02/09/2014 BBC News at Six

The parents of a seriously ill child look set to

be freed from prison in Spain after the case against them is dropped.

It means they can be reunited with five-year-old Ashya King,

who has brain cancer and is under police guard in hospital in Malaga.

The Kings were arrested on Saturday after taking their son

Ministers say they'll do all they can to help him.

There have clearly been misunderstandings along the way and

what we want to focus on is getting the right treatment for Ashya King.

South Yorkshire Police order an independent investigation

into the way officers handled the Rotherham abuse scandal

Closing the gap - Alex Salmond says Scottish independence is

closer than ever as the latest poll suggests record support.

Now being served - the Government says nearly all

children in England up to the age of seven will get a hot school lunch.

London's Mayor insists his idea of a Thames Estuary airport could

still take off after it's rejected on cost and environmental grounds.

We'll be live in West London looking at the options left

a Met firearms officer is awarded nearly ?40,000 for racial

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six.

The parents of five-year-old Ashya King are expected to be

released from prison in Spain after the case against them was dropped.

The Crown Prosecution Service is withdrawing the European arrest

They've been held in Spain since Saturday after they removed

the little boy from hospital in Southampton, against medical

advice, and went abroad in search of alternative treatment.

He has been at the centre of an extraordinary week of human and

legal drama. But temp one's immediate ordeal might now be over.

His parents, Brett King and Naghmeh King, the longer face an arrest

warrant in Spain after the Crown Prosecution Service withdrew its

case. Ron Britton's point of view, they are free to go and be reunited

with her son. That means the focus has turned to the Spanish prison

they have been moved to after being picked up on Saturday and the

formalities of Spanish bureaucracy to release them. Tonight, in a new

video recorded before the arrest warrant was dropped, the family

thanked the public for its massive support. I would like to say thank

you to everyone. So many people spending summary hours on social

media and spreading the word and but I do say thank you to everyone. That

support include a 100,000 strong petition delivered to Downing Street

today calling for the Prince to be released. The government said it

welcomed the prosecutor's decision to drop its case. I hope we have a

good resolution in place where they can get independent advice that they

trust and that we can make sure the most important thing happens, that

Ashya King gets the right treatment for the situation he is in. This

letter, seen by the BBC tonight, reveals why Hampshire Police drop

its case. Written by the Chief Constable of Hampshire, Andy Marsh,

legal officials, it says... In a separate development, Southampton

General Hospital said today it would be holding an internal enquiry into

the events of the last week. It also said it would not object to Ashya

King being sent to that clinic in proud to receive proton beam

treatment, which is family have been calling for all along. Even though

the hospital said it would not recommended. These events in the

life of Ashya King have been played out across the past six

extraordinary days. It was last Thursday his parents took him from

hospital, boarded the ferry to France before police were littered.

On Friday, European arrest warrants were obtained and he was made a ward

of court. And on Saturday, Ashya King was found in Malaga and

admitted to hospital as his parents were arrested. This delicate, sick

little boy has become the subject of claim and counter acquisition. A

week of ethics, police searches and a family driven by the need to save

his life. A combination of law and love at the heart of the story.

In a moment we'll be speaking to Jon Kay, who's outside

But first to Tom Burridge in Madrid, where Ashya's parents are being

How soon could they be released? In short, it is not at all clear. We

believe the latest could be ten o'clock tomorrow morning and they

are pencilled into a tent hearing in central Madrid. Their lawyer earlier

said they believed they could be released then. We have spoken to the

High Court in Spain and they say they still have not received any

formal request from any British authority for the release of Naghmeh

King and Brett King. In the meantime, no real idea and it once

again shows you the confusion that reflects the complexity of this

case, the legal process and the situation that the family and young

Ashya find themselves in. Jon Kay in Malaga, no doubt that they will head

straight to the hospital where their son is being looked after? Yes,

family members tell me they are desperate to get from that prison in

Madrid and hundreds of miles back to Malaga, where little Ashya is in

this building behind me. He was taken from them on Saturday night

and they have not seen him since then. For the first 48 hours, he was

not able to see his brothers and sisters and that has changed, his

oldest brother, Danny, spent several hours with him today and I am told

that Ashya is doing well, in a stable condition. I have spent most

of today in the offices of the Spanish lawyer, and I cannot tell

you how frantic it was, the phone ringing constantly and e-mails

coming in all the time between Madrid and London and Malaga as they

desperately try to sort this out. They feel there is momentum and they

think we're going to get there. When is another thing. There is talk of

law and ethics but this is just about when two parents are going to

visit their sick son. Thank you. The Chief Constable of

South Yorkshire has ordered an independent inquiry

into the way his force handled allegations of child sex abuse

in Rotherham dating back to 1997. David Crompton said

the investigation would examine the role of officers who've been

accused of not taking seriously the He also revealed that new

victims have come forward. Rotherham, a time full of apologies.

The councillors sorry. So is South Yorkshire Police, held to account,

it's Chief Constable, facing MPs. I have done already and I repeat that

apology. He reveals 12 new victims had come forward. I do not suggest

or even begin to suggest that this will write some have cervical issues

but they say we are treating this seriously and nobody is complacent

and we are making resources available. Over 16 years, at least

1400 children were brutally exploited in just one time. It is

still having an effect on mental health, depression, anorexia... It

makes me feel sick. Several years, Sarah was repeatedly raped and sold

by a gang of Pakistani men. If I did not do as I was told, I was beaten.

I have had black eyes, busted lips, I have been held by my throat that

tight I passed out. We have protected her identity. Like so many

others, she asked the police for help. I was told I was a liar. A

police officer said that to you? Yes, I told social workers and

police officers and nobody listened. To find out why the insects are

aware failed, South Yorkshire Police will commission an independent

enquiry to get to the truth. I don't think they were sufficiently

organised to deal with the scale of it. This former police officer is

begging for the first time. He investigated the grooming going. Was

child expedition a priority? No, it wasn't. It was not treated

seriously. I have got to say that it was not treated seriously enough.

These five men represent the only grooming going to be jailed in

Rotherham. Do you think some in the police were worried that these gangs

were predominantly of Pakistani heritage? I am of the belief that

that was a factor, nobody wants to be called a racist. The girls were

not just let down by police, they were let down by society. They were

disbelieved and bordered on contempt. Consider Rotherham

Council, the government has announced an inspection to find out

if any evidence was covered up. We know that child sexual expedition

happens in all communities. There is no excuse for it in any of them. And

there is never any excuse for failing to bring the perpetrators to

justice. Pressure is building. Here, the Labour Party has suspended four

of its members. The cause for accountability grew louder. Ed

Thomas, BBC News, Rotherham. Scotland's First Minister,

Alex Salmond, has told the BBC that independence

is closer than it has ever been. With just over two weeks until the

referendum, the latest polls suggest the pro-independence campaign may be

closing the gap on its rivals. The latest poll

from YouGov that excludes the don't know votes suggests growing support

for independence, with 53% of those questioned planning to vote no

and 47% saying they would vote yes. Meanwhile, a poll of polls,

which takes in all the major surveys from the last few

months, also suggests the gap Our Political Editor, Nick Robinson,

has been talking to Alex Salmond. Something is brewing in Scotland.

Public opinion is on the move, the polls show people who were once

don't know seeming to pour into the yes camp. Alex Salmond senses that

victory could yet be within his grasp. So, too, the international

media, who crowded around him today. The barrel will be filled with a new

brand of Scotch, distilling will start on referendum day. With just

16 days to go, Scotland's First Minister is feeling more confident

than ever. Independence is obviously closer than it has ever been but it

is not about opinion polls, what is happening in the streets and church

halls and village holes, I was in Dundee yesterday and left thousands

of people, this is a carnival atmosphere and a democratic

sensation. The boss of a small brewery told me that entrepreneurs

are backing independence as they want to work with one government and

not two of them. And what about the risks? What currency will your

whiskey be sold in? That is for much cleverer people than me! Declined?

Euro? There are cleverer people than me to answer that one. Businessmen

are terrified of uncertainty, why are you living in the dark? What we

are seeing in Scotland is entrepreneurial new businesses with

a desire to grow at a fast pace, they are less risk averse in those

businesses that are established. Not all of his workers agree. I believe

that the referendum is one Adrian's wall too far. You think it will

divide people? Yes. The no campaign stands accused of banging on about

the pound. They insist that it is their winning card. Of course, the

polls come and go but I am worried about what currency Scotland would

use if we were independent. Who would pay for the state pensions and

the private pensions and who would fund the enormous gap in public

services? Those campaigning for independence incest that whatever

the Westminster parties say not, a deal will be done to share the

pound. Aren't you doing exactly what they do in the Eurozone? Foreign

countries, different tax-and-spend policies, sharing one currency. It

did not work so well for Greece and Italy, why would it for Scotland?

Probably because Luxembourg and Belgium did it for 80 years and what

happened was Luxembourg came the richest country in the world so it

seemed to work for them. That, he insisted, or be much safer than

countries sharing the euro. It calls the economies of Scotland and

England are so closely aligned. They are what is called in economics and

optimal currency area which is why we are putting forward the argument

of a common-sense agreement on a common currency. That is why we will

be using the pound. No one can say clearly what the future will bring.

But tonight, a former EU Commissioner has claimed it would

simply not be possible for an independent Scotland to use the

pound. As well as joining the EU. Nonsense, says Alex Salmond. This is

our destiny. Is Scotland really seeing a democratic sensation? He

has got two weeks to persuade thousands of Scottish voters to make

the journey with him. To independence. And a break-up of the

United Kingdom. Nick Robinson, BBC News, Fife.

For more on the independence debate, including detailed analysis

of the issues, go to bbc.co.uk/scotlanddecides.

South Yorkshire's Chief Constable has told MPs that the BBC put

his force in a very difficult position when it made

an approach over covering a planned search of Sir Cliff Richard's home.

The force raided the property last month after an allegation

After hearing evidence from BBC bosses,

the chairman of the committee said it was obvious that the BBC had

Sir Cliff Richard was abroad when the police arrived to search

his apartment in Berkshire three weeks ago.

He hadn't been told about the raid before hand, the BBC had.

Its coverage, including this aerial footage, has been the subject

The singer is being investigated over an allegation

It's claimed that at a rally in Sheffield, by the American

evangelist, Billy Graham, he sexually assaulted a boy under 16.

Cliff Richard has described the allegation as "completely false."

It's a South Yorkshire Police investigation.

Today, its Chief Constable, David Crompton, was called to appear

before a Parliamentary Committee to explain how the force came to be

involved in what was described as "a sweetheart deal" with the BBC.

The Chief Constable said in the weeks before the raid a BBC

journalists had contacted the force saying he knew about

If we showed the BBC the door, the very clear impression,

which had been left with my staff in the media department, was that they

That would have impeded our investigation.

The result was, the BBC was tipped off about the raid the day before.

But shouldn't Cliff Richard have expected better,

I do apologise to Sir Cliff if we were insensitive

Do you not think you were insensitive?

From the BBC's side the committee heard from the

Director General, Lord Hall and news executives, would they have listened

to a request from the Chief Constable not to go with the story?

If he had said to any of us, or others in a BBC News operation,

that broadcasting this story would in anyway have damaged

their investigation, we wouldn't have run it.

The BBC also denied South Yorkshire claims that the original source

of the story was someone from Scotland Yard.

So, after hearing from those involved in

the Cliff Richard raid, the police were accused of incompetence by

the committee Chairman, he said the BBC had acted perfectly properly.

Our top story this evening. The parents of five-year-old Ashya

King are expected to be released from prison shortly in Spain after

the case against them was dropped. New Scotland Yard is put up for

sale. Plans to update the pavilion on Hackney Marshes.

From today, all primary school children

in England up to the age of seven will be entitled to a free lunch.

The Government says the vast majority of schools - 98%

of them - are ready to provide hot food to almost two million pupils.

But the programme is costing around ?1 billion and some critics say it

could be better spent elsewhere. Our education correspondent,

Gillian Hargreaves, reports. With lemon garnish and rice the

chefs cook up a real lunchtime treat. Unsurprisingly, almost every

child here has a hot lunch, they love them. One of my favourite meals

is the fish. Because it's got lots of different herbs and spices in it.

It comes with lemon. I get hungry quite quick. I take a hot meal and

it's quite filling. What do you like about school dinners here?

Everything. Even vegetables! Yes. Green beans? Yes. Carrots? Yes. I

don't think so. Feeding two million infant school children is a

significant challenge. Kitchens have had to be built or modernised, chefs

hired and dinner ladies brought in. To make it worthwhile 87% of

eligible school children will have to take up free school meals and

keep eating them. According to teachers this isn't just about

filling young tummies, by eating good food at a table, pupils learn

important social and practical skills too. 10%-12% of families sit

down to a family meal once-a-week. If you work out that over the year,

the only time the children are going to sit and socialise is at school.

Feeding every child from the age of four to seven is going to cost.

Critics say that's money that could be going elsewhere. We reckon there

is about ?25 million shortfall in the bringing together of this

programme. Actually, a lot of local authorities and schools will be

diverting money from other areas, important areas, to put into this

programme. The promise of a free lunch is proving attractive to

parents. Do you think it's a good idea about the free school meals? Of

course it is. You don't get much for free, why not. I think it should

have been across the whole board. He won't eat everything, there are some

things he will eat. He will get at decent dinner. Children are picky

eaters. If takeup of this ?1 billion initiative tails off universal free

school meals could end up causing the Government severe indigestion.

The White House has said it's investigating reports of a video

showing the beheading of the US hostage Steven Sotloff. It has

apparently been released by the group known as Islamic State. Our

security correspondent joins us now. This is something they had

threatened to do? I'm afraid so. The it's almost an exact copy of the

similar video that came out of James Foley. He is kneeling. A man behind

in black. A forced statement given by Steven Sotloff. He has been in

captivity for more than a year. The man in back appears to behead them.

There are threats made against another westerner. The accompanying

statement by Islamic State, which is what they call themselves, they used

to be called ISIS they are talking ing warning governments to back off.

If you remember, they were sweeping right across northern Iraq. They

have been turned back by US fire power. This is their way of trying

to get back. Frank, thank you. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson,

has insisted that his proposal for an airport in the Thames Estuary

is not dead, despite it being ruled out by the Commission set up to

examine the UK's aviation needs. The Commission says the cost

of the project and environmental concerns make it unviable.

Three other schemes at Heathrow and Gatwick are left on the shortlist.

Our transport correspondent, Richard Westcott, is at Heathrow.

Today has been a significant day. To build a brand new airport, totally

on the other side of London, that has been thrown out by the Aports

Commission. That leaves us with two possible sites. You either expand

Gatwick, to the south of London, or far more controversially you expand

here at Heathrow. Coming in to land on what would have

been Boris Island, the most ambitious and expensive of all the

proposals for new runways in the UK. Now, thrown out by the

Airports Commission. In the end, it's the scale

of this project that's put them off, turning this quiet beach into one

of the world's busiest airports. If you can imagine it,

and I'm standing where the planes would be touching down.

There would be thousands of new homes, new offices, new

railway lines, new roads, a project on a scale we haven't seen before.

We think that the risks of the project are immense,

the logistical risk of moving the whole operation of Heathrow 70

miles across the city and also the environmental risks, which are

very difficult to overcome. He has angered

the scheme's main cheerleader, London's Mayor, Boris Johnson,

one of the few politicians who has been frank about this toxic issue.

I've got great respect for Sir Howard and his track record but,

in the end, this is a political decision.

It needs leadership. It needs to be pushed forward.

So now we're down to a shortlist of three.

The first from Heathrow's owners, a new runway to the north

of the airport. The second, from a private bidder,

doubling the length of one of Heathrow's existing runways.

Or, adding a second runway at Gatwick Airport instead.

There's no easy option, just a few years ago the Coalition

said it wouldn't even look at expanding Heathrow to

the delight of thousands of voters underneath the flight path.

Gatwick is less controversial, but doesn't necessarily give

the same boost to the economy. NEWS REEL:

The provision of a third airport for London is no problem,

according to the Thames Estuary Development Company.

The UK's been debating runways for decades,

yet nothing new has been built. Business leaders just want

a decision. The fear at the moment is that

a decision about where not to put something - we have been very good

at deciding not to do something for 50 years - will just push back

the process for making an actual positive decision to do something

further and further. There may not be a panacea or perfect solution

to this problem, but the real problem is growing every day.

Lack of capacity, lack of international connections.

We've really got to solve that. The Airports Commission makes

its final recommendation after the next elections,

leaving this politically toxic issue for the new Government to sort out.

Richard Westcott, BBC News. In America, the FBI are

investigating allegations that the online accounts of dozens

of celebrities have been hacked allowing explicit photos of some

of Hollywood's most famous actresses to be posted on the internet.

This report contains flashing images. The FBI is hunting the

thieves. It was on this site that the photos were first posted, how

they got here still isn't clear. One theory is that the celebrities were

using Apple's i cloud service to store their pictures and someone,

somehow found out their pass worts Apple will only say it's

investigating. What is the Cloud. Here is an example. I take a picture

on my phone. Within moments it is appearing on this tablet computer.

It gets there via the Cloud a bank of computers anchored, not in the

sky, but firmly on the ground. The computers belong to firm like

Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. It should be safe if

protected by good passwords. This man says the emotional impact of

being hacked shouldened be under estimated. Those photos being

published to the wider web will have a massive impact, a psychological

impact on the people Millions now involved. Use the Cloud to store and

share personal data. Hollywood stars have shown how dangerous that can

be. Time for the weather now. For those

enjoying the children being back to school, the weather is behaving

itself through the rest of this week. Dry weather will dominate. We

have high pressure in charge at the moment. The winds circumstance

lating gently he -- -- circulating gently. We have had lots more cloud

western Scotland and Northern Ireland today. That will remain in

place through the first part of the night. Where we have longer clear

spells to the west it may turn chilly. There will be mist and fog

patches. Cloud amounts will build again through central and eastern

areas producing fog on the hills. Still that cloud sheet in place

across western Scotland and Northern Ireland. Tomorrow, greater chance of

it thinning and breaking. We will have a lot more cloud across parts

of north-east England towards the south-west to start Wednesday. Grey

here, mist, fog over the hills. The odd spot of light rain or drizzle.

Even here we will see the cloud thin and break at times allowing the

sunshine through. Most will see the sunshine coming through at some

point through the day. It will not take too much sunshine to boost the

temperatures, up into the 20s, 24-25 degrees. Thursday, more of the same.

Is that is all from us. Now on BBC One we join the BBC's