27/02/2018 BBC News at Six

Heavy snow causes disruption

across large parts of the UK

amid warnings there is a lot

worse to come.

Gridlock and accidents on the roads,

as the coldest week of the winter

blows in from the east.

Up to ten centimetres of snow

fell in some parts today,

and hundreds of schools

have been closed.

It's still snowing now,

the roads aren't safe,

and I just didn't want staff

put at risk.

This is the worst winter we've

had for quiet a while.

We'll be live in some of the areas

most affected and have the latest

on the travel situation -

and the weather forecast.

Also on the programme tonight,

the International Trade Secretary

warns that trying to keep the UK

in a customs union after Brexit

would be a sell-out.

Police say a mother and her two

teenage sons are believed to be

among the victims after

an explosion in Leicester

that left five people dead.

A surprise bidding war for Sky,

as an American media giant offers

more than £20 billion

for the British broadcaster.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News, Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal

attempts to dump his former club,

Sheffield Wednesday, out of the FA

Cup at the second time of asking.

Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News At Six.

Snow and freezing temperatures have

caused major disruption across many

parts of the UK today with warnings

that there is much worse

to come this week.

More than 560 schools

have been closed

across England,

Wales and Scotland.

And the snow and ice has caused

treacherous driving conditions,

with 20 accidents in a space of just

three hours on Lincolnshire's roads,

including a fatal crash

which left three people dead.

There've been big problems

on the railways and airports too,

with hundreds of trains

and flights cancelled.

In a moment, we'll hear from

Danny Savage in North Yorkshire,

but first to Robert Hall

in Ashford in Kent.

Robert.

Sophie, Ashford is right alongside

the M20 motorway, one of the roots

worst affected this morning. There

are still lying snow across the

eastern counties of England, and the

temperature here intent is predicted

to dive again to about minus six

even lower tonight. We did get a bit

of a lull this afternoon, a bit of a

thaw, but the ice is forming again,

and all of the signs are that

getting around tonight and tomorrow

be problematic.

The east coast had time to prepare,

but the snowfall sweeping

in from Europe gave travellers

a taste of what

this week has in store.

Lincolnshire Police dealt with 20

accidents in a three hour period.

Three people died in a collision on

the A15, and a schoolbus beard of

the road elsewhere. In Essex, a car

passenger filmed 17 damaged or

abandoned vehicles alongside the

A120 close to Colchester. In Kent,

where the county council had

declared a snow emergency, gritters

worked flat out to cover as many

roads as possible. But like traffic

overnight meant salt couldn't do its

work. By the time the morning

commute began, accidents and ice had

closed a series of routes. Tribe is

posted video images of M20, where

all traffic was brought to north of

Maidstone. -- drivers. Up to ten

centimetres of snow fell across

Kent, sorry and East Sussex, where

farmers helped to keep minor roads

open. More than 300 schools were

closed. This village was completely

cut off for a time as ice and

compacted snow stranded cars and

lorries.

Some of the locals here

have been helping people move cars

off the main roads, it has been very

icy, and the sun has not had time to

hit it, so, yeah, it has been an

interesting day.

Landlord Jason was

among those who helped reopen the

road. You have seen the forecast,

are you worried about the rest of

the week?

It is going to be the same

again tomorrow, I do believe, and

Thursday evening as well, so it will

be the same again.

Norfolk also

sought school closures, and that

this primary schools the head

teacher said she had no option.

I

felt it was an safe to open, I am

here, but I can't look after 420

children. That was why I made the

decision, it is still snowing now,

the roads not safe, and I just

didn't want staff being put at risk.

Across the eastern counties, traffic

called and travellers waited for

news on cancelled rail services.

Operators had run empty trains

through the night to keep the tracks

open, but for a while the defeated

them. -- the snow defeated them.

This afternoon, in the south-east,

the snow was replaced by blue skies,

but this is a lull. Temperatures are

falling again. Travelling will

remain unpredictable and hazardous

in the coming days. Robert Hall, BBC

News, Kent.

Well, here in northern England, I

think it's fair to say that many

people woke up this morning to a bit

less so than they had been expecting

from the forecast. That is not to

say that it didn't fall heavily in

places, it was just quite patchy,

and that there are weather warnings

in place for Northern England,

Scotland and other parts of the UK

right through until Saturday now,

without to 40 centimetres of snow

expected in some areas before the

weekend. There is a long way to go

with this cold snap yet.

In the parts of northern England

where heavy snow was forecast,

some of the most difficult

conditions were in Teesside.

Traffic came to a standstill on many

roads through the morning rush hour,

and several schools were closed.

There is a little van stuck here,

so I've got to go round it,

so I'm going to hope

there is nothing

coming the other way.

20 miles further south, on one

of the steep roads over the moors,

negotiating Sutton Bank

was like an uphill slalom.

And as the snow came down again,

things got worse.

What this illustrates

is just how little snow

is needed to cause a problem.

There's hardly any

on the surface here,

but it's frozen up,

it's got really slippery.

And it's caused chaos

on this road this morning.

In the towns and cities on lower

ground, snow wasn't such a problem,

but the freezing temperatures were.

These homeless men in Leeds

haven't got shelter.

Even in this weather.

I shouldn't be doing

this, I know that.

I've nowhere to go.

Nowhere to live,

so I've nowhere to go.

So...it's all about survival.

I'm out in the cold,

nobody tends to help you,

because people are skint.

Back on the hills late morning,

and the clouds briefly parted

to reveal stunning views.

There is life, and trade, up here -

carrying on as normal,

despite the conditions.

2010 was the worst year

I can remember personally,

and it's not a scratch

on that, really.

But I mean, it's pretty -

it's caused a little bit

of disruption, but nothing major.

Yeah, it's more a bit

of fun than anything.

Nearby, Dave and Cath Wood

were digging out their driveway.

They're used to the conditions

but expect it to get

worse later in the week.

Just not much at all,

we're clearing it now

so that when the next lot comes,

we don't have so much to clear

after that, you see,

because I don't want it

padding down particularly.

So no, it's just a light flurry.

To be honest,

this is the worst winter

that we've had for quite a while.

Last year, we hardly had

any snow, but like I say,

going back a few years,

I just couldn't believe the amount

that we actually had.

There was feet and feet of it.

The last 24 hours of snowfall

in the England has been patchy.

Well rehearsed plans have been

implemented to keep roads

open as this late blast

of winter continues.

Danny Savage, BBC News,

North Yorkshire.

Meanwhile, some rail problems

were not caused by snow.

Network Rail has apologised

to passengers tonight,

after it closed rail lines in areas

where heavy snow was forecast

to fall but then didn't.

Our transport correspondent

Victoria Fritz is at London Bridge.

Victoria.

Hello, Sophie, yeah, there has been

some widespread anger from commuters

today who had their services

cancelled, only to look at the

window and see belly a snowflake.

Here at London Bridge, south-eastern

have cancelled more than 100 trains

between London and Kent. Now, Sudden

and Gatwick Express were operating a

reduced service earlier on today. --

Southern. They have largely gone

back to normal, but it has been the

east of England that has borne the

brunt of the disruption on the train

network. We are talking Great

Northern, for example, Greater

Anglia, and C2C. When it comes to

Greater Anglia, they have now lifted

all distractions on the line after

the snow fell about 20 miles further

south than was originally predicted.

When it comes to tomorrow, Scotland

is likely to see the heaviest

snowfall, and that means that

ScotRail is now advising passengers

that they could be last-minute

changes to their schedules. So why

are there all these cancellations in

the first place? Well, the track and

signals operator, Network Rail,

tries to operate on the basis that

it wants to provide the safest and

the most reliable network for the

trains that do run to run, and that

means that compacted snow can turn

into ice, that can affect points and

stop them working, we could see

freezing temperatures, so we don't

even need any snow at all, that can

make the rails freeze, which means

that the signals don't change, so

that all these problems, despite

these widespread efforts, really, to

try and counteract this, we are

talking about Europe's busiest

railway network, so do expect more

disruptions tomorrow.

Victoria at London Bridge, thank

you. We will have a full weather

forecast at the end of the

programme.

The International Trade Secretary,

Liam Fox, says any form of customs

union with the EU after Brexit

would be

a "complete sell-out" for the UK.

He said the UK should

not let its future

be determined by its past.

But his former top official says

leaving the customs union

in the hope of getting better trade

deals with other countries would be

like "giving up a three-course

meal for the promise

of a packet of crisps."

Here's our deputy political

editor, John Pienaar.

They are the Cabinet's true

believers.

Foreign Secretary, does

the UK need a very godmother?

Wishful thinking, say the critics,

but senior ministers agree that all

of Britain, and Northern Ireland

too, will stick together and win,

despite all the obstacles and all

the doubts. So today the

International Trade Secretary said

critics were wrong to say that

Britain should stay in a European

customs union and give up the

freedom to strike independent trade

deals, not just wrong...

We would be

in a worse position than we are

today. It would be a complete

sell-out of Britain's national

interest and a betrayal of the

voters in the referendum.

But even

before that warning, the critics

were joined by the former head of

Doc Cox's own department, and free

to speak out, he is not holding

back.

We have a very deep trade

relationship in goods and services

with Europe, massively our most

important market. We turn away from

that, try and do more limited trade

deals with much smaller markets,

further away, with no service

access, that is like giving up a

three course meal for a packet of

crisps. If we go to Brussels and

say, we want access to the single

market, but we wanted on our terms,

all of the benefits, and we will

decide which obligations, no

negotiator in the world can bring

you that, you would need a fairy

godmother.

How would the Trade

Secretary deal with that? Is the

greatest danger that Brexit could

lead to national self harm, or that

there aren't enough true believers

like you?

We cannot afford to be

bound by the practices of the past,

we have to take opportunities

available unfettered by those who

would make the rules on our behalf.

What we need is a hard-headed

leader, not a fairy godmother.

There

is a barrier to Brexit transition on

the north - south border in Ireland.

Dublin wants a British pledge, no

border checks, even if it means a

customs union. Was Boris Johnson a

help today? No problem, he said,

look at London's congestion charge.

There is no

There is no border between Camden

and Westminster, but when I was

Mayor of London, we and

aesthetically and invisibly took

hundreds of millions of pounds on

the accounts of people travelling

between those two boroughs without

any need for border checks

whatever... You can't compare two

boroughs of London with the kind of

difference in the arrangements that

would be in place between the UK and

the EU.

I think it is a relevant

comparison.

One thing Brexiteer is

our pledge of his belief, but today

more doubts about whether Brexit can

work and hopes of a transition

period. Mr is, including Theresa

May, still setting out the path to

Brexit, but the journey is looking

no easier, and so far a final route

not much clearer. John Pienaar, BBC

News, Westminster.

Police say a mother and her two

teenage sons were among the victims

of an explosion in Leicester

on Sunday night that completely

destroyed a supermarket

and the flat above it.

The remains of five people have been

discovered in the rubble.

The other two victims were believed

to be working in the Polish

supermarket at the time

of the blast.

From there, Sima Kotecha reports.

Mary Ragoobar and her two teenage

sons, Sean and Shane.

On Sunday night, they're believed

to have been inside their home

when the explosion happened.

Their flat and the Polish shop

below it were completely destroyed.

Police say they're missing,

along with Shane's girlfriend,

18-year-old Leah Beth Reek,

and 22-year-old Viktorija Ijevleva,

who was working in the

supermarket downstairs.

Today, the emergency services

came to this conclusion.

Sadly, we've now come to a point

where we acknowledge

that we will not be finding anybody

that's still alive.

We've had search dogs

here from the outset that

would identify live casualties.

We've got specialist

listening equipment,

we've got specialist cameras

that we been using, and we've come

to a point now where finding any

survivors just won't happen.

Up close, the devastation

is immense.

Some have compared it

to looking like a war zone.

The building collapsed from top

to bottom in a matter of minutes.

We've been told today that most

of the rubble has been

removed and examined.

Officers say that the investigation

now is very much focused around

what caused the fire and why.

Family members have told the BBC

there exhausted with grief

and still can't quite

believe what happened.

Sima Kotecha, BBC News, Leicester.

The time is quarter past six.

Our top story this evening:

Heavy snow causes disruption

across large parts of the UK

amid warnings there is a lot

worse to come.

And still to come -

more than a thousand lawyers

-- Lewis Gilbert, the man behind

classic James Bond films, has died

at the age of 97.

Arsenal fans continue to rage

at their manager after

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC News,

venting their anger at Wenger -

Arsenal fans continue to rage

at their manager after

their side's passive performance

in the League Cup final defeat.

Police have launched a child

protection investigation

at a suspected unregistered school

in Essex following

a BBC investigation.

The synagogue says it's closed

the school on its grounds while it

examines allegations

about the treatment of children.

More than 350 schools

in England and Wales that

are thought to be unregistered.

The schools' regulator

Ofsted says it lacks

the powers to close them down.

Our special correspondent,

Lucy Manning, has been investigating

whether places offering exclusively

religious education should even be

considered as schools.

Young children on their way to

school, except this one is believed

to be unregistered.

Five minutes to nine

and a school bus arrives at the

house in north London

with the last of the children.

We counted at least 30 going in.

Schools need to register

if they teach more than

five children for at

least 18 hours a week.

When we knocked at the door,

we were told it was a club.

Suri, not her real name

or voice, lives in

Stamford Hill in North London.

She says her son will be expected

because of community pressure to

enrolled in a different,

unregistered school for

13- to 16-year-olds,

known as a yeshiva.

She's distraught about his

education, or lack of it.

We're living in Britain.

Boys can't speak English.

They're going to be dependent

on benefits for the rest

of their lives.

It's just not giving

children any choice.

She told the council

and Ofsted the school was

unregistered.

How did it leave you feeling that

none of these people

who you approached seemed to be able

to do anything about this

unregistered school?

It's really, really upsetting.

I was really angry because I'd

gone out of my way.

I'm doing something I shouldn't be

doing, and they turned me away.

They told me they can't help me.

Madrasahs and other centres

providing religious

education only after

school don't need to be

registered, but there

is still concern about

the

associations of some.

The Qadria Trust community

and education Centre

in Birmingham teaches children

for three hours a day.

During an event at the centre

where some children

are present, they sing the anthem

of a Pakistani militant group.

Its leader is said

to be an inspiration

for the killer of a Glasgow

shopkeeper murdered for his

religious views.

One verse promotes an enthusiasm

to die for the sake

of religion.

The centre said the singer had

added his own words and

they had strongly objected.

Last night, we reported

on a suspected

unregistered school in South end

where a teacher appeared to

manhandle a pupil.

The community here denied

this was a school, but

we've now discovered there was even

a brochure advertising it.

It says: The entire

atmosphere at the

school is one of love

and personal attention.

We understand the school has now

been closed while the

synagogue investigates.

The BBC has obtained

a copy of legal guidance

which might help to explain why

so few of these schools

have been shut down.

Drawn up in 2014 for Jewish

religious yeshivas, it's also known

to have been cited internally

by the Department of Education.

It says places only

providing religious

education can't be classed as

schools and therefore can't be shut

down.

The implication, the less maths

and English taught, the easier

it might be to escape inspection.

We do not want kids

growing up here who

are only taught one religious way

of thinking, and that religion

covers their whole way of life,

from what

they can work as, who they can be,

what type of jobs they can do, how

they should treat women.

That's crazy.

So, even if it's technically

legal, it's wrong.

The Department of Education

says it can't comment on

legal opinions prepared by others.

It says where a school

is operating illegally,

action must be taken,

but

thousands of children

are still arriving each morning

at suspected unregistered schools.

Lucy Manning, BBC News.

Police investigating the deaths

of at least three people in a fire

at a house in County Fermanagh have

arrested a man on

suspicion of murder.

The 27-year-old was taken

to hospital for treatment

after being detained at the scene

of the blaze in

Derrylin this morning.

A local councillor has said those

who died were members of one family.

Shares in Sky have risen sharply

today after the American media giant

Comcast made a surprise takeover bid

for the British broadcaster,

pitting itself against

Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox,

which had already agreed

an £18 billion deal.

Our media editor,

Amol Rajan, is here.

How significant is this latest bid

for sky?

Hugely so. We have three

active bids for the broadcaster. We

have Rupert Murdoch's 21st-century

fox trying to get full control,

which is stuck in a regulatory

quagmire because of concerns over

media plurality was not the second

is this fresh bid from the US giant

Comcast, a huge company, but

unlikely to face the same regulatory

hurdles. And then you have Disney

trying to take control of Fox. They

all share one thing in common in

that they are part of a frenzy of

deal-making going on in

international media. If you are Ray

Sky customer, it is good news

because more companies want to give

you more programmes. If you are

Rupert Murdoch who set up Sky in

1990 and now faces the prospect of

being a minority shareholder if you

don't forks out more cash, this is

hardly the Hollywood ending he was

hoping for.

Thank you.

Almost every criminal lawyer

in England and Wales has experienced

failings in the disclosure

of evidence in the past year alone,

according to a BBC survey.

Almost a third of those questioned

also said they believed the failings

had led to possible wrongful

convictions or

miscarriages of justice.

The findings come after several rape

trials collapsed when it emerged

that vital evidence had not been

shared with defence lawyers.

Clive Coleman reports.

With

You know, who could be dreaming up

some sort of monstrous thing against

me?

William, a teacher for 40 years,

has never been in trouble with the

police.

Last year, he was accused

of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old

girl in a supermarket.

He couldn't remember

the incident but was

convinced the store's CCTV

would exonerate him.

But in interview, the police

told him this CCTV was poor

quality and too far

away to identify him.

My lawyer wrote to the Crown

Prosecution Service six times, and

thank goodness we got

it before the trial,

because our entire defence

was based on that CCTV.

Contrary to what the police

had said, William

was clearly visible on the CCTV.

For legal reasons,

the complainant is

not shown.

I never saw these two girls.

I brushed past one of them,

and that's what the CCTV shows.

Based on the video, the court threw

the case against William out.

Thames Valley police

told us it's officers

carried out a full investigation

and followed standard procedures.

Now, 1300 criminal

lawyers have provided

a picture of widespread disclosure

problems to the BBC.

97% had encountered

disclosure failings in

the last year.

Half of these were in

the magistrates court.

And nearly a third believed

it had resulted in a

possible wrongful conviction

or miscarriage of justice.

The snapshot provided

by this survey blows away

the idea that disclosure problems

are limited to a few high-profile

cases in the Crown Court.

It paints a picture

of daily difficult in

magistrates courts like these, where

the majority of criminal cases are

tried.

We're facing a crisis

around disclosure.

The courts are not able to trust

that the disclosure process

has been completed fairly

and accurately, they are not

going to have faith in prosecutions,

and I

think we'll see that

reflected in verdicts.

The Crown Prosecution Service

said the BBC survey was

likely to provide a skewed view,

with lawyers applying their own

interpretation of what

a disclosure failing was.

But it accepted some

improvements were needed.

For William, it's just a relief

he finally got the evidence that

proved his innocence.

If people were at all doubtful

of me, it could have

destroyed my reputation

with family and friends,

and I'm just very lucky that

I have the kind of friends who

believe in me.

Clive Coleman, BBC News.

The film director Lewis Gilbert -

the man behind some of the most

famous Bond films, like the Spy

who loved me and Moonraker -

has died at the age of 97.

He also directed Michael Caine

in the iconic films Alfie

and Educating Rita.

Our arts correspondent David Sillito

looks back at his life.

That's it, it's fine.

When Lewis

Gilbert took on Bond in You Only

Live Twice, he was already a

director with 20 films to his name.

He had directed Orson Welles and

don't Bogart, but 007 with its

seemingly unlimited budget was new

territory.

At May 25 films and I've

never been on one where this doesn't

ever come up. If I said today, I

want 5000 people flown in from

Tokyo, I'm sure they would be flown

in.

In the 50s, Lewis Gilbert had

made his name with a string of tales

of stiff upper lip wartime British

valour. And then in the 60s, a film

that helped define a very different

era - Alfie.

My understanding of

winning only goes as far as the

pleasure. When it comes to the pain,

I'm like every other bloke. I don't

want to know.

No, no, no Michael, we

are going right.

Onset, he was

easy-going, charming, unflappable. A

child of musical performance, yet

spent his life in show business. And

17 years after Alfie, he was

reunited with Michael Caine in

Educating Rita.

I thought it was

something serious.

After that,

another Willie Rosol adaptation -

Shirley Valentine. -- Willy Russell.

Lewis Gilbert, providing some of

James Bond's greatest moments.

The film director Lewis Gilbert,

who's died at the age of 97.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Darren Bett.

The picturesque but challenging

weather, certainly, Sophie. It's not

going to be bad everywhere but there

is more severe weather to come

through the rest of this week,

meaning more warnings for snow and

ice. It means more travel disruption

is likely, and for all of us, a

significant wind-chill. The easterly

wind is not too strong it by blowing

in more snow showers this evening

and overnight, particularly on the

eastern side of the country.

Temperatures hardly got above

freezing, and some places stay below

all day, so a widespread frost. The

snow shifts further north into

Scotland tomorrow. It is one heavy

snow shower after another, blown on

by a strong to gale force easterly

wind. Further south, a scattering of

snow showers, and Sunny spells

towards the south-east. It might be

dry and sunny later on in the

afternoon. Those are the maximum

temperatures. Lola and today, and

add on the strength of the win, and

it will feel much colder, more like

minus ten. Much stronger winds on

the way tomorrow, continuing into

Thursday. On Thursday, this low

pressure area moves up from Iberia,

bringing wet weather and some more

organised snow developing over the

English Channel, moving into

southern England on Thursday

morning, then the main focus

shifting more to the and Wales. Then

something drier, fewer showers, back

into those snow showers in

north-east England and Scotland,

where the Amber weather warning

continues. This one arrives later in

the afternoon the south-west, the

next batch of heavy snow set to

arrive. The wind is not changing

much, still bitterly cold and

easterly. Wrap up warmly if you do

have to go out.