05/01/2012 BBC News at Six

A male nurse is arrested at a Stockport hospital. He is suspected

of tampering with medical records. It's the same hospital where four

elderly patients died last year. 16 others were affected by

contaminated drips. Staff say they are concerned. Everybody is tense

and very suspicious. You like to trust the staff you work with but

you just never know, do you? Also on tonight's programme:

The couple accused of torturing and drowning a teenage relative because

they thought he was a witch. A third day without power for

thousands in Scotland. It is tougher now that it is lasting

longer. We have small children and to keep them entertained, the

nursery is off, and everybody is getting a bit but dashboard.

Dashboard. Labour's Dianne Abbot's forced to

apologise after posting a Twitter message saying white people "like

to divide and rule". And charities get a helping hand

from Kate - the Duchess lends her name to causes from drug addiction

to art. And coming up on the BBC News

Channel, the FA comes under fire from the QPR manager Neil Warnock,

who describes their disciplinary Good evening and welcome to the

BBC's News at Six. A 46-year-old male nurse has been

arrested on suspicion of tampering with medical records at Stepping

Hill Hospital in Stockport. This is the same hospital where four

elderly patients died in unexplained circumstances last year.

16 other patients at the hospital fell ill last summer, their saline

drips had been contaminated. Our correspondent Ed Thomas is at the

hospital this evening. Yes, at this nurse still has not

been named but we know he is 46 and we know he lives in Stockport and

was arrested this morning. We also know he has worked here for a

number of years. It is claimed that he changed the medical records of a

patient and that they've received medication that they didn't need.

A nurse who is meant to care for patients here is now accused of

trying to harm them. The 46-year- old man was arrested on suspicion

of tampering with medical records. But today, police said this latest

arrest is not yet been linked to the suspicious deaths at Stepping

Hill. This is a search for the truth into the set of circumstances

reported on 3rd January specifically. Over the coming hours

and days, we will complete those inquiries firstly before we look at

any possible links with the wider investigation. That wider

investigation involves the death of four patients, Derek Weaver, Arnold

Lancaster, Tracey Arden and Bill Dickson, who died on the year's Eve.

All received saline contaminated with insulin. It has left some her

work at Stepping Hill suspicious of the people they call colleagues.

What is the atmosphere like? would say it was tense and very

suspicious. You like to trust of the statue were quick but you just

never know, do you? -- You Like to trust the staff the work with.

was the second arrest that Stepping Hill. Rebecca Leighton spent six

weeks in jail before all charges against her were dropped. She is

said to be watching developments closely under the middle of what is

happening at Stepping Hill other patients. Many have the use this

hospital and many are worried. think everybody in Stockport is

worried in case they have to come here. I personally wouldn't want to.

Are you worried about what is going on? Definitely, it is who do you

trust any more. Where has it all gone. It could take a while before

that trust is restored at Stepping Hill.

Yes, police say they do understand the frustration of the patients

here, but they have said it is a complex investigation that could

take some time. But they have not ruled out making further arrests

over the next few days and weeks. Thank you very much.

A jury has been told that a 15- year-old boy was beaten, tortured

and drowned on Christmas Day 2010 by his sister and her boyfriend

because they believed he was a witch. The prosecution described

the killing of Kristy Bamu in east London as an attack of unspeakable

savagery. The couple, who are both from the Democratic Republic of

Congo, deny murder. Luisa Baldini's report contains some distressing

details. Kristy and his siblings were

spending the Christmas holidays with their eldest sister in this

tower block flat she shares with her boyfriend. They had come from

their home in Paris but just after noon on Christmas Day 2010, at an

ambulance was called and paramedics found the lifeless body of Kristy

in the bathroom. A court today heard how his sister Magalie Bamu

and her partner Eric Bikubi had accused Kristy and his siblings of

practice in witchcraft. Kristy was the main focus and he sustained 101

injuries. The jury was told he was in such pain after days of being

attacked by sticks, that of bars and a chisel that he begged to die.

They also used sibling against sibling as a vehicle for their

violence. The prosecutor Brian Altman QC told the jury and it was

obvious it was a dreadful and distressing case. The boy was

subjected to unimaginable physical torture. There will therefore be no

sparing the dreadful details of the boy's end, the horrors that he and

his siblings endured. The jury was told that in the Democratic

Republic of Congo, by the defendants are originally from,

witchcraft is Pope -- practised in Christian churches, but the

prosecution told the jury it may take on a feral and indeed evil

character, as we suggest it did here.

Britain took another battering from the weather overnight, with strong

winds causing damage and disruption across the country. Gusts of 112mph

were recorded in the Pennines. Thousands of homes and businesses

remain without electricity. On the Isle of Bute, off Scotland's west

coast, some residents are spending their third day with disrupted

power supplies. Our Scotland Correspondent Lorna Gordon reports.

It has been a challenging few days for the people of Bute. No

electricity and no power to carry out the simplest of tasks, and for

this family run business, cancelled bookings. We have had to knock back

some business for the bed and breakfast because we have no

electricity. It is getting tougher now that it is lasting longer. We

have small children and to keep them entertained when the nursery

is off, everybody is getting a bit bored of it. The bad weather has

disrupted the power supply to the entire island. Traffic lights are

out and with tills not working, almost every shop has had to shut.

There are queues for food at those that remain open. We are here to

get something to eat for tonight, may be some tinned or cold meat.

What it has been hard, without heating, there is nothing. We are

back to a golden days, with the candles and the gas lights. On the

mainland, tax at a sewage treatment plant overflowed into the

surrounding area because there was no Power -- tanks. In Perthshire,

to people were slightly hurt when their train stuck a tree on the

line. -- struck. The River Dee flooded dramatically. In the

Midlands, a load of rubbish from an overturned lorry blew onto the

motorway, or partially closing it while the debris was cleared. Undid

Hertfordshire, a woman and a ten- year-old boy but taken to a

hospital when a tree landed on their car -- and in Hertfordshire.

Back on Isle of Bute, locals are preparing for what could be another

cold, dark night ahead. And although there is no electricity

here, in this hardware shop, Business is booming as people stock

up on the essentials like batteries and torches to get them through

this power cut. Yesterday it was heaters, bottled gas, candles and

we have got more surprising in this morning. They are all away.

local power company has 150 engineers working on reconnecting

surprise to 9,000 homes in Argyll and Bute. -- supplies. This is a

place where people look out for their neighbours. They are now

hoping that their time without power is coming to an end.

The Attorney-General is to look into whether the sentence is given

to the two men given to the men convicted of murdering Stephen

Lawrence were too lenient. Gary Dobson and David Norris were given

15 and 14 years respectively. I gather the Attorney General

received a complaint about the sentence. How significant is this

review going to be? I think that Mr Justice Treacy said

yesterday while sentencing that he was constrained by the ball when

handing down 15 and 40 years de Gary Dobson and David Norris -- 14

years. It was inevitable there would be an complaint. The

Attorney-General has to decide whether to refer the case to the

Court of Appeal and this sort of thing does happen fairly regularly,

300 plus cases last year and about a quarter made it to the Court of

Appeal. In other developments today, we heard of that senior officers on

the Stephen Lawrence investigation team have been told that unit was

going to be disbanded following the trial. Since that this morning, the

Met have been told it won't happen straight away but it is a

possibility in the future. This case is on hold although it remains

open and very few officers will be needed to keep it that way.

Diane Abbott, the first black woman to be elected as an MP, finds

herself in the middle of a race row tonight. It follows a message that

she posted on Twitter in which she claimed white people like to "play

divide and rule". Ms Abbot said her comments were taken out of context

and she's since apologised. Our Political Correspondent Vicki Young

reports. No victory signs... An historic

moment, 1987 and by and about becomes the first black woman

addicted to the Commons. -- Diane Abbott. Throughout her career, she

has been an outspoken campaigner for racial equality but her

reputation as a rebel meant she was overlooked for promotion. Joining

the Labour leadership contest after the last election up have profile

and when Ed Miliband won, he gave her a job as a shadow minister. But

today, she was fighting to stay in that post at the joining a Twitter

conversation and responding to a suggestion that some black

commentators didn't understand the community they were talking about.

She wrote "White people love playing divide and rule...".

think what Diane Abbott said was just stupid and crass

generalisations. She should explain and apologise for what she said.

After a storm of process, by and about defended herself. -- Bad

Labour insiders say she received a severe dressing-down from Ed

Miliband, who decide -- described the comments as completely

unacceptable. I am told she added kept her job because she insisted

that she does not making sweeping generalisations about white people.

She has never apologised for any offence caused. If you look at her

track record, actions speak louder than words. This is somebody who

has campaigned very strongly for equality. But it is not the first

time she has courted controversy. This was her description of David

Cameron and Nick Clegg. Two posh white boys from the Home Counties.

In Hackney in east London, voters had some advice for their MP.

don't think she ought to resign. But she can should have kept her

mouth shut. Sometimes you say things without thinking. As an

experienced politician, she should know what is right and what is

wrong. With some Conservatives calling how racist and Ed Miliband

week for not sacking Power, it is not the start to the year the

Labour leader wanted. Our top story tonight: a male nurse

is arrested at a Stockport hospital, accused of tampering with medical

records. And coming up: the Duchess of Cambridge gets involved, she

will lend her name to a number of charities, including the Scouts.

She will be doing the arts and crafts, the astrology and the

hiking and she will be there on their first night away from home.

Aminath, BBC News Channel: Europe's largest independent oil refinery

has its credit facilities frozen. And the bosses of Waitrose report a

very merry Christmas, with mince The Prime Minister was back out on

his first public event after the break and he says his New Year's

resolution is to get the economy moving again. He's promised to help

small businesses by cutting back red tape. He did concede that one

of the measures he promoted last year hadn't worked as well as he

would have liked. Our Deputy Political Editor James Landale

reports. First day back on the road and it's tame to persuade business

that the economy is the top priority. That's what he did with

supermarket workers and that's what his deputy did with young people

looking for work. The message - we are going for growth. It's going to

be a tough year. The Government will roll up its sleeves and ask,

what can we do to help business. promised small businessmen and

women he'd scrap health and safety red tape faster and cut personal

injury claims by capping law years' fees. But he admitted his national

insurance tax break to support start-up firms hadn't worked.

wasn't as successful as we hoped. I think it was perhaps too

complicated, too targeted at specific businesses in specific

areas of the country. businesswoman challenged the Prime

Minister telling him the Government's decision to cut

subsidy force green electricity from solar panels had forced her to

lay off 30 workers before Christmas. They are sitting there without a

job. I'm funding �100,000 payroll a month, not being able to sell

anything because of your incompetence? You accept that the

cut needs to be made, the cut has been made. The sooner we can put in

place the new tariff, the sooner you will have that certainty and

this will still be a successful industry. As the Prime Minister

headed off, I asked her if she was happy with what he said? Absolutely

not. I don't think he answered the question and he doesn't know the

first thing about running a business. Down the road in

Maidenhead, another business has been forced to cut staff and shops

and move to smaller premises. For 160 years, they've photographed

generations of schoolboys at Eton College, including David Cameron

and... Some you recognise here, happy Harry standing by the wall.

In this one, you've got William in the library. So I asked, is the

Government doing enough for him? feel the Government could help us a

lot by helping with us obtaining finances from the bank s. It's

difficult. The banks are not very understanding, they are taking away

the umbrella when it rains. Maidenhead is prosperous and packed

full of small businesses, but many find it hard going here and David

Cameron knows he has to get businesses expanding and employing

again if he's to find the growth in 2010 that the economy so

desperately needs -- twelve. Government have to take

responsibility for their own actions. We have seen from the

Prime Minister today that his national insurance flagship policy

for businesses hasn't worked. thing is clear, rebuilding the

economy will take a lot of heavy lifting.

The parents of the Indian stunt, Anuj Bidve, who was shot dead in

Salford on Boxing Day, have been to Westminster to discuss the police

investigation into their son's murder.

He said his son was a dedicated and brilliant student. The family is

due to return to India with Anuj's body tomorrow. It's a hugely

controversial issue and a panel of experts says terminally ill

patients should be allowed tond their own lives. Their report,

funded by campaigners for changing the law, says the current system in

England and Wales is inadequate. Critics say the report is biased.

Our Health Correspondent, Branwen Jeffreys, is here. Who was on the

panel and what are they saying? They include a former justice

secretary and policeman and some doctors. It was set up and funded

by people who want change, to make it legal to help a terminally ill

person take their own life. So how did they say it might work? It

would only include people expected to have less than 12 months to live.

Two doctors would be needed to assess the patient. That's to check

they have the mental capacity to make the decision. And they would

need to self-administer the lethal dose. The author, Sir Terry

Pratchett, wants change. His books have sold millions of copies, but

now he has Alzheimer's. He part funded the research behind this

report. Supposing a man or woman had been

beset by a debilitating disease which is ultimately going to kill

them, if a friendly physician would like to help them - with certain

safeguards obviously - I don't think it's really very much the

business of the Government. I don't quite see how you get from stricken

individuals to old folks against their will being killed by the

state. How do you get there? If you got there, it wouldn't be England.

I would like to be out on a deck chair in the garden with Thomas

Tallis on the headset, a brandy in my hand and a friendly physician

standing by. But Terry Pratchett would not have

the option of assisted dying under these proposals, the report says it

shouldn't be offered to those can dementia or men tall illness. There

is strong opposition to change, including the BMA. Jane Campbell is

also against. Baroness Campbell has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. She's one

of the founders of Not Dead Yet, a campaign against assisted suicide.

I have a very full life. We have fun. But I have pain. I have

horrible things happen to me, like choking et cetera. But I'm honestly

telling you that if I could come back and start my life again, I

would change nothing. In my position, I'm feeling very

threatened by this. Now we have this landing on our doorstep, it

makes us feel even more afraid because we feel we may have a

choice to accept death, rather than living. I want to help anybody who

is in pain and suffering. I don't want anybody to be in that

situation. But, in helping one or two people, we are in danger of

opening the door to something that will put hundreds of other people

in danger and it sends out hopelessness, not hope.

Assisted dying is an emotive and contentious issue. The law could

only be changed by Parliament and the last time it was debated, it

was defeated. This report is the latest salvo in a long debate. It's

far from over, but the law isn't likely to change soon.

Barack Obama has announced a major shift in America's military

strategy and spending. Nearly half a trillion will be cut from

Washington's defence budget over the next ten years with the

refocusing of military power towards the Asia-Pacific region. Mr

Obama said the US was turning the page after a decade of war in

Afghanistan and Iraq and that the US military would be smaller and

leaner. Our correspondent, Adam Brooks, is

in Washington for us now. A huge amount of money we are talking

about here, but in practical terms, what could it mean?

Well, George, I think you will see a US military that is smaller,

that's got fewer soldiers available. The American taxpayer hopes it will

be somewhat cheaper. The US spends about a trillion dollars a year on

its own defence and congress has insisted that money has to come

down, that figure has to come down. For a long time, America's believed

it needs to be able to fight two big wars in different parts of the

world at the same time. I think this review today is a step away

from that. I don't think after the wars in Afghanistan are finished

that you will be seeing those moves by the United states to get its

soldiers into countersmurg si battles in distant lands --

counter-insurgency. You will see more emphasis on the navy and the

Air Force, thinking about China and Iran and much less about putting

inFran trimen into dusty villages in the Middle East or central Asia.

Thank you. The Duke of Cambridge is to expand her public role, becoming

a patron of several organisations. She'll lend her hand to a number of

charities, ranging from a group that helps churn with behaviour

problems to the National Portrait Gallery. Nicholas Witchell is there.

Unsurprisingly, given her history of art studies, art is one of the

themes of the Duchess's pat Ron ages, this port rail presumably of

particular interest. Pat Ronages that have been considered after a

number of private visits. For the lucky organisations, having Kate as

a patron could make a very big difference.

At the time of her engagement to Prince William, the then Katherine

Middleton said she was willing to learn quickly and work hard.

really hope I can make a difference, even in the smallest way. I'm

looking forward to helping as much as I can.

In the months since her marriage, the Duchess of Cambridge has become

the Royal who many charities would like to recruit. She's taken her

time deciding which to support. She used to be day tron of just four

charities. - patron of just four charities.

Compared say to the Queen who has more than 600 pat Ronages, or the

Duke of Edinburgh who still has more than 800, the Duchess has a

long way to go, but the charities which have been chosen by her are

delighted -- patronages. She's absolutely charming and we are

thrilled. This is a smallty which helps churn who've become

disengaged from private education. She's a complete natural. She has

complete understanding and interest in the art and therapeutic world.

So the combination of what we do here, art and therapy, is something

that seemed to attract her. The Duchess is also joining the

Scouts as an occasional adult volunteer working principally with

a group in North Wales. It may rekindle memories of her own time

as a member of the Brownies when she was a child. As an adult

volunteer, she'll be kept busy. She's going to be with the young

people, being involved in their Antarcticion nights, she'll be

doing the arts and crafts, astrology and hiking with them and

she'll be with them on their first night away from home.

The Duchess wants to be as hands on as possible, yet have her charity

choices been a little over cautious? Diana, Prince of Wales,

pushed the boundaries by adopting causes like HIV, AIDS and leprosy.

The Duchess has played very safe. There are over 150,000 much smaller

charitys in the UK who have almost no money, who have deeply unpopular

causes where her patronage could have transformed their lives, so to

me, of course I applaud her but I think it was a bit of a miss

opportunity. Officials say the Duchess has chosen charities with

which she feels comfortable and to which shelves she can make a real

and valued contribution. So, we are told Kate wants to start

small with charities and organisations that she can really

get to know before then taking on other causes at some point in the

future. So, have we seen the end of those

So, have we seen the end of those storms, John?

In a word, yes, George. A chance for things to clear up and settle

down. The winds will subside this evening and the next 24 hours will

see much lighter winds. Here is the storm which rattled the country

earlier on, bringing destructive winds and heavy rain too. That is

clearing through, although we are left with a few showers now. It's

going to turn much more quiet overnight. It will turn cold under

clear skies tonight, particularly across the northern half of the UK.

We will see a touch of frost. Don't get caught out tomorrow morning.

A chilly start but bright and sunny start to Friday for most. Central

and eastern parts will have the most sunshine. Mid afternoon, the

sunshine hangs on across the central and eastern parts of

England. The cloud will increase to some extent, but bright enough.

There will be a bit of a breeze but nothing like as windy as it has

been. All in all, a pleasant enough day. Temperatures much of a

muchness, slowly rising through the day. The cloud will thicken across

south-west England and the odd spot of rain turning up here. The same

applies to Wales. Increasing cloud, but many places will stay

essentially dry through daylight hours. Northern Ireland, it will

turn damp in the afternoon here, but not as windy as it has been.

Heavier rain for the north-west of Scotland, to the east of the hills,

probably remaining dry. Patchy rain will cross the country through

Friday night into Saturday morning. For much of the weekend, plenty of

dry, bright weather. The wind won't be as strong as they have been. It

will be blustery but we went have the damage that we have had. A