26/01/2017 BBC Newsline

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Good evening, the headlines on BBC Newsline:

The Director of Public Prosecutions hits back at critics

It isn't something to this office and to the lawyers -- insulting who

do their work daily with absolute integrity.

A former Army colonel says he was a "kind

of torturer" when serving here during the Troubles.

Three people escape injury in a pipe bombing at a house in Londonderry.

Why the price of fruit and veg prices, bus fares

A little bit of Northern Ireland comes to Las Vegas as Carl Frampton

prepares for his world title defence at the weekend.

And the cold wind will ease over the next 24 hours,

but unfortunately we replace it with some rain.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has hit back at critics who have

accused him of treating former soldiers unfairly

by deciding to prosecute some for Troubles related killings.

Barra McGrory says they've insulted him and his team.

Our home affairs correspondant Vincent Kearney asked him to respond

to claims that he's not impartial because, as a solicitor,

he represnted the Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams

Mystified is the mildest way I can put it because anyone who is

informed about these matters would know that as a professional lawyer

you represent anybody who seek the representation from you. I have been

a professional lawyer for 30 years during which period I have

represented many paramilitaries, Republic paramilitaries, members of

the DUP, members of Sinn Fein, I have represented a broad

cross-section of people. Who I have represented in the past really has

nothing to do with it. As Director of Public Prosecutions now, do you

view that criticism as an attempt to influence your decision making, an

attempt to put pressure on you not to prosecute former soldiers? I

can't speak for the motivation of people who say such things but some

of them ought to know better. If you're not trying to influence me,

then the are certainly being personally insulting and the

questioning my integrity. What concerns me more about that is it

isn't something to this office -- insulting and two lawyers who work

here and do their work daily with absolute integrity and to be

bettered ability. I am personally offended by the remarks but I am

more offended on behalf of of the individuals who work for the public

positives in service and who do a fantastic job. I think those making

the comments ought to think a bit more carefully before the speak.

Credit card questioned how you can decide to charge former soldiers

were one of your predecessors said there was insufficient evidence to

merit a prosecution. They have said you have reached a different

conclusion based on the evidence that was considered previously. That

inaccurate, Vincent. In each of the three soldiers cases which this

office has examined there has been new evidence, whether that be

evidence which has been forthcoming, following an inquest and referred to

me by the coroner, the powers available to coroners, or new

evidence obtained by PSN eye in the context of its investigations or in

any other context through forensic evidence which has emerged through a

variety of routes since the original decision was taken. Anyone who has

said that this is the retaking of a decision in respect of which nothing

else has changed is quite simply wrong.

The Director of Public Prosecutions speaking to Vincent Kearney.

Politicians have been divided on what Mr McGrory said.

And the legacy issue. There is a disproportionate evidence --

emphasis. Those people who have suffered as a result of terrorism

engagement aren't having their cases looked at all. As a consequence of

that, when the cases are investigated and sent up to the DUP,

he is making decisions in relation to the evidence that is brought to

him. Meanwhile the other cases aren't being looked at all. There is

a difficulty in terms of proportionality and there is

certainly a difficulty in relation to balance the needs to be

addressed. They are bound to be absolutely without practice and

unbiased, I believe that's 40 years. I don't even know any of the names

of the other people. But you try and attack that institution on the basis

that a small number, less than three soldiers, it may have been charged

and one or two of them, it is a pointless attack. It's not an

accusation, it's the perception on the streets from the large

proportion of this committee and if the perception is that the

investigations are against one particular group then there is an

issue here. That has to be addressed. I had a number of

meetings with Barra McGrory when I was Minister of justice and he was

doing his job as he was supposed to do, in partially considering the

evidence put before him by the police, when the cases were brought

to him. Campaigners for victims

of the Birmingham pub bombings have been told their lawyers will be able

to apply for legal aid. The Government has intervened

to remove legal barriers which had stopped their Northern Ireland based

solicitors from The inquests into the deaths of 21

people who were killed by the IRA in November 1974 are due to resume

later this year. A former army officer has said

he was a "kind of torturer" when it came to interrogating terrorist

suspects during the Troubles. Bob Stewart, who is now an MP,

was reacting to remarks by the US President Donald Trump about the use

of waterboarding when questioning Before entering the world

of politics, MP Bob Stewart The outspoken former army

colonel came to prominence However, it's remarks he made

about his time as an officer serving in Northern Ireland

during the Troubles that have The Conservative MP was speaking

on BBC radio earlier today. I was a soldier in north Belfast.

There were forbidden techniques introduced in 1977, some of which I

had used prior to that. Sleep deprivation. In a way, technically,

as you look at it today, I was the kind of the torturer. Of course, it

was acceptable then. It is no unacceptable. -- now with.

The UK Government authorised the use of five interrogation methods

during the early years of the Troubles, but this

A man who was arrested and claimed he was waterboarding

during questioning spoke to the BBC about it a few years ago.

The water torture, putting a gun against my head and seeing if I

didn't admit to killing a soldier they would have shot me dead.

A group known as the hooded men have been challenging the authorities

here over allegation of torture after they were

And that campaign is still going through the legal process.

Belfast City Council wants 66,000 more people to live here but is a

bigger city a better city? GPs have been saying for some time

that the profession is entering a "perfect storm" over problems

with recruitment and Yesterday their union voted

to ballot members on practices leaving the health service -

a move that would mean As our health correspondent

Marie-Louise Connolly reports, the fact that an increasing number

of doctors are choosing to remain as locums is only

adding to the problem. Conan Castles is typical

of a growing number of GPs. As one of over 400 locums

in Northern Ireland, he doesn't have a permanent position

and instead opts to fill As a locum, I still see patients as

any GP would and it means I can spend most of my time dealing with

their medical problems. But Dr Castles also represents

the growing number of GPs who don't want the same responsibilities

and burdens as their forefathers. Such a move is forcing

practices to adjust. There are a lot of negatives. A

large financial burden, especially people in retirement, spiralling

workload, taking away from tiny could be seeing patients. The

flexibility being a locum allows me to pick and choose when I want to

work and the time I can take off for holiday and see family is a big

plus. The British Medical Association has

been warning of the perfect storm for some time over a lack

of funding and recruitment. They say they're so frustrated that

yesterday they voted to take another step closer to actually leaving

the health service by asking members That means they'd work independently

and charge patients, While that may never

happen as we have already reported, what is unfolding

at Bannview Practice in Portadown is a real sign that

General Practice is in trouble. It's become the first local practice

to be managed and funded by a health trust as opposed

to being owned by GPs. This step away from how things have

been traditionally done is difficult But with 15 local doctors

due to retire in March, This GP due to retire in two years,

he's not confident about finding Young doctor is quite rightly want

to value their worklife balance, devalue their home life, they are

not really willing to commit to the time and work commitment that is

needed to be a partner in practice, particularly when they could earn

more or less the same money working as a locum.

General Practice is facing an uncertain future.

GPs now have to decide whether to support tradition or play a new role

But we will be keeping a close eye on what happens with GPs in the

weeks and months ahead. A man who died in a crash

on the Westlink yesterday afternoon was 69-year-old Victor Shaw

from north Belfast. The accident happened in the lane

out of the city near Roden Street. The road was closed for several

hours during the afternoon Another man died on

the roads last night. His motorbike was involved

in a crash with another vehicle on the Lough Fey Road near

Cookstown. Two men and a woman escaped injury

in a pipe bombing on a house Terrified neighbours say it left

their children deeply traumatised. Here's our north-west

reporter, Keiron Tourish. Police were carrying out an

extensive search of the gardens in the mainly Loyalist Irish street

after this pipe bomb attack last night. Two men and two women escaped

injury after the device exploded at 20 past ten in the garden of a

house. People say they were left badly shaken. The remnants of the

device were removed by army bomb experts. John lives two doors away

with his heavily pregnant wife and their two girls, aged five and

seven. What ever was throwing meet a bang, the rest of it was lying. We

thought the whole thing might have went off so we didn't know what to

do. The children were terrorised and scared to come back to the house

this morning. My wife is pregnant and I thought there was going to be

an early delivery last night. We're going to see if she can see her

doctor today. Up to 40 people were moved to a nearby community centre.

Detectives investigating this attack have issued an appeal for

information, they want to hear from anyone who noticed any suspicious

activity in this area around 10pm last night to get in touch.

Three men, including the Lurgan republican Colin Duffy,

will stand trial later this year on a range of terrorist related

offences connected to a gun attack on police officers in north

49-year-old Colin Duffy, from Forest Glade in Lurgan,

is accused of directing terrorism and belonging to a banned

His co-accused, 55-year-old Alex McCrory of Sliabh Dubh View

In addition, McCrory and a third man, 48-year-old

Henry Fitzsimmons of no fixed abode, are charged with attempting

to murder police officers and possessing ammunition.

The charges are linked to a gun attack on a police patrol

No-one was injured, but at least ten shots struck the vehicles.

The court was told the three accused were secretly recorded

the day after the shooting in a park in Lurgan.

The court also heard that more covert recordings were made of Duffy

They were released on continuing bail.

The trial is expected to begin later this year and will last

A mother refused bereavement allowance because she wasn't married

to her partner who died is to take her case to the Supreme Court. She

is from County Antrim and says she is the victim of discrimination. The

Court of Appeal in Belfast has refused to allow her to take her

case. She said she could petition it directly in London.

We catch up with the local man he was off to London to take up a big

job in the world of music. Belfast City Council wants more

people to live in the city to try to bring the population up

to pre-Troubles levels. They aim to have another

66,000 residents BBC Newsline's Mark

Simpson has more. 50 years ago, Belfast had a lot more

people. They weren't just working shopping in the city, we lived in

Belfast. Around 100,000 more people than live here now. The council is

trying to get people back and it's got a number in mind, an extra

66,000 by the year 2035. It looks ambitious but the council is

confident of reaching its target. That takes Belfast back to where it

was in terms of scale and when you look at other capital cities within

the UK and beyond, there is a general urbanisation and gravitation

towards the city. That is based on its role as an economic driver and

when Belfast succeeds, we would suggest other parts of Northern

Ireland succeed as well. Although there is no detail yet about the

plan, the initial reaction has been positive. Blind we could have been

doing this why this place has been blown apart 2030 years ago. We have

a lot of catching up to do. We lost four decades in this city. I think

it would be welcome, things are changing in the city over the last

few decades and this is an opportunity to link it with the

Belfast agenda and make sure community voices are heard and

people's voices are heard in the future. More houses could mean an

end to some of the wasteland around the city and there is plenty of

that. Questions remain about who is going to paper at all and whether

the infrastructure in Belfast could actually cope with a bigger city.

That is all still to be worked out. A public consultation will begin

soon. With power-sharing at Stormont in jeopardy, Belfast City Council

could soon be the largest elected body in Northern Ireland. It has a

lot of work to do and its role could soon be even more important.

Fruit and veg, bus fares and beer are all getting more expensive -

Some economists are predicating that inflation could hit 4%

Part of the reason is the weakening of the pound, which makes our

Here's our economics and business Editor John Campbell.

Every week, this wholesaler imports at least 20 lorry loads of produce

from mainland Europe. The pay their Spanish, French and Italian

suppliers in euros. Since the Brexit vote, the pound has weakened

substantially against the euro so for a business like this, the costs

automatically increase. It has increased by 15%. We are having to

absorb some of that cost, we have two pass on the cost to our

customers. Bad weather in the key growing areas across Europe has also

pushed up the price of fruit and veg. That is adding even more

inflationary pressure. It is not just the price of food which is

going up. The cost of... Has more than doubled from its record lows

over the last year. That trend of rising prices is likely to continue

to rate this year. The official stats shoe we have enjoyed very low

inflation recently. In 2011, inflation was running at more than

5%. It then headed on a long downward path. It was effectively

zero for all of 2015 and not much higher for most of last year. It is

now heading up. It is currently at 1.6% and could be above 3% by the

end of the year. That will hit living standards. Motor insurance

has risen by 10% year-on-year at the end of last month. Domestic heating

oil is up by 35% over the last year. The more consumers have to spend on

these goods, the less money they are going to have for other things. What

we are going to see is a squeeze on your disposable incomes. The biggest

problem will be for those on low fixed incomes, such as benefit

claimants. That's because of a policy put in place by the last

Chancellor. Worked age benefits for the next year. If you take on

jobseeker's allowance, they got ?73 this year and they will continue to

get that same amount of money up until 2020 and then that person has

to cope with daily living expenses, keeping a roof over their head, food

on the table, that is why year on year they are going to be

effectively worse off. Some of the recent rises in fruit and veg prices

could be reversed as the weather improves. But make no mistake,

across the economy, prices are heading up.

One of the biggest jobs in British music is being taken up by the man

who's been in charge of opera here for the past six years.

Oliver Mears is leaving Nortnern Ireland Opera

the youngest ever director of London's Royal Opera House.

Our arts correspondent Robbie Meredith caught up with him

Final rehearsals for Northern Ireland Opera's new show

Powder Her Face at Belfast's Lyric Theatre.

But also the last act for their director Oliver Mears.

Fittingly, for a man who once put an opera singer among fans

at Cliftonville football ground, he's leaving Northern Ireland

for the music world's equivalent of Manchester United -

the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

We start with the staff of two, over the years we've gone up to five.

It's a small staff and the scale was considerably bigger. The entire work

for it is just over 1000 people and not all of those people work for the

opera, some of them work pretty badly as well. A huge technical

department, the chorus, the orchestra, it is a huge jump in

scale. He came here as the first

head of Northern Ireland And in that time he's

tried to rid the art By taking work to places like

Belfast zoo and to places like football grounds, it makes it clear

that Opera can happen anywhere and can appeal to any kind of audience.

Powder Her Face is an opera all about an aristocrat

A fitting finale, as Oliver will face much more

The principles are the same. It's about communicating, passion for

this great artform and it's about conveying this idea that Opera is

for everyone, it doesn't matter if it's small or big scale.

It's his final curtain here, but Oliver Mears is set

The Belfast boxer Carl Frampton says he's expecting between four and five

thousand of his fans to be Las Vegas for his defence of the WBA title.

He meets Leo Santa Cruz this weekend.

Following their initial encounter last summer Frampton

was named the prestigious Ring Magazine's Fighter of The Year.

Head lining here on the world-famous Las Vegas strip is reserved for the

biggest names in boxing and following his historic victory over

Leo Santa Cruz in July, Karel Frampton joined that elite band of

fighters. Over the next 48 hours, thousands of fanatical fans will

arrive here in Nevada for what could prove to be a career defining night

not just for the Belfast boxer but also for his Mexican opponent. Leo

Santa Cruz lost his undefeated record and world title in the

previous contest, but the Irish boxer maintains he learned more from

their bite and his ability to adapt his tactics, the result this round

will be exactly the same. If I can beat Leo Santa Cruz, that's even

more impressive if I can do it in style. I can't wait to get going.

How much of a bearing will the first might have on this one's it how will

have an effect psychologically, I will have the edge. When I fight

different opponents the second time I always improve. I believe I'm

better at boxing them Leo Santa Cruz and I want to use that on the night.

We will have all the big fight build-up on tomorrow's programme as

the countdown continues to Frampton against Leo Santa Cruz part two, you

can listen live on radio Ulster and BBC radio five live.

Strong wind in places today. It was also pretty choppy in Ireland as

well, big winds as well along parts of the east coast. Very cold gusty

wind will still be strong in places tonight, especially towards the east

coast, keeping the frost away but still feeling cold. Generally try

tonight, mostly the rain will stay in Donegal tonight. It is going to

come eastwards through the course of tomorrow. When the rain arrives, the

wind will drop out and overall it won't feel just as cold. First

thing, it can could still be breezy and not as windy as it was this

morning. Some damp weather across parts of Tyrone and up to the

north-west. Splashes of rain will come eastwards. You should get into

work or school dry if you live in Belfast, County Antrim are County

Down. The rain will move steadily eastwards as the morning early

afternoon goes on. Expect if you hours of wet weather tomorrow. The

wind drops out and temperatures will be higher than today. Overall, it

will feel less cold than it did today and it will dry up across

parts of the west before the day is finished. Tomorrow night, that rain

clears away from the east coast. One hour to share is close to the east

coast and the few showers in the west. Temperatures dropped to around

freezing so one hour to icy patches. The weekend is trite bright and

breezy on Saturday, a future risen the north-west. A bit of hail mixed

in. On Sunday, it looks like it will start dry and chilly, some sunshine.

Perhaps some rain from the site later in the day. Hopefully it will

stay to the south. If you would like to comment on our

stories, particularly on the one on the cost of living, join the

conversation on our Facebook and Twitter pages if you can.