06/05/2014 BBC London News

Goodbye from me. Now we joined the BBC's news teams where you are.

An investigation reveals Met Officers and staff breached data

protection law hundreds of times, in some cases passing on information to

criminals. They've been leak data or information to known criminals. Some

involving sexual offences. Serious criminal acts. Scotland Yard says

the offences were committed by a tiny percentage of its workforce.

Also tonight: After a three`day Tube strike is suspended, we ask if the

row over ticket office closures is over. On the campaign trail. Ed

Miliband tells Londoners what he can offer them ahead of this month's

elections. Plus, # I never thought it would happen

with me and a girl from Clapham... The former frontman of Squeeze on

going solo for 15 years and his love of South London.

Hello and a very good evening. A major investigation into the

Metropolitan Police has revealed officers and staff breached data

protection law 300 times over the last five years. In two cases,

confidential information was passed on to criminals. Now, there are

calls for Scotland Yard to review its security procedures. The Met

says the number of offenders is a tiny percentage of its workforce.

The Metropolitan Police is entrusted to uphold the law. Today, we learnt

how, in some cases, their own officers broke it. Abusing their own

IT systems and protocols and breaching data protection laws.

There have been 300 police breaches during nearly five years dating back

to 2009. Two`thirds were subject to formal action being taken, including

criminal prosecutions. Many cases involve using work computers or

smartphones to access online pornography. One police officer made

sexual comments about children on a website. A Special Constable posted

racist comments online. Amongst the most serious offences were, on two

separate occasionses officers leaking information to criminals,

include to a none gangster with links to firearms `` occasions and

known. This begs a simple question ` why did they escape criminal

prosecution? Leaking data or known information to known criminals.

Serious criminal acts. Therefore, they should be suspended from duty

there and then. They should have a chance to prove if they are innocent

or guilty in a court of law. No`one from the Met was available for

comment today. They released a statement in which they said they

had systems in place to learn any lessons needed. They weren't on to

say the `` went on to say the number of employees disciplined for mis se

represents 0.01% of those employed by the Met. Others argue that the

nature of this request is misleading in itself. We know a lot of them are

fairly trivial because some of the punishments are words of advice. The

reality is they are not all serious cases. By lumping them altogether it

make it is sound as if the cases are all of a serious nature. The

breaches are embarrassing for the Met. There are calls for the force

to review how it uses, stores and controls confidential information.

Lots more to come tonight, including: Could this pair of

pyjamas really help reduce the risk of MRSA? The latest trial at a south

London hospital. Millions of commuters breathed a shy of relief

after the three`day Tube strike was suspended. The planned walk`out was

because of a dispute over ticket office closures. Both the union and

London Underground are claiming significant progress has been made.

Where does this leave the prospect of future strikes? Here's our

transport correspondent, Tom Edwards. At last, some respite for

commuters. It's unlikely this is the end of the dispute. The Tube strike

is not on. Unnecessary chaos. London is busy enough. Keep the trains

working. With new technology we are making it easier for our customers

to plan and pay for their journsees. An agreement to start the biggest

changes in the history of the Tube. It seems all ticket offices will

close. 950 job losses. Part of the new deal, no redeployed staff will

have their pay cut. Nobody will lose any money in this programme. There

is no compulsory redundancies of course. Voluntary severance is open.

Anybody who wants a job can still have a job. There had been will be a

station by station review. Transport bosses say it won't include ticket

offices. The RMT union say it is will make a case to save them.

Today, the Mayor mentioned again another contentious area, driverless

trains. Ticket offices though will be shut. We will close 260 odd

ticket offices. Let us be clear about that. As we have said, at

mainline stations, really big stations, there will be of course a

role for visitor information centres or whatever. The traditional ticket

office is going to be a thing of the past. We haven't predetermined the

outcome. The people of London will be really worried about the Mayor of

London getting involved in very delicate situation and inflaming the

situation. He shouldn't be doing that. He should allow us to have

proper discussions and meaningful (inaudible) without determining the

outcome. The RMT is in the middle of a leadership contest. London

Underground ran half of all it services. It claimed today it would

with have imagined managed more this week. There is concern that

passengers have missed out on having a say. I would like to see the Mayor

talking to the trade unions. Like to see London Underground consulting

with commuters. Consulting with experts and with those who use the

Tubes to make sure of the best service possible that is affordable.

If you want an idea of what the Tube could look like in future. Look at

Paris. There are ticket offices, but only at the main stations. I'm used

to this kind of machinery. It's not an issue to not have the ticket

agent to buy tickets. It's better to have people selling tickets. There

is less and less human contact. You put your money in and get a ticket.

That is what you want no. This dispute still has the potential for

more strikes in the future. Tomorrow is here now `` Tom is here now. Good

news for the short`term. This process is far from over? I don't

think anyone at the RMT will claim it as a victory. I get the

impression there isn't really the appetite for more strikes over this

particular issue, ticket office closures. At best they have managed

to get pay protection. These close sure of the ticket offices, that

whole process is still going to be going on. I think this is just the

beginning. That is one way of looking at it. TFL have to cut their

budget by ?4.2 billion by 2020. For example, we have another dispute on

Friday over pay and pensions. Automated trains. That has also been

discussed today. That will be fiercely opposed. Commuters, I

think, will fear this is just the start. OK. Thank you. Detectives are

appealing for information following the death of a teenager in Brixton.

17`year`old Alim Uddin was found with stab wounds at Tilford House

yesterday evening. He was taken to hospital, but later died. A

16`year`old boy has been arrested in connection with his murder. A pair

of running shoes signed by Usain Bolt has been stolen in Croydon. The

trainers, worth around ?2 o o 0,000, were on display at a commercial

property. They were framed alongside a photo of the athlete after he set

a new world record five years ago. The luxury how tell chain,

Shangri`La, has opened its first UK hotel in London in the Shard. The

built on the 34th to 52nd floor, it hopes to attract travellers

particularly from Asia. All rooms will have ceiling to floor glass

windows. The most expensive suite cost ?14,000 a night. Ed Miliband

has been in Croydon drumming up support ahead of the local and euro

elections. The visit marks the launch of Labour's campaign to win

key seats in the capital. In the second of our interviews with the

party leaders, our political correspondent, Karl Mercer, has been

speaking to Mr Miliband about how he plans to attract the London vote.

Campaign launches can be strange affairs. Part politics, but plenty

of cheer leading. Ladies and gentlemen, the future Prime

Minister, my good friend, Ed Miliband. In a hand`picked room of

Labour supporters, Ed Miliband was very much preaching to the

converted. His big promise today was a crackdown on empty homes in London

with more powers promised for local councils. We are saying we will

increase the premium that councils can charge from 50% of council tax

to 100%. Charge it after a shorter period and end the nonsense of

people putting a chair in a home saying it's no longer empty. We have

massive housing crisis in London. Labour is talking about it and

showing how we will act. This is an important part of it. It's

scratching the surface of empty homes. If you say to a millionaire

developer we will charge you ??2,000 a year instead of ?1,000 it won't

make a huge difference. You are talking about 60,000 properties? We

need to build more homes. We are building 20,000 homes a year in

London at the moment, we should be building at least 60,000. We have to

go further on that. On your empty homes policy, you say it's a

scandal, 60,000 empty homes sitting here in London. Press releases,

13,000 are in Tory boroughs. 47,000 of these empty homes are in Labour

boroughs, which means Labour boroughs are sitting there not doing

enough to bring these empty homes back into use, does it not? Not at

all. What is happening is that Labour authorities are using the

maximum powers that they have. They are doing everything they can, the

government has offered them the powers. That is why you need a

Labour government. Earlier in the day he had been in Streatham,

clearly shocked at London's rising how prices. There was familiar

territory too in his message today. We will bring back the 50p rate of

tax for those earning over ?150,000. It is the right thing to do to

reverse David Cameron's millionaire's tax cut. Are you not

in danger of taxing those, the wealth creators in London, who

generate the wealth that makes this city and the British economy work I

think everyone in London is a wealth creator. I don't think wealth is

created by a few people at the top of our country. That is a big

difference. It's an argument we will have over the next year between us

and the Tories. They think the wealth creators are a few people who

work in our banks. Financial services is important. People who go

out in Croydon, do 60 hours a week, are as much wealth creators as

people at the top of our society. The Labour leader was among friends,

this time in Tower Hamlets. Reaching out beyond his party remains a

challenge. Some people will see you as being the problem to Labour's

success. They will look at you and say ` this is not a Prime Minister

in waiting. They can't imagine you leading the country. Let us have

that argument over the next year. I will look forward to that argument.

What you have seen with me over the last three`and`a`half years is

someone making arguments about how our country needs to change. Whether

it's on energy prices or the private rented sector or the living wage and

the cost`of`living crisis, it's me who has been leading the way. He

says he is leading the way. Will the voters follow on May 22nd? Now, as

we've been hearing, a violent armed robber, nicknamed the Skull Cracker,

has absconded from an open prison in Kent. Michael Wheatley failed to

return from day release. He's said to have been spotted in Twickenham

last night. In 2002 he was given 13 life sentences for carrying out a

spring of bank raids, ordered to serve at least eight years. The case

has raised questions about how and when prisoners are released. To

discuss this, with me now is jult Lyon from the Prison Reform Trust

and Mark Reckless, the Conservative MP for Rochester who would like to

see changes to sentencing. People will be shocked that someone who was

given 13 life sentences is on day release, should they be shocked?

What they should be thinking about is, how on earth do you release

somebody who served a long time in prison? How do you do that safely

and sensibly? There are only ` in a prison population of about 84,000,

there are about 40 people who will never come out of prison. When

people are being prepared for release, what is the best way of

preparing them for release and what is the best way of reducing

reoffending? Many people would argue that supervising people in open

prisons releasing people on temporary licence. Assessing them,

helping them to find jobs and safe housing is the best way to do it. It

does also raise the question, doesn't it, of how many years is

enough? Is eight years enough, for example, if someone has been given

13 life sentences? I would argue very strongly it is not. Your

viewers hearing 13 life sentences for armed robbery, yet the minimum

tariff is set only at eight years. The judge has to look at the

individual circumstances, but I think in parliament we need to set

the guidelines for sentencing. At the moment we say what the maximum

sentence is, which is rarely applied. Occasionally, on knife

crime, there was a minimum sentence when someone is convicted a second

crime. If there are to be guidelines they should be set by parliament,

accountable to the public so we get sentences what the public want to

see. The problem is, a began goal, they are seenor judges. I trust the

discretion of the individual trial judge. If that will be constrained

and there will be guidelines they need to be set and approved by

parliament so they reflect what the public want. You have questioned

obviously sentencing itself. Returning to this issue of day

release. This case aside, why do you think that open prisons are

important? Well, the whole idea of day release is that people get the

chance to work out in the community. I have two prisoners working in my

office on a daily basis. They are hard`working, diligent, they have

been doing very well. A lot of the big building companies have people

working on that same basis. So that means that somebody is going into

proper paid employment. They will become a taxpayer and take

responsibility. That is what you want really. The President of the

Chief Association of Police officers said he was surprised at this

decision of allowing day release and freedom? Well, at some point people

get towards the end of their sentence. The design of open prison

is actually for people who have served a long sentence in a closed

environment. If you like, another world. To try and bring them into

our world, here, they need some transition. They need help to do

that. Really, you have to focus on cutting reoffending rates. That

seems to be one of the best ways of doing it. Do you agree, or do you

think there needs to be a wider look at the use of day release?s

ministers have mentioned that today? Is We don't want to be leaving

someone at the prison door with a small amount of money and no

connections to society. I do think you want to try and work with people

while they are in prison to rehabilitate them and make sure the

work carries on to the outside. If someone is released it makes sense

to have a transitional period. What is most important is that people

have the length of the sentence that the public need to get the

protection they deserve. Sentences have got longer and longer. We have

to be careful not to over do it. Not sure in this case. We have to leave

it there. Thank you. Is Still to come tonight: Welcoming

the Queen to Essex ` as Her Majesty joins the congregation at Chelmsford

Cathedral. Next: can a pair of pyjamas really

help reduce infections like MRSA? They were designed by an 18`year`old

student from Croydon using copper, which is known for its antiseptic

qualities. Now doctors at a south London hospital are trialling the

use of the fabric on patients. Charlotte Franks has been speaking

to one mother who believes the pyjamas may have saved her life.

Looking at this pair of the jammers, it is hard to believe that they may

have saved Gemma's life after she was left fighting a serious

infection following a Caesarean almost two years ago. It was itchy,

red, really sore. I tried different types of antibiotics. I felt

absolutely awful, no energy. Doctors said it was the worst case of MRSA

they had ever seen. A family friend heard that Gemma was ill and brought

her an unusual gift that she had invented at school. She had been

researching antibacterial fabrics for a project, and designed a pair

of pyjamas made with copper. The copper invades cells with bacteria,

so that diminishes the bacteria. Gemma was desperate for any sort of

remedy, and I gave her the pyjamas and she actually used it directly

against the wound. And within a couple of days, there were some

great effects. Throughout history, metals have been used for their

healing properties. Many of us think nothing of using a silver plaster

like this to help heal a wound or a cut. Like silver, copper also has

anti`septic qualities, but the difference is, copper is much

cheaper. Not long after trying the pyjamas, Gemma's wound started to

heal. Nearby Croydon university hospital heard about her case and

was so impressed that they have taken steps to clinic to trial

them. If it works, we will use it routinely on all our post`operative

wounds, and also following childbirth, we could use it instead

of conventional dressings. Amber is now at university and working on new

designs which she hopes will help more people like Gemma, who is still

convinced that the pyjamas saved her life.

Hundreds of people turned out to welcome the Queen and the Duke of

Edinburgh to Essex. They joined a congregation at Chelmsford Cathedral

to celebrate the centenary of the diocese of Chelmsford. Richard

Daniel reports. It was a day of celebration. A day

when a new city prepared to welcome the monarch. God save the Queen!

Today was the climax of celebrations to mark the centenary of the

Chelmsford diocese. They have manicure the lawn with some nail

scissors. We are proud and happy. There is a fantastic buzz about the

place. Finally, the moment they had been waiting for. The Queen and Duke

of Edinburgh, accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant, by their way to the

Cathedral's West door. In his address, the bishop told the

congregation the Chelmsford diocese was the most diverse and most

glorious in the country. Joking, the only way is six. The diocese in

chums that which covers five London boroughs and Essex, is the

second`largest in the country. 100 years ago, it was part of somebody

else's even larger diocese. And for the King family, waiting since six

this morning, their patience was rewarded. She smiled at us and said

that was very kind when we gave her the flowers. Two years ago, the

Queen granted Chelmsford city status in her diamond jubilee year. Today,

the people of the new city said thank you.

He was the frontman of the '70s band Squeeze, whose hits include Cool for

Cats and Up the Junction. Singer`songwriter Glenn Tilbrook has

been going solo for the past 15 years, writing and recording at his

home in southeast London. That's where Helen Drew caught up with him

as he prepares to go on tour this summer.

Squeeze had many hit singles and 13 albums in the late 1970s, '80s and

'90s. The man who wrote Cool For Cats is Glenn Tilbrook, one of the

band's main singers. Now solo, he has just released his third album.

It is an acoustic`based album, and the music comes from all over the

place. It is a much overused word, but it is properly eclectic. It

sounds unlike anything I have done before. I am very pleased. The album

is called Happy Ending and was recorded at his Charlton studio,

half a mile from where he was born. I like it round here. I like the

combination of beauty and grottiness in equal measure. In a completely

non`patronising way, I really enjoy that. Has it influenced your music?

I think it does influence my music and lyrics.

# I never thought it would happen with me and the girl from

Clapham...# Glen has toured around the world, both with and without

Squeeze. He has also worked with many famous names. Johnny Depp, yes.

He is a Squeeze fan, and one of Johnny's people rang up and said he

would like to get together. So we got together, and then I asked if he

would be on the record, and he and Vanessa Paradis, they were together

at the time, came and each did something for the record. And they

were really lovely people. That is not bad, Johnny Depp asking you to

get involved on a record! These things happen few and far between,

but I cherish them when they happen. Glen Tilbrook is touring the country

this summer and autumn, including several London gigs.

It's that time of the evening for a look at the weather and bank holiday

sunshine. Not normally words you find in a sentence together. But

yes, we had some, and it has filtered through to the new working

week, with temperatures reaching 20 degrees in central London today. It

is going to turn increasingly unsettled during the rest of the

week. Low pressure is over us at the moment, so we do have a few showers

around across the Thames estuary and Essex at the moment. There is a line

that will drag itself close to London, but mostly going up west and

north of London over the next few hours. But there will be dry and

clear whether to be had, and temperatures will be holding in

double figures overnight. We start the day tomorrow with sunny spells

again. It is still unsettled weather, so we may see some showers,

particularly in the afternoon. But you can see the numbers in the

breeze. That is a strong south`westerly that is pushing the

showers through, so even if you get a heavy one, they should be whizzing

through and you should return to sunny skies. Temperatures are bit

cooler, but that is where it should be at this time of year. So far so

good, but later in the week, we will not be able to avoid those weather

systems. One comes through for Thursday, giving us quite a dousing

of rain. And then the next weather system comes through on Saturday,

bringing heavyweight and probably strong winds as well `` heavy rain.

So enjoy the sunshine while it is their tomorrow, because there will

be quite a wet day on Thursday, showers around on Friday, and for

the start of the weekend, it will be wet, but it should whiz through

quickly, because there will be a breeze. Bit of everything this week.

That is it for now. More on the day's stories on our website. Asad

Ahmad will be back with our latest news. Watching and have a lovely

evening. Bye`bye. at the European elections

on May the 22nd.