05/01/2018 BBC News at Six

An apology from the head

of the parole board to the victims

who weren't told of the imminent

release of a serial sex attacker.

John Warboys will be freed having

served 10 years in prison -

it's thought he could have attacked

over 100 women.

We believed all the victims had been

told of that decision but we're

checking today because clearly

something went wrong.

There are calls for the decision

to free Warboys to be reconsidered

and for parole board

reviews to be made public.

Also tonight:

Jon Venables - one of the killers

of the toddler James Bulger -

is charged over indecent images

of children.

The book Donald Trump wants to ban

and the crowds queuing to buy it.

A latte levy - a proposed 25p

on each takeaway coffee

to encourage recycling.

And parts of the United States

are blasted with record freezing

temperatures below minus 20,

blizzards and flooding.

And coming up on FA

Cup Sportsday on BBC News.

We'll be live from Anfield

with all the build-up

to the 230th Merseyside Derby.

Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News at Six.

The chair of the Parole Board has

apologised unreservedly to victims

of the serial sex attacker

John Worboys, after some of them

were not told of his imminent

release from prison.

The black cab

driver was jailed in 2009,

for offences against 12 women -

but detectives later said

they believed he'd attacked

more than 100 women.

MPs are now calling

for an inquiry into why

the victims were not informed.

Our Home Editor Mark Easton reports.

Rapist John Worboys has become

symbolic of the charge that police

and prosecutors in England and Wales

still don't take violent

sexual crimes against women

seriously enough.

The London cabbie, who drugged

and raped or sexually assaulted

numerous women

in the back of his taxi,

is to be released after nine years,

a parole board decision

that has prompted fury and

questions, not least -

were victims ignored?

58 MPs have written to

the Justice Secretary calling

for an investigation into why some

of Worboys' victims were not

told their attacker would soon be

back on the streets.

I think it's very difficult at this

point in time to know what

role the victims have had

in the decision

to give John Worboys parole.

They do have a clearly defined role

and what we're asking

is that the Secretary of State act

to ensure that has happened.

The head of the parole board has

apologised unreservedly to victims

who say they were not informed

of Worboys's imminent release,

accepting that the news must have

been very distressing.

The Ministry of Justice

says some victims have

chosen not to be informed.

But the questions

raised by this case go

beyond the management of Worboys'

release from prison.

One urgent question -

why was parole granted?

It's likely he accepted

guilt by his convictions,

but quite how the board decided

he now poses no risk must

remain secret.

I'm not allowed by law

to explain the reasons for our

decision.

As I've said before,

I'd like to get that changed.

And so if this pushes

the idea that the parole

board processes need to be much more

open and transparent and we get

support for that, then I think some

good will have come out of all this.

We need to understand

whether he's admitted

guilt in relation to

the

offences that he was convicted

for and, indeed, the police need

to look again at the possibility

of

prosecuting him for those many

further offences for which he is

also suspected.

Given that more than 100 women have

said Worboys tried to

drugged and sexually assault them,

the question why were so many

allegations not prosecuted

is being asked once again.

80 women came forward

after his arrest was

publicised, more still after his

trial, but all the allegations from

publicised, more still after his

trial, but only the allegations from

12 women were raised

at his trial because

prosecutors focused

on the

case is most likely

to get a conviction.

One of my clients, due

to a very poor a police

investigation did not succeed

in having her case prosecuted.

She was told by the

police, who be its

She was told by the police,

who reinvestigated

later, that didn't matter

if her case didn't go forward

because there weren't enough that

were going

forward.

The Director of Public

Prosecutions at the time,

Keir Starmer, now a Labour Shadow

minister, today urged victims to

take the allegations to the police.

I think these decisions

were nine years ago.

It's very important that you go

to the Crown Prosecution

Service and get an accurate readout

of the decisions that were made,

particularly if further allegations

are likely to be made now.

Thank you very much indeed.

But with police saying Worboys

maybe Britain's most

prolific sex attacker, did the

original punishment fit the crime?

This is a guy who drugged 12 women,

who carried out a campaign to rape

a very large number of women

and who has served rather less

than ten years in prison and is now

said to be safe.

It's pretty surprising.

Worboys will have to comply with

stringent controls while on parole,

but his release reactivates

the debate about how the criminal

justice system still treats

perpetrators

and victims of sexual crimes.

And Mark Easton is here now.

We have had an unreserved apology,

and the MPs call for inquiry but is

anything likely to change?

I think

that the ministers will have to

think hard about the questions raced

by the case. The head of the Parole

Board himself saying he wants a

review of the secrecy that sounds

the Parole Board hearings, and I'm

sure that will be considered. The

committee of MPs that holds the

minister of jury to account, they

will look into it and why some

victims were not informed of

Worboys's release and looking at the

role of the prosecutors in deciding

how many of the cases that have come

forward, of the 100 different women,

why so few, 12, 14, of those were

involved in the original trial. Now

the type of sentence Worboys was

given is an indeterminate sentence,

it does not exist anymore. It was

used for crimes that don't attract a

life sentence but pose a risk to the

public. They brought it in, it no

longer exists, for these offenders

there will be questions as to if we

have to look again at that. But the

real issue, I think, is just how is,

is the Criminal Justice System good

enough at dealing with the real

sensitivities that always surround

these cases of intimate sexual

violence.

Mark, t thank you.

One of the killers of the toddler

James Bulger in 1993 -

Jon Venables - has been charged over

indecent images of children.

The trial will be held

in an unnamed court.

One of the killers of the toddler

James Bulger in 1993 -

Jon Venables - has been charged over

indecent images of children.

One of the killers of the toddler

James Bulger in 1993 -

Jon Venables - has been charged over

indecent images of children.

The trial will be held

in an unnamed court.

Our Home Affairs Correspondent

Daniel Sandford is outside

the Crown Prosecution Service

in central London.

So Jon Venables back again before

the courts as an adult and again

One of the killers of the toddler

James Bulger in 1993 -

That's right. The news broke in a

carefully worded statement, released

by the Crown Prosecution Service

from its head quarters in London.

The statement said that the man

formerly known as Jon Venables has

been charged with offences

rerelating to indecent images of

children. And that the proceedings

are subject to reporting

restrictions. Because of those we

can say little more about the court

case itself. But it is worth

reminding people, he was first

jailed in 1993 along with Robert

thump CERN, ten years old, both of

them, jailed for life for the

abduction, torture and murder of

two-year-old James Bulger. They were

released eight years later in 2001,

Robert Thompson disappeared with a

new identity into relative obscurity

but Jon Venables appeared before the

courts again in 2010, with

possession of child images and

released again in 2013 and then once

genre called to prison and today

came the news that once again he has

been charged.

Daniel Sandford, thank you.

Daniel Sandford, thank you.

Despite legal efforts

by the Whitehouse to block it,

the controversial book

about Donald Trump's first year

as US President has gone on sale

and is selling like hotcakes.

Fire and Fury was released four days

early, and people have been queuing

in the US to buy a copy.

It's author, Michael Wolff,

has questioned the president's

mental stability and said everyone

he spoke to in the Whitehouse

described Mr Trump as being

like a child in need

of instant gratification.

Our North America Editor

Jon Sopel has more.

Not quite Harry Potter

but at midnight last night,

they were queuing to get

their hands on Fire And Fury,

and if Donald Trump had the powers

of the young wizard,

he'd have made this book disappear

but he doesn't and this damning

portrait is now available

for everyone to read.

Well, what I'm most looking forward

to is seeing what we all know

is going on just below the surface.

I'm expecting the White House to be

as absolutely dysfunctional

as the leaks make it seem.

I don't think anyone

really gets tired

of palace intrigue.

The picture it paints

of life in the West Wing

is unsparing, allegations of marital

strain, of tears and tantrums,

of dysfunction and improvisation.

And at the epicentre of every

storm, Donald J Trump.

I will tell you the one

description that everyone gave,

everyone has in common,

they all say he is like a child.

And what they mean by that is he has

a need for immediate gratification.

It's all about him.

And the gravest charge of all,

Michael Wolff alleges that a number

of his unnamed sources told him

that the President was mentally

unfit to remain in office,

a charge that brought this response

from the President's spokeswoman.

It's disgraceful and laughable.

If he was unfit he probably wouldn't

be sitting there and wouldn't have

defeated the most qualified group

of candidates that the Republican

Party has ever seen.

The President has been on Twitter

to rubbish the book saying:

But that's not how

Michael Wolff remembers it.

I absolutely spoke to the President,

weather he realised

I absolutely spoke to the President,

whether he realised

it was an interview or not,

I don't know but it certainly

was not off the record.

The author says he

stands by every word.

Although with anonymous sources

it's hard to fact-check.

The most remarkable

thing about this is -

given Michael Wolff's track record -

why White House staff gave him

access to the inner sanctum

of the West Wing for months on end

as virtually a semi-resident.

The author was asked this

morning what he had to say

about the threatening legal letter

the President's lawyers had sent?

about the threatening legal letter

the President's lawyers had sent.

His reply?

Where do I send

the box of chocolates?

Jon Sopel, BBC News, Washington.

The murder of a two-year-old boy

in Wolverhampton could not have been

predicted but improvements need

to be made to safeguarding

children in the area.

That's the conclusion

of a serious case review after

Jeremiah Regis-Ngaujah was beaten

to death by his stepfather.

He was the fifth child to be killed

by an adult in Wolverhampton

in less than 10 years.

New car sales fell for the first

time in six years last year

and demand for diesel cars dropped

by almost a fifth - hit by fears

about pollution and higher taxes.

Industry experts say they expect car

sales to continue to drop this year

because of a decline in business

and consumer confidence

and confusion over

what type of car to buy.

Here's our Business

Editor Simon Jack.

2017 was the year the showroom shine

began to fade. For the first time in

six years, sales of new cars fell,

dragged down by a plunge in diesel

sales. It started with revelations

that Vax wagon and other

manufactures had hidden the amount

of harmful particles that they were

pumping out. Customers lost faith,

governments clamped down it led to

confusion. Why are people not buying

diesel?

They were telling us to buy

diesels, because of emissions and

helping the community, the world,

now they are telling us not to buy

diesels.

It is confusing people.

Would you buy a diesel?

No, I

wouldn't.

Why not?

Because they are not so

good for the environment. I'm

worried for the future, for my

children and everything.

Here at this garage, the customers

and staff had concerns.

Perception today is that they're bad

for the environment. The perception

18 months ago, two years ago, they

were the best thing since sliced

bread.

For years and years they said that

diesel was safe, better, everyone

bought diesel cars. If they want us

to go petrol, what do we do with the

diesel cars?

That customer confusion

about diesel as been showing up in

the sales numbers big time in 2017.

Up to March, the sales were hanging

in there. After that, there is a

fall in the sale of Deals cars and

in fact here in December, down a

whopping 31%. Now you would think

that the buyers would be buying

other types of vehicles like petrol

but even petrol sales were down in

December, what is going on?

There is

evidence that diesel owners have

held off from buying a new car,

rather than buying a petrol or an

electric vehicle, they want to know

the right decision. They need

reassurance. It takes senior members

of the government to put their

weight behind it.

But the government wants to ban the

sales of new diesel and petrol cars

but not until 2040 but is letting

councils tackle pollution charges

introduced in London.

The thing is as the drivers ditch

diesel for one type of pollution,

there have been other rises for the

first time in 20 years.

Our top story this evening:

The imminent release of the serial

sex attacker Jon Worboys -

the head of the parole board

apologises to his victims

who weren't told.

Coming up, I am here at Anfield for

one of football's biggest rivalries

as Liverpool face Everton in the FA

Cup...

We have all of today's sports news

including the latest from the final

Caven Ashes Test where it is the

same old story for England...

What do you do with your cup

after you've had your

morning takeaway coffee?

MPs say too many are thrown

away and not recycled.

They want to impose a 25p tax

on disposable cups which will help

pay for better recycling facilities.

The Environmental Audit Committee

says we throw away

2.5 billion disposable

coffee cups every year.

Of those, only one

in 400 are recycled -

most are rejected by paper recycling

plants because they're

lined with plastic.

The report says that if adding

the 25p charge doesn't

drive up recycling rates,

then throwaway cups should be banned

completely in five years.

Nina Warhurst reports.

It's the smell.

It's the taste.

It's that dynamite start to the day.

But bubbling below the surface

is a whopping waste problem.

So, why are so few

cups being recycled?

Well, it's the way

that they are made.

You see, the outer paper is sealed

to the inner plastic that makes it

watertight and separating those two

materials to reuse them

is a pretty sticky task...

And there are just three plants

in the country that can do that,

like this one in Kendal.

Environmental campaigners say

that it is time that the government

rather than consumers coughed up

for more coffee recycling.

There isn't really the opportunity

for customers to do the right thing,

to recycle these disposable cups.

The facilities don't exist.

We have run schemes in the past,

in Manchester and in inner London,

showing if you do provide

the facilities to the public,

they will use them.

Some consumers say that they are

tired of top up taxes.

I don't think it is

necessarily right.

We've got the charge

on the 5p bags, haven't we?

It's not ideal, but I think it's

probably necessary because they are

a massive environmental issue.

Today, the coffee

industry has fought back.

Some already use fully

compostable cups, and lots

Some already use fully compostable

cups, and lots offer

a reverse levy of sorts,

a price reduction if

you bring your own cup.

There is a worry that this new tax

could be hard for some

customers to swallow.

If they are coming from the office,

for their lunch coffee,

they just might get a cafetiere

for the office, and they can just do

it in the office instead.

So you think it could be bad

for the coffee industry?

It might be, yes.

Where consumers create problems,

entrepreneurs innovate.

We think it is unique, in the sense

that it is three sizes in one.

There's a growing market

for cups that you can keep.

It is reusable and that means

over 1000 occasions,

you can use this, minimum.

So, close it up...

Non-drip, into the

pocket of a handbag.

The government must now respond

to this storm in a coffee cup

and decide whether it is them,

the coffee industry, or consumers,

who are to carry the costs.

Nina Warhurst, BBC News, Leeds.

Apple has confirmed that

all iPhones, iPads and Mac computers

are affected by two flaws

in their computer chips.

It emerged this week that technology

companies have been working to block

the Meltdown and Spectre bugs,

which could allow

hackers to steal data.

Apple says it has released some

updates to try to tackle

potential problems.

A man who killed two of his former

partners has been sentenced

to a minimum of 26 years in prison

for the murder of a third.

Theodore Johnson, who's 64

and from north London,

admitted beating and strangling

Angela Best in December 2016

while on day release from a secure

psychiatric hospital.

Sarah Campbell reports.

For years, Theodore Johnson managed

to keep it a secret from his

partner, Angela Best, that he was a

double killer. On the 15th of

December 20 16th at his flat in

North London, unable to accept that

she had left him come he killed her.

The 51-year-old mother and

grandmother, described in court as

the life and soul of the family, was

hit multiple times with a hammer and

strangled with a dressing gown cord.

In court, family members listen to

the details of her death and of the

two other women he previously

killed.

This convicted murderer

tried to play the system, as he has

successfully done so twice before.

He knew exactly what he was doing,

when he planned and executed the

horrific murder of our beautiful,

beloved Angela.

This was his wife,

the mother of his two sons and his

first victim. In 1981 he pushed

Yvonne Johnson from the ninth floor

balcony of the flat they shared. He

was sentenced to three years for

manslaughter. 12 years later in 1993

he pleaded guilty to manslaughter

here at the Old Bailey, after

killing his then partner Yvonne

Bennett. He was sent to a secure

mental health unit. One of the

conditions of his release was that

he must disclose to authorities any

new relationship he may strike up

with a woman so that she could be

informed of his criminal past. But

he repeatedly failed to do so,

leaving Angela Best largely unaware

of the danger she could be in.

Johnson left her for dead in his

flat and then jumped in front of an

express train. He survived, but with

serious injuries. Angela Best's

family say they received a life

sentence of inconsolable grief.

Sarah Campbell, BBC News, at the Old

Bailey.

Eastern parts of the United States

are enduring record

freezing conditions.

Up to 19 people are believed

to have died as blizzards,

flooding and giant waves cause

disruption across

much of the region.

Thousands of flights have

been cancelled and there

are widespread power cuts.

New York's mayor is warning

temperatures could drop

to minus 29 tonight.

Our correspondent Laura

Trevelyan is in New York.

Your earmuffs are out, it must be

bad?

Fiona, it's currently -17 degrees

with the wind chill. As you can see

behind me, this beautiful fountain

in Bryant Park, central Manhattan,

has been turned into a stunning ice

sculpture. Temperatures tonight are

due to drop as low as -29 degrees in

the city but -40 degrees elsewhere

in New England. These are prolonged,

historic low temperatures in New

York. All of this is happening in

the aftermath of that blizzard that

caused chaos up and down the eastern

seaboard...

The impact of the bomb cyclone

in Portland in Maine

where the storm swallowed up

the very foundations of Ferry Beach

as wind and waves

lashed the coastline.

In Massachusetts,

the storm brought not just

heavy snowfall but flooding

too, due to the high winds.

In Boston, there was

a three foot storm surge.

The mayor is blaming

the changing climate.

We're keeping an eye

on all of those different

floodings and if anyone wants

to question global warming,

just see where the flood zones are.

Those zones didn't

flood 30 years ago.

This is the scene in

coastal New England today.

In the wake of the blizzard,

the subzero conditions are

making life very difficult.

The winter hurricane

conditions closed

New York's major airports,

though they're reopening today.

The clear up has begun in Manhattan.

New Yorkers are trying to take it

all in their frozen stride.

I'm still bundled up.

I have so many layers.

I feel OK right now.

As long as I go quickly

to work, I'm OK.

I just want it to be over with.

It's been way too long.

I just want it to be

nice and warm again.

The race is on to clear away

the snow in Manhattan

before it turns into dangerous ice.

The storm brought in all this cold

air from the Arctic and so, in its

aftermath, we're due to have subzero

temperatures for the next few days.

It is so cold out here, -10 Celsius,

that already I can hardly feel

my fingers or my toes.

Can you believe this

is Tallahassee, Florida?

And we are getting snow?

That was the reaction

in Tallahassee, Florida,

where they haven't seen snow

in almost three decades.

And the freezing temperatures

are prompting many Americans

to experiment.

This particular trick is proving

very popular in the deep freeze.

Laura Trevelyan, BBC News, New York.

The Queen's granddaughter

Zara Tindall has announced

she is pregnant.

The baby will be her second child

with husband Mike Tindall,

the former rugby player.

The announcement comes just

over a year after Zara

suffered a miscarriage.

Cricket, and Australia have

seized the initiative

on the second day of the fifth

Ashes Test against England.

Captain Steve Smith scored his

6000th test run as the hosts

finished the day on 193 for two

to close in on England's first

innings of 346 all out.

Closer to home, and it's a big night

in Merseyside as Liverpool

and Everton face each other

in the 230th Merseyside derby.

They'll be competing in the third

round of the FA Cup at Anfield.

Our sports correspondent

Andy Swiss is there...

Yes, Fiona, when they made the FA

Cup draw last month, organisers

would have hoped to get a few

intriguing ties, but to get one of

the biggest rivalries in football so

early in the competition is

something very special. Liverpool

against Everton, and it is the

latest chapter in one of football's

most enthralling sagas...

It is a city and a rivalry that

once ruled the FA Cup.

Everton brought the cup back

to Merseyside, where it

had been in Liverpool's

keeping for a year.

And now the men at

Goodison Park have won it.

This FA Cup must like it up here!

On the far side, is this three?

It is!

But since the glory

days of the 1980s when

Liverpool and Everton

contested two finals,

that famous trophy has proved

rather harder to lift.

Not since Liverpool 12 years ago has

either side won it...

Gerrard!

It's gone in!

Now the footballing fates have

thrown them together in their

search for that

elusive silverware...

We all know how desperate our

supporters are to get

something.

And believe me, we are in

exactly the same mood.

We are exactly as greedy

on things like that.

It is a glory game, and you go out

and seek the glory, and try and win

it.

If we are to get through,

we have to beat Liverpool.

Simple as that.

But this derby could also be

about a debut for the world's most

expensive defender -

Liverpool's new £75 million

signing, Virgil van

Dijk.

As one star arrives at Anfield

though, another could be on his way

out...

Philippe Coutinho, linked

with Barcelona for an eye watering

£140 million.

Tonight though is no

time for distractions...

Everton might be the underdogs.

After all, they haven't

lifted the cup since

1995.

But this is a fixture which stirs

passion like few others.

For two teams hoping

to recapture that

trophy-winning feeling.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Anfield.

Darren Bett, before you tell us

about the weather, there is

something you want to say?

Come on

you Reds! You've got me in serious

trouble now!

you Reds! You've got me in serious

trouble now!

Things are changing. You'll never

walk alone on this beach in

Carnoustie. There will be less cloud

and less mess across the weather in

the UK, instead there's this kind of

weather this weekend. Increasing

sunshine and more dry weather too

but it does mean that it will be

called. We are looking at more in

the way of frost on Saturday night,

increased amounts of sunshine. More

widely across the UK as the weekend

goes on. More cloud around, more

showers in the south. This wintry

mix of rain, sleet, hill snow

sneaking away from Scotland and

northern England. Colder air coming

in across Scotland but the clouds

are unreliable in the central areas.

A touch of frost and icy patches

around in the south-west, in

particular Scotland and North East

England Kumble with the wintry

showers. A lot of sunshine here, you

would struggle to get much sunshine

further south, this zone of cloud

slipping southwards and bringing

with it rain and drizzle, and a cold

wind blowing across southern areas.

Low temperatures further north but

at least there is sunshine.

Overnight, these winds blow across

southern areas and the cloud takes a

while to sink away into the English

Channel. Further north, temperatures

fall away sharply. These are the

numbers in towns and cities, it

could get as low as -10 in the

north-west. There's no cloud all

went in this area of high pressure.

Southwards, there's colder air and

more sunshine. Still some strong

winds in the south on Sunday.

Otherwise, a nice and crisp winter

day.

Thank you.

That's all from the BBC News at

Six, so it's goodbye from me -