30/01/2018 BBC News at Six

The man accused of the Finsbury Park

mosque attack denies driving a van

into a group of Muslim worshippers.

A 51-year-old man was

killed in the assault

in North London last June.

Several others were

seriously injured.

Darren Osborne tells the court

another man was at the wheel,

and that they'd planned an attack

on the Labour leader,

Jeremy Corbyn.

We'll have the latest from court.

Also this evening...

Police and prosecutors apologise

to 22-year-old Liam Allen

for their series of mistakes,

after the collapse of

a rape case against him.

Two years gone.

I really do appreciate an apology.

I am grateful for it

but it's two years I'm just

not going to get back.

An auditors' review of on-air pay

at the BBC shows no evidence

of gender bias but says

the corporation's system

for deciding top salaries

is far from perfect.

The squeeze on teaching creative

subjects in secondary schools,

a BBC survey reveals major

cutbacks.

And, a fond farewell

to a footballing inspiration

at a special service to honour

Cyrille Regis.

And coming up on Sportsday

on BBC News:

Just one more day to go

in the transfer deadline window

and Manchester City continue

to break records as they sign

Aymeric Laporte for £57 million.

Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News at six.

The man accused of carrying out

the Finsbury Park attack has denied

driving a van into a crowd

of Muslim worshippers outside

a mosque in north London,

killing one man and leaving

others seriously injured.

Giving evidence in his defence,

Darren Osborne, from Cardiff,

claimed to have planned the attack

with two other men.

He said the original target

had been a pro-Palestinian march

elsewhere in the capital,

where he hoped to kill the Labour

leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Darren Osborne denies murder

and attempted murder.

Our Home Affairs Correspondent,

Daniel Sandford, reports

from the trial

at Woolwich Crown Court.

The white van attack in London last

June killed one Muslim man

and injured close to a dozen more.

Darren Osborne was arrested

at the scene and immediately

A police camera caught this

conversation.

I lost control of the van,.

Giving evidence at his trial,

Darren Osborne admitted hiring

the van and driving it to London

and said he had planned

an attack that weekend,

but on this pro-Palestinian march

that has in previous years been

attended by Jeremy Corbyn.

The prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC

asked, were you hoping

you would have an opportunity

to attack Jeremy

Corbyn and kill him?

Osborne said he planned

the attack on the march with

two other men, Dave

and Terry Jones but said they had

given up, and were going

for a drink and he said

that when the van

unexpectedly ploughed

into

the crowd, Dave was striving and he

was in the foot well and that Dave

ran off.

Do you often travel in the foot

well, the prosecution

asked?

No, I was changing my trousers,

Osborne explained.

Picking up on the story

of Dave, the prosecution

said, Yue Lin vented

his

participation, didn't you?

I have no answer to that,

Darren Osborne replied.

The prosecution went on,

I suggest that the story about Dave

and Terry is totally

fabricated, isn't it?

Incorrect, Osborne replied.

And then Osborne said,

we were planning to form a Welsh far

right group, we were going to call

ourselves per Taffia.

Earlier the jury had

heard that Darren Osborne

was asked in hospital if anyone else

was involved and at that time, he

had said, no, I am

flying solo, mate.

In the witness box today, Darren

Osborne said he had been driving

before the incident but he and Dave

had put the vehicle into neutral and

swapped over while the van was still

in motion. Jonathan Rees QC said

Dave's last name, you can't remember

that? It was a unicorn, was it best

remark

--?

Ministers have sought to play down

a leaked government document that

suggests the UK could be

substantially economically

worse off, after Brexit.

The analysis, drawn up

for the Department For Exiting

the EU, contains forecasts

for three different outcomes,

and all show a reduction in growth.

The Brexit Minister,

Steve Baker, said the document

didn't take account

of the opportunities afforded

by leaving the EU,

and said such forecasts by civil

servants were "always wrong".

Our deputy political editor,

John Pienaar, reports.

Are you still in control of your

party, Prime Minister?

That nagging

question again. Theresa May is

getting on with the job and today

that meant meeting the leader of

Estonia. Theresa May says the UK

won't lose out when it leaves the

EU. She says she will stay on

through another election to see but

some MPs have been airing public and

private doubts about her future and

Britain's Brexit. Cabinet ministers

are to be shown a Whitehall

assessment of how the UK economy

might be held back.

Are we poorer as

a result of Brexit?

The long-term

Brexit projection suggests the

economy could suffer maybe 8% lower

growth if there is no EU deal and

the UK trades and world trade

organisation rules. Trade could work

out 5% lower without single market

membership and 2% lower if we stay

in the single market. The Government

says it wants a trade deal as strong

as Britain enjoys night claimed the

leak had been used to damage the

case for Brexit.

The article is a

selective interpret --

interpretation of a preliminary

analysis.

Brexiteers argued that

don't believe long-term forecasts.

We were told prior to the referendum

by the Treasury that we would enter

immediate recession if we chose to

leave. The economy would contract.

Both were made to look extremely

foolish.

Critics on both sides

wanted to see the report for that

they thought Brexit was not worth

it.

They failed to protect the

Government from political

embarrassment.

This is a cover-up,

Mr Speaker, pure and simple. And it

stinks. Today, the Bank of England

governor told the committee appears

that Brexit had been a drag on

business.

Business investment is no

way to the greed that the world

economy growing over 4% with the use

is financial conditional support to

financial conditions in over a

decade, with the strongest balance

sheets in 25 years, and with huge

opportunities, in an environment of

greater certainty, it is not growing

to that extent.

In the House of

Lords peers have begun to debate the

bill bridging the way to Brexit.

There will be strong resistance and

struggle for weeks and months to

come. There have been Tory calls for

Theresa May and her government to

show them that they are on her side.

If we ever have a chance of winning

an election we have to get back on

this radical agenda and be a

compassionate party, present

ourselves as a party with a ladder

of opportunity people can climb to

the very top.

No one knows how

Brexit will turn out. The plan by

the Government is still a work in

progress. Negotiations have only

begun. Any new leader would have the

same problems there is no rival

organised campaign. Privately, some

Tories are saying they cannot feel

they can go on with what they see as

a lack of direction much longer. I

am told some party donors are

feeling just as unhappy. Theresa May

set off tonight for a visit to

China, an important part of the UK's

is to Brexit plan. Leading Britain

out, just leading her party, is

turning to be a tough challenge.

What could turn

What could turn things around for

Mrs May and her government? And EU

deal with no trade barriers. So far

there is no sign of EU leaders act

setting that the just the opposite.

If Brexit where to unravel and the

Tories have a bad set of local

election results, if there were a

failure of command in Downing

Street, any of this could cause a

crisis for Theresa May. Tonight she

is off to China, business as usual.

But fighting in the Cabinet and

downwards, that is normal. For

Theresa May, leadership, that has

become a precarious business.

A series of errors by

police and prosecutors,

and a lack of knowledge,

were to blame for the collapse

of a rape trial involving

a 22-year-old student, Liam Allan.

After carrying out a joint review,

the Metropolitan Police

and the Crown Prosecution Service

have apologised to Mr Allan,

who spent nearly two years under

investigation before charges

against him were dropped.

Our Special Correspondent,

Lucy Manning, reports.

Instead of imprisoning Liam Allan,

the Metropolitan Police

is now apologising to him.

It failed to reveal

crucial information

when he was charged with rape.

I am sorry.

I am sorry this happened.

I met Liam Allan yesterday

and I was really grateful

to have the opportunity to speak

to him, to explain the content

of the report and to apologise

to him for the mistakes that

were made, the fact that information

was not identified at an early stage

of the investigation.

Yet it took almost two years on bail

and three days in the dock before

the evidence was finally

discovered clearing him.

I'm happy to have got an apology

and I appreciate that they waited

until they knew and identified

what went wrong and the errors that

were in there as well.

But it's two years gone.

You know, I really do appreciate

the apology and I'm grateful for it,

but it's two years that I'm just not

going to get back.

That's just how I'm

always going to see it.

I will always feel and I will

always have that over me.

That'll be it.

The review by the Met Police found

the officer on the case didn't

properly search the alleged victim's

phone, containing 57,000 messages.

He said no relevant information

had been found on it

and when Liam Allan's lawyers asked

for more details, the officer said

that wasn't necessary.

There could be problems

with a large number of cases.

There's now a national review

and in London alone 600 cases

are being looked at,

some have already had to be stopped

at the last minute as evidence that

should have been disclosed has

come to light.

Student Oliver Mears had

all the charges dropped after two

years on bail for rape

after new evidence was disclosed,

and Isaac Itiary was released

from jail waiting for his trial

after police finally

disclosed texts proving his

alleged victim had lied.

Do you think there are people

in prison at the moment who may have

been wrongly convicted?

Very difficult for me to answer.

I think the problem

is about disclosing material late

rather than not at all.

Liam Allan might be one of men.

Thousands of trials across

the country could now be affected.

Lucy Manning, BBC News.

The Director General of the BBC

has admitted that some

of the corporation's highest profile

journalists have been paid too much.

Publishing a review of how some

editors, correspondents

and presenters are paid,

Lord Hall said the Corporation

had not been idle in

tackling gender inequality.

The report, by the auditors PWC,

criticises the BBC for a lack

of transparency about the basis

for pay decisions.

Here's our Media Editor, Amol Rajan.

The BBC likes to cover the news that

hates being in the headlines itself

that is one reason it resisted the

disclosure of salaries for high

earners last summer.

A busy day for

you.

Today, with the zeal of a

convert, the director-general of the

BBC said he now wanted much more

transparency.

I want us, on pay, to

be the most transparent

organisation. I believe that

transparency will lead to better

trust in the system, for women and

men, to know

men, to know they are paid fairly.

Is equal pay best achieved by

reducing the pay of some men or

raising the pay of some women?

You

have got to do both. You have got to

take away some of the outliers, some

other very highly paid manful also

you have to look, as we are doing,

at the lower paid people.

His plan

to address the gender pay back, the

difference between average pay of

men and women within an organisation

of the legal requirement of equal

work includes pay cuts. When and pay

rises for some women and men. A

radical increase in transparency as

well. Tomorrow, Carrie Gracie, who

resigned her post as China editor in

protest at unequal pay, appears

before a select committee of MPs.

Alongside her, Eleanor Bradford is

one woman who has also complained.

Chicks play my she went public.

I

cited equal pay and said I wanted an

equal pay review. I was helped by

male colleagues who told me what

they were on. When I did that I had

an immediate five grand pay rise,

although that didn't take me up to

the level that some of my male peers

were earning when they were still

doing identical jobs.

The BBC says

that competition for talent is now

in sport drama and entertainment

rather than news.

The levels of pay

for the star journalists are too-

but there isn't really a market. ITV

is not an upmarket, sky is not an

upmarket. Very few in the news

business can the way the BBC is I

think those levels.

To come down

now. This rationale doesn't cut it

with women who say they have been

wronged for years. One member of the

BBC women group within the

organisation applauded the proactive

thinking of Tony Hawk but said it

has not trickled down the

organisation.

There are too many

peculiar decisions being made by

tinpot tyrant in chinos who have not

had the memo yet women deserve equal

pay for

pay for equal work.

From its

inception, the BBC has been a model

project. It is held to higher ideals

than most of its rivals. Its record

is far superior to the national

average but the headlines are

hurting so much. As the

director-general has undoubtedly

done more than most of his

predecessors on gender equality.

While he wants to talk about the

future, his loudest critics are

still furious about both the present

and the past. With some huge

salaries across the BBC either still

static or secret, and a fiery select

committee predicted for tomorrow,

BBC news will continue to be the

news. In time yet.

Our top story this evening.

The man accused of the Finsbury Park

Mosque attack has denied he drove

a van into a group

of Muslim worshippers.

And still to come...

We hear of one family's heartbreak,

as another young life is lost

to knife crime on Britain's streets.

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC News.

Quality, but not quantity.

We look at why there are less

opportunities for female jockeys

despite a study revealing little

difference in their ability.

Creative arts subjects

are being cut back in many

secondary schools in England,

research by the BBC suggests.

Nine out of ten schools

who responded to a survey said

they had cut classes,

staff, facilities or after school

clubs in at least one arts subject.

The findings, from more than 1,200

schools, suggest music, art,

drama and design and technology

are all being squeezed.

The Government says increasing

teaching of academic

subjects is a priority, although not

at the expense of the arts.

Here's our education

editor, Branwen Jeffreys.

Communicating your life story,

something about you,

through movement.

Only start when you're ready.

Here they believe drama provides

space for expression,

confidence teenagers take

into other subjects.

Skills to equip them

for the world of work.

Maths you learn problem solving

skills and how to solve a problem

if there's an issue,

but in drama you also learn

an equivalent confidence.

They all think - oh,

you just mess about and run

around and play silly

games whereas actually you do learn

a lot of skills.

This school is a specialist arts

college, but in league tables

academic subjects count for more,

and that means hard decisions.

In an ideal world, if any student

wanted to study a creative arts

subject we would want them to do it,

but we are having to make decisions

around viable class sizes and,

for that reason, last year we didn't

run Dance GCSE.

No-one is telling schools they have

to cut back on the time given

to creative subjects,

but faced with hard financial

decisions and the pressure to get

good results in academic subjects,

our investigation shows

that they are being squeezed.

Four in ten schools responding

to our survey were spending

less on facilities.

Three in ten said there

were cuts to lessons,

and 25% said they'd seen cuts

to specialist staff.

The artist known as Bob

and Roberta Smith, a campaigner

for creative subjects,

a painter who believes working-class

kids have most to lose.

Where there are middle-class

and upper-class kids

in independent schools,

they are being taught art

and they're being taught art

because they realise that it's part

of developing children's

voices and developing

their souls, if you like.

If some argue the arts open minds,

others believe sciences

and languages open doors,

including the Chief

Inspector of Schools.

The biggest problem

is that the children who most needed

that strong academic core

were the ones who were most likely

to select themselves out of it.

The worst thing that can happen

to a working-class child

is that they don't get the full

education to 16 that leaves them

with all the options they should

have to take them to university

or into any good vocational

education at the age of 16.

Music and arts education is getting

extra government cash, £400 million.

Ministers say they still

have a place in school life.

Branwen Jeffreys, BBC News.

A homeless man who stole

from victims of the Manchester Arena

bombing has been jailed

for four years.

Chris Parker was initially hailed

as a hero after claiming he had

helped people injured in the attack,

but CCTV showed him in the foyer

of the arena stealing from people.

Knife crime in England and Wales

jumped by more than 20% last year.

On New Year's Eve alone,

four young men were stabbed to death

in London and teenage knife murders

are now at a 10 year

high in the capital.

But what about the loved

ones left behind?

BBC London's home affairs

correspondent, Nick Beake,

has spent time with one family

to hear the devastating impact that

knife crime can have.

Behind the police tape,

behind the forensic search

and behind the headline that

will appear in the newspaper,

there is a face, and a family

beginning to grieve.

We first met Michael Jonas's dad

and brothers the day

after the 17-year-old

was stabbed to death.

Did Michael say daddy?

Did he cry?

Two months on, relatives

have gathered in south

London to say goodbye.

I love him to the

bottom of my heart.

Rest in peace, Michael.

I know you are part

of the angels in the sky.

It breaks my heart

to know you're gone.

Evil young men put that

knife in his back.

It's horrible.

It's really horrible.

It's really horrible.

It's really horrible.

How can they do it, so many of them?

Murderer, blood

is on your shoulders.

Kill me today, you cannot

kill me tomorrow.

Michael Jonas was one of 20

teenagers stabbed to death

in London last year.

And young beautiful boys

are going and I don't know

what to do as a parent.

Knife crime is rising

across the country.

Families, who should be

organising birthday parties,

are instead organising

where to bury their loved ones.

Are we black people going to come

together and stand strong and make

sure this doesn't happen

because our youths are blind.

Our youths are dumb.

Our youths are senseless,

they've got no more brain.

Our youths have been led astray.

Six teenagers, aged between 14

and 19, had been charged

with Michael Jonas's murder,

but the case against them

has just been dropped

because of a lack of evidence.

Michael's brother has

a message for the killers.

We don't know what Michael

would have grown to be,

and now we'll never get to know

what he would have grown

to be because of you lot

and your cowardly behaviour.

So all I can tell you is that

you need to look into yourself

and you need to sort yourself out.

The Jonas' are pleading with those

who robbed them of this young life

to come forward and confess.

Their faith in divine

justice remains strong.

This is a family willing to forgive,

but will never be able to forget.

Let down the balloons, please.

Nick Beake, BBC News, south London.

The four ringleaders

of the Hatton Garden jewellery raid

in 2015 must pay a total

of £27.5 million or each serve

another seven years in prison.

A judge at Woolwich Crown Court

has ruled that the men,

who are already serving between six

and seven years in prison,

must pay the money after benefiting

from cash, gold and gems stolen

during the heist.

Brendan Cole says he won't be taking

part in the new series

of Strictly Come Dancing

because his contract

hasn't been renewed.

The 41-year-old said

he was disappointed and "quite

emotional" about the decision.

He's been part of the show since it

began on the BBC in 2004.

The footballing world has said

farewell to Cyrille Regis

at a service to honour

the pioneering player,

who died earlier this month.

The former England striker,

who inspired a generation of black

players, was given a celebratory

service of his life at the ground

where he began his career.

Our sports correspondent,

Andy Swiss, was there.

APPLAUSE

It was the fondest of farewells.

At the ground Cyrille Regis

graced as a player,

they gathered in tearful tribute.

A private family funeral before

a public celebration of his life.

A chance to say goodbye

to a footballing hero.

He saw no difference

in anybody and all he wanted

to do was play football.

And as a young black

man, he led the way.

He was a remarkable footballer

and a man, and I love him.

I just love him.

Few players have

inspired such warmth.

COMMENTATOR:

What a great shot.

With his determination and dazzling

goals, Cyrille Regis blazed a trail

for black British footballers.

Now inside the stadium

where he made his name,

thousands of fans, friends

and family celebrated his

strength and spirit.

He played at a time wh plaque

players had to face racial abuse. He

never lost his cool or ever

intimidated. He said it motivated

him to play even better. He left us

with great memories and for that we

are blessed to have known him. Nice

one, Cyrille. Nice one, son.

But perhaps the most poignant

moment, a poem to Cyrille Regis

from his own daughter.

A legend, a gentleman. The Three

Degrees, Big C, the many different

names you had. But I couldn't be

more proud to just call you my dad.

A day then to remember a man

who touched so many lives.

Come on, get up.

# Nice one, Cyrille

# Nice one son

# Nice one Cyrille, let veries a

another one...

#.

A fitting tribute to

a footballing giant.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, The Hawthorns.

The inspirational Cyrille Regis.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Ben Rich.

Here's Ben Rich.

A beautiful end to the day for this

weather watcher in Norfolk. A cool

feel out there. I'm calling it cool

air for now because behind this cold

front, which is now heading in from

the north-west, there is properly

cold air. We will all be feeling the

effects of that tomorrow. There will

be patchy rain tonight and a cold

front with a band of heavy rain

southwards and eastwards. Wintry

showers will develop. A range of

temperatures, eight in the far

south-west tomorrow morning, but one

or two across parts of Scotland and

Northern Ireland. A windy night to

come as well. Into tomorrow, look at

all these wintry showers across

Scotland. Snow showers over high

ground. Snow to lower levels if you

get a heavier shower. Similar story

nor Northern Ireland, north England

and where we have showers there is a

risk for ice. Notice as we journey

further south across Wales, the

Midlands into southern England the

temperature will be higher, nine

degrees for the south coast, here

though there will be outbreaks of

rain and some gusty winds. We lose

the last of the rain quickly. The

skies will brighten, there will be

sunshine, but still wintry showers.

Snow over high ground in the north,

but also to lower levels. There

could be a rumble of thunder. It

will be a chilly afternoon. On

Thursday a shift in the win

direction means there won't be as

many showers. Still some out west,

some into the north-east. Gales

blowing through the North Sea

bringing big waves crashing on to

parts of the east coast. Another

chilly feeling day. On Friday the

winds will fall that bit lighter. It

might not feel quite so cold. Jane.

Ben thank you very much.