23/11/2017 BBC Newsline

That's all from the BBC News at Six.

This is BBC Newsline.

The headlines this Thursday evening.

Verdict of death by misadventure for

five members of the same family.

A woman whose uncle was accused

of being a serial killer says

he sexually abused her but died

before he could be

brought to justice.

A monster, an absolute monster.

Brexit is stopping local cities

bidding for European

city of culture in 2023.

While leaked Irish government papers

claim the British Brexit negotiating

team are 'chaotic and incoherent'.

Local people are angry that work has

started on a wind turbine

near an ancient monument two days

after a temporary ban expired.

There were opportunities where this

could have been stopped before and

we do not understand why it is

continuing.

Also on the programme...

A mysterious creature has been

spotted in a local garden.

We find out more about

this unusual visitor.

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt goes back

to his tried and tested

for the final autumn

international against Argentina.

A severe weather warning for ice in

place as temperatures dropped away

to -3, another cold and windy day

with wintry showers to come

tomorrow.

Hello and welcome to the programme.

A jury at the inquest into the death

of five members of a Londonderry

family in Buncrana last year has

returned findings of

death by misadventure.

Louise James lost her husband Sean

and two young sons Mark and Evan

as well as her mother Ruth

and sister Jodie Lee when their car

slid off a slipway into the water.

Yesterday, the inquest heard that

Sean McGrotty was more than three

times over the Republic's

drink drive limit.

The coroner said while people

could sympathise and empathise

with the family, no one

could imagine or contemplate

how they feel.

Our north west reporter

Keiron Tourish reports

from the inquest in Buncrana.

It was always going to be a highly

emotive inquest. But little did

anyone realise the sheer scale and

distress of the Buncrana tragedy.

Five lost their lives after the car

driven by Sean McGrotty slid off the

slipway and entered the water on

March 20 2016. No witnesses saw the

car going in. But the coroner's

court had the algae on the surface

was very slippery and just like ice.

The inquest heard Sean McGrotty was

more than three times the

drink-driving limit, a pathologist

said she could not say what

impairment a driver with that amount

of alcohol would have as each person

is different. His two sons, Mark

aged 12 and over and he was eight as

well as his partner's mother Ruth

Daniels and her 14-year-old daughter

also drowned. In his evidence, they

received a telephone call at 715 to

the Garda station that a car had

gone off the pier with persons on

board. He arrived there within one

minute. He saw a young baby being

cared for and was told four or five

others were missing. He said the

baby was taken to hospital by

ambulance, he said CPI was being

performed on Ruth Daniels. He added

that the pier was extremely slippery

with thick algae. He then cleared

the pier and sealed it off. Garda

Callaghan said four others were

taken from the water and they had

all died. He placed a blanket over

them and a local priest said prayers

over each of the bodies. The jury of

five men and four women found that

all five victims died due to

drowning. The verdict was death due

to misadventure.

I firmly believe

the slipway should have been closed

to the general public or else proper

warning signs displayed. As it was

an accident waiting to happen.

Hopefully, lessons will be learnt

and the recommendations made

following this inquest will be

implemented.

The jury said this had

been a heartbreaking tragedy. They

said Irish water safety should now

take a prominent role in liaising

with all the relevant agencies to

promote safety.

The niece of a man who was once

accused of being a serial killer

says her uncle was a monster

who abused her.

Debbie Ross, who now lives

in the US, has waived her right

to anonymity to tell her story.

Her uncle, Leslie Ross from Dromore,

died earlier this month while facing

44 sex abuse charges.

Our investigations correspondent

Kevin Magee reports from New York.

Debbie Ross wants her voice heard

from across the Atlantic. As a child

growing up in County Down she says

she was sexually abused by her uncle

Leslie between the ages of six and

ten. He would later become a

suspected serial killer he abused

his knees when she visited her

grandparents pub.

A monster, an

absolute monster. To have done what

he did to me is very disturbing but

I was also very afraid of him. The

last time I was around him I was 18

and he would come into the bar at

that point, have a piece of wood

with four inch nails sticking out

and he was terrifying.

The abuse had

a huge impact on her what she was

growing up in Northern Ireland.

I

acted out really badly. I would say

I was self-destructive. I was

promiscuous, I drank a lot, I

smoked, I did every racket there was

going.

Determined to turn her life

around she did her A-levels as a

mature student and went to Queens

University finally graduating with a

doctorate in science. By becoming

immersed in education was at a way

of coping with what happens to you

in your earlier life?

Absolutely.

When you're in science it is what

you say and think that matters, it

is not what you have been through,

it is nothing, it is purely your

mind that you can be judged on.

Looking for a clean break she

emigrated to the USA in 2005 washes

now a successful research scientist.

In 2015 uncle Leslie was acquitted

of killing three former girlfriends.

He had been facing 44 abuse charges

when he died earlier this month, his

death meant Debbie's accusations

could no longer be tested in court.

The outcome would have been outed

out conviction, no doubt.

The PSNI

agree.

Why have you decided to waive your

right to anonymity and speak to me

today?

I would like to appeal to

other people who are victims to

speak up, it is never too late to

decide to take back your own life

and to reach your own goals again,

to realise that they damaged you as

a person but you ultimately can

heal, the damage can be minimised.

It will not be removed but it can be

dealt with, it does not lead to

impact your life for two years the

weight has done mine, speak up, get

help.

By going public, Debbie Ross

hopes she is sending out a clear

message that it is never too late

for victims of abuse to come forward

no matter hammered the years have

passed or how many minds they have

put behind them.

The joint bid by Belfast,

Derry and Strabane Councils to win

the title of European Capital

of Culture 2023 appears to be over.

The European Commission has now

decided no UK city can

now apply for the role.

They said Brexit means British

cities are no longer eligible.

BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson reports.

It was billed as a chance to shine.

On the European stage. Belfast City

Council, together with Derry and

Strabane council trying to become

European capital of culture 2023.

But not any more. A letter sent to

the UK government from Brussels this

week was blunt and to the point.

The political blame game has begun.

It is a terrible story today to

learn that Brexit has had another

casualty and those who argue that

Brexit should be hanging their heads

in shame today.

The DUP are blaming

Brussels.

This is part of a bigger

game, you have seen over a few days

a series of stories and the EU was

well aware for months if not years

and they allowed us to proceed but

only now at the last minute have

they raise this issue so they are

playing a big game which is not

appropriate for something people

have invested time and money.

Around

£350,000 has been spent locally and

they are not the only city is now

out of pocket. A number of English

and Scottish cities have also been

bidding for the capital of culture

title, Leeds, Nottingham, Milton

Keynes and Dundee. Today, they too

have been left shocked, angry and

disappointed. Belfast has been to

this before. A previous bid also

failed. It is bad news for us. But

city councillors have not given up

hope of reviving the latest bid.

Definitely not giving up, in the

context of Brexit looking a special

status, we are keen to see this

realised.

But what started as a

culture competition has now become

more of a political contest.

Our arts correspondent

Robbie Meredith is with me now.

Robbie, there had been high hopes

for this bid hadn't there?

There have, we broke the news at BBC

Newsline in February that Belfast

and Derry were considering a joint

bid and nine months ago they have

been gathering support pulling

together a big bid book which

outlined what they wanted to do in

2023 and lobbying and promoting that

across Northern Ireland and also

Brussels and New York. In five days

from now the bid team were due in

London to give a presentation to get

them short listed so timing wise the

announcement from the European

commission has come out of the blue.

What about the cost

to the public purse?

Both councils set aside £800,000 for

the bid process, around half of that

money has been spent. Should the

bids have gone ahead and the money

been spent there was a previous

warning from the UK government that

Brexit might affect the UK being

awarded title in 2023 but until

today the government, five competing

cities were competing as normal so

it's difficult bit too critical of

them to continue with the process

but until today there was no strong

indication the plug would be Paul

Dunne.

A document leaked to RTE in Brussels

says the UK government's

Brexit talks have been

'chaotic and incoherent'.

The internal Irish government

paper gives scathing

assessments of key members

of the British Brexit

negotiating team.

Let's speak to our Dublin

correspondent, Shane Harrison.

What have the Irish

government said in response?

The leaked document is based on

reports back to Dublin by senior

Irish diplomats on their very recent

and extensive round of meetings with

government ministers and various EU

member states and officials in

different European capitals. If

there is a common thread it is the

alarm being expressed by named

ministers and officials about what

they see as the lack of coherence

from British ministers and officials

about what Brexit means and what

they see as chaos at the heart of

the British Tory cabinet. Such is

their concern and alarm there is a

fear expressed by some that next

month at the EU summit in Brussels

they may not be able to move on to

phase two of the negotiations which

is when the future relationship

between the two sides including

trade will be discussed. The UK is

keen for that to happen but the EU

27 so we want to get there too but

first there has to be sufficient

progress in the ongoing divorce

negotiations on three key areas, the

Irish border, citizens rights and

the UK continuing contribution to

the EU budget.

And have the Irish

government said anything?

Sources

concede the document is genuine but

say they are adamant it was not

deliberately leaked to put pressure

on the British ahead of next month

summit. Some privately say it is

more embarrassing to Dublin because

private comments by named

individuals are suddenly getting a

lot of publicity, ten Downing St

says it will not comment on the leak

but it does have a good and

constructive relationship with

Dublin.

Ice hockey fans are ready to welcome

American teams to the friendship or

tournament this weekend.

A 78 year old woman whose son

was murdered by loyalists 19 years

ago has appealed to the Secretary

of State to make sure her son

doesn't become a forgotten victim.

35 year old Brian Service

was walking home in Ardoyne in

North Belfast when he was shot dead.

No-one has been

convicted of his murder.

His mother Ann, is calling

for proposed legacy institutions

from the Stormont House Agreement

from 2014 to be put in place

while she's still alive.

As I get older I'm getting angrier

and I am not mellowing. I think I

owe it to my son, I owe it to my son

to do whatever has to be done and if

anyone asks me to do something, I

will do it because he wasn't

involved in anything. He was great

not to hate. They played together in

the streets, they mixed. There was

no hate enough family. I want to

know when they are taking my son's

Case up and say this is what

happened. It is not about

punishment, it is about doing the

right thing.

Work has begun on a controversial

wind turbine beside a protected

ancient monument in Co Down.

Planners put a temporary stop

to the work last month.

But now that order has expired

and the turbine is going up.

Locals say it's being left

to them to try and halt it.

Here's our Agriculture

and Environment

Correspondent Conor Macauley

Two days after the temporary ban

expired and a huge crane begins

lifting sections of the wind turbine

into position. It is controversial

because it is 100m from a protected

state monument a 5000 -year-old

Neolithic burial cairn. Back in 2013

when it was approved, Planas did not

consult archaeologists. Experts have

since said the turbine should not

have got the go-ahead. Opponents say

if they want to get a temporary

injunction to stop this work it will

cost them £2000 to do it and it will

commit them to taking a full legal

challenge. They say it should not be

go up to them to go down the legal

challenge to fix a problem created

by the planners. This footage taken

before the turbine went in clearly

shows the ancient burial mound. The

planners took the turbine decision

that has been left to Armagh Council

which now has the planning powers to

do with the fallout. If they revoke

planning, it could late ratepayers

with a build three quarters of £1

million in compensation to the

developer.

We can understand that

and every day that goes past the

bill will be getting higher and

author turbine goes up, the more the

bill will increase. There were

opportunities where this could be

stopped before and we don't

understand what is continuing.

The

council investigated technical

breaches of the turbine permission

but the wider issue of whether to

revoke it is still being considered.

Opponents are worried that by the

time the council makes up its mind,

the turbine will be up and the price

of taking it down will be considered

too high to pay.

The Electoral Commission has

welcomed the government's decision

to open the way for the details

of people who make donations

to political parties here to be

published but says it's disappointed

it didn't happen sooner.

This morning the body said

it was extremely disappointed

it was unable to publish the details

of donations made to parties

in Northern Ireland today

because the government had not yet

laid the necessary legislation.

Here's our political

correspondent Gareth Gordon.

Northern Ireland is the only part of

the UK for large political donations

can be made in secret. In July the

Secretary of State said he would

bring forward legislation that would

lead to the publication of all

payments over seven and a half

thousand pounds from the 1st of

July. But this morning the election

commission said or though it had

expected to publish the first set of

figures today, it couldn't as the

legislation had not been laid before

Parliament.

We are extremely

disappointed the information is not

in the public domain, win over

voters in Northern Ireland want to

know who is funding political

parties here and it is a real

disappointment it is not possible

for us to publish the data yet.

But

then came a surprise development.

The government said it was bringing

legislation this afternoon, the

commission welcomed the move but

said it should have come sooner.

I

can't speculate on what is going on,

I am pleased to hear the legislation

has been tabled, that is good news

because once it has gone through

Parliament will be able to publish

the first set of data on donations

to political parties. We are

disappointed we were not able to

publish the data today as planned

but I am pleased the government has

brought forward legislation and to

look forward to bring brought into

force.

The commission says it is

still not happy about the way this

has been handled instead of the

figures being published today, we

may not see them until January.

A lorry driver who crashed

into a bridge near Bangor,

causing structural damage,

has been cautioned by police.

The collision last night caused

large cracks and stones to fall

from the Old Railway Bridge

on the Ballysallagh Road.

Police say it needs to be assessed

by structural engineers and the road

is expected to remain closed

for a number of weeks,

causing disruption to commuters

and local businesses.

It's understood to be

the latest in a series

of crashes at the bridge.

It is very disappointing this

happens again. It has a major impact

on commuter traffic in the morning,

congested is going to see further

traffic arriving and it has an

impact. We have put up diversion

signs which is result in our guests

doing a two to three minute detour

and our hope is that this will be

resolved between the Department for

infrastructure of the local council

and the estate.

Imagine seeing one of these

creatures in your garden.

Would you know what it was?

Our reporter Julie McCullough didn't

know right away but she took some

footage on her phone and then called

in the experts.

It looks like a bird but don't be

fooled. This is actually a moth. A

hummingbird hawk moths to be exact.

It is a moth that defies all the

moth myths, it flies by day and

people like it which makes it out of

kilter. It's an amazing creature,

does not live here normally, does

not breed here throughout the year

but it comes to visit us in quite

large numbers throughout the year

from continental Europe. Is it rare?

It is not something people are

expecting to see, it can turn up

absolutely anywhere so it is not a

rare kitchen -- creature but it does

not turn up with enormous numbers so

seeing, I have seen one once in my

life in Ireland.

Although not

something would see every day, this

year there have been more recorded

sightings than any other recently.

That could be because we had a

pretty decent summer. The

hummingbird hawk moth loves a bit of

nectar so if you are interested in

attracting them to your garden, you

could try planting some rosemary or

something like this. The important

thing is to choose a variety of

plants flower at different times

throughout whole year. This little

creature can turn up at any time in

your garden, even during winter if

there is a period of settled warm

weather. So keep your eyes peeled,

there has been recorded sighting in

January in the past.

Now, sport with Gavin Andrews.

After Joe Schmidt gave his fringe

players a run against Fiji last

weekend, Ireland will revert

to the tried and tested

for Saturday's final

Autumn International with Argentina.

But there's a first cap on the wing

for Adam Byrne of Leinster.

Chris Farrell, the former Ulster

centre, retains his place

as Robbie Henshaw is injured.

And in the pack , Devin Toner makes

way for James Ryan who lines up

alongside Ulster's Iain Henderson.

To start I was one of the younger

guys and it was a changing of the

guard. Interesting to see it happen

but I think having trained and

played with players you learn so

much from them and you try to pass

on bits and pieces I continue

learning yourself and hopefully I

have been able to do that and we

will see how James comes out the

other side Saturday afternoon.

Wasps prop Marty Moore

will join Ulster next summer

on a two-year deal.

The Wasps man has won

10 caps for Ireland.

Several of Ulster's young players

will feature against Benetton

in tomorrow's PRO 14

game in Belfast.

There's a debut for 19 year

old Aaron Hall while Paul Marshall

could become only the 5th Ulster

player to notch up 200 appearances.

He's on the replacements bench.

That is great, that is what this is

all about. An academy working

extremely well, making giant strides

in that area and to see a couple of

the boys run out this weekend would

be fantastic. We are looking at an

opportunity, I do not have the

injuries we have put every team is

managing those and we have to come

through.

Mark Allen is out of

the Northern Ireland Open

after losing four frames to three

last night to Tian Pengfay of China.

Despite leading three times

in the match, the Antrim man lost

a final frame decider when Pengfay

produced a break of 109 to clinch

victory and knock the home

favourite out in the second

round of the tournament.

Four American College Ice Hockey

teams are in Belfast this

week for the third ever

Friendship Four tournament.

And this year sees a visit

from one of the top-ranked

sides in the States.

Nigel Ringland reports.

Now a regular fixture on the ice at

calendar, this years friendship for

tournament sees teams from New York

State, Rhode Island and Maine.

They'll play conference match ups

tomorrow with the winners of the two

games progress into the final on

Saturday. Favourites are the

Clarkson Golden Knights ranked fifth

overall in the US.

It was an

exciting opportunity for us and we

travelled our road trip has been

long back home have not practised

Monday is that this year so this is

in our routine and we appreciate

your having us.

Every school that

has attended previously has raved

about the entire experience so I

couldn't be more delighted to be

here.

Wanna get into the rink it is

hockey time. As long as they know

one gets the rink it is hockey time,

we have to make sure our focus is

here.

As past tournaments have

shown, winning it means something to

these American visitors.

And we have live coverage

of the Friendship Four the BBC sport

NI website from 3 o'clock tomorrow.

Tara.

Let's get the weather now.

Today has

been a day when I have been

Let's get the weather now.

Today has

been a day when I have been glad to

have a job that is inside. It has

been freezing out. These wonderful

pictures of pine Martins, you can

send us your pictures. I suspect

over the next few days I will be

getting sent pictures with snow in

them because it is a really cold

nights tonight, temperatures dipping

down to -3 in spots and the Met

office has a yellow severe weather

warning in place for ice overnight

because with wintry showers and

subzero temperatures ice is a risk.

As we head into tomorrow, it will be

another day one we are drawn this

cold air out of the North West, a

day of wintry showers on the hills.

There will be a bit of brightness

around in between the showers but

you will need to wrap up and top

temperatures four, 5 degrees, really

very chilly. Another day with clear

skies and cold air, overnight

temperatures dropping away, another

night when a frost is going to be

possible as we head into the

weekend, temperatures down below

freezing in many spots with wintry

showers continuing. You know the

theme by the weekend, polar maritime

air, cold wet air out of the

north-west feeding in showers, on

Saturday there will be a bit more in

the way of brightness around and by

Sunday it will be a slightly drier

day, through the first half of the

day by Sunday afternoon and evening

we are starting to see the approach

of another weather system working in

from the west but as we go to the

next few days, it is going to be

pretty chilly. Wrap up if you're

heading out and about. It will be a

cold one.

I love the back with the

late news at 10:30pm. See.