04/09/2014 BBC Newsline

at the age of 81. That's all from us.

For A 23-year-old man has admitted

setting fire to A second man has also pleaded guilty

to a charge relating to the attack. Cody the dog had to be put to sleep

because There are some images in

Claire Savage's report Leaving the court yesterday, Andrew

Richard Stewart from Wellington Park in Moira. He had lied about his

involvement and denied setting fire to the family pet. This is Cody. On

a Sunday morning in 2012 the family noticed she was missing. She arrived

at the door 60 minutes later, her skin badly burned. She had to be put

to sleep. The acne family subsequently raised ?30,000 for

animal charities and mounted a campaign to find he ever set fire to

a 3 -year-old border collie. Today, Andrew Richard Stewart pleaded

guilty. A prosecution barrister told the court that he accepted that he

acted alone and that he stepped Cody alive in the quarry. It is

horrendous, the effect it has had my children, let alone the dog. They

have had to have counselling. It has been hard to come to terms with. It

is hard to try and explain it to the children when we don't understand

ourselves. Also in the dock was Jamie Downey, from Chestnut Hill

Avenue in Moira. He did not want to be captured on camera this

afternoon. The court heard that he made up a story about his movements

on the day in question. The judge said that Andrew Richard Stewart was

facing an inevitable prison sentence. Both men were released on

bail and are due to be sentenced on the 7th of October.

A fire in which a man died in County Down this week is now being

The police are questioning a 57-year-old woman on suspicion

of the manslaughter of 91-year-old Sam Carson in Carryduff.

Fire crews were called to deal with the blaze at Thorndale Park

It's thought it began at another property and burning oil

from a ruptured tank then started a fire at Mr Carson's house.

Detectives say they arrested the woman

A retired company director has told the Historical Institutional Abuse

Inquiry that he became a teenage prostitute in Australia after

suffering physical and sexual abuse at a Church of Ireland children's

He was among a group of boys shipped abroad as part

of a Child Migrant Scheme in the middle of the last century.

The child migrants leaving Northern Ireland did not know at the time

that happiness and laughter would not last. The them on the other side

of the voyage was pain, heartbreak and separation. This morning and

another of the child immigrants appeared before the enquiry on the

video link from Australia. He said the abuse began before he left

Northern Ireland is at a Church of Ireland house in Lisbon. He suffered

further abuse in Australia at a farm run by the Presbyterian Church. He

told the enquiry he was beaten, sexually abused and treated, in his

own words, treated as a retard in the homes. He said he would like to

see a monument erected in the middle of Belfast to remind people about

what happened to him and people like him. Another former child resident

at the Church of Ireland home in Lisbon also called the enquiry he

was abused there. The man said that during the day he was tied to a rope

which is weighed down with a brick and at night he was tied to his bed

to stop him from running away. The first week of evidence from the

child migrants has ended. A week in which many painful memories of the

past were recalled, including this memory from one witness. I retain

this memory still being pulled from the arms of her mother as a baby.

The Environment Minister, Mark Durkan, has given the go-ahead

to a long-delayed planning framework for Greater Belfast.

The Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan identifies zones for retail,

residential or commercial development.

The DUP's Edwin Poots says he's shocked by the decision.

He claims it's a matter for the whole Executive.

But Mr Durkan says he can no longer hold back planning in the

The plan has been through a long and arduous process. It received its

certificate of general conformity in October of last year and since the

turn of this year I have rotted to the executive repeatedly seeking

agreement and approval. I have a responsibility as the minister, but

they also have have a responsibility to my executive powers and function.

There will be more on that story on Good Morning Ulster tomorrow

A former patient has told a Human Rights Inquiry into emergency care

that she thought she was going to be left to die after being transferred

The inquiry, the first of its kind, is investigating

whether a patient's right to health was violated as a result of how

Deidre has various health complications and earlier this year

was a patient in the Royal Victoria and city hospitals. I was taken and

dumped at the City Hospital. I am convinced that I was being moved to

the City Hospital to die. Because I would have been in their figures for

old people who died. It is stories like this that are being heard at

the human rights enquiry into emergency health care. It is not

just patients giving evidence. The enquiry is hearing from those in

charge as well. You hear heartbreak and personal stories from those who

have been let down by our health service. For the first time not only

here but in the world the enquiry is trying to establish whether a

patient's right to health was violated as a result of the type of

care they got in an emergency Department. It will be a report that

will be drawn to the attention of the United Nations and we hope that

a combination of including people, transparent process. Speaking

directly to the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Hunt drew his

attention to some of the recommendations. He said that staff

should be included in any fraud planning and that the importance of

protecting patient dignity. This enquiry is designed to give patients

a voice and according to Deidre, that is significant.

The Chief Constable has warned that the ability of the PSNI to do its

job will suffer because of budget cuts of up to ?80 million this year.

George Hamilton told the Policing Board that could mean reducing

the amount of resources used to investigate the past to concentrate

The total reduction in the police budget in this year compared to last

year is going to be at best 73 million pounds. And it could rise on

the basis of the projections up towards ?88 million. It is a huge

amount of money. Many parents will be interested

in a story we'll be covering on tomorrow's BBC Newsline and

on Radio Ulster. Here's our education correspondent,

Maggie Taggart. To pay or not to pay? With so many

schools asking pupils to use computer tablets, we ask who should

fit the bill. That's coming up on BBC Newsline

tomorrow evening at 6.30pm. It has been mainly dry day.

Temperatures overnight will stick at about 14 degrees overnight tonight.

Tomorrow will start cloudy with some dampness around. It will improve by

the end of the day. So, cloudy start, but this band of rain will

come in from the north-west. Not a lot of room to worry about. That

band of rain will be stretching into parts of the Republican into

Scotland, as well. So tough that it will be drier and brighter with

spells of sunshine. For the south-east of Ireland plenty of

sunshine before the weather front since its way southwards.

Temperatures will be down on tomorrow as we have a northerly

wind. Towards the north coast, 1415 degrees will be the highs, 16 or 17

further south. The wet weather will clear the south-east coast and once

that happens it will brighten up nicely with sunshine tomorrow

evening to end the day. The weekend is shaping up to be pretty decent.

It will feel cooler and fresher with the northerly winds. At least it is

dry. The good news is looking ahead to Sunday and Monday, the high

pressure remained in control so a lot of dry unsettled weather to

come. You can keep up to date with

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