11/03/2014 BBC Newsline

This is BBC Newsline. The headlines this Tuesday evening...

Another death under investigation in the Royal's emergency department.

A murder trial hears how this man was beaten until he was

unrecognisable. We find out how families here are

worse off than they were a decade ago.

Look out there is a Wallaby about. In fact, to act on the loose in

County Down. It's foggy and soggy in Sochi, where

Kelly Gallagher couldn't quite match yesterdays heroics at the Paralympic

Games. And there's more frost and fog to

come tonight, but the sun'll come out tomorrow. Full details shortly.

BBC Newsline can reveal another elderly female patient at the Royal

Victoria Hospital has died on a hospital trolley, where a delay in

treating her could be a contributing factor in her death. That brings the

number of such recent incidents to six. Our health correspondent is

with me now. What can you tell us? Concern has been raised over the

treatment of an elderly woman brought to the Royal Victoria

Hospital's emergency department last month. It was during the night. The

emergency department was extremely busy. Concern has been raced because

it took four hours before the lady was seen I a consultant. She died

several hours later. There is concern because she died alone and

none of her family had been contacted. So concerned are certain

members of staff within the emergency department that they have

sought legal advice over how the department is being run. Also, over

their own jobs and also, over patient safety.

There were other developments at the Royal today.

Just weeks after telling this programme that he would not resign,

the Chief Executive of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust has

announced he's quitting and moving to a new post in

England. While it's there to treat critically

ill patients, most recently the emergency department itself has also

been in a critical condition. There's been a litany of problems.

In October, the BBC revealed the College of Emergency Medicine

report, which described the ED as being "non sustainable." There were

also "breached waiting time targets," "too few senior medical

staff," a major incident was called in January, and then news that

waiting times had possibly contributed in the deaths of five

patients last year. After all that, Colm Donaghy insisted he wouldn't

resign. If I feel that I can't continue to deliver added benefit to

the population of Belfast and to the patients who depend on us for care,

I think that is the time when I would go. At the helm, Colm Donaghy

is running what's effectively a billion pound industry. Spending

about ?3 million daily with a staff of over 20,000, the Belfast Trust is

the second largest in the UK. From this former health trust chair, it's

a thankless task. He has nothing to prove. He did an excellent job in

the Southern trust and the Northern trust. This is the most difficult

job in Northern Ireland that he took on. I do not think anyone else could

do it any better. I do believe they will struggle to get someone to take

it on. According to politicians, the health service requires stability.

There are issues around bed shortages. They need more staff.

There are clear recommendations that need action. The BBC understands

there may be further change come June, when the department's

permanent secretary Andrew McCormick is involved in a reshuffle. And with

the Health Board's Chief Executive John Compton retiring next month,

the spotlight will be fixed on one man. I think the leadership must

come from the ministerial level. I think the minister needs to take

positive decisions to safeguard and secure at the delivery of services

for the patients within all of Northern Ireland. Colm Donaghy's

future remains in health, when he's due to take up the post of Chief

Executive of a foundation trust in England.

The key witness in the trial of two men accused of beating and Armagh

man to death say it was the victim who started the fight. But the

witness, the former girlfriend of one of the defendants, said what had

happened had become more than a fight.

Lindsay Bell was walking along this path with Michael Wilson and her

then boyfriend, Gareth McKinney, when she spotted Lee Smith comment

across this bridge. She says she saw him and Michael Wilson, who not a

soldier, square up to each other. -- who is now a soldier. She said a

fight began and she urged Gareth McKinney to break it up, but

instead, he joined in and the two men quickly overpowered Mr Smyth.

They said -- she said Michael Wilson Kempthorne punching and kicking. The

prosecution say he was prone and defenceless. When he was found, he

was covered in blood to such an extent that a police officer said he

was unrecognisable. The court heard that Mr Smyth, who was 30 at the

time, had been an injecting heroin user who had been treading heavily

that day. His former girlfriend gave evidence about how he had been

involved in an argument at a party the evening before. She said when

they got home, summary through a garden ornament at their house and

it smashed off a wall. -- somebody through a garden ornament. He went

out angry. He said at one point, the police came across him and forced

him to drop a stick that he had been brandishing.

The poorest households here may be about ?1,000 a year worse off than

they were a decade ago. That's according to research from the

financial consultancy PwC, which looks at the impact of rising prices

and falling wages. Our economics and business editor John Campbell has

been looking at the figures. What was the report specifically

looking at? We know one of the most painful economic trends of the past

few years has been the fact that the price of everything has been going

up, particularly food and fuel. Wages have not kept pace. What PWC

wanted to see is who has been hardest hit. What they found is that

the poorest households saw a cumulative price rise of 40%,

meanwhile richer households saw prices going up by 32%. The reason

the less well-off households have been hit hardest because they have

to spend a larger proportion of earnings on food and fuel, the very

things that have seen the steepest price rises. We have this issue with

fuel prices. There is a phenomenon known as fuel poverty. It means if

you have to spend more than 10% of your household income on fuel, you

are defined as being in fuel poverty. In Northern Ireland we have

a particular problem with that. 42% of households are defined as being

in fuel poverty. In England it is to 15%. It is a problem for us. Part of

that is down to our reliance on home heating oil? Ella Mike PWC point to

the fact that the gas network year is under developed in comparison to

other parts of the UK. It means consumers have to rely on home

heating oil, which can be expensive. If you think, you get the best value

from a big Phil of oil. Households cannot do that so they cannot get

such good value. If you have to buy an oil drum, those are really bad

value. Are things going to get better or worse? It is a mixed bag.

If you look at the fact that inflation has eased and it is at 2%,

the employment market is improving, but there are still a few years of

austerity to come. There are more cuts to come and a few of those will

be focused on welfare and Social Security. That will be a hit for the

poorer households. You're watching BBC Newsline, still

to come... We hear high benefits chits are

leaving thousands of families here without a home. -- we hear how

benefits cheats. Tributes have been paid to a woman

from County Down, who died after falling from a cliff while on

holiday. Mary Bradley Verhoeven was heavily involved with charity and

church work in her home town of Dromore. Chris Page reports.

Mary Bradley Verhoeven was a big part of her community. She was

involved in churches, charities and much else. Mrs Verhoeven was on

holiday in the island of Cape Verde, off the coast of Africa, when she

fell from a cliff. She was 61. The fact she touched many lives comes

across in this book of condolences, which has been placed in a shop run

by a charity she worked for. Gail Redmond is chair of the charity, Via

Wings, and a close friend of Mrs Verhoeven. I don't truthfully think

there are words that would put in a contribution which would show fully

the work she did. She was a supporter, a carer and a giver, but

she was my friend and an amazing friend. Among those who knew her,

which seemed to be most people in this area, there's a deep sense of

loss. Devastation. The line that comes up constantly is there will be

a hole in the community. She had a son and a daughter with her husband,

Marc. Mary Bradley Verhoeven was well liked, well respected and much

admired here in Dromore. News of her sudden death has caused great

sadness in this town. Arrangements are now being made for her funeral.

The Minister for Education has confirmed that GCSE and A-level

exams here will stay much the same, at a time when England and Wales are

making dramatic changes. John O'Dowd says he wants pupils in Northern

Ireland to have a choice of exam styles. But in primary schools, he

is facing criticism about computer based tests. This report from our

education correspondent, Maggie Taggart.

It's largely business as usual in Northern Ireland, in the face of

radical changes elsewhere in Great Britain. One big decision in England

is to go from lettered grades to numbers. Northern Ireland will stick

with the alphabet. A major change in England will use "all or nothing"

linear exams after two years. Northern Ireland will retain both

linear and bitesize modules. Michael Gove wants AS-levels to stand alone,

Northern Ireland will continue to count AS and A2 towards the final

A-level. And from a situation of unlimited re-sits, only one will be

allowed. The Education Minister in England, Michael Gove, was accused

of making radical changes without enough consultation. Seems the

Education Minister here is keen to get agreement from all involved

before going ahead. A review showed little appetite for change. There

are worries that local pupils could be disadvantaged, but also a feeling

that keeping AS exams will be a boon. If you look at the comments

from Cambridge and Oxford University is in relation to AES and A-levels,

they would wish to see them maintained and we are retaining

them. It gives an advantage to our young people. The ill fated NILA and

NINA tests in primary schools had major problems because of too little

preparation, and too few computers. There may be agreement on the

A-levels and GCSEs, but unhappiness about the computer based tests.

There are occasions when it can be the case when I agree with a

cautious attitude. I wish the same attitude had been taken in regards

to computer-based assessment, which is a failure. The NILAs and NINAs

will no longer be compulsory until the system passes all tests.

Tenants who falsely claim housing benefits are cheating homeless

families out of a chance of a permanent address. A BBC Spotlight

investigation has found thousands of social houses are being used in

benefits scams, and many of them are lying empty. In some cases, a couple

use the empty house to claim they live at separate addresses to get

extra benefits. In others, people are sub-letting properties they are

claiming housing benefit for. Enda McClafferty has the details.

Darren Keenan, his partner and their three children are one of the

thousands of families who have been waiting for a permanent. They have

moved 13 times in the past 12 years and are having to move the game.

Their landlord is selling the house where they live. I have been

begging. I have been round formalises begging me to let them --

begging them to let me live in abandoned houses. I never thought

this is where we would live up 12 years ago, still moving from house

to house. Darren has been told by the Housing Executive that there are

no social houses available. But alternate's spotlight, we ask if

that really is the case. -- on tonight's Spotlight. There could be

enough homes as there are two has thousands of families, but they are

occupied by fraudsters. Tenancy fraud is the biggest scam in England

and where, costing 1.8 billion pounds every year, but nobody in

Northern Ireland has ever looked for it. That was until the Auditor

General for Northern Ireland examined the problem last year. He

was not able to find any record of tenancy fraud. It was not coming up

on the agenda is of board meetings of the Housing Executive or housing

associations. No cases were being reported. Yet, we knew from England

and where is that there was a huge problem. Based on the figures for

England and is, he estimates they could -- there could be at least

2500 homes taken up here by those willing to cheat the system.

Spotlight's investigation suggests the number could be higher. The

Housing Executive says tenancy fraud is a priority but admitted more

could have been done in the past. Might it be that this has not been

properly addressed in the past because the Housing Executive did

not want to see what they would find? Ella Magna Housing Executive

has never shirk its responsibility and has always tried do the right

thing. There has now been a strategy put in place to tackle fraud.

That is on BBC One tonight at 10:35pm.

Lady Justice Hallett has been appointed to conduct an independent

review of the On The Runs scheme, following the collapse of the John

Downey trial - one of the men accused of the IRA Hyde Park

bombing. Lady Hallett, who will report to the Secretary of State

Theresa Villiers, has a legal career spanning four decades. Grammar

school and Oxford educated, she was called to the Bar in 1972. She

became a QC in 1989. In 1998, she became the first woman to chair the

Bar Council. The following year, she was appointed a High Court Judge. In

2005 she was appointed to the Court of Appeal, the fifth woman to hold

the position. In 2009, she took on her most public role having been

chosen to act as the coroner at the inquest into the deaths of 52 people

in the London bombings. Lady Hallett's report is due to be

completed by the end of May. Investigations are underway into

dredging for sand on Lough Neagh, with the government admitting it is

happening without proper planning approval. About one million tonnes a

year are removed for use in the construction industry, as our

business correspondent Julian O'Neill reports.

Lough Neagh - the biggest lake in the British Isles and a source for

sand. Several companies have been dredging here for decades, scooping

up a major commodity for the building trade. But now it emerges

this enterprise should require planning consent. It's a bit like

mining and according to conservationists, the Department of

the Environment has been failing to properly regulate what's been going

on in plain view. They have known that something is happening. These

sand operators have been on official DoE committees for years. It is not

as if they were hiding it. The DoE has capitulated and we want to know

why. It is not a job creation apartment, it is a Department for

the environment. About 300 jobs are directly or indirectly linked to

this activity. One MLA who has raised the issue says it must be

allowed to continue. It should certainly be allowed, because it is

the backbone of our construction industry. Our concerns are that it

is being dredged illegally. -- there are concerns. It has been regulated

for years. It needs monitoring and we need a partnership approach. A

spokesman for the dredging operators described the issue as a

technicality. According to the department, there is no evidence

dredging is harmful to ecology but it has commissioned studies. The

minister, Mark Durkan, says enforcement investigations are

taking place as there does seem to have been breaches of planning

regulations. He has been asked to meet those involved and it could be

he brings dredging into line with the law, or the law into line with

dredging. Now, if you live in County Down,

look out - there are two wallabies about! The mother and her joey

escaped from privately-owned land in Clough, near Newcastle. We sent Mark

Simpson on the search for the missing marsupials.

Dave four of the search for the Walkabout Wallabies. They escaped in

Clough on Friday and have not been seen since. In nearby Newcastle, it

is the talk of the town. People have been searching. Several times. We

were out this morning at four. I saw on Facebook last night about them. I

thought I would have a little look around where we are because we are

close. But there was no sign. There does not seem to be anything yet. We

are keeping our eyes open and we are hopeful it will turn up because I

understand there was a baby. The joy is only four weeks old. Anyone who

spots them is advised not to approach them, but to immediately

contact the police. Eight wallaby is unlikely to attack a person. It

would be protective towards its young. The creature would be easily

spooked by dog walkers or whatever, into its proximity. How many do you

think we have in Northern Ireland? We have quite a few. They seem quite

good at getting out. There was one in Moy a few years ago which turned

up in Derry. There was one in Lurgan. Now there is one in Clough.

There are a number and they seem adept at getting out. The problem

for the search teams is that there are so many different places to

look. Miles upon miles of countryside. And if that was not bad

enough. You have also got the more mountains. The animals may well be a

long way from home. It is day one of Cheltenham. How are

the Irish doing? They are doing quite well. They have

begun well. Irish trainer Willie Mullins was, as expected, among the

winners. In the very first race of the day, the Supreme Novice's

Hurdle, Ruby Walsh rode Vautour to victory. And the same rider was on

the odds-on favourite Quevega as it romped to a historic sixth

consecutive Mares' Hurdle title, beating a record that had stood

since the '30s. In the big race of the day, Irish trainer Jessica

Harrington landed the prestigious Champion Hurdle, when the Barry

Geraghty-ridden Jezki held off AP McCoy on My Tent Or Yours. It means

everything. We have been lucky enough to win a couple of

Championship races and then to win this is fantastic. I had great faith

in the horse. I thought he was improving during the winter and

things had not quite gone his way. In a way, AP, because things went

wrong last time, he did not give him a hard race and maybe that made the

difference today. Yesterday she was on top of the world. Today, Kelly

Gallagher took a tumble. The snow on the slopes around Sochi

is proving very tricky to handle. Factor in a blanket of fog and

conditions even for sighted skiers are trying, and because of that many

back home are marvelling at Kelly's achievements to date, not least the

students from a Jordanstown school. From the hijinks and celebrations of

yesterday, it was back to earth with a bump this morning. Kelly is in

trouble. She caught the edge. But win or lose, on the shores of

Jordanstown she is proving to be an inspiration. All of these students

who today visited the Sports Institue of NI, where Kelly trains,

are either visually impaired or deaf. She is like us. She accomplish

that. She showed that nothing is impossible if you stick at that. She

is good. Were you proud of her? Yes. It might inspire people from here to

do it like her and just get them enthusiastic. Has got you

enthusiastic? It has, considering that I can't see. I felt like she is

like us, she can't see very well and she is able to do this. If she can

do that, I could at least try to do something. It is going to be really

hard for her to see with the sun and the snow and she is really fast,

like 70 or 80 miles an hour. Weather permitting, Kelly and her guide,

Charlotte Evans, have two more chances to win gold.

Last night was a pretty poor one for Irish Premiership sides in the

Setanta cup. While in the Irish Cup, Glenavon are through to the

semifinal. A dramatic night at the Oval. First,

Jordan Stewart was brought down. Glentoran were awarded a penalty.

Magee took responsibility. He rifled it in and Glentoran had the lead at

half-time. In fact, they were in the lead for almost the entire match.

With just two minutes remaining, Chris Lindsay found the net. On the

90th minute, Glenn Aven won. -- Glenn Avant one. The Glentoran

manager was deeply unhappy. James McGrath had not been sent off. They

made the excuse that the ball had not been under control. His next

touch was to put it into the net so if that is not control I do not know

what is. They got it wrong. They are saying that earned turn are going

through a sticky patch. There is three players on the bench, so it is

not as if you can say that they are relying on youngsters. I am just

thankful that our boys did us proud. Also last night, Ballinamallard and

Crusaders. Coleraine -- Crusaders and Coleraine exited the sitar to

cut. E.

Finally, a statement from Ulster Rugby late this afternoon has

confirmed Nick Williams has returned to training following the conclusion

of an internal disciplinary process. Is the good weather going to

continue? More blue sky to come tomorrow. This

was the picture to weeks ago in County Fermanagh. This is the same

picture to date. You can see that the water has disappeared and the

road is back, so much better conditions for many of us through

today. Tonight, the clear skies will stay with us. It will be quite

chilly. Temperatures will fall to freezing and below across many

places, maybe as low as minus four. There will be a frost and maybe of

fog forming. Tomorrow will have a chilly start but will brighten up

into the afternoon. Some of the fog we see tomorrow morning could be

stubborn to peer and could cause visibility problems on the roads

first thing, something to bear in mind. In the afternoon, for many of

us the sun will be back out with clear blue skies. Temperatures back

up into double figures, A-level or 12 degrees. The wind stays quite

light. A good day for doing some gardening. There is a good sunny end

of the day towards the South East. For the north-west, cloud building

in. It will not bring rain but it will bring a milder night tomorrow

night. Temperatures will probably fall to lows of three degrees. Some

areas could be up to six degrees. Not as chilly tomorrow night, into

Thursday. The cloud will stay with us on Thursday. Quite a bit of it,

in fact. It will brighten up towards County Down and Belfast. For parts

of the north and west, we may get a touch of light rain or drizzle over

the Sperrins or the Donegal Hills. Most places will stay dry. The

cloudy conditions will stay in place into Friday and that we get. The

breeze picks up. There may be light rain or drizzle but the emphasis is

on dry weather to come. We are back at 10:25pm. Stay in

touch via Facebook and Twitter. Good night. Goodbye.

felt very pleasant. Temperatures are now falling

with loads of running, swimming and cycling events.