13/02/2018 BBC News at Six

The former football

coach, Barry Bennell,

has been found guilty of multiple

sexual offences against young boys.

He'd targeted youth footballers

in the 1980s, claiming

he could fulfil their dreams

of a career in the sport.

But in court, he was described

as

a "child molester

on an industrial scale,"

and has

been found guilty of 36 charges.

The jury has asked for more time

to consider further counts.

We'll be live at

Liverpool Crown Court.

Also on the programme:

Using artificial intelligence

to beat jihadists on the web,

but will tech companies use

the Government's new online tool?

It's the biggest cancer killer,

so why is research funding

into lung cancer in non-smokers

lagging behind other

forms of the disease?

I felt like I was being punished

for a crime I didn't commit.

I've never smoked.

In fact, I used to be

the butt of jokes at school

because I wouldn't.

Heartbreak again for Team

GB's Elise Christie,

who crashes out at the Winter

Olympics.

And pleased to meet you -

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

go on their first joint public

engagement to Scotland.

And in Sportsday on BBC News,

Ben Stokes will fly out

to New Zealand to join his

New Zealand team-mates

tomorrow after pleading not guilty

to a charge of affray at the

Magistrates' Court in Bristol.

Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News at Six.

The former football coach,

Barry Bennell, has been found guilty

of multiple sex offences

against young boys in the 1980s.

Bennell, who's 64, had denied 48

charges, including indecent assault

and serious sexual assaults,

but the jury convicted him on 36

counts and has asked for more time

to consider seven others.

During the trial, prosecutors

described him as a "predatory

paedophile", who molested young boys

on an "industrial scale".

Well, Danny Savage is at

Liverpool Crown Court

for us this evening.

Danny.

This was a trial which lasted for

five weeks. The jury went out last

Thursday and returned this afternoon

with some, but not all of their

verdicts. As those guilty verdicts

were read out, Barry Bennell, the

charismatic football coach who had

used his position to molest young

boys, shook his head and muttered,

while his victims sat in court

watching on.

Barry Bennell, a football

coach who abused many

young boys in his charge.

Today, he was convicted of sexually

assaulting boys aged

between eight and 15.

He was the gatekeeper

to a dream world in football

but his victims had to silently

suffer horrific abuse.

His trial heard he was a child

molester on an industrial scale.

This afternoon, he was found guilty

of assaulting ten of the 11 boys

this trial centred on.

The jury haven't yet reached

a decision on a number of other

charges and will continue

their deliberations tomorrow.

He abused the boys at his homes,

one of which was in this

Derbyshire village.

He had arcade games and exotic pets

and always had a reason

for them to stay over.

His victims were associated

with Crewe and Manchester City,

where he was involved

in the junior setups.

He was said to have been

treated like God at

Manchester City's Maine Road ground.

In court, it was said Bennell

had groomed the parents

of the complainants

so he could carry on the abuse.

He offered no evidence

in his defence, but his barrister

accused some of the men,

who were boys at the time,

of inventing stories about him

and jumping on the bandwagon.

Today, the 64-year-old,

who has appeared throughout the case

via video link, shook his head

as the guilty verdicts

were returned.

Some of his victims were in tears,

hearing finally that the man who'd

abused them when they were little

boys has been convicted.

As you can see from those pictures,

Barry Bennell is a shadow of his

former self and what he was like to

those boys from 1979 through the

80s. There are still seven charges

against him outstanding, so the jury

will return tomorrow to continue

their deliberations and the judge

has told them that he will now

accept a majority verdict from them

with those judges going forward. So

the case isn't finished yet. The

jury will return tomorrow.

Danny

Savage at Liverpool Crown Court,

many thanks.

The Government has unveiled

an online tool, powered

by artificial intelligence,

that it says can accurately detect

jihadist content and stop

it from being viewed.

The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd,

says she wouldn't rule

out bringing in a law that

would force technology

companies to use it.

But with extremist propaganda

from so-called Islamic State

appearing on more than 400 platforms

last year, there are concerns that

such groups will simply

adapt their methods

to reach new audiences.

Our Media Editor Amol

Rajan has the story.

Militaristic, cinematic and often

shot

with high-level production

values, these propaganda videos

for the so-called Islamic State

espouse terror and hatred.

They're also easy to find

on the internet right now.

What we have here are two videos,

one of which is extremist content,

the other which is perfectly

legitimate news coverage.

Now an artificial intelligence firm

in London has used Home Office money

to target such extremist content.

The creators claim the technology,

which is obviously secret,

can spot 94% of IS content online

with an accuracy of 99.995%.

The technology distinguishes

between news and extremism and

flags up examples such as the one

on the right, with a high

probability of being extremist

content, to be vetted by a human.

What we are looking to do is to try

and remove this content

from the public web.

If it requires somebody to have ten

passwords and an incredibly

complicated Tor browser before

they can get access to content,

we see that as a win.

It means that it can't just be

shared between friends on, like,

their mobile phones.

While attention is focused

on big firms like Twitter,

Google and Facebook,

crucially, this technology

will benefit smaller platforms,

who will have free use of it.

Islamic State supporters used over

400 unique platforms last year,

145 of them for the first time.

Like other forms of modern media,

terrorist propaganda

has now shifted online.

What's so striking about this

new tool is both that it's funded

by Government rather

than technology firms,

and that it's powered

by artificial intelligence.

In other words, it's an admission

that machines rather than manpower

will be most effective at finding

and removing extremist

material online.

One former jihadist

who now works in

counter-radicalisation

argues that terrorists will always

adapt their methods

to find

new audiences, and the platforms

need to be willing to take action.

The big players in this area

are taking a lot of action,

but we've found that it's

the smaller companies who aren't

necessarily prepared to play

ball with Government,

sometimes because they're

suspicious of government,

sometimes because they simply don't

regard it as being part

of their business model.

It's not yet clear how widely

the technology will be taken up,

but the Government says

its instinct is to collaborate

with industry.

We're not going to rule out

taking legislative action

if we need to do it,

but I remain convinced that the best

way to take real action

to have the best outcomes

is to have an industry-led form

like the one we've got.

Your algorithms are doing that

grooming and that radicalisation.

It's a war of attrition,

but the chair of the Home Affairs

Select Committee says the onus

is still on the biggest

digital companies.

I think it's imperative on the tech

giants, on all of these companies

to do more to operate swiftly

to remove illegal material.

If they don't, there has to be

some form of penalty

on them for not doing this,

because in the end, this

is about illegal material.

It's important to be

realistic about the costs

and consequences of the open web.

While technology and Government

pressure can reduce harm,

the fight against digital extremism

is a war without end.

Amol Rajan, BBC News.

A woman has been found dead

in a flat in Manchester

following reports of a man jumping

from a second storey window.

He's thought to have leapt

from a building in the Ancoats area

before "a number of people"

were assaulted shortly

after 7.30 this morning.

Police say a 37-year-old

man has been arrested

on suspicion of murder.

A judge has upheld the UK arrest

warrant for the founder

of the Wikileaks website,

Julian Assange.

It was issued when he breached bail

conditions in 2012 and sought

refuge at the Ecuadorean Embassy,

where he's been ever since.

He was facing sexual assault

allegations in Sweden,

which have since been dropped.

Mr Assange says he now fears

extradition to the US.

Two teenagers have been arrested

in connection with the death

of a six-week-old baby

boy in Southampton.

Police were called to a house

in the Woolston area last weekend

after the baby fell ill.

He later died in hospital.

A 16-year-old boy and 18-year-old

woman are being questioned

on suspicion of murder.

It's been a dramatic day

for Team GB

at the Winter Olympics

in South Korea.

Hopes of a first medal

in the Games disappeared

when Elise Christie crashed out

on the last lap of the women's

500 metres

short track

speed skating final.

Andy Swiss was watching

and sent us this report.

Elise Christie!

Racing for redemption,

Elise Christie hoping to

turn heartbreak into Olympic glory.

Away they go, the final is on.

They get away first time.

Four years ago in Sochi,

Christie endured a personal

nightmare, crashes,

disqualifications.

She nearly

quit the sport.

Surely it couldn't happen again?

She has work to do to get

back into contention.

But stuck in fourth place,

she spied a gap, went

for it and what followed

was horribly familiar.

Christie tries to make

it on the inside.

She crashes out,

Christie is out of it

once again!

It's a photo finish on the line!

Once again, Christie's hopes

were sent sliding into the

barriers.

It was Sochi all over again,

and as Italy's Arianna Fontana

took gold, Christie

was left in utter despair.

Well, can you believe it,

another Olympics, another tumble

for Elise Christie.

She still has two more

events to come, but her

Games have started

in disappointment.

Replays suggested Christie's

hand had been hit by

a rival's skate and afterwards,

she was inconsolable.

As the tears flowed,

she tried to make sense of

her seemingly endless misfortune.

I know it's short track

and I'm supposed to be

but it still hurts, you know.

Obviously, it's still almost a week

until my best distance, so I'll

stay positive...

I don't know, I just can't see

living with this feeling, you

know.

But it's out of my control,

I got knocked over and that's

that.

Christie, oh, they've gone down!

Those memories of Sochi four years

ago, though, may now

prove hard to erase.

She crashed at the same final there.

But her team are urging

her to stay positive.

I think we could all see she tried

everything out there to try and get

gold.

She wasn't going for anything else.

You know, that's the

nature of the sport.

Crashes do happen, unfortunately.

The question now, though,

is whether Britain's biggest

medal hope can pick herself up again

on a desperate day of deja vu.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Pyeongchang.

The England cricketer

Ben Stokes is to go on trial,

charged in connection with a fight

outside a nightclub

in Bristol last September.

The 26-year-old pleaded

not guilty to affray

at Bristol Magistrates Court this

morning, and was granted bail before

the next hearing in March.

He'll now fly out to join England's

current tour of New Zealand.

From Bristol, Jon Kay's report

contains some flash photography.

Morning.

Five months after the alleged

incident, Ben Stokes returned

to Bristol for his first appearance

before the city's magistrates.

Inside a packed Court number one,

the Durham and England all-rounder

told a district judge

that he would be pleading not guilty

to a charge of affray.

Standing next to him,

two local men, Ryan Hale

and Ryan Ali, both

in their twenties.

They also told the court they would

be entering not guilty pleas.

The men were told the case would now

go to trial at Bristol Crown Court,

with an initial date

set for 12th March.

A short time after this hearing,

there was a statement from

the England and Wales Cricket Board,

who said they had been told that

Ben Stokes wouldn't have to appear

in court in person next month

and that tomorrow,

he was flying to New Zealand.

The 26-year-old, who missed out

on the Ashes Series in Australia,

will arrive in New Zealand

on Friday, initially just

for training with his

England team-mates.

The ECB said he is not currently

being considered for the ongoing

Twenty20 Tri-series,

and it will be up to head coach

Trevor Bayliss whether he's included

in any later matches.

Ben Stokes has also been given

permission to take part

in the Indian Premier League,

which starts in April.

He and the other two men

who have been charged

were all granted unconditional bail

by the court today.

Jon Kay, BBC News, Bristol.

Our top story this evening:

The former football coach

Barry Bennell has been found guilty

of multiple sexual offences

against young boys.

And still to come, repairs begin

on the UK's longest and steepest

series of canal locks.

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC News,

the Champions League is back,

with Tottenham in Turin

for a massive clash

against two-time winners Juventus.

Manchester City are in

Switzerland to face FC Basel.

Two months ago, our Legal

Correspondent Clive Coleman

lost his sister Sarah

to lung cancer.

She was one of many healthy

non-smokers to contract the disease.

It is in fact the UK's

biggest cancer killer,

but receives relatively little

funding for research.

Around 35,000 people

die from lung cancer

in the UK every year,

and around 44,000 new

cases are diagnosed.

But just £708 is spent per lung

cancer death in the UK,

a fifth of that spent on breast

cancer and a tenth of the amount

on leukaemia research.

Well, Clive has been finding out

more about the non-smokers

who contract the disease,

and why it remains the poor relation

to other forms of cancer.

When you're first diagnosed

with cancer, it's really scary

and I was very scared.

I was diagnosed with non-small cell

lung cancer in August 2015.

This is my younger sister, Sarah.

She died of blood cancer

in December, two years

after being diagnosed.

In the months before her death,

she made this film

about her condition.

Before she got the illness,

I knew relatively little about it.

I suppose I shared the common view

that it was a smoker's disease.

I had no idea how many

healthy non-smokers got it,

or that in the UK, it kills more

than breast, prostate and pancreatic

cancer put together.

Keep to the side, that's it.

Like my sister, Joanne Marshall has

never smoked,

but has stage 4 lung

cancer because of a non-inherited

fault in her genes.

She's been treated with

targeted drug therapies.

They provide a very

effective stay of execution.

So for me, for example,

I've been on a targeted

therapy for about a year,

which meant that I could live,

essentially, a normal life.

I was very active.

I could breathe properly.

But they don't last for ever,

that's the problem.

Cancer tends to be one step ahead.

The children help

just by being here.

I mean, they're really doing

everything they can.

My husband...

His life has completely changed

and it's not what I wanted for him.

But, you know...

If we get through this,

we'll be so strong.

Scientists don't know why seemingly

more and more healthy non-smokers

are getting lung cancer.

But visiting Joanna and her family,

I had learned that the disease kills

98 people each day in the UK.

14% of those who get

it have never smoked,

and yet in terms of research

funding, it receives a small

fraction of the money spent

on breast or testicular

cancer or leukaemia.

It's a massive problem,

because these people

who are diagnosed with lung cancer

who've never smoked are really quite

angry that it's assumed

that they have smoked

and they have self-inflicted this

cancer upon them, when clearly,

they haven't.

Because of the way that the disease

behaves and these people are not

expected to be diagnosed

with cancer, they're not high risk,

they're usually diagnosed at a later

stage, and therefore

treatment can often not be curative,

which is a complete

and utter disaster for them.

Lung cancer remains the ugly,

poor relation of the cancer family.

It doesn't discriminate

between smokers and non-smokers,

and there will be many more cases

like my sister's

before a long-term

treatment's found.

Clive Coleman, BBC News.

South Africa's ruling

African National Congress

has confirmed it's formally asked

President Jacob Zuma to resign.

Senior ANC leaders say he did agree

to step down, but only

in three to six months' time.

That time frame was rejected.

There could now be a vote

in the South African Parliament

to remove the president,

whose time in office has

been marred by numerous

allegations of corruption.

Our Africa Editor Fergal Keane

is in Johannesburg.

How do you think the President will

respond?

We're going to know

tomorrow morning. It's been

disclosed that he will make the top

six leaders of the African National

Congress including the man who will

be his political nemesis, Cyril

Ramaphosa, the organisation 's

president and he will give his

response. Until now he has said he

will not with thine. If the ANC

wants to force him from office then

they will have to do that -- he will

not resign.

What are his options?

Look, he can fight if he wishes but

this is only going one way. This

story will end with the removal of

Jacob Zuma from the presidency. The

question is whether, by clinging on,

he spits the ANC, Africa's oldest

liberation movement? He has quite a

substantial degree of support in the

party. The question is whether over

the last month since Ramaphosa has

taken over enough people have seen

which way the wind is blowing and

will line up behind Ramaphosa and if

it gets to an issue of no confidence

in parliament will decide that they

can vote with the opposition and

remove Jacob Zuma from office.

OK,

Fogel, thank you.

Inflation remained unchanged

at 3% last month.

The cost of food and some imported

materials fell, but the price

of clothing and some

leisure activities rose.

Last week, the Bank of England

warned that interest rates may go

up quicker than expected to help

curb inflation.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have

made their first official

joint visit to Scotland,

as part of a round of official

engagements in the run-up

to their wedding in May.

It's the fourth appearance

the couple have made

since their engagement

was announced in November.

From Edinburgh, our

Royal Correspondent

Nicholas Witchell reports.

The report contains some flash

photography.

Edinburgh Castle and a welcome

to Scotland on a day

when the temperature

was barely above zero.

A day, then, for a good

warm overcoat and there

was Meghan Markle, wrapped up

in the very thing.

The coat, patterned

in tartan green and blue.

Offering a welcome, the band

of Her Majesty's Royal Marines

Scotland and the regimental mascot

of the Royal Regiment of Scotland,

a Shetland pony with sharp teeth.

Watch Harry's left hand.

Oh, nearly got him!

Harry moved on, ring finger

intact and Meghan amused.

Bang went the one o'clock gun,

out came the thoughtfully-provided

ear plugs and as Harry and Meghan

gazed over the city, those who'd

come to see them were positive.

I got to meet Meghan today

and she is absolutely beautiful.

I'm so excited for them to be

here in Edinburgh today.

They're the future of the Royal

family, Meghan and Harry

and William and Kate,

they're the future.

This has been another important

introduction on the Meghan Markle

familiarisation tour

of the United Kingdom.

The underlying message is how

much Scotland matters.

The union, of course,

is a sensitive issue,

one the royals know they must

navigate with care but that

navigation will increasingly be

the task of the younger royals

like Harry and his wife to be.

Scotland will need to be

a regular destination.

Nicholas Witchell,

BBC News, Edinburgh.

The UK's longest and steepest

series of canal locks

is in desperate need of repair.

Foxton locks, in the heart

of Leicestershire,

is on the Grand Union Canal,

but five of the ten lock gates

need to be changed after

years of wear and tear.

Now the Canal and River Trust,

a charity which helps safeguard more

than 2,000 miles of waterways

in England and Wales,

is spending hundreds of thousands

of pounds on restoration.

Sima Kotecha has the story.

Ten canal locks, all lined

up along a steep hill,

built in the early 19th century

to help control the level of water

so that boats could travel freely.

Now, for the first time in more

than a quarter of a century,

five pairs of large iron gates

are being replaced

and it's no easy task.

We need a large crane to get them

into position in the first place

and then we have to get down

into the lock, everything has to be

drained for us to be

able to get in there.

The gate itself sits

in a pot and there's a pin

on the bottom of the gate.

That's what it pivots on.

For fitting a pair of gates,

it will probably take

us about four days.

So this is an old lock gate.

You can see where it is rotten.

They last around 25-30 years

and each one is unique.

The one that replaces the old one

needs to be identical in order

for it to fit in properly.

And all this meticulous repair work

has a price tag of £200,000.

Does this really have to happen,

do you really have to spend

that much money on this?

Well, yes.

We try to get the cost down as much

as we can to facilitate the work

but we have to make sure that we're

preserving the heritage.

There are certain

things we have to do.

So we're replacing oak doors

with new oak lock gates.

It's grade two listed,

it was actually built

in the 19th century,

is that right?

So it makes your job

even more challenging.

Yes, we have to get certain

permissions before we can

undertake any works.

So we have to write in detail

about the works we need to undertake

and then it needs to be signed off

and checked by a conservation

officer to make sure we're trying

to preserve our industrial heritage

here as much as possible.

Hundreds of thousands of people

visit the Foxton locks every year.

Its picturesque backdrop

is part of its appeal.

The repairs are scheduled

to be completed in March

and it's hoped the new gates

will help to rejuvenate the site

and its surrounding beauty.

Sima Kotecha, BBC

News, Leicestershire.

I can't imagine the weather is going

to be any good for a trip on the

canals but Chris has the details.

to be any good for a trip on the

canals but Chris has the details.

A little bit cold, today has been

cold and off as well. Snow in

Scotland and higher parts of

northern England. A bit lower down

for some of you. After the snow,

some glorious weather watcher

pictures, this is from the Stirling

area. The weather fronts that

brought the rain and snow is hanging

on over eastern areas of England but

to the West, skies clearing and with

light winds, a recipe for things

turning cold overnight. A widespread

frost and a risk of icy stretches

developing an untreated roads and

surfaces. That takes us to a cold

start on Wednesday. Another area of

low pressure moving from the

Atlantic, tightly packed isobars

ahead of the front, so a windy start

and then the rain moves in and it

will turn into snow again as it

bumps into the cold air. Most snow

will be high up over the hills of

Scotland, the Highlands, the

Southern uplands and we are likely

to see blizzard conditions and a

risk of some transport disruption.

Further south, there could be some

over Snowdonia and the Brecon

Beacons but it will turn milder and

the snow will turn into brain.

Turning down later in the

Turning down later in the day --

will turn into rain. High

temperatures of 11 implements but

quite cold over the north of the UK.

Thursday, high pressure over England

and Wales building which means for

many areas a dry day with plenty of

sunshine. Further north, blustery

wind bringing showers but there will

be some sunny spells between them.

Temperatures around 5 degrees in

Scotland, still cold but further

south, highs of ten or 11 degrees.

Some contrast. On Friday and the

weekend, things turning milder and

for most of us it should be drier as

well. The mild theme lasts into next

week but there are hints that

towards the end of February we may

see the weather turning much colder

and that's something we'll be

keeping a very close eye on.

Many thanks.

A reminder of our main story.

Former football coach Barry Bennell

has been found guilty of multiple

sexual offences against young boys.

That's it.

So it's goodbye

from me and the team.

Now on BBC One, let's join our news

teams where you are.