19/02/2018 BBC News at One

A university lecturer -

thought to be one of Britain's most

prolific paedophiles -

has been jailed for 32 years

after admitting 137 offences.

Dr Matthew Falder's crimes included

encouraging the rape of a child,

and blackmailing victims to film

themselves in degrading positions.

There were contacts made

with people in Slovenia,

Australia, there were victims

in the United States,

and there were victims all over

England and Wales and Scotland.

We'll be live with our

correspondent who was in court -

and be looking at the international

operation that brought

Falder to justice.

Also this lunchtime:

The Prime Minister

is to launch a review

The Prime Minister is to launch

a review of university

tuition fees in England -

admitting it's "one of the most

expensive systems" in the world.

Oxfam reveals that three of the men

accused of sexual misconduct

in Haiti physically threatened

witnesses during a 2011

investigation.

The film Three Billboards Outside

Ebbing, Missouri hits jackpot

at last night's Baftas,

with winners including

its star Frances McDormand.

And the Russian curler who's

being investigated for doping

after winning bronze at the Winter

Olympics.

And coming up in the

sport on BBC News:

Can Great Britain score a much

needed win over Switzerland

in the women's curling

to boost their chances

of making the last four?

Good afternoon and welcome

to the BBC News at One.

A lecturer at Birmingham University,

said to be one of Britain's worst

offenders, has been jailed for 32

years for sexual offences

against children.

Matthew Falder pleaded

guilty to 137 charges,

including encouraging the rape

of a minor - and blackmailing his

victims into sending him obscene

footage of themselves carrying

out degrading acts.

The operation to catch Falder

included law enforcement

agencies across the world.

US Homeland Security described him

as "the worst child exploitation

offender" it had ever seen

on the internet.

Sima Kotecha is outside

the court in Birmingham.

Matthew Falder has been described as

one of Britain's worst paedophiles,

today he showed no emotion as he was

sentenced to more than 30 years in

jail. Some of the officers in the

court were crying, victims looked

distressed. The judge told him, a

person of your intelligence did not

realise the harm they were doing and

did not stop. He said Falder was

controlling, manipulative and cruel.

What is it I have done? What is it I

am supposed to have done?

Document

you filed are being arrested at his

workplace last year. He spent years

posing as a female artist online to

trick his victims and to sending

them naked pictures of themselves.

Distributing indecent images of

children.

He then searched for the

profiles on social media and use

that information to blackmail them

into sending him more images. He

even installed secret cameras in

people's home. Falder contacted more

than 300 people worldwide offering

them money in exchange for photos.

His youngest victim was just 13. One

of his victims told us she can no

longer trust anybody.

I did not want

stay at home because he knew where I

lived. I could not concentrate on

anything. I could not talk to my

family. I felt ashamed of what I was

doing. I did not want to go out onto

the street because he might be

there. I did not feel safe anywhere.

Last year he pleaded guilty to 137

charges including encouraging the

rape of a child and possessing a

paedophile manual.

You have a

victim, and e-mail contact, that is

it. It's a tricky starting point and

what you have then got is people

like him who are using all the tools

in the tool box which are available

to him to stay hidden.

Falder was

under surveillance for several

months during a four year

investigation. The Cambridge

graduate was then identified by the

National crime agency and it worked

with partner agencies across the

world for the first time including

the FBI, the Australian Federal

police and Euro poll to find the man

behind the messages.

There were

contacts made with people in

Slovenia, Australia, there were

victims in the United States and all

over England and Wales and Scotland.

And we then had to try and piece

together information across many

different police forces.

Falder

lived in this block of flats, he

worked at Birmingham University.

Officers say he motivation was power

and control. He wanted his victims

to feel embarrassed Adam Gemili at

it and he was confident he could

outwit the other of these --

embarrassed and humiliated. He had

the intention of manipulating

people, using names such as 666devil

to communicate with other

paedophiles. On the dark Internet he

wrote about one of his victims,

saying, "To be honest I am thinking

how in love and mentally struggling

she seems to be that I should be

able to get some good nudes from her

willingly. I'm not sure if I care

whether she lives or dies to be

honest". In court the paedophile

showed no remorse. The judge told

him that you wanted to assume total

control over your victim. You are

cruel and manipulative.

This case raises questions as to how

authorities can remain one step

ahead of people like Falder you are

so technically savvy they are able

to exploit vulnerable people for so

long without detection.

The Prime Minister says

there should be better value

for university students -

as she launches a year-long review

into how higher education

is funded in England.

In a speech this afternoon,

Theresa May will admit

that the current system of charging

maximum annual fees

of £9,250 had not resulted

in the "competitive"

market hoped for.

A university education in England

is now one of the most

expensive in the world.

Labour says the entire system

needs to be restructured.

A Prime Minister who free University

tuition visits sixth formers in

London to discuss student debt and

the courses they plan to take. One

meant free radical physics.

Oh gosh.

Such as the reaction many students

and their parents now have about the

cost of education in England. The

government says the whole system

needs to be examined again.

We have

an issue of fees, concerned not just

from students but families, parents

and grandparents about the level of

debt the build-up and also a concern

that basically universities charge

the same whatever course you are

doing.

Currently English

universities are free to charge just

over £9,000 a year. Depending on the

course. Only a handful charge less

than the maximum. Graduate in

England leave university with

average debts of more than £50,000.

Interest rates on student loans now

stand at 6.1%. With Labour promising

to scrap tuition fees altogether

there is pressure on the

Conservative government to tackle

this.

You have to be fair to the

student and the taxpayer. We need to

reform higher education, support

further education, make sure

disadvantaged students get the best

universities and the best jobs at

the end of it.

Within the review the

government will consider the

reintroduction of maintenance

grants, but there is even dispute

amongst students about the policy

trade-offs involved.

When I applied

I knew I would get into debt over

£50,000 but now you have a situation

where you don't even have

maintenance grants so people like me

from working-class backgrounds will

have to seek out more loans and that

puts students off.

I would be

disappointed if my party cut tuition

fees at the expense of losing

bursaries for underprivileged

backgrounds. A key Conservative

background is helping to help people

to help themselves.

to help themselves.

Ministers are

not saying the state should pick up

this bill. The challenge for the

government is coming up with

policies which don't just look like

a pale imitation of what Labour are

offering. The Prime Minister says

that many students find the level of

fees charged to not relate to the

quality of the course. Cranking up

fees to £9,000 was meant to create

the market Theresa May now wants to

investigate.

She is in search of the

silver bullet which will lead to

increasing fees but nothing for the

government, there is not a silver

bullet, she is time to put the

choice is off until after Brexit.

Number ten is also stressing this

will cover technical and vocational

education as well and the

rebalancing of post secondary

education away from universities

toward educational study could be

the biggest change being considered.

Our Education correspondent

Elaine Dunkley is here.

We know the Prime Minister thinks

the system needs to be changed but

how difficult is that going to be?

This is a real university challenge

for the government. Students are

graduating with debts of £50,000, a

number of issues there, high

interest rates at 6.1% and also

scrapping maintenance grants which

were replaced with loans. The

government believes if you go to

university you should contribute

something and one of the things they

are looking at is the idea of

variable fees. The Education

Secretary Damian Hinds says the fee

could be dictated by the subject so

for example if you study at

university course which does not

cost much to deliver and your job

prospects are not as lucrative at

the end it should be cheaper. The

arts and social sciences should be

cheaper than doing a science degree,

studying English should cost you

less than studying engineering. But

what critics have said is that that

could lead poor students to doing

courses which are cheaper which

means when they going to the job

market its valued less and they are

paid less money and relatively

speaking they end up paying more for

their education. Another issue this

review will look at is vocational

courses and making a clear a path

for students who do not want to go

to university. One of the key things

this review needs to address this

country is facing a shortage of

nurses and teaching, we have heard

the nursing bursary was scrapped,

what is the government going to do?

We have heard Labour say they will

reintroduce maintenance grants in

the election, Jeremy Corbyn popular

with younger voters by saying they

would scrap Jewish and peace. We are

not quite sure what this will say in

a year's time but we will have to

look at a whole raft of measures --

saying they would scrap tuition

fees.

Our Assistant political editor

Norman Smith is in Westminster.

We have heard a little bit about the

politics behind this from Ben

Wright, please expand?

The politics

are in part that it is a move to try

to reach out to younger voters

because many Tories they had little

positive to positive to say to them

at the last election. In part it is

designed as a riposte to Jeremy

Corbyn and his offer to scrap

tuition fees. It's in part designed

to have something to talk about

apart from Brexit, blooming Brexit.

And imparted is driven by the

thought that the current system is

not working, its bad value for

money. One of the most expensive

systems in the world. But Theresa

May has somewhat tied her hands by

insisting that taxpayers should not

have to bear a bigger portion of the

burden. She does not want to scrap

the current system and her Education

Secretary says they will not tell

universities what they should charge

which pretty much passes the ball

back to universities of their own

back to start cutting the cost of

university education. So far they

have shown remarkably little

inclination to do so. They all

pretty much charge the top whack and

their view is we have got more and

more people applying to come to

university including from

disadvantaged backgrounds, what on

earth are we doing wrong? The real

risk for Theresa May is you have a

review which trundles on for a year

and you end up with firmly

pro-limited reforms dependent on the

universities to implement and pale

in comparison to some of the big,

bold, brushstroke offer from Jeremy

Corbyn.

Norman Smith, thank you.

It's emerged that three of the Oxfam

employees accused of sexual

misconduct in Haiti physically

threatened witnesses

during a 2011 investigation.

The charity has published

an internal report which said more

needed to be done to prevent problem

staff working for other charities.

But despite the warnings,

several men linked to the alleged

abuse did subsequently take up roles

at other charitable organisations.

Our correspondent

James Landale reports.

For more than half a century Oxfam

has been helping those in need such

as these victims of conflict in

Nigeria in the late 1960s. But the

hard-won reputation has been put at

risk by the behaviour of some staff

in Haiti in 2011. An internal report

published today shows one was

dismissed and redesigned using

prostitutes on Oxfam premises. Two

more were dismissed for bullying and

intimidation. One of whom also

downloaded pornography. And another

man was sacked for failing to

protect staff. What some MPs want

now is for offenders like these to

be placed on a public register.

I

don't think these reports should be

secret and now that it is out in the

open we can do something significant

about it and that is what I will be

asking them to do, to have a central

register so that we lead the world

and so that we know anyone we give

money to, any charity has got the

right procedures in place and that

the children and women are

absolutely safe.

The report also

says three of the men physically

threatened witnesses during the

investigation, something which

shocked the Prime Minister.

The

behaviour we have now discovered was

horrific, far below the standards we

expect for the charities we work

with and I understand there have

been further revelations today which

show that actually there was

physical intimidation of witnesses.

This is horrific, exactly the

problem we see which means all too

often people do not feel able to

come forward to report what has

happened to them, the behaviour they

have been on the receiving end of.

Oxfam shops have been a familiar

sight in high street for years. The

Prime Minister spokesperson said

this morning there is still a long

way to go to public trust.

Former football coach

Barry Bennell has appeared

in court to be sentenced -

after being found guilty

of 50 counts of sexual

abuse against 12 victims.

Bennell - who coached at a number

of clubs including Crewe

and Man City had appeared

via videolink from prison

for his five-and-a-half week trial

because of health problems.

Danny Savage is in Liverpool for us.

Just tell us what happened in court

today.

The judge has retired to

consider his sentence at the moment

and he will do that at quarter past

two this afternoon. But this

afternoon, between 12 and one, we

heard from many of the victims of

Barry Bennell and this case, giving

their personal impact statements

about how what had happened to them

has affected their lives. One man

repeatedly sexually assaulted by

Bennell in the 1980s said he did not

tell his parents what had happened

until two years ago. His father

replied to him that he was sorry for

not being a good dad and the words

the victim said broke his heart. He

went on to say he turned to alcohol

to blot out the trauma of what has

happened to him. He stopped his

children now going to sleepover this

because of what had happened to him

as a child. Minutes later, another

victim walked over to where Barry

Bennell was sitting and said, Barry,

Barry, why, why? No reaction from

Bennell who was moved away by a

security clock in the court but it

gives an illustration of how strong

the feelings and emotions were in

the court hearing this afternoon.

Another man said he turned to drugs

to deal with what had happened to

him and ended up in a young

offenders institution. Several

victims said they contemplated

suicide and a clear picture has

emerged Bennell being a manipulative

and controlling the man, who turned

the dreams of young football players

in nightmares over a period of time.

And those nightmares still haunt

many victims today and this will not

give many of these men closure

today. He'll still living with the

trauma of what happened to them all

those years ago. And their

tormentors sat in the dock staring

at the floor and giving no reaction.

He will be sentenced at quarter past

two this afternoon, Rita.

Danny,

thank you.

The time is 13:18.

Our top story this lunchtime:

A university lecturer -

thought to be one of Britain's most

prolific paedophiles -

has been jailed for 32 years,

after admitting 137 offences.

And still to come...

Employers accused of living

in the Dark Ages, as a new report

finds firms failing to understand

the legal rights of women

taking maternity leave.

Coming up in Sport:

Former England captain Casey Stoney

announces her retirement,

and she's already lined up

a new job, teaming up

with manager Phil Neville.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,

Missouri was the big winner

at the BAFTAs last night -

taking awards in five categories.

The drama - about a woman's

struggle to get justice

for her murdered daughter -

was named Best Film, and its star,

Frances McDormand, won Best Actress.

Most of the guests attending

the event wore black,

in support of the Time's Up

and #MeToo campaigns

against sexual harassment.

Our entertainment correspondent,

Lizo Mzimba, was there.

Black dresses on the red carpet -

all part of the ongoing Time's Up

campaign, aimed at fair

treatment for women.

It wasn't just stars.

Two of the original Dagenham Girls -

whose 1968 strike action at Ford led

to the Equal Pay Act -

were there too.

Well, we thought it

would end by now.

We thought everybody would have

got their rights but,

unfortunately, it hasn't

happened, has it?

Somewhat appropriate, then,

that the night's big winner -

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,

Missouri - focuses on a woman,

played by Frances McDormand,

who won Best Actress,

looking for justice.

I have a little trouble

with compliance.

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

But I want you to know that

I stand in full solidarity

with my sisters tonight in black.

Power to the people.

The movie - which won

a total of five BAFTAs,

including Best Film -

has struck a chord with

audiences around the world.

Hey there, Mildred,

you didn't happen to pay

a visit to the dentist

today, did you?

No.

Huh?

MUFFLED SPEECH:

I said no.

Best Actor went to Gary Oldman,

who played Winston Churchill

in World War II drama Darkest Hour.

He thanked his female co-stars.

I love you, Kristin.

I love you, Lily.

You have a singular

vision and a huge heart,

and they were never

more on display than in

this beautiful film.

And Best Director was won

by Guillermo del Toro

for The Shape Of Water,

another female-focused film,

starring Sally Hawkins

as a woman in love with

a mysterious water creature.

And the winner of the Rising Star

Award was Britain's Daniel Kaluuya.

He paid tribute to one

particular woman.

I'd like to thank my mum.

Mum, you're the reason

why I started, you're

the reason why I'm here,

you're the reason why I keep

going, and this is yours.

For the past three years,

the BAFTAs and the Oscars haven't

agreed on Best Picture,

but this 2018 Oscar race

is the most open in years.

And with voting starting

on the other side of the Atlantic

on Tuesday, many will be saying that

Three Billboards' strong

showing tonight might,

just might, give it the edge

at the Academy Awards in March.

Lizo Mzimba, BBC News.

A 26-year-old woman has been

arrested after an abusive

hand-written note was left

on the windscreen of an ambulance

which was responding to an emergency

call in Stoke-on-Trent.

The note said the vehicle had no

right to be parked where it was,

with the writer making clear

they couldn't care less

if the whole street collapsed.

The note ended by saying, "Now move

your van from outside my house."

Employers are being accused

of having "antiquated" attitudes

to recruiting women,

after a survey of 1,100 bosses

revealed that more than half

believed a woman should have

to disclose if she was pregnant

during a job interview.

The Equality and Human Rights

Commission has accused firms

of "living in the Dark Ages",

and says its study shows many

employers need more support

to understand the basics

of discrimination law.

Richard Lister reports.

They do see you coming, don't they?

Sarah Rees was on maternity

leave when she noticed

her name had vanished

from her employer's website.

Her daughter, Caitlin,

had just been born, but it was weeks

before Sarah was told formally she'd

been let go.

I felt really sad and I almost felt

ashamed that, you know,

what had I done wrong?

Because I had only gone

and had a baby and, yet,

I knew that I loved the job

I was doing.

And there was still a place for me

in that organisation

because, months later,

they did employ new stuff in jobs

because, months later,

they did employ new staff in jobs

that I could have done quite easily.

Although having a child

is a life-changing experience,

the law says it shouldn't affect

a woman's employment rights.

But a survey of 1,100 of Britain's

bosses revealed more than a third

thought it was OK to ask a female

job applicant about pregnancy plans.

More than 40% thought pregnancy puts

an "unnecessary cost

burden" on the workplace.

And six in ten bosses believe

a woman should disclose

whether she's pregnant

during the recruitment process.

We were shocked but,

unfortunately, not surprised.

But what we want to do

is to work with employers

to move things forward.

And that's why we're asking

employers to put a stake

on the ground and to join our

Working Forward initiative,

to work alongside other employers

and take advantage of tips,

guidance and advice and support.

The Confederation of

British Industry has acknowledged

there is a problem, saying today's

poll "shows how far away have to go

in some firms to change attitudes

towards pregnant workers

and new mothers.

Businesses should not ask

about prospective employees'

family plans at interview,

nor act on any assumptions

about their career plans."

Solicitors like this one have helped

around 4,000 women bring

unfair dismissal cases

against their employers

in the past four years.

Around half of one settlement.

Bina Hale won her case,

but it was a gruelling process.

54,000 women a year lose their jobs

because of such discrimination.

So there is awareness, it's just

we need the government to do

something now with those findings.

In this day and age,

this shouldn't be happening.

Women are a valuable

part of the workforce.

Government figures show one in nine

working mothers lose their jobs due

to maternity discrimination.

Today's poll reveals just how deeply

ingrained that discrimination

still is in workplaces

across the country.

Richard Lister, BBC News.

Former shareholders in the collapsed

construction giant Carillion

are calling for its management

to be investigated.

Some have told MPs

that the company's

executives must have known -

or should have known -

about its cash flow problems

well before it went

into liquidation last month.

Our business editor,

Simon Jack, is here.

Tell us more about what

the shareholders have said.

The big question is, in March 2017,

Carillion filed this document is a

its finances were fine. Three months

later, an £850 million hole was

written the company from which it

never recovered. MPs want to know

who not to rush what and when? We

have had response from shareholders

today ranging from Standard Life

Aberdeen who say, we began selling

in December 2015 and we did not

think the company was taking the

risks seriously enough. And one big

shareholder has said that all clear

grounds for an investigation into

whether Management knew or should

have known about the need for this

£850 million provision. The question

will be, the company says, it was a

big surprise to us, things went very

bad very quickly and was able

bigshot. MPs want to know whether

there is more to that. The focus

will move to Thursday when the

auditors who signed off on these

accounts will face MPs and they will

say, why did you sign these of when

the company collapsed? It had a

whole written it several months

later and they want to know, what

did they do to make sure the

company's accounts were fine?

Simon, thank you.

An anti-doping case has been opened

against a Russian medal-winning

curler at the Winter Olympics.

Alexander Krushelnitsky,

who won bronze with his wife

in the Mixed Doubles on Tuesday,

is suspected of testing positive

for the banned substance meldonium.

On the ice, Team GB's women's

curling team are taking

The men's team won a victory over

Denmark.

as they seek qualification

to the medal rounds.

Our sports correspondent,

Andy Swiss, has this

report from Pyeongchang.

The first-ever Bronze medal

in Mixed Doubles curling.

From delight to

a doping controversy.

Barely a week after

celebrating a medal alongside

his wife Anastasia,

Alexander Krushelnitsky

could now we stripped of it.

But his is a case with far

broader implications.

Olympic athletes from Russia!

Krushelnitsky is Russian.

His country is banned from these

Games because of, guess what?

A huge doping scandal.

Olympic organisers

allowed him and 160 other

Russians to compete as neutrals.

Now, though, it is an

all-too-familiar story.

It was a very good pre-Games testing

where, for example, the

Russian athletes were

tested to a significant

level more than others.

But when an athlete,

in the broader sense,

when an athlete is called

for

doping, of course it's

extremely disappointing,

but it does show that

the system works.

While the decision to allow

Russian athletes to compete

here, albeit as neutrals, attracted

criticism for the Games, so this

positive test raises some

uncomfortable questions for the

Olympic authorities.

At the opening ceremony here,

the Russian athletes

had to parade under a neutral flag.

The IOC considering lifting the ban

for the closing ceremony, but after

this latest scandal,

can they really?

It's very frustrating that the story

has come back halfway through the

Games. You don't want any positive

tests in the Olympics but for it to

be an applicant company that country

were told the athletes would be

clean, that is hard news to.

Away

from the controversy of the curling,

encouraging news for Britain's men's

team. Victory over Denmark boosting

their hopes of the semifinals. On

the snow, though, Amy follow's hopes

came to a painful end. The event is

called big air, but in this case,

not quite enough. She later posted

this photo. Bruised, but thankfully

no worse.

But there was redemption for this

athlete who missed the last Games

after a horrible crash but four

years later booked her place in the

Half-pipe final, a long wait, but

finally worth it.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Pyeongchang.

Team GB's action are Dutch women are

in action in the curling in round

nine of their game against sand. A

win would greatly improve their

chances of reaching the semifinals.

Now, take a look at these striking

images of thousands of starlings

swooping over Blackpool beach

over the weekend.

The mass movement is known

as a 'murmuration' -

with flocks of birds swirling

through the skies together,

before settling into their

roost for the night.

The numbers swell in winter,

when they are joined by migratory

starlings from Scandinavia.

Absolutely lovely.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Sarah Keith Lucas.

Misty and murky today and this

picture sums up the field to this

morning's weather. A lot of low

cloud and mist and a slight

improvement this afternoon with some

brightness across Western parts of

the country. Through the rest of

this week after a mild start, things

turning colder later in the week.

And also becoming mostly dry. At the

end of the week in a moment, but

back to the here and now, and two

weather fronts affecting the

country. A warm front across eastern

part of the UK and a cold front

approaching from the North West. In

between these two, that is milder

air and the yellow on the map and

blew towards the East not far away.

Some more cold air later this week.

Rain this afternoon across parts of

eastern Scotland, down eastern

counties of England. And some rain

approaching Northern Ireland. In

between, not a bad day. Sunny spells

for Cumbria down towards Cornwall.

And it is pretty mild, 13 degrees is

the high and Belfast. Into the

evening, the rain in the North West

pushes South and East. It merges

with an area of cloud and rain in

the South East. Skies clearing from

the North West overnight. Staying

cloudy with that a patchy outbreaks.

But we start Tuesday with a frost

free start, cloud and rain lingering

in East Anglia towards Kent. But

away from the selfies, not a bad

day. More sunshine than there is

today, temperatures down. Many of us

in double figures, but cooler in the

East coast on Tuesday. Eventually,

we lose the cloud and the wet

weather from Southern and eastern

parts overnight heading into

Wednesday, the winds falling quite

light so we're clear spells, a

chilly night. A frost in Scotland

and Northern Ireland. Milder further

south first thing on Wednesday, but

likely to see some mist and fog

lingering. Wednesday is largely dry,

with mist Dan fog and low cloud in

central parts of England. But

elsewhere, brighter spells.

Temperatures still not as mild as

they are at the moment some single

figures by the middle part of the

week. Further ahead towards the end

of the week, high-pressure dominates

the weather but it sits across

Scandinavia and that means we will

draw in the winds for more of an

easterly direction. So a colder

influence on the weather towards the

end of the week, and although there

will be a lot of dry weather,

temperatures beginning to nudge down

and even a bit colder by the weekend

with perhaps a chance we could see

some snow showers as well.

Thank you, Sarah.

A reminder of our main

story this lunchtime:

A university lecturer -

thought to be one of Britain's most

prolific paedophiles -

has been jailed for 32 years,

after admitting 137 offences.

Prosecutors have described the

global nature of his crimes.

All

contacts made with people in

Slovenia, Australia, victims in the

United States. And victims all over

in rent and Wales and Scotland.

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.