30/10/2013 BBC News at Six

The prosecution opens its case in the phone hacking trial and says

former News of the World bosses knew what was going on. Andy Coulson and

Rebekah Brooks are accused of conspiring to intercept voicemails.

There are six others on trial. Jurors were told that three of the

News of the World's former journalists have pleaded guilty to

phone hacking. The trial starts on the day that new, landmark press

regulations could come into force. We'll have the details. Also

tonight. The job-seeker who took on the Government over its back to work

scheme and won. It's an absolute tragedy. It was a brutal attack. We

don't know what the motive was. The pension fees that can cost savers

tens of thousands of pounds. Ministers propose a cap. Who's going

to take this year's Mercury Prize? Could David Bowie be the oldest

winner? Or will it be newcomer Laura Mvula,

who was a receptionist this time last year? And coming up in the

sport, CSKA Moscow face a partial closure of their stadium after being

charged by UEFA for the racist chance

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six. The prosecution has

opened its case in the phone hacking trial. The former News International

Chief Executive, Rebekah Brooks, and David Cameron's ex-spin doctor Andy

Coulson, are accused of conspiring to intercept telephone voicemails.

There are six other defendants. It's been revealed that three of the

paper's former journalists and a private investigator, Glenn

Mulcaire, have already pleaded guilty to hacking. Our home affairs

correspondent Tom Symonds is at the Old Bailey. Yes, George, it's seven

years since the phone hacking affair first emerged. In that time, it's

been picked over by investigative journalists and lawyers, pored over

by Parliamentary committees and a public enquiry. Only now, for the

first time, has a jury in a criminal trial considered the evidence and

today, to hear from the first time, new admissions of guilt from News of

the World staff involved. This piece contains flashing images. Former

tabloid editor, former media executive, for Rebekah Brooks, the

fight by reputation and possibly her liberty. It started for real. Andy

Coulson, former News of the World editor, and once David Cameron's

spokesman, arrived separately. Mrs Brooks is seated alongside Andy

Coulson in the dock, lined up in order of charges, some accused of

phone hacking, paying public officials for stories, and of hiding

evidence from the police. Mrs Brooks, with all three. The accuser

is a senior prosecutor, who denied this trial would be an attack on the

freedom of the press but said journalists are no more entitled to

break the law than any of us. There is no justification of any kind for

journalists to get involved in phone hacking. That is an intrusion into

people 's privacy. When public officials took payments for stories,

he said is not the same as a conscience driven whistle-blower. We

say where there is a payment, it's always a crime and on the

allegations of hiding evidence from police, there can be no

justification for anyone interfering with the police enquiry, not

journalists, not anyone. The revelation in 2011 that murdered

schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone was targeted, led to News International

admitting widespread hacking. This trial, the jury was told, is about

who knew it was going on. The prosecution said it is built a case

linking Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator, paying him ?100,000 a

year, with Ian Edmonson, a News of the World desk editor. It claimed

his name appears in Glenn Mulcaire's notebooks. Also the

managing director in charge of the box and the jury was told there was

phone hacking when Rebekah Brooks was editor and it continued after

her successor Andy Coulson took over. They will have to decide how

much the management knew. For the first time, we can reveal because

the jury has been told, three other journalists, pleaded guilty to

conspiracy to hack phones before the trial started. Glenn Mulcaire has

admitted new hacking charges and Clive Goodman, the Royal editor, was

convicted in 2006. The defendants left court denied having been told

this complex case will continue with further prosecution statements

tomorrow. But you see this afternoon Of The World was a Sunday

newspaper, not war and peace. He said it is not an enormous document,

it was the size of something that, if you were editor, you could take

an interest into to what's going on inside it. Rebekah Brooks and Andy

Coulson and all the defendants deny all the charges against them. Tom,

thank you very much. Well, after the phone hacking affair, the Leveson

Inquiry proposed a new system of regulating the press and today the

scheme favoured by all three major Westminster parties could be

approved. Newspaper publishers made a last ditch attempt to block the

new regulations but their appeals to the High Court were rejected. David

Silitto reports on a milestone in British press history. It was, she

is alive. It was then, really. With the torment of Milly Dowler's

parents, the views of politicians, press, victims, it's been a long

road and today feels a landmark. A former police officer who appeared

on Crimewatch has long supported reform after she, her husband and

children were pursued by the press. I think this is the closest we can

come to something which encapsulating the recommendations by

Lord Justice Levenson and indeed all the concerns that all those other

parties had. The new system aims to ensure if you have a complaint,

apologies and corrections can be no longer hidden on back pages. There

will be new power to launch investigations into press

malpractice. And arbitration, a cheaper and quicker alternative to

the libel courts. However, the press hates this charter which was written

by politicians and is guarded by Parliament. It's extraordinarily

depressing and very alarming and, in one short spell, a 100-year-old

tradition of the press of this country, being free of political

interference, has been cast aside. Today they made a final attempt to

stop it. In court, the press argued the way they have been treated as

being unfair and this is a matter of enormous importance. Change the

constitution. The very nature of the freedom of the press was at stake.

The court was not convinced which allowed the Privy Council this

evening to get the final royal approval to the government hopes

will be a new error of harmony. The most important thing is we retain

the freedom of the press, which is such an important part of our

democratic process. And we have a way of giving people redress if

there have been mistakes made. Of course, the press is not forced to

sign up. Their planned new regulator promises much that Lord Levenson

called for but few expect will actually ever seek official

recognition. The back to work scheme that obliged job-seekers to carry

out unpaid work in order to continue receiving benefits was flawed when

it was first introduced. That's the verdict of the Supreme Court after a

case brought by a graduate job-seeker who was told she had to

work at Poundland. Our Social Affairs Corresondent Alison Holt

reports. Today's case centres on Cait Reilly, a geology graduate

doing voluntary work in this museum. She challenged the government's back

to work scheme which forced to go and work unpaid at a Poundland Ford

two weeks. If she refused, their benefits would have been cut. The

Appeal Court ruled in Fabry the regulations were unlawful. I was

just unhappy about the fact I was taken away from that experience, put

into a world that had nothing to do the job I want to get into. The

government went to the Supreme Court to get the ruling overturned. But

today, the UK's highest court concluded the original regulations

were flawed they didn't provide enough information. I'm just glad

and very proud the Supreme Court upheld my appeal. I just hope that

new legislation, new regulations, will help other job-seekers in their

search for employment. The aim of the back to work scheme is to give

every unemployed person experience of doing a job. There are seven

different programmes, some are voluntary, but others are mandatory.

More than one million people have taken part in back to work schemes

And many of those who have refused to take part will have had their

benefits cut. Immediately after the ruling, the bad government fast

tracked a change in the law to iron out the flaws in the regulations

retrospectively. And today, the Supreme Court rejected the

allegations that the scheme amounted to forced labour. Ministers say the

ruling confirms that what they are doing is based on the right

principles. Five Supreme Court judges said that the intention to

what we're doing is correct, the man nation is correct, what we're aiming

to do is correct, and that has to be positive all round. But Cait

Reilly's lawyers are considering taking the argument further. We went

comparing the schemes to slave labour but we're now going to take

stock and decide whether to appeal to the European Court of Human

Rights on that issue. They also argue some people may be able to

claim back lost benefits. An idea the Department for Work and Pensions

rejects completely. A take-away pizza driver found stabbed to death

at the wheel of his car was making his final delivery before starting a

new job. Thavisha Lakindu Peiris, who was 25 and from Sri Lanka, had

graduated from Sheffield Hallam University and was about to start

work as an IT consultant. Ed Thomas is in Sheffield for us. George, this

is the place that Thavisha Lakindu Peiris came to deliver his final

pizza but he never even made it out of the car before he was killed.

Kind, bright and hard-working, words used to describe the student who

came to the UK for a better life. He worked here and on Sunday night he

left to deliver his final pizza before starting a new job as an IT

consultant. Less than half a mile away, his body was found slumped in

his car, stabbed to death. Police said his murder had caused untold

grief for his family in shrank. We spoke to his mother every single day

he was in the UK. I'm appealing now to the mothers out there. Was it

your son who came home dishevelled, perhaps in bloodstained clothing?

I'm asking for anybody out there to think about that family. He came to

the UK to study at university. His death has left shrank and is

terrified. I can't believe we've lost him. Friends say he would do

anything to help others. He was a smart guy with a good personality

and never threatened anybody. He was very peaceful and friendly. How has

this affected your community here? They are terrified about this and

they want to leave the country as soon as possible. At least leave the

city and hide. 50 officers are now trying to find the killer but so far

they have no motive for what they call a senseless killing. No motive

because the pizza and even money was left in the car. As for his family,

they will now fly to the UK to try to get some answers about why he was

killed. Ed, thank you very much. Management fees charged by pension

providers could mean some savers lose out on hundreds of thousands of

pounds in their pension pot. That's the warning from the Government. Now

ministers are proposing a cap on the fees for the new auto-enrolment

schemes. Our business correspondent, Emma Simpson, reports. I'm in. The

government wants us to save more for our pension with many of us

automatically enrolled into new schemes. And to make sure Sabres

don't get ripped off, it's proposing a cap as low as 0175% for management

fees -- savers. With 10 million people going to workplace pensions

in the next few years, it is vital they get value for money, which is

why this is a short consultation and we plan to act early next year and

the idea is to make sure every pound going into pensions turns into a

pension, not into charges. These management charges sound small but

they really do add up. Let's say you save ?100 a month over your working

life, 46 years, with contributions increasing a little each year. The

fee charged by the pension fund is 1.5%. If it was capped at 0.75%,

your pension pot would save a whopping ?100,000 in fees in today's

money. But the industry says a lot of companies already charge less.

Pension charges are at their lowest levels and with somebody joining a

workplace pension today paying on average in .5%, however charge has

serious consequences on the way a market can work and you may find,

overtime, Chargers move towards the cap instead of staying at the low

levels we find today. There are a few things as important as saving

for your retirement. So how much do people really know about these

charges? Do you have any idea what the fees are on your pension? No.

Haven't a clue. Didn't even know they were management fees. I don't

look the paperwork. The biggest problem is we are still not saving

enough. The government wants to make sure the pennies we do put away will

turn into as big a part as possible. Our top story this evening.

The prosecution has opened its case in the phone hacking trial, with

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson in the dock with six others.

And still to come, an exclusive report on the political battle over

gay marriage in Northern Ireland. Coming up in Sportsday, 100 days to

go intill the winter Olympics in Sochi.

It has been described as a landmark home in the history of the judicial

system, from tomorrow, a ban on filming in court, which has been in

force for nearly 90 years is being lifted and cameras will be allows

into the course of appeal. Since 1925 with the exception of the

Supreme Court, it has been a criminal offence to film or take

photographs in all courts in England and Wales.

In Scotland, some cases have been brought cast since 1992, but only

with the agreement of all parties. So, it is an historic step as our

legal affairs correspondent explains.

The Court of Appeal has seen some of the most dramatic court room

moments. Including the quashing of the convictions of the men accused

of murdering the schoolboy Carl Bridgwater.

But intill now they have never been seen by a television audience. The

bringing of cameras into the Court of Appeal and the recording of its

proceedings will enable those to be understood much better than the

public as a whole. Spl From today the judges sit up up here can be

televised as they hear cases, and rule on whether appeals against

convictions or sentence have succeeded or failed.

It is all part of a process to make the justice system more open, and

easier for us all to understand. This new opportunity to film comes

with very strict rules. The person bringing the appeal can't

be shown. Nor can members of the public. There is a 70 second time

delay to ensure nothing is broadcast that shouldn't be. This is the

momentary delay for the odd swear word or perhaps if the name of a

victim is inadvertently mentioned. We have a 70 second delay, the

judges delay, that allows the judges to have time to think about whether

there is a problem with broadcasting some legal argument. Court cases

have been played out in front of the cameras in other countries for many

years. Not guilty of the crime of murder.

Some lawyers fear what might develop here, as a result of today's change

in the law. Think they will be put under

pressure to open the door, into courts, where the real stuff of life

goes on, where it is not an academic argument about law, or something,

important, about the making of law, it will be about you know, rape,

pillage, murder, mayhem. If the new arrangements prove successful

televising could be extended to sentencing remarks but the televises

of full trials remains many years away.

A Royal Marine one of three accused of murdering an injured Afghan

insurgent has been defending his actions at a court martial. The

trial has seen video footage of the moment the unknown prisoner buzz

shot dead in Helmand province two years ago. Our defence correspondent

is at Bulford Military Court. What did the court hear? Well once again

they were shown this harrowing video, what is the last moments of

an injured Afghan insurgent, you can see his bloody body being dragged

across a field. Marine A, who was giving evidence behind a screen, he

said that was to safely administer first-aid, not to hide their actions

from a helicopter hovering above. Marine A is then later seen lifting

a pistol, and firing a shot, point blank into the body. He says at that

time, he believed that Afghan was already dead. He was asked by the

court, why he fired that shot. He said it was stupid, a lack of self

control. Why dihe say the words, there you are, shuffle off this

mortal choice. He said it was brav da. He can be said this doesn't go

anywhere, I have just broken the Geneva Convention, he said he

thought he might have been breaking the rules of war by firing into a

dead body. Under cross-examination he did admit the possibility that

Afghan might have still been alive when he fired that shot. All three

marines deny murder. Thank youful

The first same-sex marriages are due to be held in England and Wales next

summer, while the Scottish Government is in the advanced stages

of introducing legislation. But in Northern Ireland, the Democratic

Unionist Party has made clear it will use a veto to prevent gay

marriages taking place. It is an issue that provokes some heated

arguments. There are many who hold on to the

traditional view of marriage. A union between a man and a woman. And

the main party within the Northern Ireland Executive doesn't want that

to change. The DUP has blocked attempts to introduce marriages

between two men or two women. But some say that is unacceptable.

We have said as a commission we support same-sex marriage, it is a

fundamental equality matter. It needs to be addressed. Leadership

needs to be shown. The former leader of the DUP, the Reverend Ian Paisley

led the Save Ulster from Sodomy campaign but homosexuality was...

You will legislate pervenion and irmorality. In is a place where

politics is still often wedded to religion and time has not changed

the views of many of the grass roots supporter, including those who

worship at the church where Ian Paisley used to preach It is a man

and woman, not two men and not two women. That is a % version. ? At the

end of the day they are bringing disaster on their lives. Really.

Why? Because it is not, it is not natural. Same sex civil partnerships

were held in Northern Ireland, before other parts of the UK. The

first were held here at Belfast City Hall. The pictures were shown right

round the world. But that was a Westminster decision,

since devolution a DUP minister has been involved in legal fights to try

to prevent gay and lesbian couples from adopting and to try and keep in

place a lifetime ban on gay men giving blood. Party refuse to put

anyone up for interview, however I asked the DUP's Health Minister

about allegations of prejudice. I think people should be very careful

about how they frame their words and about using words like prejudice,

sometimes words like that could be Sunderland rows.

Those campaigning for same sex unions accept that equality laws

have led to huge advances but they say some politicians still aren't

showing respect. It is not enough to have legislation, we have to have

the support of our own Government to enforce that edge will lacing, if

fact is we don't have it S The Democratic Unionist Party, they are

at their heart a homophobic party. I am sure they have good people in

them, I am positive of that, but they opposed every step forward to

lant lnt -- LGBT rights. Times may be changing but on the issue of

marriage and equality, people in Northern Ireland have yet to come

together. The Mercury Prize ceremony takes

place tonight. Celebrating the best new album by a British or Irish

band. David Bowie could become the oldest winner at 66. He is up

against Jake Bugg, who at 19 is one of the youngest contender, and the

favourite newcomer Laura Mvula. Two years ago she was working at a

vepist for the city of Birmingham orchestra. Now Laura Mvula is the

favourite for tonight's Mercury Prize.

A daunting position, she is up against some of the biggest names in

music. Including David Bowie nominated for his first studio album

in a decade. Previous Mercury winners Arctic

Monkeys are on the the shortlist. As are Foals for their third album

Holy Fire. These awards pride themselves not just on musical

diversity but the mix of established and new and there are several

artists on the list nominated for debut albums.

Including Savages. Rudimental.

And Disclosure from just outside London. As well as Jake Bugg.

With album sales continuing to fall, many regard the influence of this

prize to be increasing. It is the Booker Prize of music. It

becomes more essential, it, especially as the Brits become more

sales based and far less critically worthy.

Also hoping to win will be previous nominees James Blake, folk star

Laura Marling. Villager, and John Hopkin, all hoping to take home one

of music's prestigious prizes. That brings us to the weather.

Good evening. The Atlantic will continue to be the breeding ground

for wet over the next couple of days. Things staying unsettled. We

have had a weather front moving South Today, that has brought heavy

rain and strong winds at time, it will start to move down to the

south-east corner as we go through the night, and by hind that, the

winds fall a touch lighter for a time. There will be breaks in the

cloud so we could see mist and fog forming. Keeping the showers going

across north-west Scotland but with breaks in the cloud, another chilly

night. We still have a bit of cloud in the south-east. As for tomorrow,

the winds pick up throughout the day, there will be some heavily

shower, some nasty downpour, the showers with us from the word go,

some really wet weather here, I think perhaps a bit drier first

thing through eastern Scotland, down to the Lothians and the board es.

First thing in the morning for north-west England, fairly overcast,

one or two light shower, we might see one or two scattered across

parts of Northern Ireland, Wales and the south-west. The south-east

corner still having that weather front, lingering round, giving us a

grey start to day, with patchy and light rain, wile it may hang on for

a final, by the afternoon it should have cleared away. Eastern areas

staying overall a bit drier, perhaps a bit of brightness but the showers

start to pick up further west, heavier downpours in Wales,

south-west England come the afternoon. The strong winds in from

the south-west. Keeping temperatures in the mid teens across England and

Wales but more like ten or 11 for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Scotland and Northern Ireland stay breezy on Friday with a scattering

of shower, further south, we are looking at heavy rain, some strong

winds potentially along the south coast. Really, even into the

weekend, we are looking at further outbreaks of rain with strong winds

at time, perhaps a bit of sunshine in between. But looking pretty mixed

for the next few days. Thank you. That is all from the BBC's news at

six, so it is goodbye from me, and