:00:00. > 3:59:59the papers on the news channel. Now we join the
:00:00. > :00:10.Good evening. A man charged with murdering four soldiers in the IRA's
:00:11. > :00:16.Hyde Park bombing won't stand trial because of a secret letter sent by
:00:17. > :00:19.the government to Sinn Fein. A judge has accepted that John Downey was
:00:20. > :00:22.given a written assurance that he wouldn't be prosecuted following an
:00:23. > :00:28.agreement seven years ago on dealing with people known as on-the-runs.
:00:29. > :00:35.The case of John Downey has been going on behind closed doors of a
:00:36. > :00:47.London court in recent weeks. We can now report what it details. Carnage
:00:48. > :00:52.on the streets of London. Four soldiers from the Household Cavalry
:00:53. > :01:01.were killed when a car bomb exploded. Seven horses also died.
:01:02. > :01:04.John Downey was arrested in May last year and charged with the murders.
:01:05. > :01:10.He argued he never should have an arrest did because the government
:01:11. > :01:14.had given him assurance he would not be prosecuted. In a series of
:01:15. > :01:21.private court hearings at the Old Bailey, his lawyers argued that any
:01:22. > :01:44.prosecution would be a breach of the promise given by Tony Blair 's Matt
:01:45. > :01:54.government. It was revealed in court that in July 2007, a letter was sent
:01:55. > :02:17.to Sinn Fein. But that was not the case. A special
:02:18. > :02:20.team setup to check the legal status of floral macro were aware that he
:02:21. > :02:24.was wanted by the Metropolitan Police for the Hyde Park bombing
:02:25. > :02:29.when the letter was sent. The prosecution argued that the letter
:02:30. > :02:39.was a mistake. John Downey's lawyers said that he relied on it. Last
:02:40. > :03:03.Friday the judge said the government's figure -- letter
:03:04. > :03:09.amounted to an abuse of process. Sinn Fein says similar letters were
:03:10. > :03:22.sent to more than 180 other on-the-runs. John Downey should
:03:23. > :03:27.never have been arrested. It was part of an agreement and I welcome
:03:28. > :03:34.the fact that they have now released him and he is free to go home. This
:03:35. > :03:41.ruling could have huge implications for the other floral macro if they
:03:42. > :04:00.were arrested and brought before the courts. -- for the other
:04:01. > :04:05.on-the-runs. The Chief Constable has apologised to the family of the big
:04:06. > :04:09.teams. The families have said they are bitterly disappointed. They have
:04:10. > :04:21.issued a statement saying this news has left us all feeling
:04:22. > :04:24.devastatingly left -- let down. He is never going to go to trial
:04:25. > :04:31.because of a catastrophic failure of the system, as recognised by the
:04:32. > :04:37.police service in Northern Ireland and the families don't understand
:04:38. > :04:44.how such an error was uncorrected. It was recognised twice. The EU P
:04:45. > :04:54.has strongly criticised the previous government. The Blair government
:04:55. > :05:02.entered into a scheme which the court has ruled gives people a get
:05:03. > :05:13.out of jail free card. It is disgraceful. I am just asking
:05:14. > :05:21.everybody to be very careful about reinventing history. We are where we
:05:22. > :05:28.are because when you solve conflict and end walls and stop terrorism
:05:29. > :05:37.from continuing, it involves negotiations that you ideally would
:05:38. > :05:41.not want to address. You would not want to address it in a normal
:05:42. > :05:45.political situation such as we now have in Northern Ireland. What I
:05:46. > :05:58.crave the current secretary of state says her officials will investigate.
:05:59. > :06:06.A number of floral macro work given letters similar to those of John
:06:07. > :06:12.Downey. We are checking to see if any similar mistakes have remade.
:06:13. > :06:19.The police have apologised to the families of the big teams. The Chief
:06:20. > :06:25.Constable Matt Baggott has said that the issue has been referred to the
:06:26. > :06:28.police ombudsman. The Police are investigating the
:06:29. > :06:31.murder of a woman in Omagh. The woman was taken to hospital with
:06:32. > :06:34.head injuries from a house in Castleview Court on Sunday and died
:06:35. > :06:42.yesterday. She was 36-year-old Mairead McCallion from Omagh. No
:06:43. > :06:45.other details have been given. The Fisheries Minister Michelle
:06:46. > :06:48.O'Neill says she will bring forward a fishermen's assistance package.
:06:49. > :06:51.She met a delegation of fishermen, who say they have been struggling to
:06:52. > :06:54.cope amid rising fuel prices, and the recent stormy weather has left
:06:55. > :06:58.them unable to fish. 20,000 pupils are absent from school
:06:59. > :07:01.for more than six weeks in a year. The Northern Ireland Audit Office
:07:02. > :07:04.says it is disturbed at the figures which have only improved slightly
:07:05. > :07:11.since it last investigated ten years ago.
:07:12. > :07:15.There are 300,000 pupils at school in Northern Ireland and the audit
:07:16. > :07:24.office is disturbed about the level of Anson tears. They are concerned
:07:25. > :07:35.that only 4000 were refurb by schools to the authorities. --
:07:36. > :07:42.referred by schools to the authorities. This school had one of
:07:43. > :07:47.the worst records for absenteeism, but it has now greatly improved.
:07:48. > :07:54.They are proud of the progress, which is up from around 85%
:07:55. > :08:01.attendance to over 90%. This year we have introduced a school attendance
:08:02. > :08:05.competition where all classes are competing against each other to have
:08:06. > :08:16.the best attendance in the school. The students here are clear about
:08:17. > :08:21.the dangers of bunking off school. If people don't come to school they
:08:22. > :08:27.will struggle in the future. The parents should be telling them to go
:08:28. > :08:32.to school because they need debt education, but some parents don't
:08:33. > :08:41.say anything which is wrong. This primary school was chosen as a role
:08:42. > :08:49.model by the audit office. We have clubs after school. It helps
:08:50. > :08:59.greatly. Be audit office wants more money invested in educational
:09:00. > :09:04.welfare. Time now for the weather. We do have a lot of dry weather
:09:05. > :09:09.which is being interop to buy a few scattered showers. Temperatures in
:09:10. > :09:15.towns and cities between three and four degrees Celsius. They could be
:09:16. > :09:23.sleet and snow over the hills and mountains. An unsettled start to the
:09:24. > :09:27.day, but it will improve. To begin with county and damp. It will break
:09:28. > :09:32.up from the south and across Ireland there will be a dry and bright start
:09:33. > :09:36.with plenty of sunshine. A similar picture for Wales and England full
:09:37. > :09:47.up north of that it is cloudy with some sleep and snow for the hills
:09:48. > :09:54.and mountain -- mountain is in Scotland. There will be plenty of
:09:55. > :09:57.dry and bright weather in the afternoon. Temperatures around eight
:09:58. > :10:05.or nine degrees. Tomorrow evening the cloud will push across and bring
:10:06. > :10:12.rain. It will be quick to pass. Thursday morning will be drier, but
:10:13. > :10:18.there will be a scattering of showers. There will be some dry
:10:19. > :10:25.weather and spells of sunshine. A little bit colder with temperatures
:10:26. > :10:29.between six and eight degrees. Friday, more scattered showers and
:10:30. > :10:33.sunny spells. That is it from BBC newsline. Good night.