08/07/2014 BBC News at One

A top senior civil servant is to be quizzed by MPs over

He will face questions about his department's handling

of child abuse allegations made over a 20-year period.

One alleged victim says it will not uncover the truth. I am not positive

on what the outcome will be because there have been enquiries in the

past. Also this lunchtime: The mother of a 3-year-old boy,

whose disappearance in Edinburgh sparked a massive search, appears

in court charged with his murder. Hundreds of thousands of people

seek shelter in Japan as the Scientists say

a simple blood test that can predict the onset of Alzheimer's could be

available in two years. After the floods, Prince Charles is

returning to Somerset this lunchtime to talk to residents

about life after the deluge. A Briton is arrested arrested

in Brazil, over an alleged An investigation finds major

mistakes in administration may have led to

the deaths of two cancer patients. And the family of a man who died

after being restrained Good afternoon

and welcome to the BBC News at One. The most senior civil servant

at the Home Office will appear before MPs this afternoon to give

evidence about his department's handling of allegations

of historical child abuse. Mark Sedwill will face questions

from members of the Yesterday, the Home Secretary,

Theresa May, One will look again at how the

Home Office handled documents relating to allegations of child

abuse by Westminster politicians. The other will review all

public bodies and how they The 1980s, when public information

films warned children to be wary of strangers and report abuse to

teachers and police. You know your teacher. But it is

precisely those figures of authority, along with politicians

and the whole range of public bodies and institutions that will now be

scrutinised in a national child abuse enquiry. Exactly how it will

work is yet to be agreed on. If we are really going to get to the truth

is institutional abuse, we will need a judge led process that has people

who are required to attend and give evidence under oath. Peter Forbes

says as a child he was abused repeatedly at a school in Rochdale.

He complained to the authorities, nothing was done, and he remains

pessimistic. I am not too positive on what the outcome will be because

there have been enquiries in the past and nothing has come from

them. I think this is going to go along the same lines as the other

enquiries and be swept under the carpet. This afternoon, the top

civil servant at the Home Office, Mark Sedwill, will answer questions

from MPs about hundreds of missing files in relation to child abuse

allegations. He has only been in post for a couple of years but he

should know what is likely to have happened and he in initiating the

enquiry into 2013 which has uncovered these missing 114 files.

We must find out what has happened to them. The Home Office has looked

into it once. Some believe the police should have been involved,

not civil servants. It is not for the Home Office to decide what is

right or wrong. Where there is potential for criminal behaviour,

you do not investigate that yourself first and then if you identify a

problem then go to the police, where there is an allegation that should

involve criminal behaviour, you bring the police in straightaway. I

would like that to be what he's going to do. But making sense of the

bigger picture and holding those responsible to account, will not be

easy. Let's speak to our chief political

correspondent Norman Smith. There are plenty of unanswered questions.

We are at the start of a long slope attracted painful public reckoning,

not just for this place, Parliament, but pretty much every part of civic

society. The police, political parties, churches, charities, any

institution which had anything at all to do with children are going to

have to explain and justify how they have dealt with allegations of child

abuse. Mrs May and her officials are working through the terms of

reference for that overarching enquiry now. My expectation is we

will get the name of the individual who will head that enquiry later

today. For them, we will see, as we have heard, the top civil servant at

the Home Office being questioned about that initial investigation

that he carried out. And when you look at some of the key questions he

faces, that underlines the gravity of the allegations facing

Westminster. He will be pressed in particular about what has happened

to 114 files which were examined but have gone missing. He will be

questioned about what happened about the allegations made by the

Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens. And he will also be questioned about

to what extent the Home Office directly or indirectly has provided

funding for groups linked to paedophiles. When you look at those

questions, you understand the nature of the challenge facing in

particular, this place, Parliament. My sense is you have an institution

here which is only just gradually coming to terms with the

reputational damage inflicted on it by the expenses scandal. But these

enquiries, it seems to me, have the potential to inflict much, much more

serious damage on the reputation of Parliament and Westminster. Thank

you. And you can watch that committee

meeting this afternoon on the BBC News Channel at 3:15pm.

A mother who's charged with murdering her three year old son,

has made her first public appearance in court.

Rosdeep Adekoya is accused of killing her son,

Mikaeel and then burying his body before reporting him missing.

Here's our Scotland correspondent, Colin Blane.

The disappearance of little Mikaeel Kular prompted a huge public

response. Hundreds of volunteers searched parkland and open spaces

all around the three-year-old's home in the north of Edinburgh. Police

were brought in from all over Scotland after his mother reported

him missing. But Mikaeel's body was eventually found 20 miles away from

his home. His mother is eventually found 20 miles away from

his home. His mother charged with his murder. Today, we learned the

details of the allegations against her. It is claimed Rosdeep Adekoya

punched her son, causing him blunt force trauma injuries for which she

failed to seek medical attention. After Mikaeel died, it is alleged

his mother wrapped his body in a duvet, placed it in a suitcase and

drove it to woodland in Fife. In Edinburgh today, Rosdeep Adekoya

arrived for her first appearance in open court. Rosdeep Adekoya stood

between two security officers. She was dressed in black and showed no

emotion. She looked straight ahead during the three minute hearing. She

made no plea and was returned to custody. It is alleged that all the

time the search for Mikaeel Kular was going on, his mother knew that

her son was already dead. She is due to make another appearance in court

on the 25th of July. Southern Japan is being battered

by the most powerful storm to hit Typhoon Neoguri is

nearly 250 miles wide. It's currently over the southern

islands of Okinawa with winds The storm is expected to hit

mainland Japan tomorrow, as our correspondent in Tokyo

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes now reports. Typhoon Neoguri is a real monster.

The shots taken from the International Space Station show

just how big it is. In the last few hours, it has been downgraded from a

super typhoon but it is still 250 miles wide and it is packing winds

of up to 150 mph. This morning, the centre of the storm swept to shore

on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. This wooden building was

torn from its foundations and dumped in the middle of the road. As the

storm lashed the island relentlessly, most seem to have

heeded the government's warnings to stay inside. Others sought refuge in

evacuation centres. The ferocity of the storm left some of them badly

shaken. TRANSLATION: We had information that the Typhoon would

be big and we should evacuate early on so I have been here since last

night. I am alone and scared. The winds are really strong. The 30,000

US troops based in Okinawa were also ordered into what they call lockdown

mode. What lockdown means is everybody has to go to their home of

residents and they are not supposed to leave their house under any

circumstances. The good news is the warnings worked. So far there have

only been a handful of injuries reported. The Typhoon is now

weakening and heading north towards the Japanese mainland. TRANSLATION:

We have not received information concerning great damage or injury.

The Prime Minister has provided information to our citizens and to

prepare thoroughly for any disaster and respond quickly if anything

should happen. Here in Tokyo it is a lovely warm, dry evening but Typhoon

Neoguri is heading in this direction. When it reaches the

Japanese mainland, the vast amount of moisture it is carrying will be

dumped as rain and that will mean flash floods and landslides. The

danger of this huge storm is not over.

Two men from Birmingham have admitted travelling to Syria to

fight in the conflict there. They were arrested at Heathrow when they

had returned home. Let's speak to our home affairs correspondent June

Kelly. These two young men from Birmingham

have become the latest Britons to be convicted in relation to the war in

Syria. They had been due to stand trial this afternoon but this

morning they suddenly both entered a guilty plea. As you say, they were

childhood friends. They left this country last May, went into Syria

via Turkey which is the traditional route. One of them had left a letter

for his family at their home in Handsworth and he told them he was

off to join a group allied to Al-Qaeda. He said he wanted to

become involved in jihad. A few days after he left, his family went to

the police and notified them that he was missing. When they arrived back

in the UK, the police were waiting for them and they were arrested. In

terms of evidence against them, detectives looked at a lot of

information on social media and e-mail accounts. Also, the men had

photographs they had taken of themselves in Syria, both wielding

an AK-47 automatic weapon. Those images were traced and it was

believed they were in the city of Aleppo which has seen some of the

worst fighting during the Syrian Civil War. This afternoon, we will

get an outline of the case against them and they will be sentenced at a

later date. Thank you. Marks Spencer has reported

a big drop in online sales Marc Bolland said overhauling

the website had an impact. Like-for-like sales of non-food

products, including clothing and However, the fall was offset

by continued growth in M's food British scientists claim to have

made a "major step forward" in developing a blood test to predict

the onset of Alzheimer's disease. They claim it has an accuracy

of 87% but other experts have warned that the test isn't yet ready

for doctors' surgeries. Let's speak to our health editor,

Hugh Pym. How will this test work? Well, and

major step forward, scientists say. In the last decade or so, every

single use of research has yielded nothing in terms of a breakthrough.

This will be a simple blood test which will give a clue as to whether

a patient which is -- with memory loss will develop outsiders. That

worked in 87% of the trial sample. A lot more work needs to be done. The

significance is that if they can take this further, it will help with

drug research because they need patience in the early stages, likely

to develop it but without full-blown Alzheimer's. Until now, they have

only been able to work with patients with the onset of this condition. If

the test does become available, the big question is

the test does become available, the would you want to take the test?

Scientists know that it is very frustrating, that patients who have

come to them and been worried about memory loss and other symptoms, they

have said you have to go away and come back in a year or so. They have

had to live with another year or more without knowing if they have

Alzheimer's. This test, if it is developed into something more

substantial could help them. But equally, there are families who say

they would rather not know about an elderly relative, someone who would

rather have another couple of years of quality-of-life without knowing

they will get Alzheimer's. It does raise a lot of issues if this goes

further forward. Thank you. Our top story this lunchtime: A top

civil servant is to be questioned by MPs about his department's handling

of historical allegations of sex abuse.

I will be live here in Rio with the latest on the World Cup ticket

scandal that is threatening to overshadow tonight's semifinal.

The end of an era at Leyton Orient - Barry Hearn sells his stake

And after a ceiling collapse stopped the show, this award-winning play

The ferocious storms that began in October made last winter

At the heart of the flooding were the Somerset levels,

For weeks, it was underwater, and residents could only get

Prince Charles went to visit those stranded in February.

Now the waters have gone, and he's back there today to see how

Our correspondent Jon Kay is in Muchelney.

No royal wellies required this time. Prince Charles has just arrived in

the last couple of minutes. These are the pictures. He returned

the last couple of minutes. These back in February, and he could

the last couple of minutes. These have picked a better day to get

across the message that this have picked a better day to get

is open for business. The sun is shining this time, the sky is blue,

the flowers are out, and he was determined to send that message to

the world really, that things here are slowly getting back to normal,

very different from February. Last time Prince Charles visited

Muchelney, he needed a boat to get here, and then a tractor to get

Muchelney, he needed a boat to get around. His tour guide that day was

local farmer, Mike Curtis, who showed the Prince Hal floodwater had

turned the village into an island, and turned his farm into a mess. It

is not perfect but it is liveable. Today, five months on, the Curtis

family showed me they are home and dry and life is getting back to

normal. The fields are better, they are green, the roads are clear and

people can get in and out, it is great. It is really good, it is

coming back together, and we are missing out for tourism. People

aren't coming because they think Somerset is flooded, which now we

are not, we are open like normal. Just watch the transformation. This,

the same field, as it emerges from Somerset's disastrous winter, and

this road to Muchelney, guess, it is a road now returned to its dry and

green normality. Back in February, we filmed this wedding venue in the

village. It was a sorry sight, and the owners were desperate for the

authorities to come in and help. Life needs to move on, we need to

clean up, get builders income we need dehumidifiers, we need this to

be taken out of the village. While this was the wedding barn in

February, and here it is today. Hosting a reception for the royal

visitor. Do you feel you are over it now? 110%, yes. Completely over it,

it is almost like the flooding never happen. It is amazing how quickly

nature has recovered. It was hard, it was freaky, nobody expected it to

be as bad as it was, but we are over it. Come see for yourselves. Many in

this county do still have concerns about insurance and flood defences,

but today's message is positive, that Somerset is open for business.

Certainly Muchelney is apparently back to normal today, that is what

Prince Charles is seeing in the building behind the at the moment.

Some other communities, some villages though, were hit much worse

and will take much longer to recover but this village is confident that

it will never be as bad again. There is flood defence work underway, and

they will raise the road again, so that this village will never become

an island in the future. The inquest into the death

of a teenager, who was killed by a polar bear on a school trip to

the Arctic Circle, has been hearing Michael Reid said he'd tried to

shoot the bear as it attacked Horatio Chapple,

but his rifle wouldn't fire. Let's speak to our correspondent,

Sarah Ransome, What else has he been saying?

He has been describing the moment when that polar Bear went on the

rampage through the camp they had set up on a remote glacier near the

Arctic Circle. Michael Reid said he was woken up by shouts of "bear

attack! " By some of the youngsters on the camp, he grabbed his rifle on

the way, and when he got outside his tent he could see a bear on top of

one of the teenagers. He said he repeatedly tried to shoot the

animal, but the rifle failed. He said then he looked and the bear

turned around and then went on to attack him. He told the court he

could remember the bear biting his head. He said he tried to gouge the

eyes out of the animal, thinking that was the weakest area of the

polar bear, but he said that was unsuccessful. Eventually the polar

bear turned away. He grabbed the rifle and managed to shoot it dead,

but by then Horatio Chapple, the 17-year-old from here in Salisbury,

Wiltshire, had already died. When he was asked about the rifle, he said

he had plenty of experience with firearms, and he felt he had had

sufficient training in that particular type. He also said, when

asked about the trip wire that had been put the previous evening, he

said he tested it himself and he was happy that it was working. He also

went on to pay tribute to the 17-year-old would-be doctor. He said

he was a fantastic young man with amazing potential. The inquest is

set to go on for the rest of the week.

The Welsh Environment Minister Alun Davies has been sacked

from the Welsh government for "unacceptable" behaviour.

Mr Davies asked civil servants to give him

private financial information about senior opposition members,

despite being told by his staff that the information

The Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones said the actions had been

There are 71 days before Scotland goes to the polls to vote on

whether or not to become an independent nation.

Campaigners and commentators have made much

of the implications for people in Scotland if it's a Yes vote.

But how would an independent Scotland impact

Here's our Wales correspondent, Hywel Griffith.

Their sights set on Scotland, in a few weeks Team Wales will be

trying to hunt down medals at the Commonwealth Games.

Many of these riders also compete for Team GB.

But in Glasgow, old friends become rivals.

In the year that Scotland votes on its independence, the Games will

It might be tempting to assume that Wales and Scotland are

on the same sort of political track, that there is a big debate here,

In reality, it is not something most people are talking about.

A recent poll for the BBC suggested 61% of people here thought a Yes

vote in Scotland should make no difference to life in Wales.

Only 17% thought it would lead to more powers for the Welsh assembly.

14% thought it should lead to Welsh people voting for independence.

Away from the track, opinions of what should happen

If Scotland get the independence, which they are looking for, I think

definitely it would be an option for Wales to have the same sort of

I would like them to stay, but that is about the only view I

I am not bothered whether they stay or not, to be honest.

Politicians in Cardiff Bay will be tracking

Yes or No, the impact will be felt here.

In the attempt to keep Scotland in the union,

various goodies are being offered to Scotland, especially around finance,

which are actually very advantageous to Scotland, whilst

So they are worried that they are going to lose out, either way,

Whatever the decision around the corner, Scotland's

referendum will increasingly shape the debate in Wales, as its

Brazilian police investigating a major World Cup ticket scam have

detained the British chief executive of a hospitality firm.

Ray Whelan is accused of leading a network selling illegal game passes.

Our chief sports correspondent, Dan Roan, is in Rio de Janeiro.

This case has shone a light on the complex and some would say murky way

in which some World Cup tickets are sold and then resold. Once again,

FIFA finds itself embroiled in some controversy. Rear Davis reports on a

case that could be embarrassing for world football's governing body.

This report contains Flash drug-free. Ray Whelan being

unceremoniously detained at the Copacabana Palace hotel, the city's

dash-mac loaf rush -- flash photography. Whelan is a

senior executive in one of FIFA's official business partners. He is

being questioned over his links to a gang running a huge World Cup ticket

scam. The gang is thought to have been operating for the last four

World Cups, obtaining and selling as many as 1000 tickets per match.

Prosecutors said they could have made as much as ?50 million this

tournament alone. For several days, Brazilian police had insisted

someone from close to, or inside FIFA, must have been involved,

because of the number of VIP and hospitality tickets being made

available. TRANSLATION: The crimes he has been accused of facilitating

our distribution of tickets to be sold by touts. It has a penalty of

four years in prison, and also the offence of FIFA has insisted its

high-tech named ticketing policy makes swapping all reselling almost

impossible, but as the tournament nears its climax, the demand for

black-market tickets and the opportunity for criminal gangs to

make vast profits is huge. In the last hour, Rio police have

confirmed to us that Ray Whelan has been released after questioning, and

he has said he denies any wrongdoing, but I still think this

will be very uncomfortable for FIFA, after all the controversy

surrounding the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, this really was the last

thing they would have wanted, partly because of the close ratio chip they

have with this company, Match. It has an exclusive contract to sell

hospitality, both tickets, accommodation and other services,

not just for this World Cup but for the next two as well. It goes

further than that. Sepp Blatter's own nephew is a minority shareholder

in the business, so it will be interesting to see how FIFA react to

this. Let's look ahead to tonight, Brazil against Germany, it does not

get bigger than that. It is hard to overstate, Sophie, how

important this semifinal is against Germany for the whole of Brazil.

There will be 200 million people here ginning into the match, the

whole country will stop and hold its breath and hope and pray that the

select few chosen to represent them can do the business and reached the

final on Sunday, because if they can achieve their ultimate goal and win

the World Cup, it will be the first time they have ever won the trophy

on home soil. They have won it five times before but never on home soil,

and that is why this team operates under such almost intolerable

pressure. The problem they have got is that they will have to do it

tonight in Belo Horizonte without their best player, Neymar, who

fractured his vertebra, as we all know now, in that quarterfinal

against Colombia. Not only that, but they are also without their captain,

having to operate under this incredible scrutiny and attention,

but what a story it will be if Brazil can beat a German side who

they are fully aware would love nothing more than to spoil the

host's party. They are very consistent. It is their fourth

consecutive World Cup semifinal, that is a record for any team. They

have been very impressive this tournament, and I think Germany are

the favourites, but you can't underestimate the motivation that

Brazil will find from that injury to Neymar. They will want to do it for

him and they will have the whole country behind them, and it will be

an incredible atmosphere where ever you watch the game tonight. Time for

a look at the weather now with Phil Avery.

It has been very wet across the North East of England, thunderstorms

now migrating down towards Lincolnshire. That is not the end of

the story because you get the sense that on the big picture we have

quite a bit of storm activity to encounter through the rest of the

afternoon, but it is not without the possibility of a bit of sunshine.

This neck of the woods was thoroughly miserable yesterday. A

cheerier prospect, that went be difficult, but the Russ and heavy

thunderstorms breaking along parts of Wales and the West Midlands.

Fewer perhaps through parts of Cumbria, central and southern parts

of Scotland, the focus across the eastern side of Northern Ireland and

as we get into the eastern side of Scotland this afternoon, and again

down that eastern strip of England, torrential downpours was that we

have already seen some reports of localised flooding in parts of the

north-east of England, and that is on the cards again, quite

extensively across the South of England, and we have had a gaggle of

showers growing through the morning through Sussex and Surrey. I think

they will become more extensive during the course of the afternoon.

Through the evening and overnight, showers lingering for a time then

exiting stage right towards the near continent. Then a finite the most of

the British Isles, not a cold one in the towns and cities, in the

countryside single figures, that the mist and fog around, not a

widespread problem. Then tomorrow, a fine prospect, unless you happen to

be closer to the east coast. Late on in the day, that's enough cloud,

wind and rain getting towards Norwich and East Anglia to give a

rather chilled aspect of the weather. Further west, drier,

brighter and consequently a warmer affair there. So that bodes pretty

well for the first day of the test at Trent Bridge, England taking on

India, the second tourists of the season. Thursday, notice, the rain

is on the move. We suspect it will migrate away from the east coast is

this warm front introduces, funny old thing, warmer conditions from

the continent. We will see the consequences of that later in the

week across the east, but it does mean that we will have again

occasional heavy bursts of rain migrating their weight and a further

to the west. Not getting to the western extremities until late in

the day. A lot going on. If you want the full nine yards on it all, the

BBC Weather website is the place for you.

A reminder of the top story, a senior civil servant is to be

questioned about his department's