04/03/2013 BBC News at One

Police and mental health officials missed opportunities to prevent the

killing of a grandmother. Psychiatric patient Nicola

Edgington had warned she might commit murder, but simple checks

failed to reveal she posed a danger to the public.

The Vatican's to hold an inquiry after the former head of the

Catholic Church in Scotland admits sexual misconduct.

A fall in lending by Britain's leading banks despite being given

billions to help businesses access credit.

The Queen spends a second day in hospital as she receives treatment

for suspected gastroenteritis. And a potential breakthrough in the

fight against HIV - in a world first a baby appears to have been

cured of the condition. On BBC London, January's helicopter

crash in Vauxhall may have been averted if safety warnings were

observed. Around one in 20 Londoners have

tieb two Diablo Cody with -- type Good afternoon, and welcome to the

BBC News at One. A police watchdog says officers missed opportunities

to prevent a woman being stabbed to death in South London in 2011. Six

years after killing her own mother, psychiatric patient Nicola

Edgington killed 59-year-old Sally Hodkin in Bexleyheath. The

Independent Police Complaints Commission said both officers and

hospital staff failed to use their powers under the Mental Health Act

to detain her. Ben Geoghegan is outside the Old Bailey where

Edgington is due to be sentenced. Yes, within the last few minutes,

the judge has sentenced her to life, and she will serve a minimum of 37

years in prison. The judge said that her actions had demonstrated a

consistent and calculated course of criminal conduct. He said to her,

"You are manipulative and extremely dangerous", but even as she's

sentenced today, it's the police and others who have come under

criticism for not intervening enough to try to prevent her

carrying out her murder. Nicola Edgington warned police she was

dangerous. Today she's beginning a life sentence for murder, but could

she have been stopped? This footage shows her running from the scene in

Bexley, South London, moments after stabbing her victim with a

butcher's knife in October 2011. The jury were told 58-year-old

Sally Hodkin was virtually decapitated in the agau, it wasn't

the first time Edgington had killed. She had stabbed her own mother to

death six years before. Edgington was taken into psychiatric care but

then released back into the community in 2009. In the hours

before she murdered Sally Hodkin Nicola Edgington had been brought

to this South London hospital by police, but the officers who were

with her left after five minutes. Waiting in A&E, she made a series

of 999 calls, pleading to be taken Edgington was transferred to a

mental health unit next to the hospital, but she was allowed to

leave. She then went by bus to Bexley where she attacked one woman

and brutally murdered Sally Hodkin, both of them total strangers. Today

the Independent Police Watchdog said opportunitys to intervene had

been miss. Our investigation found that whilst there was no breach of

conduct by either the police or the staff, there was a missed

opportunity in that they failed to conduct a Police National Computer

check which meant both the police and the hospital staff were lacking

crucial information about Nicola Edgington which potentially could

have changed the way in which she was dealt with at the hospital.

a statement read to the court today, Sally Hodkin's husband, Paul, said

the murder of his wife had destroyed him. "40 years of

marriage," he said had been wiped out in seconds by someone who

shouldn't have been on the streets. It's not clear exactly to what the

judge was referring earlier today when he said in sentencing

Edgington, "I disagree that responsibility for these acts can

be laid at the doors of others", but he said she was responsible for

the attempted murder of Kerry Clark and the murder of Sally Hodkin. He

said he had been moved by the words of Paul Hodkni this morning. He

said nothing we can do or say will turn the clock back. They will

never get over her death. Indeed, Ben, thank you. The Vatican

is expected to hold an inquiry after Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the

former head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, admitted sexual

misconduct. Last week, four men accused him of inappropriate

behaviour. Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned shortly after the

allegations came to light. Catholic cardinals from around the world are

gathering in Rome to begin the process of electing a new Pope.

From there Allan Little has sent this report.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual relations are

sinful and that gay men and women should live celibate lives. Its

priest commit themselves to a life of chastity. Today in Rome, the

former leader of the church in England and Wales told me Cardinal

Keith O'Brien's failure to live up to that commitment did not change

what the church believes. Cardinal O'Brien didn't live up to

the promises he made of - well, that's something, yes, he's very

sorry for, and has apologised. I don't think it takes away from the

teaching of the church and shouldn't do. Cardinal Keith

O'Brien was a powerful voice in Scotland's national dialogue. He

was an uncompromising critic of gay rights and a vociferous opponent of

same-sex marriage. Three priests in his Archbishop and a former priest

accused him of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards them. After

initially contesting the allegations, Cardinal Keith O'Brien

The journalist who broke the story last week said the cardinal had

been in a position of authority over the four men. Who were all

much younger than him. The cardinal earlier in his career was a

spiritual director at a seminary where one of the incidents took

place. You're dealing with very young men, and that was a very

abusive situation where he used his position and abused his position.

This morning, the church's cardinals gathered in Rome, their

first meeting in what's known as the General Congregation to begun

talks about electing Pope Benedict's successor. If the

allegation hadn't been made public, Cardinal O'Brien would have been

here among them even though the church knew of the men's complaints

before Pope Benedict announced his resignation. In Edinburgh, there is

still a sense of stunned belief. The shock waves extend from here to

Rome and around the Catholic world. In just a moment, we'll speak to

our correspondent James Cook in Edinburgh, but first, let's return

to Allan Little, who is in Rome. What's your reading of how much the

scandal could impact the election of a new Pope? There are calls for

a reformer who could repair this now extensive damage to the church.

Yes, there is a great instinct for protecting the reputation of the

Vatican, though, but priests and clerics I have spoken to over the

last week had raised the Cardinal Keith O'Brien matter with me

unprompted. I have detected a pained unwillingness to believe the

allegations, and one or two people have suggested that the timing is

suspicious that perhaps this is some kind of vendetta against the

cardinal, but the cardinal's own admission put paid to that last

night, and so the church knows very well that if it had not been made

public, if it had stayed secret within the walls of the vat wan,

then Cardinal O'Brien would be here with the cardinals, and he'd take

those allegations with him secretly into the Sistene chapel into the

process to elect the new Pope, so when the inquiry comes into the new

Pope, the church will have to look at the response to these

allegations as well as the allegations themselves I would have

thought. They're saying there is disbelief in Edinburgh. How much of

a crisis is this for the Catholic Church in Scotland? I think this is

an enormous crisis for the Catholic Church in Scotland. One leading

commentator saying he believes this is the worst crisis since the

reformation. We now have the spectre really of the most senior

Catholic in Britain as was accused of the most stunning hypocrisy,

having condemned homosexual behaviour in the most trenchant

terms now admitting sexual misconduct of his own. As Alan says

there, what is interesting now is what this investigation will

actually look at. Will it focus on the personal moral failings, as the

church would see it, of this one man, or will it go wider looking at

who knew what in the Scottish Catholic Church, who knew when, how

long did this go on for? Was it coercive, where people were forced

into this kind of relationship with the cardinal? And indeed, were any

other senior figures in the Scottish Catholic Church involved

in the church hasn't been known, it's fair to say, for having open

dialogue in these matters, but there is a lot of pressure now for

lightness rather than dark. Thank you. It's a fall in lending

by Britain's leading banks despite getting billions of pounds from the

Bank of England in a scheme designed to help consumers and

businesses get access to credit. Our chief economics correspondent

Hugh Pym joins us now. Remind us of the background to this. This scheme

was launched with great fanfare last summer by the Bank of England

and the Treasury. The idea of the scheme was the Bank of England

would lend money to banks and building societies at low cost as

long as they passed it on to businesses and consume, and they

got it at a low rate as long as they passed it on, penalised if

they did not. The figures out today aren't that encouraging for the

Government or the Bank of England. Let's take a look. �13.8 billion

has been borrowed by the Bank of England under this scheme, but if

you look at the amount of lending by banks and building societys to

consumers and businesses, that was down at �2.4 billion between

October and December. It should be said RBS and Lloyds and Santander

were down. One or two were up, Barclays and Nationwide.

Embarrassing to the Bank of England this whole scheme? The Bank of

England and the Treasury making it clear they have always said it

would take time to get it going. The cost of mortgages, they say,

have fallen as a result of the scheme. The Chancellor must do more

to explain what he's going to do to help business with the budget

coming up. Thank you. Europe's biggest bank,

HSBC, has reported annual pre-tax profits of nearly �14 billion, a

drop of 6%. The bank had to pay a fine of more than a billion dollars

to settle a money laundering case in the US. Its Chief Executive

Stuart Gulliver received a bonus of just under �2 million.

The Queen is spending a second day in hospital where she's being

treated for symptoms of gastroenteritis. Buckingham Palace

says the Queen was admitted as a precaution and was otherwise in

good health. Our Royal correspondent is outside the King

Edward VII Hospital for us. The hospital, one would expect, saying

very little, but is there much more information at this stage?

there is absolutely no more information at this point, and I'm

not sure that we'll get anymore information during the rest of the

day. It's just not that kind of situation in medical terms where

Buckingham Palace feels the need to be issuing regular bulletins. I

think we must assume that the Queen will have seen the Royal doctors

this morning. They of course want to discover precisely what is

causing these symptoms of gastroenteritis? Is it the

Norovirus winter sickness bug, food poisoning or something else? They

have the opportunity to do that in the hospital environment here. Will

she receive any visitors? Frankly I would doubt it. We were led to

believe yesterday this is going to be a brief visit to hospital. I

think we can expect she'll be leaving hospital within the next,

say, 24 hours, then a period of rest back at Buckingham Palace

before resuming Royal engagements next week, and it's a busy

programme next week with Commonwealth Day, a service at

Guards Chapel, and I'm sure she'll be keen to put this behind her and

$:/STARTFEED. 45,000 in favour and under 11snouz against in the

federation vote. It was not enough to secure a mandate. New, -- now, a

public inquiry has begun into allegations that up to 20 Iraqis

were murdered in a gun battle with British troops.

It is to examine claims that detainees were captured at the same

time. Well, it has been over three years

since this inquiry was first established. It had to be proceeded

by a police-style investigation.En earlier investigation by the Royal

Military Police was judged inadequate, but it is underway. It

has been described by staff at the enquiry as unprecedented. Because

of the scale of the evidence and because the Iraqis and the British

military hotly contest the events in question. Counsel to the inquiry

have spoken of a stark dispute between the two sides over what

happened. It is almost ten years since the

British troops fought their way into southern Iraq. This is the

second public inquiry into allegations of abuse. The chairman

of the inquiry, Sir Thayne Forbes, was the judge in the murder trial

of Harold Shipman. Now it is for him to decide if Iraqis were

murdered after a major gun battle. This is the scene of the fight,

after the Iraqi militia men ambushed British control. The

British Army says that all died on the battlefield. Iraqis say some

were killed after they were captured, including Hamid Al-Sweady,

after whom the enquiry is named. There have been serious allegations

of murder. People killed in detention, deliberately, as well as

torture and ill treatment of detainees. That is by the British

Army, so it is absolutely essential that the victims and the British

public and the world knows what really happened.

Both sides agree that nine Iraqis were detained. They went on to

complain to the Red Cross of mistreatment. Information that the

Ministry of Defence failed to disclose to the courts. It is then

the reason it had to agree to this costly inquiry.

The challenge for the inquiry, it is an unusual challenge, and a

difficult one, it is for the chairman to decide what did happen.

The events that the inquiry is examining are hotly contested. Once

again the reputation of the British military in Iraq is at stake.

Well, the Ministry of Defence has promised its full co-operation with

the inquiry. It has cost �15 million. That figure is expected to

double. This enquiry, the hearings are likely to last for about a year.

They are hearing from some 200 military witnesses and also from

the Iraqi detainees and from relatives of the dead. The inquiry

has heard that the death certificates of three of the Iraqis

issued by the Iraqi authorities said that there were signs of

torture on the bodies. Thank you very much.

Our top story: A report says that the police and

mental health officials missed opportunities to prevent a

psychiatric patient from killing again.

Coming up: Britain's disintegrating masterpieces, the campaign to save

the nation's murals. On BBC London: Defeat for Arsenal

in the North London Derby. We look at the club's future. We may be

getting slightly warmer weather. A full forecast and the rest of the

day's news at 1.30pm. The UK needs to prepare for more

frequent extreme weather events as the climate changes, according to

new research from the Environment Agency which showed flooding in

England and Wales on 78 days last year. Drought was declared for 95

days. Roger Harrabin has more. 2012 was the year of the UK's

weirdest weather. The wettest on record in England that was after

the first three months of drought. New statistics from the Environment

Agency show one in five day there is was flooding, one in four days

there was drought somewhere. Three rivers, the Tyne, the Ouse

and the Tome recorded their lowest level on record and the highest

level on record in four months. Looking at drought we must be

better at preserving the water we have. We have to store more water.

So the Environment Agency are working with farmers and businesss

to do that. In terms of flooding people must be prepared, ready to

think about if they are at risk and seek information from the

Environment Agency's website. Farmers have to build more

reservoirs on the land to capture water to irrigate crops, the

Environment Agency says. Racecourses should collect water

too, to water the course when the going gets firm.

Golf curses are under scrutiny too. It take as lot of water in a dry

summer to keep the greens green. The Environment Agency says that

golf courses should start storing their own water in lakes and ponds.

As emissions of greenhouse grb greenhouse gases continue to rise,

many scientists are warning to expect in the future to face more

droughts and more floods. The Government's considering

changing the rules on some benefits in order to limit claims by

immigrants. The proposed changes come ahead of the unrestricted

opening of border to Romanian immigrants at the beginning of next

year. Norman Smith is here. I am

wondering how much of this is influenced by the Eastleigh by-

election votes? No it is an annoying yes, no, answer.

There have been months of thinking about coming up with a package of

benefits in this situation. We are getting information about the

measures days after the by-election. The details that we are getting in

terms of the NHS, non-UK residents may be charged to see a GP.

Overseas visit overs may have to have private health insurance. You

may not get access here unless you have been a resident for a year. So

it is about the Government's long- term ambition to respond to public

concerns ands about about -- also about the short-term ambition to

wipe the smile off Nigel Farage's face.

The police in Northern Ireland believe that they have foiled an

attempted bomb attack by dissident Republicans after four live mortar

bombs were found in a van. Three men were arrested.

Army bomb disposal experts dealt with the alert.

Chris butler has more. The mortar bombs were primed and

ready to be used in an attack. When the police stopped the van last

night, they found that the roof was cut back. A final preparation to

the four mortars to be fired directly from the vehicle it is

thought that the planned target was a police station.

I have no doubt that they would have caused mass casualties. We

could have been looking at mass murder today. Those devices, had

they exploded to hit the intended target, they could have hit targets

in and around the bases here. The police placed a wide corden

around the van as the army bomb dispose officers moved in to make

this safe. I have had to move.

Three men are in custody being questioned. Two of them arrested

here on one of the main routes across the Irish border. Dissident

Republicans are being blamed for this possible attack. What is being

found here will cause real concern. It is the most significant

discovery of a bomb in some time. The use of mortars, especially on

this scale is unusual. This was an attack in its final stages. Stopped

a short distance from the city centre. The simple fact it was so

advanced will worry both the police and the public.

Researchers in the United States say that treatment on a girl born

with HIV appears to have all but eradicated the virus from her body.

It is the second time it's been achieved, the first when involving

a baby. What has happened here? This child

appears to have been cured of HIV. She is two-and-a-half. Not on any

drug treatment, no medication. What happened was in 2010, the mother

turned up in labour to a Mississippi hospital. Too late to

be given treatment that would have guaranteed preventing the infection

being passed on, but when the child was born the doctors put the baby

on a aggressive combination they werey and continued that for what

they thought would be the child's life. After 18 months the mother

stopped coming to the clinic. When she came back five months later,

they expected the baby's viral low to be high, but they could not find

it. They tested and re-tested and found that the child had

effectively been cured of HIV. are the prospects potentially?

it is one case. It is not yet published in a medical journal. So

HIV researchers are interested, excited but cautious. There is only

one other documented case where there was a cure, a man who had a

bone marrow transplant for his leukaemia. That was seven years ago,

but we still have to be cautious here.

You can spot them on the walls of many buildings, murals make up an

important part of Britain's cultural history. But after years

much neglect, means that some are disappearing. We have been

exploring whether we should try to save these very public works of art.

This is Colin -- this is kolwin's bay's pier. 70 years ago it looked

like this, an Art Deco palace. Made by artists of real standing.

The murals here, it is difficult to see? These are Eric Ravilious?

this is the main pavilion of the old pier. This wall has a great

this is it? It has been papered over? Yes, it has been papered with

a fine layer of plaster too. But what we have seen in there,

inside of the pavilion is not unique to Colwyn Bay. This is a

story that is repeated again and again around Britain.

This report from the '70s, showed the world this huge moral in

Plymouth by the artist, Robert Lenkiewicz. Seen with his begging

bowl. 40 years on, the masterpiece likes like this... For artists such

as Brian Barnes, one of Britain's most prolific muralists, these are

the works that have become too easy to ignore.

It is sad that so much has been lost. If you look at the Rennes,

how sad it would be if Leonardo's Last Supper was painted over.

Can you compare these murals with the Last Supper? Sizewise, I think

I have done more square feet than Michelangelo! Certainly Leonardo.

He hardly did any! Pay more attention as you walk on by. Now it

has been a dark night for a suspected burglar. The police in

Bradford were left speechless as a man dressed as Batman handed in a

suspected thief. The man handed in was charged with handling stolen

goods, but the identity of the caped crusader remain as mystery.

Perhaps not for long looking at those pictures. We shall see.

those pictures. We shall see. Now, to the weather with Darren.

Well, it looks like spring has sprung for some parts of the

country. You can see how we are drawing up

the drier air the cloud has been thinning and breaking, the sunshine

coming through across England and Wales. Still a few areas of stubbon

cloud, but the sunshine beginning to breakthrough across Lincolnshire.

Sun continuing in the Midlands, area, and in the south.

Temperatures warmer for a while. The temperatures at 10 Celsius, but

it is thinning and breaking, we should see the sunshine in Devon

and in Wales. A super day along the west coast of Wales. Cloudy for

most of Northern Ireland. If there is sunshine it is likely across

Antrim and Down. The west of Scotland seeing more cloud. The

eastern side, though, hopefully a bit of sunshine at times.

A lovely day in the sunshine, but we pay for it overnight. With the

clear skies, the temperatures falling sharply.

There will be a mist and a fog developing. Temperatures in the

rural areas, close to if not below freezing. Patchy mist and fog.

Probably most of the fog by the morning affecting the likes of the

A1 and the M1. All the way from the Vale of York in the Trent valley.

Most of the mirs and the fog will soon lift. Taking longer in the

worst-affected areas. When it has gone we have the sunshine. A lovely

day for England and Wales and more sunshine for Scotland and Northern

Ireland. Here, the temperature as respectable six to eight Celsius

but for England and Wales, 13, 14, up to 15 Celsius. Making it the

warmest day of the year so far. So the week ahead it is miler. A few

days of sunshine, then it changes from Wednesday with more cloud and

rain, but it is very different to what we have had over the past few

weeks, the cold dry area of high pressure is in Eastern Europe now.

It is drawing in the breeze from the south. That is where we are

getting the milder air, but from Wednesday onwards, the wind from

the Atlantic is blowing in more cloud. Outbreaks of rain. Still

double figures in the south but chilly in the north-east of the UK.

Here the wind is coming from the cold North Sea. That story will

continue on Thursday. A lot of cloud. A breeze coming in from the

south or the south-east. The temperatures in the south getting

into double figures. The details online.

The top story: A report says that the police and mental health

officials missed opportunities to prevent a psychiatric patient from

killing again. Still to come on the BBC News Channel, hopes of a