01/05/2014

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:00:00. > :00:13.pressure for change. That's all from us. Now on

:00:14. > :00:17.Good evening. An inquiry has begun into allegations of widespread

:00:18. > :00:20.sexual abuse at one of London's top private schools. BBC London has

:00:21. > :00:23.learned that around 100 former pupils at St Paul's School in Barnes

:00:24. > :00:29.and its prep school, Colet Court, have come forward with allegations

:00:30. > :00:41.spanning years. It has led to 18 former teachers being investigated.

:00:42. > :00:47.Chris Rogers has the details. Last year, an Ofsted inspection described

:00:48. > :00:51.the quality of learning at this ?10,000 a year school as

:00:52. > :00:55.exceptional. Now, the school is at the centre of a sex abuse

:00:56. > :01:00.investigation. 100 victims and potential witnesses have come

:01:01. > :01:04.forward, as new evidence has emerged about 18 former teachers. Some of

:01:05. > :01:10.them are no longer alive. The allegations date from the 1960s up

:01:11. > :01:13.until 1990. Many former pupils were inspired to step forward following

:01:14. > :01:18.the recent arrests of three men with a connection to the school. In

:01:19. > :01:22.February a 65`year`old man was arrested on suspicion of sexual

:01:23. > :01:25.assault. Last year a 57`year`old man was arrested on suspicion of

:01:26. > :01:30.indecent images. Both have been released on bail. Last June, a

:01:31. > :01:35.59`year`old man was arrested on suspicion of sexually grooming a

:01:36. > :01:42.child. He was later released it is believed Alan Doggett, a choirmaster

:01:43. > :01:46.at Colet Court, is among the 18 former teachers. This photo was

:01:47. > :01:51.taken in 1978 as he left a police station where he had just been

:01:52. > :01:55.charged with the alleged assault of a ten`year`old boy. He threw himself

:01:56. > :02:01.under a train before his case got to court. A decade earlier, he had been

:02:02. > :02:10.working at Seleka lake. `` at St Paul's. Now, I am aware that a

:02:11. > :02:16.significant number of people have all come forward. If it was only one

:02:17. > :02:21.or two, then there might be some room for belief, but I do not

:02:22. > :02:30.believe that number of stories could all be false. He escaped trial, but

:02:31. > :02:34.the paedophile unit have told BBC London that dead or alive, every

:02:35. > :02:39.teacher and every allegation will be investigated. The focus is justice

:02:40. > :02:42.for any potential victim. Katharine Carpenter is outside the school for

:02:43. > :02:51.us tonight. Katharine what have the school had to say about the

:02:52. > :02:55.allegations? In a statement, St Paul's says it is fully cooperating

:02:56. > :03:00.with the police investigation. These allegations have been described as

:03:01. > :03:03."non`recent", but the Met says that due to the complexity of the

:03:04. > :03:09.investigation, it is being handled by a specialist unit, which is being

:03:10. > :03:12.headed up by Detective Inspector David Gray, who has also been in

:03:13. > :03:18.charge of Operation Yewtree, a separate investigation into

:03:19. > :03:21.allegations of sexual abuse by celebrities. Tonight, the Met says

:03:22. > :03:27.it believes there are still potential other victims and

:03:28. > :03:29.witnesses in relation to the alleged incidents at the school. A hotline

:03:30. > :03:41.has been set up for former pupils. A hospital trust in Berkshire has

:03:42. > :03:45.been placed into special measures after health inspectors found the

:03:46. > :03:48.quality of care to be "inadequate". They also raised serious concerns

:03:49. > :03:58.about bullying and racial harassment at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough.

:03:59. > :04:02.Here's Emma north. It is a hospital with a reputation.

:04:03. > :04:07.Budget shortfalls, too many changes in management, have all meant Wexham

:04:08. > :04:11.Park Hospital in Slough is a place where bad care has come to be

:04:12. > :04:16.expected, as one former patient claims. One morning I might have

:04:17. > :04:21.drugs removed, which were being administered to me, but I would be

:04:22. > :04:27.offered them again that same night, because the notes for me on a

:04:28. > :04:32.medical basis were not clear enough. The Care Quality Commission pulled

:04:33. > :04:43.an open cheese. It described a culture of bullying and harassment

:04:44. > :04:47.on the wards. `` pulled no punches. I think the inconsistent leadership

:04:48. > :04:51.has been a long`standing issue at Wexham Park Hospital. It is not new.

:04:52. > :04:56.However, the organisation needs to take hold of the issues and start

:04:57. > :05:00.making some quick improvements. We need to apologise for the failings

:05:01. > :05:05.in the report, and I do that unreservedly on behalf people come

:05:06. > :05:08.to work in a difficult environment and at times maybe they are not as

:05:09. > :05:13.motivated as they could be. However I think we now see a lot of areas

:05:14. > :05:17.where staff are highly motivated. The report is clear that the vast

:05:18. > :05:21.majority of care is good. During our visit, none of the staff or patients

:05:22. > :05:26.we spoke to seemed remotely surprised at the news. We saw one

:05:27. > :05:31.nurse getting told off, having left drugs lying around by the bed of a

:05:32. > :05:35.patient. However, within this sprawling complexes there are

:05:36. > :05:38.pockets of good care. We have managed to retain a lot of staff who

:05:39. > :05:43.have been here for a long time and developed a good service. As new

:05:44. > :05:47.things have come in, we have managed to take it on board with lots of

:05:48. > :05:54.clinical engagement, including spa support staff and everybody. It is

:05:55. > :05:58.expected this trust will be absorbed into another trust, so that the

:05:59. > :06:01.stigma of special measures will be cut and staff might want to work

:06:02. > :06:05.here, and the place could be offered a fresh start. Thousands of union

:06:06. > :06:09.members have staged a May Day march in memory of the former RMT Leader

:06:10. > :06:12.Bob Crow and the Labour MP Tony Benn ` who both died earlier this year.

:06:13. > :06:15.Supporters marched to Trafalgar Square to pay tribute, and hail the

:06:16. > :06:18.men as leaders who fought for workers' rights. Mr Crow's daughter,

:06:19. > :06:21.Natasha, led tributes to her father and the veteran Labour politician,

:06:22. > :06:28.who were aged 52 and 88 respectively.

:06:29. > :06:44.I think it will be drier, and eventually brighter as well,

:06:45. > :06:48.tomorrow. Still plenty of chance to get wet through this evening, with

:06:49. > :06:52.heavy bursts of rain. But gradually overnight that will tend to Peter

:06:53. > :06:57.out. We keep the cloudy skies, meaning it will be a relatively mild

:06:58. > :07:04.night. We can expect grey skies to start with tomorrow. Still the

:07:05. > :07:08.chance of one or two light showers. Eventually, as I mentioned, we will

:07:09. > :07:14.start to see that cloud breaking up into the afternoon and evening,

:07:15. > :07:18.leaving a fine end to the day. Notice those winds coming in from

:07:19. > :07:20.the north`east, which will bring in colder air as we go into tomorrow

:07:21. > :07:28.night, and there is of frost around for many of us.

:07:29. > :07:31.Gardeners, take note. The Bank Holiday Weekend, pretty optimistic

:07:32. > :07:31.on that at the moment, that there will be

:07:32. > :07:40.on that at the moment, that there will be some sunshine around. More

:07:41. > :07:45.on that in the national forecast. Our weather is taking a turn for the

:07:46. > :07:50.colder. You would be forgiven for thinking that does not bode well for

:07:51. > :07:53.the Bank Holiday Weekend. But as we go through the weekend, temperatures

:07:54. > :07:58.will be performing a U-turn, and recovering, as we will see. England

:07:59. > :08:00.and Wales has borne the brunt of some heavy downpours,