09/04/2014 BBC London News

become a distraction. Now it is time to join the news teams

Tonight on BBC London News. On the day a man is cleared of the murder

of PC Keith Blakelock during the Broadwater Farm riots in 1985, we're

in Tottenham looking back at how the community was affected by events

that night. You cannot keep on putting a community down for

something that happened so long ago. We hear from the Met as the family

continues its fight for justice. Also tonight. An inquest into the

death of a cyclist killed at Bow Roundabout hears she jumped a red

light. Campaigners say the lights are confusing and dangerous.

The Government reveals its compensation package for the

thousands living on the route of HS2.

Plus, fresh from his award`winning success in 12 Years A Slave ` actor

Chiwetel Ejiofor on his latest film with fellow Londoner, Thandie

Newton. Good evening. Tonight, a jury at the

Old Bailey cleared a man of killing PC Keith Blakelock during the

Broadwater Farm riots in 1985. Nicholas Jacobs, who was 16 at the

time, denied murdering the Met officer ` who was on duty that

night. Tonight Scotland Yard defended its decision to bring the

case. I am proud of the work that

detectives have done over the past 14 years. There was no CCTV, no

forensics, and the only witnesses were people involved in writing. It

was always going to be a tricky case. We will continue to

investigate. For Tottenham the legacy of that one night is ever

present on the estate where the policeman was murdered ` stabbed 43

times during the riots. So how has the community there emerged from the

shadow of such a tragedy? The Old Bailey trial of Nicholas

Jacobs open old wounds in Tottenham. But on the estate where

the events of 1985 when PC Blacklock was murdered, time has seen great

change. Since 1981 Mr Sterling has seen both disaster and progress. No

one wanted to play us and we had to get permission from the league.

People would come and look at safety before any team would come. But has

been disciplined put into what we do here. And we have created hundreds

of young men who have gone on to professional foot wall. And some

have gone into legal service, athletics and other things. Since

the Broadwater Farm rides and the murder of PC Keith Blacklock, this

estate has been completely overhauled. Many of the people who

lived here at the time of moved on and the physical infrastructure has

been radically transformed. But the stigma of those rights still haunts

this community. The local borough police commander has come with a

mission to continue improving relations between police and

community. It is a history that is not going to disappear. And it

should not do because we need to remember it. But we should not be

bound by it. Bound in a way that prevents us doing the engagement.

Because it is the right thing to do. Not because we're doing it to

prevent another break down in relationship. The chair of the

residents association who lives in a block were disaster struck in 1995

`` 1985, says the weight of the past is still prevented this community

from moving on. What happened in 1985, losing a police officer, is

not in any one's interest. Broadwater Farm is a community and

we want to live. Will `` we want life here, not death. We want people

to speak positively of us. There are good things happening here. So when

we sleep we can feel we are in a lovely community. But there is a

sense in which realistic expectations are challenging the

prejudices that thwarted police and community relations in the past. I

think it is now time to start dealing with some intensity and some

gusto and move forward. As a police officer and as a human being I

completely agree with what the majority of residents say, we would

love to get into a place where we can move on. Never forget the

tragedy but use that as a spur to build a stronger relationship and

stronger understanding. You cannot keep on putting a community down for

something that happened so long ago. I think that is also wrong. Away

from Broadwater Farm where PC Blacklock's Memorial stands at

Muswell Hill, it will remain as a permanent reminder of the tragedy

that his family continued to endure as long as his killers are not

found. Kurt Barling is in Tottenham for us now. What have you been

hearing in terms of reactions to the verdict? I was in court for the

verdict. After six weeks of the trial, waiting for the verdict is a

lot of tension in the court room. And today the family of PC Blacklock

waited on tenterhooks for the jury to deliver their verdict, as did the

defendant Nicky Jacobs. The moment the verdict was given, not guilty

for murder, not guilty for manslaughter, you could see the

disappointment etched on the faces of PC Blacklock's family. You could

also see the tension on the defendant, Nicky Jacobs, now a man

who is going to be free. The tension of having lived with that

possibility of being sent to jail for something the jury has found he

did not do for nearly 30 years. With Wogan to many people including the

MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, and he too has been speaking to the

family for many years. This is what he had to say. My thoughts are with

the Blacklock family who have endured 20 years of a search for

justice and feel no closer tonight. My heart goes out to them as the

wife and children of PC Keith Laycock. But this case was the case

that was poor in its evidence. There were many inconsistencies. Witnesses

were paid and anyone who followed this case thought the probably there

would be a verdict of not guilty. 29 years ago I found myself on the edge

of this estate as the riots were taking place. I followed this case

for nearly 30 years. I have lived and worked on this estate, through

documentaries and programmes, this programme, for example. And all the

time there has been this tension with the shadow of the murder of PC

Keith Laycock hanging over it. The earnest hope now on this estate from

the people who live here and remember many of them were not here

when the riots happened. Any more will not even born when it happened.

There are earnest hope is that finally they can draw a line at this

terrible saga and their lives can move on. Not far from here in

Muswell Hill the Memorial of PC Blacklock will be a permanent

reminder that the man lost his life in those terrible riots and still

the killers of PC Blacklock have not been found. It will be on the

conscience of those who did that terrible deed. There can be no

excuse for it. Stay with us. Still to come. I'm in

Greenwich for a taste of the tall ships Festival in September which

promises to be the greatest spectacle in London since the

Olympics. The Government's announced a new

compensation scheme for people living along the route of the

proposed High Speed two rail link from London to Birmingham. Some

homeowners and small businesses will receive money ` even if they don't

want to move. Nick Beake is here with more details. Ministers are

saying it's an "improved package". But not everyone's convinced? The

ministers said they appreciate the concerns of people living along the

route. But so many people are angry and worried about what could be

coming. The government is proposing, from today if you live

within 60 metres of the line you can apply for the government to buy your

house or small business of the full on blighted market value plus 10%.

Up to a maximum of 47,000 pounds. There is also another proposal in

the future, if you live within 60 `` 120 metres of the track in the

so`called rural area are basically north of Ruislip, if you do not want

to sell the state will pay cash compensation of 10% of the market

value up to a maximum of 100 thousand pounds. There is also Red

Planet if live within 120 metres and 300 metres of the line will be

offered up to 20 two thousand pounds on a sliding scale depending on how

far away you live from the line. Ministers today argued that this

represents a fair deal. To be in a situation where if your house is to

be taken, you're getting paid the on blighted value of that value `` of

that property. And your various moving costs. That should keep

people call. And what about the reaction from campaigners. Today

they said it amounts to disgraceful spin and that many people along the

route will not be compensated at all. There is quite a strong feeling

that Londoners will miss out at the expense of some of those

traditionally conservative supporters, the rural areas will

benefit at the expense of the urban areas. The government make it sound

like it is a generous package but there are many stipulations and

criteria for people to meet. And a lot of people in London will not

benefit from any of those packages. So those amended plans on

compensation side are now being consulted on and the hope is as far

as the government are concerned that they will come into effect at the

end of the year. Four people have been arrested after

three women were attacked with a hammer in a central London hotel.

The women were set upon after a man entered a room on the seventh floor

of the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, where they and three children

were sleeping on Sunday night. Three men from Islington have been

detained on suspicion of attempted murder and a woman has also been

arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

The victims of an alleged attempted kidnap and robbery by the police

have spoken exclusively to BBC London News of their horror at

finding out they were targeted. Confidential documents seen by this

programme show how some officers from the Met's elite flying squad

were suspected of a conspiracy to kidnap in the mid`90s. The couple

allegedly targeted had already been victims of a separate plot that the

officers were investigating. They are the secret Metropolitan Police

corruption files need to have been shredded in 2003. The contents, a

suspected plot by flying squad officers in the mid`1990s to abduct

the wife of a security van driver. His house keys will be taken and one

of the gang will return with his wife of Matt Brind. This scenario

has allegedly been used on one other occasion by the officer when he

netted ?40,000. The film was that security van driver said to have

been targeted by corrupt detect this. We traced him to this quiet

South London address. Pleased to meet you. This is the first time he

has read the secret police corruption reports about him being

the target of an alleged kidnap by detectives. You are met to trust

these people. They are ignored protection against things like this.

To get this right, it was flying squad officers who came to see you

after the first robbery. Yes. And you recognised some names in those

files. Yes. The same names. The same names. Yes. Definitely. Days after

John was held up by an armed gang he was visited by two officers from the

flying squad, there to supposedly tried to solve a security van

robbery. But according to the anti`corruption files, there are

real and tension was allegedly to kidnap John 's and forcing to hand

over ?50,000. How does it make you feel, knowing the very people you

thought were going to protect you and your partner were plotting to do

the crime themselves again? I'm shocked and disgusted. I am

disgusted. I literally and disgusted. They are meant to be the

people you can trust. We want to know the lot. I still in danger.

They should have explained it. You feel that you have been failed?

Definitely. And reading this, yes, I have been failed. Drastically.

Because as I said, these are the people you trust. To find out they

were going to do it again. The kidnap was only thwarted when senior

officers learned of the weeks before it was due to take place. What is

extraordinary is that this is not police officers giving the proceeds

of someone else's criminal act. If this is true it is police officers

conspiring to commit a really serious criminal offence themselves.

The kind of offence that the rest of their colleagues were fighting hard

against full stop that is what is so awful. Held at gunpoint and robbed

once, then shown secret corruption files, the police officers had

planned to do it to you again. For people like this, they wear a

uniform, they have got a badge and they are met to protect us. They

treat us like this. In a statement from the Met given to us, it says it

must be deeply disturbing to hear from the media that you were the

intended target of a kidnap plot that was disrupted by the police. If

this were to happen today, we would consider working within current

legislation to inform people that they were under threat if it was

appropriate. In November last year, a 24`year`old Russian became one of

six cyclists to die in the capital in a two`week period.

She was hit by a lorry at Bow roundabout on her way to work. Today

an inquest heard that it is most likely she jumped a red light,

something disputed by the family and campaigners who say the lights there

are confusing and dangerous. Our transport correspondent Tom Edwards

reports. She was the third cyclist to die at

the notorious Bow roundabout, one of six who died over a fortnight last

year. The Met told an inquest it was most likely she jumped a red light

and then collided with a left turning HGV. Outside court,

disbelief. I do not think she jumped a red light because she was always

suspicious about this roundabout and she doubted it. She thought that

road is dangerous? Yes. Do you think that road is safe? I think the

design was meant to be good, but it was not safe. She died on the

Mayor's cycle superhighway two which encourages cyclists to use this

route. The Met analysed data from the lorry and on the balance of

probabilities experts thought she went into the lorry blindspot after

jumping a red light. The coroner agreed, but there was no CCTV. The

system is safer than it was before, but it relies on all road users,

both drivers of motor vehicles and cyclists, complying with the red

lights. That system is known as early start light that gives

cyclists a head start. They had been in place only a week and campaigners

say they are confusing. So cyclists stopped at a green light and go

through and some see the green light for cars and think it is for them.

Even if she went through the red light, we do not know whether that

was disregard for the law or confusion. The coroner said it was

important to be open and honest about the cause of this collision so

other cyclists are aware of what's dangerous behaviour contravening a

red light is and the potentially devastating consequences. TfL has

modernised and modified the roundabout since the death with

lower traffic lights. The Met says with more cyclists are being

encouraged to use it, constant review is needed.

Buses are to become cash free from Sunday the 6th of July. TfL says

ending cash payments for tickets will save around ?130 million. Only

1% of people use cash to pay for bus travel with over 11 million journeys

made using contactless payment cards.

Up to 40,000 homes in London are at risk of flooding. A report says

hundreds of miles of the capital's rivers have been boxed in by

concrete and that is a flood risk. It says more investment is needed to

open up the waterways. We have got 600 kilometres of rivers in London,

tiny rivers all over the place, but we do not know about them is because

they are in tunnels and it is time to take them out of the tunnels and

the culverts, so they can expand and there is the reduced risk of

flooding further downstream. Staying with the River because in five

months' time London will host what is being billed as the biggest event

here since the Olympics. It is a regatta bringing 50 tall ships from

Cornwall to Greenwich and there will be a variety of performances and

events along the Thames. All hands on deck aboard Tolkien,

one of 50 tall ships heading this way in September. It will be the

first regatta of its kind in London for a quarter of a century and

includes arrays all along the south coast, around the Isle of White and

along the Thames. It is likely to be a proud moment for this part of

London, famous for is Maritimo history. This is the old Naval

College, home of the Cutty Sark. It will be a temporary home for some of

the ships during the festival stalk. This is the place that Nelson

and Chichester and Ellen MacArthur came back to after their world

voyagers. In Greenwich they are expecting an audience of hundreds of

thousands with free shows all along the shoreline. Division will be in

comparable, but there are other things around that like spectacular

events in Greenwich and Woolwich. There will be a sense of that same

moment that we had in 2012 of people coming together and experiencing

this amazing part of the world. It will be an amazing experience for

the young people taking part. Susie Cooper worked on a tall ship last

year and now she is encouraging others to get involved. You learn

how to helm the boat, and we climbed the rigging and did the sales and

cleaned the decks and there are so many different life skills and

opportunities that you would never get the opportunity due living in

London. If your sea legs do not fancy the flotilla, there will be

plenty more to do on shore. He has been the talk of Hollywood since his

award`winning performance in the film 12 Years A Slave. Now Chiwetel

Ejiofor is starring in the adaptation of the novel film one as

Half Of A Yellow Sun, alongside Sandy Newton. Brenda Emmanus caught

up with the actor who never thought he would be in the movies.

Set in Nigeria during the 60s, Half Of A Yellow Sun is an adaptation. It

is the latest screen outing for Chiwetel Ejiofor who stars as a

revolutionary professor in a love story that follows the lives of four

people caught up in the Nigerian Civil War. Is it a book that you

have read and loved? Yes, I did, not long after it came out my mother

read the book and she introduced me to it. I was completely taken with

it. What is it about this story in the book that makes perfect film

fodder? The interpersonal relationships and the war in itself

being a backdrop to what is happening to these people and how

they are developing and have their relations are developing. What is

happening in Lagos? His defining role will no doubt be the one in 12

Years A Slave and he his still coming to terms with its huge

success and Oscar win. It was very engaging and an all`encompassing

moment, but we are deeply proud of the film and proud it was received

in such a spectacular way and we are thrilled about it. I am not sure I

will ever come down from that. He has managed parallel success as a

stage actor. I love the theatre and I started in the theatre and I

assumed I was only going to be a theatre actor. That was my

aspiration when I was a teenager and beyond that. And so the transition

into film almost caught me by surprise. It was working with Steven

Frears that I found another language and another voice in the cinema. He

is rumoured to be the next Bond villain, but until then he will be

tempting audiences when Half Of A Yellow Sun is released this Friday.

Philip has joined us with a look at the weather. It looked beautiful on

the Thames earlier on. I was very envious. I saw the tall

ships on the Clyde last year and it was a fantastic display.

It was about 17 degrees in London today and there is a dry spell to

come overnight. It might have an impact on the temperatures. This is

the way the cloud shaped up across the British Isles. It was always at

its worst in the Western Isles of Scotland. As the day went on we

developed a bit of cloud. Some of it will hang on during the course of

the night. Just a bit of a breeze. If the skies stay clear for any

length of time, that is where we will see these temperatures going

down rather than up. Nine in the centre of town, subscribers will not

have any worries here. You may see a bit of shallow mist to start

Thursday. But if you avoid both of those perils, dry and fine and sunny

on into the early part of the afternoon. You might see a shower in

the north`west of the region. The temperatures are yet again pretty

much on a par with today. Possibly 17 degrees. There may well be a

change as we get through Thursday night and into Friday. There is a

weather front coming down across the British Isles. Then it is dry and

fine again. The wind has gone around a bit more into the north, so there

might be a fresher feel. Can we keep the dry weather into the weekend?

Yes, we can. 16 or 17. If you have got thoughts about the marathon, 17

sounds a bit steamy, and I know you are running at some point, we could

be looking at 17 late on. Don't say that! The main headlines:

Maria Miller has resigned as Culture Secretary after facing a week of

criticism over claiming too much money on her expenses. She has been

replaced by the Treasury minister. A jury at the Old Bailey has cleared a

man of the murder of PC Blake Locke 28 years ago.

Nicky Jacobs had been accused of attacking the officer.

The Government has announced a compensation scheme for people

living along the route of the HS2 rail link. Some home owners and

businesses will see money even if they do not want to move. More on

the website. From us, thank you very much for watching and have a lovely

evening. 'But mostly,

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