23/11/2017 BBC Newsline

Here on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.

A jury at the inquest into the death

of five members of a Londonderry

family at Buncrana Pier 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.

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 people lost their lives after

the car driven by Sean McGrotty slid

off the slipway and entered the

water on March the 20th 2016. No

witnesses saw the car going in but

the coroner's court heard the algae

on the surface was very slippery and

like ice. The inquest heard Sean

McGrotty was more than three times

the drink-driving limit. A

pathologist said she could not say

what empowerment a driver with that

amount of alcohol would have as each

person is different. His two sons

Mark and Evan as well as his

partner's mother Ruth Daniels and

her 14-year-old daughter also

drowned. In his evidence, Garda

Seamus Callahan said he received a

telephone call at 715 and a car had

gone off the pier. He arrived within

one minute. He saw a young baby

being cared for. And was told for

five others were missing. He added

that the pier was extremely slippery

with thick algae. He then cleared

the pier and sealed it off. Garda

Callahan said for other people were

later taken from the water and they

had all died. The jury of five men

and four women found all five

victims died due to drowning and the

verdict was death by misadventure.

I

firmly believe the slipway should

have been closed to the general

public or else proper warning signs

displayed. It was an accident

waiting to happen. Hopefully,

lessons will be learned 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, to best international

practice on all slipways and peers

throughout Ireland. The Republic is

facing the prospect of a general

election over what he knew about an

attempt to discredit. She has

admitted she forgot she had read an

e-mail a year earlier than she had

previously claimed, the opposition

party Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail are

both threatening to table motions of

no confidence in her.

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,

died earlier this month while facing

44 sex abuse charges.

Our investigations correspondent

Kevin Magee reports from New York.

Debbie Ross once 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 is to be

abused his knees when she visited

her grandparents pub. -- his niece.

An absolute monster to have done

what he did to me is very disturbing

but I was also very afraid of him.

Last time I was around him I was 18

and he would come into the bar at

that point with a piece of wood that

was to buy two with four inch nails

sticking out of it, he was

terrifying.

The abuse had a huge

impact on how while she was growing

up in Northern Ireland.

I acted out

really badly in different periods of

my adolescence and early adulthood I

would say I was self-destructive.

Looking for a clean break she

emigrated to the USA in 2005 where

she is now a successful research

scientist. In 2015 her 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 activations could no longer

be tested in court.

The outcome

would have been out and out

conviction, no doubt.

The PSNI agree

and the message to her after her

uncle died says...

Why have you decided to waive your

right to anonymity and speak to me?

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

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 is meet

in patch your life for two years the

way it has done mine.

Speak up, get

help. By going public and telling

her story, 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 how

many years have passed or how many

minds they have put behind them.

The independent unionist peer

Lord Kilclooney has faced

criticism after referring

to the Irish Prime Minister Leo

Varadkar as "the Indian".

Lord Kilclooney, who used

to be deputy leader

of the Ulster Unionists,

says he used the term as shorthand

and denies accusations of racism.

Here's Our Political

Editor Mark Devenport.

Earlier this evening, Lord kill

Clooney took to social media to

response to comments from the Irish

Foreign minister about a united

Ireland. He claimed Simon Coakley

was stirring things up a dangerous

way before adding the foreign

minister was clearly hoping to

undermine the Indian. An apparent

reference to the Taoiseach Leo Brad

Carr who was born in Dublin but has

an Indian father. Alliances accused

him of racism and the former victims

commissioner said she had reported

him to the House of Lords standards

Commissioner. In his defence, he

said he has used the term Indian as

shorthand because he found the

Taoiseach's name hard to spell

acknowledged he should have referred

to him as prime minister and

declared he is not a racist.

Well, that'll be one of the stories

featuring on The View on BBC1

straight after this programme,

and here's Mark Carruthers.

Well, Tara tonight, we'll have more

reaction to that controversial tweet

from Lord Kilclooney.

We'll also hear from the DUP's

Emma Little Pengelly

and Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey

on the proposed amnesty for state

killings in the troubles

and as relations between the British

and Irish government

sour over Brexit.

I'll be talking to former Tory

minister Peter Lilley.

Join me straight

after this bulletin.

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

decided no UK city can

now apply for the role.

They said Brexit means British

cities are no longer eligible.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds has

already been spent on the bid.

Councillors in Belfast

gave their reaction to the news.

EU was well aware for months if not

years and they allowed us to proceed

and only now at the last minute that

they raise this issue and it is very

interesting the letter only arrived

yesterday but they leaked it last

night.

We're not losing hope of the

programme being realised and will do

all we can as a city in partnership

with Derry and Strabane to become a

European capital of culture.

It has

been feeling much colder, now the

forecast.

It is a very chilly nights

to come and the Met office has

forecast.

It is a very chilly nights

to come and the Met office has a

severe weather warning in place for

ice because we have subzero

temperatures and with showers a

combination means we could see icy

patches forming on untreated roads.

Tomorrow will be another very cold

day, wintry showers on the hills,

some brightness between the showers

but you will need to be wrapped up

mostly -- nice and warm. Top

temperatures four or 5 degrees and

in the breeze feeling cooler. You

can still see we are feeling the

effects of this area of low pressure

to the north of Scotland driving in

that cold air from the north and

feeding showers. It is warmer

further south and east but only a

bit. The whole of the British Isles

now in this cold zone of air. Into

the weekend, more wintry showers,

more bright spells between showers

but staying cold, particularly in

the breeze. Highs of five or 6

degrees. A chilly run of weather

over the next few days.

That's it for now.

Our next BBC Newsline

is at 6:25am in the morning

during Breakfast here on BBC One.

Goodnight.