24/01/2018 BBC News at One

Allegations of sexual

harassment at an elite

men-only annual fundraiser.

Two children's hospitals have given

back donations from the event while

the Bank of England denies any links

following allegations from an

undercover journalist.

Multiple

women told me that they had been

touched inappropriately and that

ranged from holding the hands, to

touching their stomachs, two hands

near the bottom of their back.

An urgent question about

the allegations is being asked this

lunchtime in the House of Commons.

We'll have the latest.

The other main stories:

There's been a 70% rise

in the number of prosecutions

collapsing in England and Wales

because of mistakes

with sharing evidence.

The Finsbury Park mosque attack -

the court hears from worshippers

knocked down during the alleged

attack last year.

The new England Women's football

coach, Phil Neville,

apologises for some of his tweets,

as his suitability for

the job is questioned.

A deaf woman is suing the promoters

of a Little Mix concert -

because there wasn't a sign language

interpreter for the support acts.

And all these years of hard

work is paying off -

now aged 11, Anna Hursey is thought

to be the youngest ever competitor

in the Commonwealth Games.

And coming up in the sport on BBC

News: Defending champion

Roger Federer is through to his 14th

Australian Open semifinal,

beating Tomas Berdych

in straight sets in Melbourne.

Good afternoon and welcome

to the BBC News at One.

The organisers of a men-only charity

dinner have said they're appalled

by allegations of sexual harassment

at the event, and have

launched an investigation.

Undercover journalists

from the Financial Times say

they were groped and propositioned

at the Presidents Club annual

charity fundraiser in London.

In light of the allegations,

the Bank of England said anyone

who'd bid in the event's auction

won't be able to take up the prize

of tea with Mark Carney,

and Great Ormond Street Hospital

and the Evelina London Children's

Hospital have both said

they will return all previous

donations from the dinner.

An urgent question has just been

heard in Parliament about the issue.

Daniela Relph has the latest.

Undercover at the 5-star Dorchester

Hotel.

Madison marriage, and

reporter for the Financial Times. He

getting ready for a night's work as

a hostess at the Presidents Club

fundraising dinner. The guests, all

men. The hostesses, all young women.

Had around £200 for an evening's

work. As the dinner began, guests

were told they were at the most on

PC event of the year. There was a

charity auction including an offer

of plastic surgery at a Harley

Street clinic. Perhaps, they were

told, for their wives.

And during the evening, the

undercover reporter says she and

others were repeatedly groped and

harassed by male guests.

Multiple

women told me that they had been

touched inappropriately, and that

ranged from holding the hands,

touching that stomachs, hands near

the bottom of their back. Things

which maybe you might not find too

offensive, but touching the bottom.

Kind of grabbing them, pulling them

into their laps. Yes, a complete

range of sexual harassment,

basically.

The event raised more

than £2 million for several

organisations including Great Ormond

Street Hospital. It is now says it

will return all donations due to the

wholly unacceptable nature of the

event. And in a statement, the

Presidents Club said...

What happened was that women were

bought as bait. For men. Rich man,

not a mile from where we stand, as

if that is an acceptable behaviour.

It is totally unacceptable!

Businessmen David Mele is a trustee

of the Presidents Club and until

today, he was also a nonexecutive

board member at the Department for

education. He has now stepped down

from that role. The future of the

Presidents Club dinner is also now

in doubt. Will the allegations of

lewd behaviour and an event that has

been held for 33 years? -- finish

and events.

As we were saying, there has been an

urgent question in the House.

Our correspondent

Richard Galpin is here.

Give us your sense of that exchange

in the House of Commons.

There

certainly has been a lot of anger

and there was a question tabled by

Labour MP Jess Phillips and it has

come quickly. And the Education

Minister has responded, saying that

David Mellor, not the former

Conservative politician, a different

man, the chair of the Presidents

Club dinner is now stepping down as

a nonexecutive member of the

Department of Education. The

Minister said this was absolutely

the right thing to do and as we were

hearing in that report, the response

from Jess Phillips has been very,

the response has been very strong,

saying that women were brought as

bait for rich men and that she very

much welcome the fact that David

Mellor was stepping down. Apart from

two children's hospitals which are

sending back the donations, WPP, a

huge global advertising agency, has

said it will no longer support this

dinner.

Richard, thank you very

much.

There's been a significant rise

in the number of prosecutions

collapsing in England and Wales,

because of a failure by police

or prosecutors to disclose evidence.

Figures obtained by BBC News show

that more than 900 people

were formally cleared,

or had cases against them dropped,

in the year to last April,

because of problems with disclosure.

588,000 cases were prosecuted.

Here's our home affairs

correspondent, Danny Shaw.

I was relieved, not just for myself,

for everyone that's been with it

every step of the way.

Under investigation

for rape for two years,

Liam Allen's life was on hold.

Then, three days into his trial,

his legal team received

crucial information

and the prosecution was halted.

The case highlighted

problems with disclosure,

the duty on police and prosecutors

to pass on material which might

assist the defence case

or undermine the prosecution's.

Finally, Liam Allen achieved

the justice that should have

been his from two years earlier.

He had been on bail for two years

not knowing if he was going to be

convicted, facing a sentence

of perhaps 12 years or so and be

on the Sex Offenders'

Register for life.

Just the toll upon a young man

who is in the middle of a university

degree cannot be imagined.

BBC News has obtained figures on how

many people have been cleared or had

allegations dropped against them

because of disclosure failings.

In 2014-15, proceedings

were halted against 537 people.

By last year, that

number had risen to 916.

That's a 70% increase in two years

in the number of defendants cleared

after disclosure failings emerged.

The implication is that it could

lead to miscarriages of justice.

The criminal justice system is based

upon trusting the prosecution

to disclose material

which undermines their case

or assists a defence case.

And if they are not doing

that, then clearly,

there can't be a fair trial.

The Crown Prosecution Service says

the number of trials which collapsed

because evidence is not disclosed

when it should be is a fraction

of the total number of cases

they deal with, about one

in every 1,000 prosecutions.

But the CPS says that is still too

many and, in the coming days,

they will be publishing an action

plan to tackle the issue,

along with the police.

Senior police officers say

there needs to be a change

of mindset, so disclosure is put

at the centre of an investigation,

rather than something

that is done at the end.

Danny Shaw, BBC News,

at the Old Bailey.

The Brexit Secretary, David Davis,

has said he wants negotiations

about Britain's future relationship

with the EU to be finished

by the time the UK leaves the bloc.

He told a parliamentary committee it

would be unwise to allow

the discussions to continue past

March 2019.

Our assistant political editor,

Norman Smith, is at Westminster..

Tell us more.

David Davis is an old

bruiser, but he faced a tough time

today over the so-called transition

phase. This is the two-year grace

period before we finally depart from

the EU for ever and a day. Mr Davis

today confirmed that really, not

much is going to change during that

two year period and he suggested the

UK would, mimic existing EU rules

around the Single Market, the

customs union, and the European

Court of Justice. In other words, we

will continue to take their

judgments and their rulings. That is

prompting something of a backlash

amongst the Tommy Robinson who say,

how can we be an independent nation

if we are allowing a foreign court

to lay down the law. -- the

Brexiteers. Jacob Rees-Mogg said it

sounded more like a two-year

extension of our membership of the

EU. Listen to some of those

exchanges.

If, on the 30th of March

2019, the UK is subject

to the European Court of Justice,

takes new rules relating

to the single market and is paying

into the European budget,

are we not a vassal state?

DAVIS LAUGHS.

No, we're not.

Er...

Not unless we are

a vassal state today.

Mr Davis may have been laughing, but

Jacob Rees-Mogg was certainly not

and he said Mr Davis needed to stop

behaving like we were still a member

of the EU after March 2019 next

year. Mr Davis said he was relaxed

about the transition deal. What was

important was the ends deal. He may

be relaxed but a lot of Brexiteers

most certainly not relaxed.

Norman,

thank you.

A number of people knocked

to the ground during the alleged

Finsbury Park mosque attack have

been telling a court

about the moment when a van mounted

the kerb and crashed

into a group of Muslims.

Darren Osborne is accused

of deliberately driving a van

into worshippers in North London

last June, killing one person.

He denies murder

and attempted murder.

Daniel Sandford is following

the case at Woolwich Crown Court.

Yes, I have to apologise for them

very bad weather at the moment, but

we have had a series of witnesses in

statement form and giving live

evidence describing the moment of

the Finsbury Park attack. They

describe how a 51-year-old man,

Makram Ali, collapsed before the

attack, but he was awake and

responding, one witness told the

court. They then heard the sound of

revving and at which point, a large

white van ploughed into the crowd of

people. Three people ended up under

the van, according to eyewitnesses.

In a statement, one eyewitness said,

I could feel my bones breaking. And

a man's who's got was broken during

the attack said, I thought somebody

was going to come out and attackers

with a knife or a gun. The driver of

the van, according to the witnesses,

was detained. Some people punched

him, but some point, the Iman of a

local mosque said to stop attacking

him and Mr Mohammed said he

remembered the driver of the van

saying, I have done my job, you can

kill me now. The court heard a 999

call to call an ambulance for Makram

Ali at the time the van hit and you

can hear him coming back on the line

saying, it is a big van, he just ran

over everyone, they are dying, man.

The case is expected to last another

week and Darren Osborne denies

charges of both murder and attempted

murder. Thank you. From Woolwich.

The new England Women's football

coach, Phil Neville,

has apologised in the last hour

for some of his tweets,

saying they weren't a "true

and genuine reflection"

of his character, or beliefs.

The former Manchester United player

was confirmed in the post yesterday,

saying he was honoured to take

up the role.

But some are questioning his

suitability for the job -

as our sports correspondent,

Natalie Pirks, reports.

England's women have been

reaching heights the men's

team can only dream of.

Now ranked third in the world,

with their ambitions set even

higher, they've turned to a man

with 59 caps for his country

and coaching experience

with Manchester United,

Valencia and England's Under-21s.

Just everything about this

was the perfect opportunity for me.

I've literally not slept

because of the excitement.

I'm going to set the challenge

and the bar really high.

I want to win and I want there to be

a culture of winning.

But Phil Neville's first-ever foray

into management has come

with sharp scrutiny.

First, the FA blundered

by releasing the news on

the men's social media account,

rather than the women's.

Then, overnight, historical tweets

surfaced that some perceive to be

sexist and ill-judged.

Neville has since

deleted his account.

The tweets have been

strongly criticised but,

this lunchtime, Neville responded,

saying:

they are not a true

and genuine reflection

of either my character or beliefs,

and I would like to apologise.

He added that he is fully aware

of his responsibilities

as the England women's head coach,

and immensely proud and honoured

to have been given the role.

This job seems to have begun

as the last one ended,

in a storm of controversy.

The women's former manager,

Mark Sampson, was embroiled

in a racism scandal and then sacked

following evidence of inappropriate

and unacceptable behaviour

in a previous role.

Since then, the women's

Under-19 manager, Mo Marley,

has been in charge.

But she didn't appear to want

the job, along with other big names

in the women's game.

Last month, the head of women's

football here at the FA acknowledged

there had been a problem with a lack

of female applicants for the job,

which leaves us with Neville.

Now, such a high-profile name

could be great for the women's game,

but there are those who believe

he simply doesn't have

the right experience.

I find it a bit of a strange

appointment, if I'm honest.

Obviously, Phil has been

a coach at certain levels.

He's never really been the number

one, never really worked

in women's football.

And whether people think that's me

being sexist or not...

Obviously, working with women,

working with men, it's

completely different.

He's going to have

to learn very quickly.

Neville doesn't have much time

to win over the doubters, though,

with the top two sides in the world

to face in March and World Cup

qualifiers beginning in April.

For a man who didn't

even apply for the job,

Neville is fast learning that

management is like stepping

into the Lionesses' den.

Natalie Pirks, BBC News.

A nun has expressed a "deep sense

of regret" over any abuse

at children's home in

Scotland in the 1950s.

She broke down while giving evidence

at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

A number of people have already told

the inquiry about the abuse

they suffered at the Smyllum Park

children's home in Lanark.

Our social affairs correspondent,

Michael Buchanan, reports.

A former resident has said

a "culture of evil" existed

at Smyllum, a former care home

and orphanage in Lanarkshire

run by Catholic nuns.

Certainly, dozens of former

residents have alleged

they were abused at the home,

which was run by the Daughters

of Charity of St Vincent de Paul,

and which closed in 1981.

They say they were beaten repeatedly

for any or no reason,

some have also alleged

they were sexually abused.

Theresa McGrane has described being

sexually assaulted by a priest,

then beaten by a nun who found out.

She says the denials from sisters

who worked at Smyllum that any abuse

took place is ridiculous.

We seem to have been

in two different places.

The children have been in Smyllum,

and the nuns have been in Utopia.

I honestly think the lawyer has

advised them to say it didn't

happen, they're all liars,

that's not the truth,

because they're afraid

of civil suits afterwards.

If they admit one single thing,

they're opening themselves

up to a civil suit.

So something tells me they've just

been advised to deny everything.

As well as the abuse,

hundreds of children who died

at Smyllum are believed to be buried

in an unmarked grave.

A BBC investigation in September

suggested at least 400 children

who died at the care home

between 1864 and 1981 are buried

in St Mary's cemetery in Lanark.

This has been a very difficult

morning for the leadership

morning for the leadership of the

Daughter of Charity. Their

procedures were found to be

inadequate by today's standards but

also of the time. They admitted

there were more than 100 allegations

of abuse in the late 1990s, they

were advised by lawyers the

allegations were historic and would

be dismissed by judges. As to the

actual abuse, more than 60 former

residents of Smyllum have alleged,

the sister who runs the Daughters of

Charity in the UK broke down and

said she had a deep sense of regret

that any child may have been abused.

As to whether the abuse took place,

she said it wasn't up her to judge.

There were no records to confirm it

had taken place and such abuse was

so against the Daughters of

Charity's values and evidence will

continue this afternoon.

Our top story this lunchtime.

Two children's hospitals have given

back donations from the fundraiser,

while the Bank of England denies any

links, following the allegations

by an undercover journalist.

A new inquest is about to open

into the death of a soldier

at Deepcut Barracks in 1995.

Coming up in sport,

as Phil Neville lands the top job

in English women's football,

his lack of managerial

experience comes under fire.

For the last week, more than 100

young women have spoken in court

about the abuse allegedly committed

by Larry Nassar.

He is expected to be

sentenced later today,

after admitting multiple

counts of sexual abuse.

More than 100 young women have now

spoken in court in Michigan

about the abuse they suffered -

several of them members of the US

Olympic gymnastics team.

Our correspondent Rajini

Vaidyanathan reports.

Face-to-face with their abuser,

in scenes you don't

usually see in court.

For decades, Larry Nassar

was a doctor to young gymnasts.

His patients included

decorated Olympians,

including gold medal winner Simone

Biles.

But, under the guise

of treatment, he molested them.

You used your power

to get close to me.

You weren't just a doctor,

you were a trusted friend.

And I think that is why I have been

in denial for so long.

I did not want to admit that

you betrayed and deceived me.

Larry Nassar has already pleaded

guilty to ten counts of sex abuse.

As part of his sentencing,

the judge invited any other

of his victims to come forward.

More than 150 did.

18-year-old Emily Morales

was one of them.

I still believed in you and

had sympathy for you.

How could I have been so naive?

How could a person that I thought

to be so genuine and kind and caring

be in fact the opposite?

I will never understand.

But, now that I've said that,

I want you to look at me.

I believe in forgiveness, Larry.

Larry Nassar is due

to be sentenced today.

Many of the women also

want him to show remorse.

The judge has described the women

who shared their stories

as sister survivors.

Their testimony has been harrowing,

but also inspiring.

It takes a lot for a survivor of sex

abuse to relive their ordeal.

It's even harder to do that in front

of their attacker in court.

Rajini Vaidyanathan,

BBC News, Lansing, Michigan.

The number of people

in work in the UK has grown

to a new record high.

Figures released this morning also

show that pay has improved slightly.

Our economics correspondent

Andy Verity is with me.

What do these figures tell us today?

It's quite surprising. For years we

are used to the number of people in

work gruelling to new records.

Almost every month we hear that.

Last time we had the figures that

stopped and there was a drop in the

total number of people in work. A

lot of economists were expecting

that to continue. Instead we had a

rise in the number of people in work

of 100 and 2000. It got up to 32.2

million people altogether. That was

a bit of a surprise. One indication

of a tightening labour market.

Another indication is the demand for

labour. If you look at vacancies,

the number of vacancies for that a

17 year high of 810,000 people

looking for work. When you get that

combination, a high demand for

labour and a lower supply, because

since the Brexit vote there are

fewer people coming to work in this

country than before, you would

expect that would result in higher

pay. Any worker has higher

bargaining power, employers need to

pay more to attract them. It has a

bit. Average pay rose by 2.4%,

that's excluding bonuses. It's an

improvement on last time when it was

2.3%, but still not enough to catch

up with price rises. Even though

we've got the tightest labour market

in decades, we've still got wage is

not rising as fast as prices and in

real terms they are still falling.

Thank you.

A new inquest is due

to open this afternoon

into the death of a soldier

at Deepcut Barracks in 1995.

Private Sean Benton was the first

of four young soldiers to be found

dead at the barracks in Surrey over

a seven year period.

A coroner has previously ruled

that he took his own life.

This fresh hearing was ordered

after family lawyers got access

to thousands of documents relating

to his case.

Our home affairs correspondent

June Kelly reports.

Sean Benton passed out

from his basic Army training

in the autumn of 1994.

He had fulfilled his boyhood dream.

He was sent to Deepcut Barracks

in Surrey to finish his training.

Nine months after he arrived

there, he was dead.

He was found with a rifle

at his side and five bullet

wounds to his chest.

Sean's sister, Tracey, remembers how

he changed in the Army.

And that's you and him...?

Yeah.

At Pirbright?

She's clear what she wants

from this new inquest.

The truth, what happened,

what were his last moments,

and the bullying and the culture

in that camp, why they let it go on.

Sean Benton, he was found shot.

Sean's parents, Harry and Linda,

didn't live to see this new inquest.

I promised my mum I would carry

on for her, but I feel sad

that they are not here,

because it should be them

fighting to get some sort

of justice for Sean.

Sean Benton was the first

of four young soldiers

who died at Deepcut

over a seven-year period.

All had suffered gunshot wounds.

A fresh inquest two years

ago on one of the four,

Private Cheryl James,

concluded that she'd

taken her own life.

At that inquest, Deepcut

was described as a morally

chaotic environment,

and the Army acknowledged that some

instructors had abused their power.

Sean Benton had struggled

with military life and,

on the day before he died,

he'd been told he was being

discharged from the Army.

The inquest is set to hear

from around 150 witnesses.

It has to look at in what

circumstances he came by his death,

so that's not only going to be

looking at what happened to him,

whether he himself was the subject

of bullying or harassment or poor

support, poor welfare.

It's going to be looking

at the wider circumstances,

what systems and policies

were in place to protect young

people in that camp.

It's 23 years since Sean

Benton's short life ended.

Now, for the first time,

his days at Deepcut will be examined

in detail in public.

June Kelly, BBC News.

A deaf woman is suing the promoter

of a concert by the pop group

Little Mix for failing to provide

a sign language interpreter

for two support acts.

Sally Reynolds and two deaf friends

took their daughters to the concert,

organised by LHG Live, last

September.

Our legal affairs correspondent,

Clive Coleman, has the story.

I like that one there...

Cate Merry and her friend Megan

are massive Little Mix fans.

# I got the, I got the,

I got the power...#

Last year, Cate's mum Sally bought

tickets to see the band in concert.

Sally is deaf, and booked

for her and two deaf friends to go

with their daughters.

She asked the organisers LHG Live

to provide a British sign

language interpreter.

We asked two or three times

initially, please can you provide

an interpreter for us,

and the explanation we got back

was just a no, we didn't have

any reason behind it.

Eventually we became so frustrated.

I wanted to share the same

experience that my daughter had,

and that my friends were there too,

essentially I just wanted

access to the songs.

Under the Equality Act,

any organisation supplying a service

to the public is under a duty

to make reasonable adjustments

to ensure disabled people's

experience is as close as possible

to those without a disability.

With just days to go

before the concert and no

interpreter in place,

Sally took an unprecedented

legal step.

She instructed lawyers to apply

for a court injunction to force LHG

Live to provide a British sign

language interpreter, and it worked.

MUSIC:

"Black Magic" by Little Mix.

The girls and their mums got

to go to the concert,

and when Little Mix took

to the stage their lyrics

were interpreted for

Sally and her friends.

But earlier on there

were two supporting acts,

and the interpreter hadn't been

booked to cover them.

I felt that, you know,

we were really part

of the Little Mix experience.

But because it was so good,

I realised that we'd missed out

on the first two acts,

so it was very much a disparity

of experience to everybody else.

In a statement, LHG Live told

the BBC:

For Cate Merry, there's only

one thing that matters.

Because I really love my mum

and I really want her to come

to the concerts with me.

Clive Coleman, BBC News.

A schoolgirl from Cardiff could be

breaking a Commonwealth Games record

- before the event has even begun.

11-year-old Anna Hursey

is believed to be the youngest

competitor ever selected.

She's preparing to travel

to Australia's Gold Coast in April,

to represent Team Wales -

as Sian Lloyd reports.

Anna Hursey has earned her place

in the Wales Commonwealth team.

Practising three hours a day

after school, the 11-year-old has

already proven her skills.

She won her first senior

international a year ago.

Anna is no stranger to competition,

but this will be her

biggest challenge yet.

I feel really special, really proud.

I just don't really want to go

there and be like, yeah,

I'm small and I can't compete.

So hopefully I'll try my

hardest and help my team

try and win a medal.

Anna's talent was spotted early.

She first picked up a bat aged five

and was taken to China to learn

from the best when she could barely

see over the table.

Since then, she's been coached

closer to home in Cardiff.

Probably the best 11-year-old I've

ever seen, boys and girls.

She's up there with...

I remember seeing Paul Drinkhall,

who's number one in the UK right

now, and she's up there.

When saw him at 11,

she's at that level.

Amazing.

Oh my gosh, she can do two

at the same time, that's amazing.

Anna is celebrating her exciting

news at school today,

teaching her friends how

to play table tennis.

She'll have to miss lessons to go

to the games in Australia,

but already thought to be one

of the youngest competitors ever

at this level, she will make history

if she does win a medal there.

Sian Lloyd, BBC News, Cardiff.

Fantastic! Good luck to her.

Time for a look at the weather.

It's not much fun for a lot of

people.

It's not much fun for a lot of

people. The picture is pretty

miserable out there. It's a picture

from Leicestershire, from one of our

Weather Watchers. Look at this one

from York. The river has burst its

banks. It's very windy across other

parts of the country. Really

unpleasant weather across the UK

right now. This is quite an

interesting one from London, the

effect of raindrops on the window.

Gales and heavy rain are the story

of the day across northern parts of

the UK. This is spawned Georgina

which has been sweeping to the

north-west of Scotland -- Storm

Georgina. Even over the hills of

Scotland we had gusts well in excess

of 100 mph. Quite a potent storm

sweeping the far north of the

country. To the south of that we are

feeling the effects of the storm in

terms of a breeze, really gusty

weather. Many of us have experienced

a short lived downpour. There have

been hailstorms around as well. This

is the picture around 5pm. There's a

lot of clear weather around,

occasionally interrupted by heavy

showers moving through. And that on

the edge of the screen is Storm

Georgina starting to fizzle out by

that stage. Not completely. It will

feel pretty cold this evening. The

winds are quite strong. This evening

many Eastern counties will have

clearer weather, many of the showers

in the west of the UK. You can see

some wintry showers there. Above

freezing this sort of

freezing this sort of weather is

usually above freezing. There will

be quite a bit of sunshine around

tomorrow for a certain period of the

day. Then more showers coming

through. I suspect wherever you are,

I expect the morning will be better

than the afternoon. In the afternoon

both showers get going. And on the

breezy side as well. A much better

day towards the end of the week.

There will be some sunshine around.

Another weather system coming off

the Atlantic which will be in time

for Saturday and Sunday. The weekend

is looking and settled. Relatively

mild with a lot of grey skies. A

very changeable week, not a pretty

picture. We've had worse I guess.

A reminder of our main

story this lunchtime.

Two children's hospitals have given

back donations following allegations

of sexual harassment at an elite

men-only annual fundraiser.

That's all from the BBC News at One,

so it's goodbye from me,

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

news teams where you are.

Have a good afternoon.