:00:07. > :00:13.A man's in a critical condition after being stabbed
:00:14. > :00:18.It happened shortly before eight o'clock this evening.
:00:19. > :00:21.An area on Donegall Square North was cordoned off.
:00:22. > :00:24.The Christmas market in the grounds of City Hall was closed early
:00:25. > :00:31.The daughters of a county Antrim woman who drowned after being thrown
:00:32. > :00:34.from a bridge say justice has not been done after her murderer was
:00:35. > :00:40.The body of 61-year-old Pauline Carmichael was found
:00:41. > :00:44.on the shores of Lough Neagh in February last year.
:00:45. > :00:46.Her partner's son, 38-year-old former soldier Alan Foster,
:00:47. > :00:58.Our north east reporter Sara Girvin was at Belfast Crown Court.
:00:59. > :01:00.Pauline Carmichael was a mother of seven and grandmother to 16.
:01:01. > :01:03.It was a row with Alan Foster that saw her
:01:04. > :01:06.The court heard after she had called police over his
:01:07. > :01:09.partying, he picked her up while she was still in her pyjamas.
:01:10. > :01:11.A neighbour heard her screaming, pleading with
:01:12. > :01:17.He walks with her over her shoulders from the flat they shared for nearly
:01:18. > :01:21.a mile before throwing her off a bridge.
:01:22. > :01:25.She drowned in the water 40 feet below and was washed away.
:01:26. > :01:29.A postmortem examination revealed she
:01:30. > :01:32.had sustained a broken bone in her throat as well as multiple
:01:33. > :01:41.Her daughters said she would have been terrified in the
:01:42. > :01:44.Her biggest fear of all was water and
:01:45. > :01:46.that was the thing that took her life.
:01:47. > :01:51.We can only imagine what she felt and was thinking when she fell over
:01:52. > :01:56.The court heard it was accepted that Foster suffered from
:01:57. > :01:57.post-traumatic stress disorder as a result
:01:58. > :02:07.The prosecution barrister said he knew exactly what he was
:02:08. > :02:15.Foster had previously denied the killing before pleading guilty
:02:16. > :02:19.after the jury for his trial had been sworn in.
:02:20. > :02:21.Ms Carmichael's daughters said a minimum of nine
:02:22. > :02:27.years was not enough for a life sentence.
:02:28. > :02:30.We feel justice has not been done today.
:02:31. > :02:36.Not only have they taken our mum, they have taken our
:02:37. > :02:40.The thing we have to listen to, the things
:02:41. > :02:46.that she went through, has damaged us as a family.
:02:47. > :02:49.The judge said the circumstances of the murder were
:02:50. > :02:52.particularly callous and described it as a wicked act but he said he
:02:53. > :02:54.had taken into consideration Foster's guilty plea and the remorse
:02:55. > :03:00.Foster will now spend at least nine years in prison before
:03:01. > :03:10.The Executive is considering the complete closure
:03:11. > :03:12.of its controversial Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.
:03:13. > :03:15.It's exploring the option of buying out the contracts of scheme
:03:16. > :03:19.beneficiaries who are due to receive subsidy payments over
:03:20. > :03:31.Our Economics and Business editor John Campbell reports.
:03:32. > :03:34.It is the green energy scheme which has turned into a financial
:03:35. > :03:46.A badly designed, poorly managed subsidy system means the executive
:03:47. > :03:49.are facing an overspend which will hit its budget for 20 years.
:03:50. > :03:52.Its priority now is to find some way to reduce that ?400 million
:03:53. > :03:57.overspend the First Minister alluded to earlier this week.
:03:58. > :04:00.The hope is to reduce the cost of the scheme to the executive's
:04:01. > :04:05.budget but they are subject to consider further work.
:04:06. > :04:08.This matters as we want to be fair to all those who responded
:04:09. > :04:11.to the incentive as it was intended to operate and also
:04:12. > :04:14.to ensure our process results the abuse of the scheme.
:04:15. > :04:16.I understand there our two main options on the table.
:04:17. > :04:21.Reducing the rate in which subsidies are paid.
:04:22. > :04:23.The second is to close the scheme entirely.
:04:24. > :04:24.That would mean giving the beneficiaries a one-off
:04:25. > :04:32.compensation payment but ending the stream of subsidies.
:04:33. > :04:35.The executive would like any buyouts to be voluntary but it is understood
:04:36. > :04:38.to have taken legal advice about making them compulsory.
:04:39. > :04:45.The cost of that would probably be at least ?60 million.
:04:46. > :04:48.One opposition and MLA with a legal background is warning such a process
:04:49. > :05:03.If you take away something that you raise expectation to enjoy,
:05:04. > :05:06.If they are not happy with the compensation,
:05:07. > :05:08.they will have to have an appeal mechanism.
:05:09. > :05:10.It could come very convoluted and a very extensive process.
:05:11. > :05:14.They have known about this for a year at least and should have
:05:15. > :05:18.been doing this corrective work well in advance.
:05:19. > :05:20.We still don't know who set up this flawed scheme
:05:21. > :05:30.The executive, the DUP, they would love this issue to go away.
:05:31. > :05:33.If they can find a way to close the scheme entirely,
:05:34. > :05:45.It is unlikely to be straightforward with legal and financial
:05:46. > :05:51.A final decision is expected to be announced here
:05:52. > :05:54.The Irish Football Association has tonight expressed what it
:05:55. > :05:56.calls its severe disappointment at the fine imposed by Fifa
:05:57. > :06:00.for acts of remembrance at Windsor Park last month.
:06:01. > :06:03.The IFA says it cannot appeal the near ?12,000 fine
:06:04. > :06:08.and it has decided not to pursue any further legal action.
:06:09. > :06:11.The incident happened during Northern Ireland's World Cup
:06:12. > :06:15.qualifier against Azerbaijan, when fans formed a poppy mosaic,
:06:16. > :06:19.a wreath was laid and there was a minute's silence.
:06:20. > :06:21.The police say nearly 250 motorists have been
:06:22. > :06:23.arrested following random breath tests since the start
:06:24. > :06:27.of their Christmas drink-driving campaign three weeks ago.
:06:28. > :06:30.Previously they could stop drivers only if they suspected they had been
:06:31. > :06:33.drinking or had committed a traffic offence.
:06:34. > :06:36.The PSNI are the first force in the UK to be allowed to conduct
:06:37. > :06:47.A former commercial manager at the Irish Football Association
:06:48. > :06:49.has won almost ?30,000 in compensation at a fair
:06:50. > :06:52.Tracey Campbell was awarded the compensation after claiming
:06:53. > :07:02.Tracey Campbell was the commercial manager until she was made redundant
:07:03. > :07:09.An employment tribunal found it wasn't
:07:10. > :07:19.Her boss at the time was Una O'Reilly, a
:07:20. > :07:22.She was criticised by the tribunal and
:07:23. > :07:25.it concluded the redundancy process was a sham and was part of a drive
:07:26. > :07:29.by Ms O'Reilly to replace the claimant with someone else.
:07:30. > :07:38.Una O'Reilly gave evidence, as did Jerry
:07:39. > :07:40.Crawson, the IFA director of corporate services.
:07:41. > :07:41.The tribunal found their evidence was
:07:42. > :07:43.unsatisfactory and evasive in several respects.
:07:44. > :07:45.Tracey Campbell's evidence was clear, convincing and
:07:46. > :07:50.The tribunal concluded she had been treated unfairly by the
:07:51. > :07:58.IFA and awarded her ?28,700 in compensation.
:07:59. > :08:02.Since being made redundant, she now has a new job.
:08:03. > :08:05.Tonight, the IFA issued a statement stopped they said they did accept
:08:06. > :08:10.the ruling of the tribunal and would not be appealing the decision.
:08:11. > :08:21.They said they would learn from any mistakes which were made.
:08:22. > :08:35.More variety than a Christmas selection box in our weather today.
:08:36. > :08:40.We have that today and those showers will continue overnight with
:08:41. > :08:46.temperatures close to freezing. Ice is a risk and there could be some
:08:47. > :08:50.snow over the higher ground. Those showers are driven in from the West.
:08:51. > :08:57.There is some brightness to be found. Underneath the showers, very
:08:58. > :09:01.nasty indeed. Sleet and snow over the hills and it is cold and
:09:02. > :09:08.miserable with highs of seven Celsius. We are in that showery zone
:09:09. > :09:17.of whether. Strong winds are coming in. Try and bright. As we go through
:09:18. > :09:27.the afternoon, we see a change in the wind direction. That is the sign
:09:28. > :09:31.of Storm Barbra. It is one of the busiest travel days of the holiday
:09:32. > :09:38.period on Friday. A weather warning for strong winds and gusts in excess
:09:39. > :09:44.of 80 miles an hour. Not a very nice day in terms of six hours of rain
:09:45. > :09:50.but it introduces some mild air. No sooner is Barbra out of the way than
:09:51. > :09:54.we get a pause on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day, the next storm is
:09:55. > :09:56.with us and we have some more mild air.
:09:57. > :10:00.Our next BBC Newsline is at six twenty five in the morning