06/04/2017 BBC News at One

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court rules

against a father who took his daughter on holiday

The justices were unanimous that a school has the right to set

the rules about attendance - the father who lost the case

To attend regularly no longer means to attend frequently.

It now means to attend on all the days and at all the times

Also on the programme this lunchtime...

The Syrian government has spoken for the first time since the gas

attack that killed 70 people - and denies ever using

Two former Barclays bankers walk free from court,

after being found not guilty of conspiring to rig the Libor

Jeremy Corbyn says a Labour government would add VAT

to private school fees - and use the money to pay

for free school meals for all primary pupils in England.

All the evidence from those councils that do provide free school meals is

that there is higher levels of attainment, better levels of

concentration and better health for the children.

On the eve of the Masters, the world number one Dustin Johnson

has fallen down the stairs and injured his back.

And coming up in the sport ? the referees' governing body has

apologised after Keith Stroud misread the rules in last night's

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

A father has lost a landmark case at the Supreme Court in a dispute

about taking his child out of school without permission.

Jon Platt, from the Isle of Wight, refused to pay a fine

after he took his daughter to Florida, and successfully argued

in the High Court that the law requires only that children attend

school regularly, which his daughter does.

But today, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that it IS disruptive

to a child's education to remove them from school during term time.

The Prime Minister, Theresa May, welcomed the ruling,

saying it recognised the importance of children attending school.

Our legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman reports.

Arriving at the highest court in the land, a father, Jon Platt, about to

find out whether taking his daughter on holiday in term time meant he had

broken the law. In 2015, John Platt took his

daughter out of school He was fined ?120 by his local

council on the Isle of Wight. He refuse to pay and was prosecuted

but argued successfully that his daughter, who had a more than 90%

overall record, was wickedly attending school. Today, the Supreme

Court unanimously disagree with that. Unauthorised absences have a

disruptive effect. Not only on the education of the individual child

but also on the work of other pupils and of their teachers. Outside

court, Jon Platt was visibly upset by the ruling. This case now has to

go back to the Isle of Wight magistrates and start all over

again. I can tell you, I have absolutely no intention of pleading

guilty to this offence when it goes back to the Magistrates' Court. Jon

Platt has lost his case here at the Supreme Court but he remains

defiant. For parents, however, the decision is now crystal clear, you

have to obey the attendance policy of the school, or else you're

committing a cruel offence. The Government says headteachers still

have the ability to decide when exceptional circumstances allow for

a child to be absent, but that today's ruling removes the

uncertainty for schools that was created by the previous judgment.

But many still believe that parents should be able to take their

children on holiday during the school year. I think they should be

taken out of school because they always did in our day and it never

did us any harm, a week or two, they don't lose that much and they learn

so much when they're on holiday, don't they. To take them on holiday

during holiday times, the company is obviously wants to make money.

Parents have been warned. Some will inevitably choose to follow Jon

Platt by taking their children on holiday in term time and facing the

consequences. The Syrian Government has spoken

about the chemical attack in the northwest of the country

for the first time - denying it More than 70 people died

in the attack in Idlib province. Turkey says the results of autopsies

carried out on victims confirm that chemical weapons were used,

and has blamed This report from Richard Galpin

contains distressing images. This is the moment on Tuesday when

the rebel held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province was hit

by an air strike. It soon became clear it was not a conventional

attack. Dozens of babies, children and adults were left choking and

foaming at the mouth. And today, tests on some of those taken to

hospital in Turkey have proved it was a chemical attack. There's

speculation it was the deadly nerve agent sarin. For US president Donald

Trump, this was enough for him to make an abrupt U-turn on his

comparatively lenient policy towards the Syrian regime. When you kill

innocent children, innocent babies, babies, little babies, with a

chemical gas that is so lethal, that people were shocked to hear what gas

it was, that crosses, many, many lines beyond a red line, many lines.

These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated. With

hint try for that Washington is now even considering military action,

the Syrian government has acted quickly to deny it used chemical

weapons in Khan Sheikhoun. TRANSLATION: Our army has never used

chemical weapons and will not use chemical weapons, not only against

our civilians, our people, but also against the terrorists who are

attacking civilians. But during the long civil war in Syria, have been

accused of using chemical weapons on several occasions. Including a sarin

gas attack near Damascus in 2013 ridge killed hundreds. Although this

crossed a red line for the then President Barack Obama, there was no

military intervention. Now, some experts think the Trump

administration may do something more robust. Are we looking at some kind

of limited air strike, with symbolic value, from the Trump

administration, on the Assad regime installations? That would at least

show that the Americans aren't willing to accept these kind of

actions. But for now, focuses on diplomatic action at the United

Nations. Britain and other countries want a resolution condemning this

latest attack and calling for those responsible to be brought to

justice. And our Washington correspondent

Jane O'Brien joins me now. We have Donald Trump using the word

heinous in that report - what response might we expect from the

Trump administration? Well, we just don't know. Donald Trump himself

says that even when he makes up his mind, he's probably not going to

tell us. At the moment it is a bit like reading tea leaves. The strong

list condemnation so far has come from the United States ambassador to

the UN, who has also directly criticised Russia in all this. Mr

Trump didn't do that last night. But what we are lacking in all of this

is a clearly articulated foreign policy, and not just on Syria but

also on North Korea. It gives the impression too many onlookers that

this is a young administration that is still struggling to work out how

it deals with these sorts of crises. Mr Trump says that the pictures

helped him change his mind, but quite frankly, the situation on the

ground offers him no better options than it did to his predecessor,

Barack Obama. We also have criticism within his own party from Senator

Marco Rubio, who was himself a White House contender, saying that there

is no coincidence here in the timing of this gas attack, but the Trump

administration had pretty much indicated to President Assad that

the fight wasn't about him. So, we know that words matter. But we have

to know what they mean before they matter and at this stage we just

don't know what Donald Trump plans to do. Thank you.

Two former Barclays bankers have been found not guilty

of conspiring to rig the Libor inter-bank interest rate.

Stelios Contogoulas and Ryan Reich were cleared in this second trial,

after a jury failed to reach a verdict last year.

Our business correspondent Andy Verity is at Southwark Crown Court.

Explained what's happened in court. Well, first, I might give you a two

explanation of what Libor rigging is. Libor is supposed to measure the

real cost of borrowing money. Every bank each day would say what

interest rate they thought they would have to pay to borrow money.

They would take an average and that average is Libor. At the same time,

the banks had big money staked on which way Libor went, up or down.

And traders would get in touch with the people at the banks who

submitted the rates and make requests for hire or lower Libors

according to what was in the bank's commercial interests. Back in 2012,

when Bob Diamond resigned, those requests were frowned on as corrupt

and dishonest. But the traders defended those requests, saying they

were not against the rules and they were not dishonest. I have a

statement from one of the traders who has been acquitted, Ryan Reich,

who says, I am saddened that it has taken so long to expose the case

against me. A 23-year-old trader just doing my job over a decade ago

has been totally without foundation, it is based on a fundamental

misunderstanding of the facts. The juries in previous trials, it is

important to say, had a lower burden of proof, they did not have to show

that the traders in those previous trials were deliberately

disregarding the rules. When the burden of proof was set up it

higher, as it was in this trial, the prosecutors failed to prove their

case. Labour has proposed adding VAT

to private school fees, and using the money raised to pay

for free school meals Critics say the plan would force

less wealthy families to remove their children

from private education, at the same time as subsidising

the better off in the state sector. Our political correspondent

Ellie Price reports. Soggy Brussels sprouts and lumpy

mashed potato are as a general rule a thing of the past in school

dinners these days. In fact, they're healthier and more appealing. Labour

now want free school meals to be available to every primary school

pupil in England, and they will pay for it by imposing VAT on private

school fees. We want all children to get its. All the evidence from those

councils that do provide free school meals is that there is higher levels

of attainment, better concentration and better health for all of the

children. Launching the policy this morning, Labour estimates it would

cost up to ?900 million a year, while introducing VAT on private

school fees would raise around ?1.5 billion annually. Critics say the

sums don't add up. This would put up the fees of independent schools, so

these hard-working parents who are working really hard to pay the fees,

they would no longer be able to afford them. So smaller schools

would have to close and that would move pupils out of our system into

the state system. At the moment, all children up to the age of about

eight are eligible for free school meals. After that, eligibility

depends on whether a family receives certain benefits. The latest figures

show that just under 14.5% of pupils in year three to year six are known

to be eligible for and claiming free school meals. I would much rather

see the extra money, any extra money, being derived from taxation,

whether it is on private schools or other sources, given to the poorest

children in our country, and not necessarily subsidising those

parents who can afford free school meals. The policy may sound

familiar. That's because it was in the Lib Dems' election manifesto in

2015, although they did not suggest putting VAT on private school fees.

Before that, the Labour government under Gordon Brown had promised to

pilot the idea at the 2010 election. What's new about today's policy is

the idea of raising the money to fund it through private school fees.

Jeremy Corbyn's pitch is that it's taxing the rich to feed the poor. He

says it is about fairness, a message he hopes will appeal beyond Labour's

base. For the first time since his

election, Donald Trump will meet the leader of the world's other

economic superpower, Mr Trump has said he believes

the summit in Florida Relations have become fraught,

with the US president taking a confrontational stance on trade

and the North Korean Our correspondent

Barbara Plett-Usher Yes, President Trump likes to do

business at his club here in Florida. But this is the most high

stakes meeting yet between the two leaders. The setting is informal but

probably, the meetings will be quite formal, because that is the style of

the Chinese leader. This is supposed to open a new chapter in relations

between the US and China. But President Xi Jinping actually has

quite long-standing ties to America, and it began in a rather unlikely

place. Muscatine, Iowa,

the pearl of the Mississippi. It's an old industrial town

in the American heartland, a brief stopping point for Mark

Twain... And more recently,

for another famous visitor. He met them during an agricultural

research trip as a young man 30 years ago, and returned

for a reunion shortly before Yes, and I think he had

not home-stayed before. I'm certain he hadn't

home-stayed before! And he ate around

the breakfast table... with a local family.

of American life by staying Then, the bedroom was filled

with Star Trek toys. Now, the house has been

turned into a museum aimed I think Xi Jinping has great

presence, and when he comes ino the room, shakes his hand,

you know, I believe Donald Trump... Well, I hate to say it

this way - this is a guy We can't continue to allow China

to rape our country... But Donald Trump's brand is bashing

China, particularly on trade. Could a dose of Iowa

hospitality fix that? Ask the Chinese businessman behind

this museum project. Maybe President Trump,

I think maybe needs some time Maybe Donald Trump needs

to visit Muscatine? If he know the story

about Muscatine to China, The story is bigger

than friendship - it's business. There's no trade deficit in Iowa -

it exports a lot to China, This town and this state

voted for Donald Trump, but that doesn't mean Iowa

buys his approach to China. Here, they see China as a business

opportunity, not a threat. In fact, this estate does

so much trade with China, that it would have a lot to lose

if Mr Trump started a trade war. There's no sense

of uncertainty here. An established, family-run business

pounding out steel stamps But the new owner has branched out

to tap new markets - now looking vulnerable

to trade disputes. I am concerned about it,

I think the chance of that happening on a large scale is pretty small,

so I don't lose any sleep over it. Obviously I'm exporting a lot

of goods to China and I know about the import taxes I pay

on my products going in, so I think there does need

to be some rebalancing. Rebalancing a complex

and crucial relationship - that will take more

than cornfield diplomacy. Trade is definitely on the agenda.

Also, North Korea, how to deal with its nuclear threat. And everybody is

going to be watching how the two men get on. It's expected President

Trump will be cordial in public but in private or press the president

quite aggressively on these issues. Barbara Plett Usher.

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court rules

against a father who took his daughter on holiday

And still to come: On the eve of the Masters, the world number one

Dustin Johnson has fallen and injured his back.

Coming up in Sport: The Republic of Ireland women's team reach

an agreement with their governing body, after allegations

Serious questions have been raised about why a paedophile

who admitted his crimes to police has never been prosecuted.

An historical abuse inquiry heard last year that Henry Clarke abused

three boys when he worked in children's homes

in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and 1970s.

A BBC investigations team travelled to Canada to confront Henry Clarke -

where they discovered he'd set up a children's home and worked

at several churches after emigrating to the country.

And, as Chris Buckler reports, the Canadian authorities were never

It's no secret that some children were abused under

Earlier this year an enquiry into historical abuse

in Northern Ireland published its final report, which detailed

the failings of institutions and the crimes of individuals.

But some escaped prosecution and the BBC has discovered that one

former children's home worker was able to start a new life

in a new country - and the Canadian authorities

were never informed of his admission that he'd sexually abused boys.

I'm admitting, yes, I abused three boys back in my past,

But yes, there's feelings within me, but...

And again, I'm not trying to make an excuse to say

I'm not a paedophile, but it's a strong word

Not only was Henry Clarke able to move to Canada.

In the early 1980s he set up a children's home in Ontario.

He only left that post having been questioned by police

while on holiday back in Belfast in 1985.

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry was told that after those

interviews he admitted to detectives that he'd abused three boys at three

different care homes where he worked in Northern Ireland.

Yet he was never prosecuted and it's believed that information wasn't

After making the admission to police, he left the children's

home he'd set up in Ontario and went on to become a pastor

He insists he was never involved in further abuse and that no

allegations have been made against him in the country.

I enjoyed caring for young people and...

But you enjoyed it because you were getting access to children.

That's not the reason I did it at all.

I did it because I enjoyed looking after them, I enjoyed the work.

The opportunity arose and I took the opportunity,

which again is what we're agreeing today is wrong, but I didn't take

Until now, Henry Clarke's past wasn't known in the relatively

remote part of Canada where he now lives.

But thousands of miles away in Northern Ireland,

one of his victims, whom he abused decades ago, has given up his right

to anonymity to call for him to be prosecuted.

Of course you want him brought to justice.

Why should he live his happy life and I've lived in hell,

Why does he sit there, "I turned to God" -

So forgive me, I want you to forgive me."

How can I forgive a monster like that there?

In Canada, questions will also be asked -

about how Henry Clarke managed to continue to work in the church

and with children, hiding away in small towns from the truth

An inquest has opened into the death of a British Airways pilot.

43-year-old Richard Westgate had complained for years of severe

headaches and vision problems - and was convinced he was being

poisoned by toxic fumes leaking onto planes.

Duncan Kennedy is at Salisbury Coroner's Court for us.

Richard Westgate was a dedicated pilot, a long-standing commercial

pilot over many years. He flew many sorts of aircraft. His family

believe he was the victim of breathing in this toxic cabin air

fumes as a result of being in a pilot in a cabin over many years.

They also believe this issue could potentially be dangerous for major

aircraft, airlines all over the world and therefore tens of millions

of passengers, though airlines themselves insist cabin air is safe.

This is a British Airways A320, just one of a type of aircraft

Richard Westgate flew for many years, and one of the

But when the 43-year-old pilot died in 2012, it came after he complained

of long-term health problems that he said were due

His mother and brother, who came to his inquest today,

also believe he was the victim of toxic cabin air, having

breathed it over many years whilst flying,

which they say affected his nervous system.

This 2015 flight from Florida to New York shows a visible example

of what the industry calls "a cabin fume event".

Richard Westgate was not involved with this flight.

The pictures appear to show what can happen when oil vapour

from the engine is sucked into the aircraft itself.

Tristan Loraine, who says he also suffered air toxicity as a pilot,

showed me the kind of pipe that links an engine to the cabin.

He says nearly all commercial aircraft could be affected by this

problem and the industry must accept what's happening.

You assume everything is safe, you board a train,

you assume it's safe, and the airline industry

is an incredibly safe industry, you know, it is.

But the reality is on this particular issue, this

is the Achilles' heel of aviation - contaminated air.

This doesn't just affect British Airways.

Both BA and the Civil Aviation Authority have denied there's

BA has said it wouldn't operate an aircraft

It says there's been substantial research into cabin air and none

of it shows there's a risk to long-term health.

The coroner in this inquest made clear that this wasn't a public

enquiry into cabin air fumes and the industry has made clear that cabin

air is safe will stop but the Westgate family and others do

believe there is an issue here is the airline industry must treat it

seriously. Duncan Kennedy, thank you.

A brother and sister from Birmingham have appeared in court in London

It's alleged that 21-year-old Ummariyat Mirza bought

a knife and other items, while planning an attack in the UK.

His sister, Zainub, is accused of sending him links

Both were remanded in custody until the end of the month.

In the last few minutes it's been confirmed

that the Ukip Welsh Assembly member Mark Reckless has quit the party

Mr Reckless, who represents South Wales East, will vote

with the Conservative group in the Assembly.

It's another blow to the party following the departure of Douglas

Carswell as its only MP last month. Theresa May has launched

the Conservatives' local election campaign, saying there are no "no-go

areas" for the party. She's promised "competence"

for voters, and accused the other More than 2000 seats

are up for grabs - mostly on county councils -

as well as number A flagship tax-free account

for people saving for a first home It's called the Lifetime ISA -

but no bank or building It's one of a number of important

changes which have kicked Our personal finance correspondent

Simon Gompertz is with me. The Lifetime ISA was meant to be a

really big deal. What's going on? Why is no one offering it? The point

of the Lifetime ISA is you could save both a deposit for your first

home and for your retirement in the same account, but banks are worried

that it too conjugated and that possibly some people would miss out.

-- complicated. You get a ?1 bonus for each ?4 that you put into the

account, and that ?1 bonus can add up to a maximum of ?1000 a year. So

it's a lot of money, very attractive. But on the other side

there's the danger if you take the money out the wrong time that you

will be subject to a penalty, which would be 25% of the money that you

take out, so that's a big penalty, and the worry has been people will

be hit by that penalty unawares. Also that some people would invest

in this Lifetime ISA in preference to putting money into a valuable

workplace pension scheme where you get employers' pensions

contributions and that would be a bad thing. So there are only a

handful of Lifetime ISAs being launched by some specialist

investment companies at the moment, although the Treasury does hope that

over the coming months more bodies will launch them. So it's a new tax

year. What else is changing today? Another instalment of the clamp-down

on tax breaks that buy-to-let investors have. The latest one is a

restriction on the amount of their mortgage interest that they can

offset against their profits and so pay less tax. Another important one

is to do with inheritance tax. The allowance for inheritance tax of

?325,000, that you can pass on without paying 40% inheritance tax,

that is being expanded. A ?100,000 element is being added on top,

related to the value of your home. That you can pass on. That's

important, that's going to be rising. The amount that you can earn

before you start paying income taxes rising from ?11,000 to ?11,500. That

represents a ?100,000 game -- that represents a gain for a basic

The Masters has just teed off - but on the eve of the tournament

at Augusta the world number one Dustin Johnson fell down the stairs

add to his usual practice, Dustin Johnson slipped on the stairs at his

house and landed hard on his lower back. His agent said he'd been

advised to remain immobile and was taking anti-inflammatory medicine,

but his participation is now in doubt. Golf is no stranger to

untimely injuries. Rory McIlroy missed the opening 2015 after

injuring his ankle playing football, whilst Sam Torrance had to withdraw

from a Ryder Cup match after sleepwalking into a pot plant. And

only on Tuesday, Johnson himself spoke about the unpredictability of

his sport. Ulf is a funny game, you know, it doesn't matter how good the

player. You can still not win. I have a lot of confidence in my game

right now but... If Johnson does tee off, he will have to dethrone the

champion, Danny Willett. Returning to the scene of his triumph. Since

then he's not won a single tournament, but he's determined to

cling onto his title. It would be a shame potentially if you have to

give it back on Sunday. But to have the 12 months I've had has been

amazing. It will be incredible to do it again sometime. So golf's most

famous garment is once again up for grabs. But for some, just getting to

the start will be a victory in itself. Andy Swiss, BBC News.

The sun is shining. It's a beautiful day. A beautiful sunrise. It was

nippy in some places, temperatures just two or three above freezing but

the sun was beautiful. What have we in store for the next few days, for

the rest of the week, into the weekend? Some sunshine is on the

cards but also warming up and potentially warming up quite

significantly across some southern and central areas of the UK. The

sunshine isn't absolutely everywhere, certainly north-western

parts of the country, a bit of cloud here which is stuck in the area of

high pressure. One thing that is hard to forecast is the amount of

cloud. In some areas it breaks up, in others, it doesn't. One thing we

are sure today is the pollen levels in some southern and central areas

are pretty high. Some others are feeling sneezy. This is the forecast

for about 4pm. There are areas of the country that are stuck under the

cloud. Western Scotland, Northern Ireland and north-western parts of

England and Wales, here, the sunny spells come and go but overall a

fair bit of cloud. But the South, Central areas and in the east,

that's where we have the best weather. Some areas in southern

parts of Wales could nudge up to 15-17 C this afternoon. Very little

changes to the cause of this evening and overnight. This high pressure

that is stuck over Rose isn't in a hurry to go. When you have high

pressure sitting on top of us there's very little wind to stir the

weather about so what you get one day is more or less what you get the

next day. As long as the high pressure doesn't move, the weather

doesn't change a lot. That's what's going to happen tomorrow, again,

more or less the same temperatures and whether. It of cloud, a bit of

sunshine. The high-pressure will finally shift a bit as we go into

the weekend, with winds blowing round. The high-pressure is going to

draw up some warmth, significant warmth, as far as this weekend is

concerned. We are going to feel those temperatures rising. We could

get up to 20 Celsius possibly in southern areas. High teams through

the Midlands and northern parts of England. Great weather for the Grand

National, like winds, some sunshine, and then the real warmth reaches us

on Sunday. The Northwest has to be said not quite so warm, even some

spots of rain here. Look at these temperatures. This is typical for

June! We're not doing bad on Sunday. On BBC One we now join the BBC's

news teams where you are.