09/05/2017 London News

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.

A father tells us he believes knife crime has become an epidemic.

His son was left paralysed after being stabbed

It's a life sentence. I've got a life sentence, he's got a life

sentence. He doesn't deserve it. Stop, get against the fence!

We're on the front line to see how a specialist Met team

is trying to combat knife crime after a spate of attacks.

So in the run up to the general election, we ask politicians how

500-year-old pages by William Caxton -

the man who brought printing to England - are rediscovered.

Join me as I tried to turn 20 tonnes of newspaper into a work of art.

Welcome to BBC London News with me, Riz Lateef.

We start tonight with the issue of knife crime, which has already

claimed the lives of six teenagers this year.

It is very much an election issue for Londoners -

and the politicians tasked with tackling the problem.

We'll look at that in more detail in just a moment,

but first our Home Affairs Correspondent Nick Beake has been

speaking to one father devastated by an attack on his son.

And a warning, you may find some of the images

17-year-old Jamal Boyce was stabbed in the heart outside

Paramedics brought him back from the dead.

But seven months on, this is his life.

There is no form of communication with him.

He can't move, he's blind, there is no speech.

He cannot feed himself, he gets fed by a tube.

So it's a very low level of life he's got.

Jamal had never been in a gang, never carried a knife,

never been in trouble with the police.

What I thought was important is not important no more.

Well, spending time with people you love and who love you.

That's what I've realised throughout this whole experience.

It's like demons have just taken over the youth of today.

There is no morals, no love, it's insane.

One with a grey hoody, backpack, jeans, blue jacket.

This week we went out to see how police are tackling knife crime on

the front line. Here in Lewisham, this boy has been

stopped because teenagers have He's one of 400 people

arrested in the past week Obviously in the moment

you are more aware that these people might have knives,

and where he was wrestling with me, obviously he was bigger than me,

I have to be mindful where his hands In this case, despite an extended

search, no weapon is found. Michael Gallagher nearly died 35

years ago when he was stabbed. Now he's the officer leading

the Metropolitan Police's crusade A crime which has jumped

by a quarter in the past year. Yes, it is worrying,

yes it is tragic, but we will work through this as a society and I am

confident we can fix it. I'm not going to sit here and say

we're going to allow it to go up, we're going to everything

within our power legally in order to make sure we bring this under

control and reduce victims. Please, I am begging you,

I cannot take no more. The anguish of a mother

who will never see her son again. One of so many young Londoners

stabbed to to death. This weekend the families left

behind came together The people on this

march are of one voice. But when it comes to the best way

of tackling knife crime in our city, But how would this dad even begin

to tackle this problem? To get these children

into employment, into That would be such a fantastic

thing, if these guys want to go out killing

people, bring back... A lot of these children

have single parents, they've got no father,

they are the father in the house. They have never been disciplined,

so there is no boundaries It's not just my son I've lost,

I've lost my friend, Well, another 17-year-old has become

the latest victim to lose his life The teenager is the 11th

person to die from knife crime in just two weeks,

and today police released CCTV images of two people on bikes

they want to speak to. The 17-year-old was a good

footballer. A popular teenager. His friends, who came to lay flowers and

remember him, told us about the young man they knew. He was like no

one else in this world. No one. I saw him three days ago, and I

haven't seen him for about a week. He told me he was so happy, he

hadn't seen me for so long, but it had only been a week! He was

smiling. He was stabbed here in Walthamstow on Sunday night, in what

police are calling a targeted attack. They want to speak to these

two people seen on their bikes earlier that night, and are

appealing to anyone who might recognise them to come forward.

Elijah is the sixth teenager today this year after being stabbed. His

friends are struggling to understand. The cycle goes on and on

and on. Page has been set up to raise money for the funeral. Part of

the post reads, we all sit here shattered and regret, sorrow and

pain, questioning why? So in the run-up to the election -

what are politicians saying about how to tackle knife crime

here in the capital? Our political editor Tim Donovan

is at New Scotland Yard. Tim, give us a sense

of what they're planning to do? Well, none of the parties are saying

there are easy solutions, and none are saying it is about policing

alone, but obviously it is a key issue, and it is the Labour mayor,

Sadiq Khan, who has the closest political direct involvement, having

direct political authority over the Metropolitan Police, and he has made

this predominantly about resources, a question of resources. We know

from Labour that they would put 10,000 more police officers on the

street across the UK, a big chunk of those would be in London. We also

know that Sadiq Khan has made a big deal of the ?400 million of cuts

coming down the line for the Metropolitan Police, but if Labour

were elected, would they be in a position to reverse those cuts?

Under the Tories, we would face those cuts and others as well. Under

Labour, we would have additional uniformed officers, and a safer

London. The Labour Party would reverse those cuts? I am sainted

Labour Party we should not have the cuts announced by the Conservative

Party, and we should not have cuts after the election. I welcome the

uniformed officers. What about the Conservatives? We asked everyone to

do interviews. The Conservatives said they could not put anyone up to

do an interview, we know that they believe they have been responsible

for tougher sentences, including an automatic custodial sentence if you

are found guilty of second time of possessing knives, they also want to

commit to working with retailers to try to act on underage sales bid

sales of knives, and they were not prepared to do an interview, but

they say that knife crime is still lower than it was in 2010. They said

they'd take any increase extremely seriously and will continue to work

closely with the police. The Liberal Democrats say that there will be

more funding, more police community support officer is to provide that

local intelligence. Visible policing increases trust and confidence. If

you know your local police officer you can give them intelligence. If

the police officers now who are carrying knives, they can stop and

search more effectively, and overall crime will reduce because the police

and the community are working together. Not just about policing,

as we already said. The Green party make this their emphasis, but they

are concerned about the cuts to use services, young people services, the

absence of education in schools, so it is not just about diversionary

projects, it is about the two daily engagement with young people. Ukip

have not provided the details of what will be in their manifesto, but

they have been criticised by the mayor of concentrating on line crime

than knife crime. This has risen up the agenda, and the whole issue of

youth violence, of knife crime will continue to be there if young people

continue to lose their lives. Thanks very much indeed.

And a reminder you can find plenty more information and analysis

on the upcoming election on the BBC news website.

Stay with us, though, still to come before seven.

I'm in Lambeth, where police have taken a new approach to deter

And have you wondered what happens to your old newspapers?

We speak to the artist using 20 tonnes of them

A jury has ruled that "excessive force" by 11 police officers

contributed to the death of a mental-health patient.

The 23-year-old died in 2010 while being restrained

at a psychiatric hospital in south London.

An inquest heard how he was held down for half an hour

He never regained consciousness and died days later in hospital.

His mum described him as her gentle giant. Sheni was 23, and IT graduate

with no history of mental illness. He was very popular, lots of

friends. He hated injustice, he tried everything. In 2010, he went

out with friends over the August bank holiday, and returned home

complaining he had been spiked with drugs. The following days his

behaviour became erratic soul is him to hospital in Croydon. He was

transferred to Camberwell and detained under the Mental Health

Act, but after a short time with no beds he was discharged and referred

for further treatment. 24 hours later he collapsed and never woke

up. He had been restrained by staff twice, and then by 11 police

officers. Postmortem examination found his brain had been starved of

oxygen. Today an inquest jury unanimously found the level of

restraint was unnecessary and unreasonable, saying the officers

had used excessive force. It has taken nearly seven years for this

inquest to be heard. Eventually the Independent Police Complaints

Commission investigated his death, then in 2013 there was an external

review of the evidence by a QA. In 2015 Crown Prosecution Service said

there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges against any

of the officers involved. They have not faced misconduct charges either.

This is not the first time that restraint has caused the death of

someone, and it is not the lasting. What we're calling upon today is for

the Home Office, the Department of Health and the Metropolitan Police

to urgently respond to the shocking in this case, and for the incoming

government to publish as a matter of urgency the review into deaths in

police custody. I do not want to see another parent going through this.

After so many years of bringing up your children, caring for them,

providing them love, educating them, for this to happen when you take

them to a place of safety... He was not neglected, he was taken to a

place of safety, where they killed him. Seni's it is a of closure,

seven years after they lost him. -- for the family of Seni's.

In the last half hour, the Metropolitan Police has

given its response to the findings of the inquest.

The tragic circumstances that happened happened in 2010

and an enormous amount of work has been done around mental health

To put that into perspective, there's over 35,000 calls a year

into the Metropolitan Police that has some mental health element.

So we have worked tirelessly to improve our training

I hope I can give the public some confidence around that,

but it's absolutely right we go back and reflect on what happened

in 2010 to make sure, if there is more learning to be

The Metropolitan Police giving their reaction to the inquest.

A doctor from Hammersmith and his fiancee have been murdered

in an apparent burglary at their flat in Boston

Dr Richard Field and Lina Bolanos were found on Friday night

Yesterday their alleged murderer, who was shot by police at the scene,

was charged by a judge while he lay recovering in hospital.

Residents in Hillingdon and Uxbridge are demanding action over

what they claim is a growing problem of fly-tipped waste

The waste has been dumped beneath an elevated section

In a statement, Buckinghamshire County Council says it is currently

Next, to something that's divided Londoners.

Police have placed a sign outside Waterloo station warning people not

Some say it is disgraceful and have accused of demonising homeless

people, while others support the message.

Let's get more from Ayshea Buksh, who's

I am on Waterloo Road. This is a very busy street so you may get a

bus or member of public coming into shot, but if we go to the other side

of the street, you can see the new message that has been added by the

local force, saying, please do not give money to beggars. The police

force in Lambeth say they have done it in response to growing local

concern about aggressive begging, saying that well-meaning people give

money to all this people sleeping on the streets which exacerbates the

problem. We spoke to a couple of commuters outside the station

tonight about their thoughts. It probably does not have a good place

because it belittles the beggars, and it should be our choice whether

we want to get. The sign should be the opposite, please give whatever

you can. Honestly, there is money better spent elsewhere. They get the

money, it goes to gang leaders, so I think there is justification in it.

What about charities? What are they saying? Some charities are divided

on this issue, how to best deal with it. Centrepoint have told us they do

not approve. They believe people should be able to give what they

want, if they want. And that such administrative demonises those who

are vulnerable. Another charity, Thames Reach, have supported other

initiatives in the past, and they say that even though it is

well-meaning, giving money increases the use of drugs and alcohol, which

some homeless people have, and if people want to help, they should

donate to charities directly working with the homeless. OK, many thanks.

An extraordinary discovery has been made at the University of Reading.

Two pages of medieval text, which for centuries lay hidden

inside another book, have been identified

He was the man who introduced printing to England in the 1470s.

There are no copies of the pages anywhere else in the world -

It was in the rolling book shelves at the University's library that

Erika Delbecque was carrying out some research.

She picked up this box and made her extraordinary discovery.

It's a page of medieval Latin, printed by

That's only a year or so after the first ever British book came

What was your reaction when you realised exactly

I mean, this is the sort of thing you hope you will find one day

in your career as a librarian, so it was an extraordinary moment

to realise we had this early Caxton leaf in our collection.

William Caxton was a merchant who was the first to bring

This newly discovered page is from a book of his that helped

It spent 300 years pasted to another book to strengthen its spine.

A real page-turner of history whose value has now come to light.

If this ever came on the market, if I were an auctioneer,

I would put an estimate of 30,000-50,000 on it,

And this is the kind of press that Caxton would have used

He first came across them whilst working in northern France.

And just to create that one page would've taken

The document goes on display at Reading's MERL Museum

from tomorrow - one of Britain's first printed pages that helped

A London casting for a new film, directed by Idris Elba,

had to be cancelled last night because too many people turned up.

These were the scenes, as would-be extras tried to get

in to a community centre in Hackney to find out more about the project.

The response was so overwhelming, the police had to step in.

The actor took to social media to apologise to those

So, listen, the response to the open-casting

Thank you so much for sharing the info and coming down,

I don't want to shut it down, but it's looking very likely.

I'm just being honest with you guys, OK?

And for those guys that are standing in the cold, big up, big up,

we will try and get to you, but don't be surprised if we don't.

The artist David Mach is mostly known for working with match sticks,

Now, the Turner Prize-nominee will be putting some

He's currently installing his latest works at a gallery in Notting Hill -

in which he's used more than 20 tonnes of recycled

Alice Bhandhukravi has been to meet him.

David Mach's sculptures are anything but conventional.

From gorillas made of coat hangers to this work in

progress, a giant wave of newspaper crashing through the wall, engulfing

"Incoming", as the installation is called, goes

on public view tomorrow, so it's all hands on deck

All this paper came from a recycling centre and will end up back in one.

I'll make these installations in different places,

but I'm bringing objects into that place.

I like to get some infeasibly large things.

It has taken a fortnight for David and his team to get this far.

Each edition has to be cut down to size and laid out to support

It's engineering, but without glue, welding or fixings of any kind.

You have to go quite a few times, do you?

Right, I'm going to be here all day, I think.

What do you want people to take away from this,

If it's a piece of sculpture, you're making something that

you hope stimulates, mentally stimulates...

You know, I want their heart to be racing, I want the hair on the back

Sometimes you're looking for a bit of writing on a front page that just

fits the bill inside your head, that's poignant somehow, that tells

But a lot of the time, you're reading these things,

You say, oh my God, they're still looking for that kid.

As solid and imposing as this sculpture is,

David Mach says its physical presence is fleeting.

He'll be happy if it remains in the minds of his audience.

Time to get a check on the weather - Wendy's joined us.

The sun was time to come out today. I saw it! Yes, and there was a blue

sky! The lovely clear skies we had today, they are going to lead to

another problem as we go through the next couple of nights. The clear

skies, meaning for some of us they are going to be frosty nights coming

up. That should then be the end of it, the gardeners will be pleased to

hear, as it warms up. There is no frost after that. This has been the

picture today, with plenty of cloud first thing, and there was plenty of

sunshine this afternoon. As we go through the night, the remaining

cloud tends to break up and dressed a bit. There will be long, clear

spells and light winds well, meaning in country areas it will be to three

degrees. There will be frost on the grass, but some areas prone to frost

will get an error frost as well, which is not good news for growing

plants at the moment. It will be a chilly start tomorrow outside of

urban areas, but there will be loads of sunshine, and the temperatures

will shoot up, and in the afternoon London will see temperatures of 18

degrees. After that, Wednesday into Thursday morning, there could be

some frost in places. Then we draw in the warm and humid here, leading

to some heavy showers on Friday. We do need that rain, and it stays and

settled into the start of the weekend as well. So Thursday, there

is a risk of shoppers popping up as the day goes on, but mostly it is

dry with a fair amount of cloud around. It is warmer and more humid,

and the best chance of seeing much-needed rain comes on Friday,

with some showers, and a few knocking about on Saturday as well.

But the weekend looks warm and sunny. Line thanks very much. The

main use. The Prime Minister has promised a Conservative government

would cap energy prices. Theresa May said 17-million

households would benefit - Labour accused her of copying

their own proposal Jeremy Corbyn has said there will be

a 'day of reckoning' for the rich and powerful if Labour

wins the election. But in a BBC interview,

he refused to say whether Labour would definitely take Britain out

of the EU. More on the day's

stories on our website - and on our Facebook page check out

the so-called tree house in London That's it for now,

so thanks for watching