemes like part rent, part by, for those who cannot

get a mortgage at the moment. While the supply of new homes seems

to have grown, the question is, will it ever meet the demand for housing

in the capital? A woman who claims her father was

neglected by staff at Barnet hospital says he died in inhumane

conditions. Frank Reuben suffered from a lung condition but after

going into hospital his daughter says he sustained bruising, and was

left in unsanitary conditions without a bed. Marc Ashdown has the

story. A lovely, kind, gentle man. Loved his family, adored his

grandchildren. He had a lung condition, hardening of the lung.

Unfortunately, he got a chest infection and was admitted to the

hospital about three weeks ago. He was on a very nice ward at one point

near the beginning, where the nurses were phenomenal and caring. Sadly,

he was moved to another ward. He was not being looked after. He was in

dirty robes all the time. He looked unkempt, miserable, and quite often

the shock of seeing him made me want to cry. It didn't smell my surround

the bedside and the nurses, or whoever, had not emptied the euro in

bottles and there were two full bottles that were just left there

and we don't know how long for. At one point, he was moved and in a

panic, she had to search for him. I found it heartbreaking. My dad was

sitting in this play with no bed, in a chair, shivering. A nurse came up

to me and said, excuse me, is this your father? I said, yes. She said,

we don't know who he is because he has been left here. Can we have his

name? Every time I went to ask the nurses how he had been, if he was

distressed cause of the oxygen, I was met with, I would say,

hostility. I would visit, stay with him, kiss him and hold his hand and

as soon as I left I would often get back into my car in the evening in

floods of tears. And I would worry, actually, because I didn't want to

leave him overnight, wondering how he would be looked after. She

complained and the hospital admitted Frank's treatment was not

acceptable. He died last Friday. It is too late for my dad, sadly, but

the thought that other patients can go through this... There are

patients with no relatives visiting them. It has left me terrified. We

did ask the hospital for an interview but they refused to come

on the programme. What have they said? The Acting Chief Executive,

Fiona Smith, said she apologises to Samantha and her family and has

launched an investigation. We are anxious to put right failing to the

quality of care and are working with staff on the ward to be clear about

expectations and to learn any lessons from the findings of this

investigation. The Care Quality Commission harmonic drink this case

as well. The big question was whether the treatment was a one`off

or symptomatically wider problems. Samantha says she asked other people

around the hospital visiting friends and relatives what was their

experience, and she says there were other problems, other people

reporting staff but being too scared to report it officially. That is

anecdotal but the Care Quality Commission and the trust say they

encourage patients with concerns to report them immediately, because

that is the only way to avoid tragic cases like this.

Still to come: We meet the capital's rugby stars hoping to lead their

countries to glory in the Six Nations.

And coming up, I am rustled to the we are here to talk about the sporty

play, the Pass. It's a week since a City trader was

shot and injured in a railway station car park in Essex, and today

detectives are appealing to commuters for help in finding the

gunman. Robin Clark was hit in the leg on his way to work. This

morning, officers returned to Shenfield as part of their

investigation. Felicity Simper sent this report.

5:30am at Shenfield station, and again commuters are being asked to

help. They are tax `` the attack, they believe, was targeted, but

why, is unclear. It was a week ago that Robin Clark strode into the car

park here at Shenfield railway station, parked his car and got out.

It was approached by a masked gunman, who shot him in the leg, and

he fell to the ground. This is the police's third appeal in a week.

Speaking to commuters at the station and on the trains, they are trying

to find people who knew Vista Clark. Their presence will highlight the

fact that somebody needs to come forward and give them information if

they have anything. You feel more secure, but yet again, it is just

scary. It is obviously a shocking thing to happen. You don't expect it

at this time of the morning. It seems like it was more of an

organised thing than a random thing, so I don't feel unsafe in any way.

While Robin Clark remains in hospital, the hunt for his attacker

continues. Police say they have already spoken to him at length but

they still need help and I gene anybody who knows why he was shocked

to come forward. `` are urging. Sport now, and with news of some of

the comings and goings on football's transfer deadline day, here's Chris

Slegg. The transfer window