16/09/2014 BBC London News

Police name a man they want to question in connection to

the disappearance of teenagdr Alice Gross.

He uses the route taken by @lice. He might have valuable information

A new way to pay on public transport ` passengers can now use thdir

If it extends payments without having to carry cash, it is amazing.

I'm shared if you use it contactedless, you are spending

money and you don't realise how much you are spending.

Why a bid to build a new st`dium for Queen's Park Rangers is meeting

the University Challenge ` how London tops the league table for

Police investigating the disappearance of the teenagd girl

Alice Gross have named a man they want to question to help find her.

The 14`year`old went missing almost three weeks ago after going for a

Detectives want to speak to 41`year`old, Arnis Zalkains.

He was last seen at his Ealhng home last Wednesday evening.

The new information comes ahead of a national appeal due to be made

on the BBC's Crimewatch programme tonight, as Alex Bushill reports.

He has been reported missing and police say he is not a suspdct.

Tonight, a major new development. This is the man the police want to

trace. He is Arnis Zalkains. He is a Latvian, 41 years old, a falily man

and a builder by profession. He too, would cycle to work with a

friend along the same towpath that Alice was last seen walking on in

these fuzzy CCTV pictures. Ht runs along the grands union canal in west

London. She disappeared thrde weeks ago. He went missing exactlx a week

later. Given the route taken by Arnis to and from work and given the

route that Alice took on th`t particular day, it is highlx

possible he may have come across her, cycled past her and max have

vital information, thereford, in relation to her movements on that

particular day. I'm asking @rnis firstly, if he is listening to this,

to come forward and speak to our detectives. That latest polhce

appeal comes on the Eve of `nother by Alice's family on tonight's

edition of Crimewatch. There is not a moment of thd day

that you don't think about @lice and where she is, or what might have

happened or why she might h`ve gone missing. It is almost impossible to

describe what that pain feels like. The last two weeks have been

completely heartbreaking but we just want her to know ` please, @lice, if

you are out there, come homd. And if anyone has any information `t all

about her movements on that day or about her about wrabouts now, I just

really plead with them to come forward to the police and gdt her

home because that's where she belongs and she needs to be here

with us. Which is why there is still hope in Hanwell that she will return

home, safe. Tonight police now believe that this man, Arnis

Zalkains, may hold the key. You can see more on the search for

missing teenager, Alice Gross tonight on Crimewatch at 10.40pm on

BBC One. Forced from her home

after making a complaint ` we look at how revenge evictions are

hurting the capital's tenants. From today millions

of passengers can pay for ttbe and train journeys in London using

a contactless credit or debht card. So once you swipe the card

on an Oyster reader, the fare comes straight out of your bank account `

as long as it's under ?20. Transport bosses say it'll lake

travelling easier for custolers But some critics say

the system could lead to confusion. Our Transport Correspondent,

Tom Edwards, has more. For the millions of commuters who

use the tube and train in London every day, there is now another way

to pay. Contactless bank cards are now accepted. It'll be the same fare

as oyster. Anything that extends payments without having to carry

cash in your pocket is absolutely mazing. I'm just scared that if you

use contactedless, then acttally you are spending money and you don't

realise how much you are spdnding. That is the biggest thing to put me

off. London is at the forefront of ticketing technology. Bank cards are

already accepted on the busds. One of the big advantages of ushng a

contactless card over oyster is that it has a weekly cap. That mdans in

effect it is a weekly travelcard and the technology is more flexhble so

you will start to see it behng used in phones and one bank has devised

these, wristbands. Transport for London will sde

savings if more use bank cards. The downside is what is being c`lled

card clash, where the wrong card in your wallet is charged that. Could

mean a maximum fare of ?8.40. Customers need to avoid cash card

and it iscy. Present the card you intend to use for travel. If the

event you get card clash, wd will seek to correct it automatically,

but if it has not been corrdcted, do get in touch and we will issue a

refund. I think there will be a hurdles, if there are too m`ny

instanceness of card clash, or people being charged for a journey

they didn't make, the take`tp might not work but if it goes smoothly it

might be a good thing. On the bus abouts they've had a handful of

complaints a day about card clash but the banks insist the system is

secure We have seen tiny fr`ud losses on contactless cards. They

really don't bare speaking B it is really safe and secure and people

should be comfortable using it. There is concern that this could be

the beginning of the end of oyster cards. TFL insists there is no plan

to phase them out but it is expecting hewn numbers of commuters

to switch to using bank cards. Tom is at Warren Street station. How has

day 1 gone and what is your assessment of Oystercard verses

contactless? I got the latest figures for Transport for London and

wanted to share them. Very interesting. 15,000 people tsed

contactless cards on the rahl and tube, 5,000 on the buses. E`rly days

but it does show the potenthal of this new technology. As for which is

cheaper, contactless or oyster cards? Most of the time it hs going

to be the same. However, it is not black and white, when it coles to

these weekly caps and these weekly travelcards. Then, you might be

better off sticking to our oyster card, particularly if you vder off

from your regular zones, as it were. What I will say, is if you want to

get big savings perhaps look at monthlies and annuals. That's where

the really big savings are. This at the moment, is about convenhence.

Thank you, Tom. Six South West Trains staff members

have been jailed for masterlinding a ticketing fraud thought to be worth

more than ?100,000 over two years. The three men and three womdn who

worked as ticket office clerks at Richmond station sold fr`udulent

travelcards to unsuspecting They were found guilty

of conspiracy to commit fratd A man shot dead by police

in north London has been naled by the police watchdog, the IPCC,

investigating the shooting. 40`year`old Dean Joseph

from Haringey, was shot after officers werd called

to Shepperton Road in Islington in Firearms officers and negothators

were responding to reports of a Westfield shopping centre

in Stratford had to be evactated Police were called just

after mid`day and decided to close the shopping

centre while they investigated. The package wasn't suspiciots

and the centre re`opened just A court has heard how a teenage boy

shot a 15`year`old girl in Shereka Marsh died after shd was hit

with a single bullet in the bedroom Tarah Welsh joins us from the

Old Bailey with more details. Shereka Marsh was described asker

good humoured hard working `nd in line to get good GCSE results but on

22nd March she died. The prosecution said on that Saturday afternoon she

arranged to meet the defend`nt at his mother's house but seven minutes

after she arrived, he called 99 . Now, that call was played to the

jury this morning and you hdard the defendant say, "My friend h`s just

been shot." He said that if you are times. He said, "I think shd's

dying, she's dying, she is `dying." When the operator asked where she

had been shot, he said "In the neck." He was asked where the

attackers were, he said quodf they've gone." He went on to say she

was not breathing and that's when the operator directed him to give

them CPR as that was played in court, Shereka's family had to leave

the court. And the defendant also had tears in his eyes. What was said

about the defendant being in possession of the gun? Well, the

prosecution says after the hncident the defendant was taken outside by

police and asked what happened. He said she had been shot. We `re both

holding it when it went off. He went on to say he didn't know it was

going to go off, and he didn't even pull the trigger. When he g`ve a

police interview, he told them he'd found the gun the day beford on

Hackney March and Shereka h`d wanted to see T he then changed his story

in a statement and he said that someone had given him the gtn to

hide, although he wouldn't say who. The prosecution said the evhdence

suggests that the defendant deliberately pulled the trigger as

he stood in front of shore dica Jonathan Reece QC said the jury

should consider whether he was posing with the gun, he had gone

that before, because when hhs phone was examined from the year before,

it showed images of the boy posing wb handguns, although it cotldn t be

verified if they were real or not but he was seen pointing thdm at the

person taking the picture. He said those images were also found on

Shereka'sp phone. The defendant denies murder and the trial

continues. Thank you.

Next, it's thought one snevdn families renting in London has been

the victim of a revenge eviction, where tennants, who have colplained

about their living conditions are forced to leave by landlords. The

Government is now backing c`lls it change the law to help protdct them.

We hear one woman's story. Dlizabeth was seven months pregnant whth twins

when her landlady knocked them out. Coming back home, the door was

locked. I tried to put my kdy in. I couldn't go in. It was rainhng. She

got fed up for Elizabeth asking for a contact and for things to be

fixed. There were cockroachds, rats, everything inside the place. When

you asked her to come and rdpair anything, she would tell yot, "I'll

fix it" and she would never turn up. A woke after being locked ott

Beverly was diagnosed with high blood pressure. She went into Labour

twob months early and one of her baby girls, died in hospital.

Beverly, she named after thd housing officer who helped her break back

into the house to retrieve herself. We were contracted by an extremely

aggressive landlady and a m`le she had brought with her to the property

who was extremely abusive and threatening and absolutely be a

Tuesday to all the advice I was giving her. Beverly's evidence

helped take the landlords to court. The man from Chigwell and the woman

from Leytonston were found guilty of unlawless eviction and harassment.

Prosecution remains rare but this kind of eviction is not. According

to the housing charity, Shelter one in eight families have been served

with eviction notices following a be complaint about poor condithons One

in nine renters avoided complaining for fear of being kicked out and a

London MP is calling for ch`nges in the law. What we are trying to do

is, to stop a landlord from being able to convict someone who has

complained about a really sdrious problem in their property. Now, we

don't want to get into a situation where any tenant can make a spurious

claim about something that's not very serious. What we are trying to

do is to protect tennants when there is a really, really serious problem.

This week the Government sahd it supports the proposal which aims it

give landlords a clearer definition of what is expected of them and more

security to tennants line Elizabeth and baby Bev, happy in their new

home. How would these proposed ch`nges in

the law help naents London? Something called a Section 21 notice

which means landlords can ask their tennants to leave within two months

without giving a reason. In most cases, it is completely above brood.

Nowever it is also a mechanhsm that landlords can use if they are get up

with a particular tenant. These proposals would tighten that all up,

so if a tenant has a be complaint, he or she takes it to the council

and the council agrees a has order exists at the moment, for example,

cold or fire, then the landlord cannot issue one of these notices

for six months. That means the onus is then on the landlord to do the

work or at least the tenant has six months to find alternative

accommodation. Has there bedn any response from landlords? Yes, I

spoke to the national landlords association this afternoon. They say

they are not happy about it, they say it imagines the worst`c`se

scenario which isn't the experience of the majority of renters `nd they

say. Should this become law, it is due for the first proper debate in

November. But it is a private member's bill, so it is a lot ri,

with not guaranteed time in the Commons, however now it has

Government support so Sarah Tether and other supporters will bd hoping

it can be passed in time for the next generation.

People living in Merton and Sutton have given their backing to the

south London tram network. Ht means the existing line, from Morden Road

could eventually be extended further south to Sutton. More now on this

from Yvonne hall in Merton this evening.

At the moment, trams run about every 10 minutes along here going from

Wimbledon through to Croydon. Under the new proposals, there wotld be

another four mile tram line built here going from Morden Road right

through to Sutton. Merton and Sutton Council say 10 people responded to a

consultation and 84% said they wanted more trams in this area. We

asked computers this evening what they think of the idea.

It would benefit everything, social, work. Everything it would bdnefit.

It would help a lot, yeah. Ht would be easier. Otherwise I have to walk

in to Morden to catch a bus to ut isson. I think it would be `

brilliant idea. I'm all for it. The council say the new tral line

here would be a massive boost for business and leisure and wotld

create thousands of permanent and about 2,000 temporary jobs. They say

they are desperate for this to go`ahead. The final decision rests

with Transport for London who are considering new plans for ndw tram

lines in the Bromley and Crxstal Palace area. It seems nobodx has any

idea where the money to fund it would come from. If it does

go`ahead, there could be tr`ms running from here all the w`y

through to Sutton in about 00 years' time. Back to you. Thank yot very

much. Still to come tonight: We h`ve been

having unseasonably warm we`ther over the last few days. How long is

it set to continue? I will tell you in the forecast coming up l`ter

Queens Park Rangers insist they remain on course to move into a new

stadium by the end of the ddcade, despite opposition to their plans.

QPR want to build a 40,000 seat stadium at Old Oak

Common, but current landowndrs say they'll block the move.

A chance to see upclose, for the first time, QPR's vision of the

future. These are among the fans and members of the public the club Juans

to convince of its plans to leave Loftus Road for Old Oak Comlon. We

see it as a fantastic opportunity for West London. What the Olympics

brought to East London, we think there is a similar opportunhty in

the West. 20,000 homes and 40,0 0 jobs being created in the area.

Obviously, a lot of hopefully a lot of QPR fans happy in that

environmental. I think it's a very exciting venture. Yeah. Cautious,

but, yes. Ambitious, it's exciting seeing the whole exhibition today.

It has been interesting. Thd club can't you are vial on its present

site. We desperately need to have a bigger stadium. The club cl`ims 80%

of fans back the move, but there's a problem. Car Giant own a 30 acre

plot on the Old Oak site. They say they aren't going anywhere. We own

80% of the land north side of the Grand Union Canal that is e`rmarked

for regeneration. We have otr own plans to bring forward our own

scheme that will meet with the GLA vision for the regeneration of the

area. Cargiant see themselvds on that site for a long time ydt. What

is your response to that? I think, as I said, it's a complex

development and I think, for the good of the area and all of the

development we need to work together with the local stake holders. With

Cargiant saying they aren't willing to any talks Loftus Road cotld

remain QPR's home for quite some time. Chris joins us. Clearly

controversial. How likely is the move? QPR remain confident. They

have the backing of the Gre`ter London Authority, parred part of a

wider generation that the M`yor wants to see happen with a Crossrail

and a HS2 hub. Cargiant bullish they think they can come up with a

scheme to fall in with GLA's plans as well. What has become cldar. They

say they don't fear any compulsory purchase order from the council

They describe themselves as "willing developers" the 2018 date that QPR

came out with, that isn't going to happen. Even their revised date of

2019`2020 is looking pretty optimistic. An important wedk

forrure pine football with @rsenal in action tonight? Arsenal `way to

Borussia Dortmund. The Champions League Group stages begin. Welbeck

making his debut. Looked brhght at the weekend. Arsene Wenger has

defensive problems. He says he expects Borussia Dortmund and Bayern

Munich to be among the favotrites for this season's competition. Look

at the number of times Bayern has been in the final. There is no

obvious reason, in the last five years, why we should not only be

there. Borussia Dortmund is a regular participant as well. In

Spain they are the two big clubs with Barcelona and Real Madrid who

will be contenders again. There is an England v Germany clash? German

opponents for Chelsea tomorrow. They are at home to Schalke. Chelsea won

3`0 at home and 3`0 away. They are flying in the League, top of the

table. Costa, seven goals in four games. They will be confident of

another comfortable victory tomorrow night. On Thursday night, in the

Europa League, Tottenham aw`y they will take the Europa League

seriously this season, if you win it this season you go into the

Champions League. Busy, busx. Now to a different kind

of league table. London's universities have been

ranked as some of the best The latest table shows

the capital has two of the world's best five, with Imperial College now

considered better than Oxford. Here's our education reportdr,

Marc Ashdown. One of the selling points hdre is

that employers who want to dmploy all of our graduates in different

roles are close to us. They visit here often. It, basically, leans we

have more connected to potential industries we could want to go into.

London is the most successftl University city in the world. In the

latest global league table: London has three institutions in the

top 20, more than any other city. London is the best city in the

world. I think New York would have something to say about that, and one

or two other places would. We are the most international city. We are

the most Cosmopolitan. London is becoming a science, engineering

medical capital. Reputations matter because they equal more students who

equal more money. The higher a university sits the more thdy can

justify charging the ?9,000 tuition fees. There is no cap on wh`t they

can charge oversea students. The better the university, the lore

money they can make. Are thdre is a wider value beyond the campts.

International students are ` vital contribution to the London dconomy.

They contribute more than ?2.5 billion. It's critical we attract

the best minds and talent around the world we get top businesses growing

their technology centres here, that provides jobs and growth for the

capital. Some experts view league tables with scepticism. Thehr

significance can't be ignordd. With tuition fees likely to be an

election iss next year in London, at least, it appears to be mondy well

spent. Now we can have a chdck on the forecast.

It has been a glorious week so far. It looks like it is set to continue

for the next couple of days at least anyway. Tomorrow a bit of a cloudy

start. We certainly have got some sunny spells to look forward to

Perhaps even a nudge up on those temperatures from today. Let us look

at tonight first of all. Thhs will evening we start to see it clouding

over through the night. That serves as a blanket keeping the dax's

warmth in. It will be a muggy perhaps even uncomfortable night.

The temperatures getting down to 13`16 degrees Celsius. Stayhng dry.

The fog may develop again. Ht will not be as extensive as it w`s last

night. More hill fog than the low`lying stuff. Tomorrow morning, a

murky start to the day fog `nd mist patches here and there. There is

enough of a breeze to move that through the morning. We will see

more of that sunshine in intervals. Up to 25 degrees tomorrow. @s we go

into the rest of the weekend there is a change as we introduce showers

to Thursday. There should bd sunny spells all the way through hnto the

weekend. It will be cooling down. When I say cooling down, not cool

weather, it will be pretty good for this time of year, those

temperatures look like they will peak on Thursday and gradually

decline. So through Wednesd`y night into Thursday a bit more of that fog

to contend with. Murky start to Thursday. Sunny spells with heavy

and thundery showers in the afternoon. Friday is at higher risk

of heavy showers staying with us, also sunny spells too. The showers

could continue into the weekend as well. A bit of a wet Saturd`y.

However, we are hoping thosd showers should then move offed a as we go

into the end of the weekend on Sunday. Although over the ndxt few

days we have some really decent temperatures for this time of year,

it will be a bit of a mixture really. Not continuing with the

settled weather we have had recently. We can't complain at all.

Thank you very much. With just two days to go

until Scotland decides its future, both sides have seized on plans to

give Scotland's Parliament lore Alex Salmond has dismissed

the plan as a "last minute desperate South Yorkshire's Police and

Crime Commissioner, Shaun Wright, has resigned over the Rotherham

child abuse scandal. He was in charge of local children's

services for five years. A memorial service has been held

on the Thai island of Koh T`o for the two British tourists

murdered there on Sunday. David Miller and Hannah Witheridge

were found dead with severe head Detectives investigating

the disappearance of the teenage girl, Alice Gross, have

named a man they want to qudstion. 41`year`old Arnis Zalkains

was last seen at his Ealing From today passengers can p`y

for Tube and train journeys in London using

a contactless credit or debht card. More on the day's stories

on our website. And I'll be back later

during the 10.00pm news. Until then, thanks for joinhng

us and have a lovely evening.