25/07/2014 BBC Newsline

Good evening and welcome to BBC Newsline.

John Brown, the brother of Eurovision winner and former

politician Dana Rosemary Scallon, has been cleared of all charges of

indecently assaulting two young girls in the 1970s. The jury

returned their verdicts this afternoon after two days of

deliberations. Andy West was at Harrow Crown Court.

Innocent on all charges. 60-year-old John Brown was tried for two weeks.

To date, he wept in court as the jury read out their verdicts. Not

guilty on all five counts of indecent assault on two young girls

in the 1970s. I came here and here since man, I will be leaving here in

innocent man. I want to thank my friends and family, those who have

supported me with their prayers and support, and particularly my

sister, and especially my wife and my children. Further support. -- for

their support in a horrific three years and they have supported us

through many challenges. Dana cried with her brother in court as he was

cleared. The prosecution claims that she had helped to keep the alleged

assaults Sigrid for more than 30 years. She always denied the

allegations, and today she too was proven innocent. These allegations

first came to light three years ago while Dana was running for the Irish

presidency in 2011. At the time, she described them as vile, militias,

and are untrue. Today, through tears, she managed a few words. He

is a good man, a good and innocent man. This has been a comp and gays,

at times and clear on the exact dates and locations. Worthy in a

1970s or later? Were they in this particular town or that particular

time? Was John Brown even there? The defence said the prosecution's case

was absurd and surreal. John Brown said the last three weeks have been

hell. What sustains me was my faith in God that through this darkness

there was light. Thank you very much. Were going to go and get on

with our lives now at last. As he left, John Brown said it was time to

put his nightmare behind him. I want to be celebrating, he said, I just

A woman and her four young children have been threatened in their home

in Newry by a gang. Eight or nine people called at the house in

Benmore Court, in the city, at around 8pm last night. The

woman, who is a member of the Roma community, was threatened and told

to leave her house. Police are treating the incident as a hate

The bottom line is that those people are living in fear, so it is totally

out of character. I would argue that this is one of the best cities in

Ireland in terms of relationships and Jean Eastern Europeans and the

local population. The programme director of the Marie

Stopes clinic in Belfast, Dawn Purvis, has told a court she was

left "extremely shaken and upset" following an alleged harassment

incident outside her place of wo Pro-life campaigner Bernie Smyth is

accused of harassing Ms Purvis on two separate occasions earlier this

year. Michael Fitzpatrick was in The director of the precious life

group, Bernie Smyth was at the court today to contest a charge of

harassment. The 51-year-old from Ballymena denies harassing Dawn

Purvis on two separate occasions in January and February. The court

heard that the pro-life group have held regular protest outside of the

clinic, which provides early medical abortions within the law in Northern

Ireland. Under questioning from a prosecution lawyer, Dawn Purvis

alleged that on one occasion she was heckled as he left the Marie Stopes

clinic. When she told the protesters to stop harassing her, it was then,

she said, that Bernie Smyth said, you haven't seen harassment yet,

darling. They were also shown CCTV footage of the incident, and would

-- the prosecution accused the defendant of dramatically putting a

hand-out, a claim which he denied. In a second incident, she said that

Bernie Smyth had laughed at her in an exaggerated manner as she led her

son and a friend to the door. At one point, a defence lawyer put it to

Dawn Purvis that she had set up the whole incident. He told the court,

you went to the door to try to provoke a reaction from Bernie

Smyth. Dawn Purvis replied, that is not true. After two-day's hearing,

legal issues arose, prompting the judge to adjourn the case until

September. A shotgun has been discovered at the office of Stewart

Dickson. It was discovered this morning.

The Ulster Bank has shown a major improvement in its performance in

the first six months of this year. It's made a profit after a big drop

in the amount of money its had to set aside to cover bad property

loans. Although Northern Ireland is in recovery, our rate of growth is

There are two points. We had much greater decline in output, so in

what more do -- a lot more ground had to be made up than in the UK,

and also our economy is growing more slowly than the UK average.

Time now to head to Glasgow and to the Commonwealth Games, where

Stephen Watson can update us on how Team Northern Ireland is getting on

Northern Ireland's boxers have got off to a superb start at the Games.

Three of the 11 fighters here in Glasgow were in the ring and all

their opening bouts. Olympic bronze medallist Michael Conlan, Ruairi

Dalton and Steven Donnelly all progressed to the next round with

Donnelly producing one of the quickest wins of the day. Nial

The walk to the ring at the Scottish exhibition and conference Centre to

go longer than the boat for Steven Donnelly tonight. The 25-year-old

needed just 37 seconds to see off his opponent in the fight.

Donnelly's performance epitomised the Northern Irish boxers in the

ring today. Michael Conlan got Northern Ireland off to a winning

start this morning. The 22-year-old shrugged off a nasty cut to the head

after a clash in the ring, but it did not stop him from cruising into

the last 16. I couldn't see, and I thought he heard me, but it was his

head. Delhi was a let down for me, and I cried in the airport I will

admit that on television now, I was really disappointed, but now I am

back in Glasgow for 2014 for gold. Ruairi Dalton made it 343 for the

Northern Irish boxers after he defeated his opponent with a

unanimous three nil scoreline. The boxers are certainly starting as

Sean Duffy and Connor Coyle both fight tomorrow. Last night Lisa

Kearney won Northern Ireland's first medal, a bronze in judo. And here

was another chance of a medal in the same sport on what's been a busy day

This was the most important fight of all in Fleming's career, but with

the bronze medal at stake, he was beaten by his South African

opponent. Still, at just 19, great experience. I am going to do my best

and get as far as I can. It wasn't meant to be. Our net borrowers face

Jamaica tonight. More tough opposition. Jamaica are ranked

number four in the world. Northern Ireland lost for the second game in

a row. But they have easier matches to come in the competition. Our

shooting team including David Christie are still on course for

medals. As our bowlers, the main one again. The women's for our out, the

field to qualify for the next round. In the pool, Danielle Hill swum the

biggest race of her life. She won a place in the semifinals at a

personal best time. Then failed to progress further. In the velodrome,

Paralympic cyclist James Brown finished fifth. That's all. More

tomorrow. Thanks Stephen. Now, finally, here's

Cecilia Daly with a look at the The hot weather will be moving away

this weekend. It will turn much cloudier and temperatures will be

falling, in fact on Sunday it will be a major contract with today.

Today we had nearly 29 Celsius, making to date the hottest day of

the year so far. The change will be coming in from the West. It is going

to be a warm and humid night, but there will be rain edging and I

morning. The dry weather will hold an further east, and tomorrow will

bring the best of the sunshine in the east, and also a very humid

start to the day, for a while, until that rain moves in from the west and

it will start to beat a little cooler and fresher as the day goes

on. It will be fragmented, but there will be some sharp Hearst 's,

possibly some storms. Read on for the West of Scotland to, later on.

For many parts of Britain, it will be fine and very warm. Temperatures

in the high 20s. We will see a drop in the temperature tomorrow

afternoon. 19 Celsius or 20 Celsius, perhaps 23 Celsius across

the South East. Perhaps some rain during the course of the day. For

Sunday, it will feel colder still. Look at the temperatures on the

north coast. Way back compare to what we have had today. But there

will be some decent sunshine in between, and the good news is that

the weather will improve again next week, becoming drier and warmer.

That's it for now. You can keep up to date with News Online and follow

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Newsline team, goodnight and have a great weekend.