21/12/2017 London News

That's all from the BBC News at Six

so it's goodbye from me

For traders and Borough market it's

been a difficult time, emotionally

and financially, we hear how they

all pull together and they are

feeling more buoyant.

I think the

mood a strong again. The trade has

come back midweek. I think the local

Londoners were not going to be

overcome by this, they were

definitely going to shop soon

afterwards.

Also: Not guilty. A

Parliamentary aide is cleared of

rape at the Houses of Parliament.

And... The Christmas show with a

difference, the improvised musical

where the young audience double as

directors.

Welcome to the programme which

tonight, just days before Christmas,

comes from one of the largest and

certainly one of the oldest food

market in London. It is believed

that a trading market of some sort

existed here for around 1000 years.

And just put into context where

Borough market is, if you have not

been here, it is at one end of

London Bridge which is a stone's

throw away. Tonight it is lovely to

see that it is busy, it is festive,

and people and traders are getting

on with business as usual. But was,

just over six months ago, a very

different story. When on a hot

summer 's night it was targeted by

terrorists. Our home affairs

correspondent, Nick Beek, looks

back.

As the sun was setting

on London Bridge on Saturday the 3rd

of June, three men were approaching

in a hired van.

Intent on mass murder.

What we're hearing tonight,

the British armed police have

attended an incident at London

Bridge.

There was a white van

that came speeding over,

probably about 50 mph.

It turned into the pavement.

It hit about three

people in front of me.

The attackers then ran into nearby

Borough market, which was packed.

They ran up and started

stabbing this girl.

Three of them.

I was defenceless.

I couldn't do nothing, mate.

Then they attacked her.

Then they stabbed another guy,

I think, I was in shock,

they started running up the road,

I started going, everybody, run,

they are terrorists,

they are terrorists,

run, run, run!

They were stabbing everyone.

I was just staring at them

from the balcony as they were

making their way down.

I was just thinking,

how could someone do such a thing?

The victims were mainly

in their 20s and 30s.

Young lives cut short

as they enjoyed a night out.

In all, eight people

were murdered in the attack

here on London Bridge

and Borough market.

Eight people whose

backgrounds represented

the diversity of our city.

Three French, two Australian,

a Canadian, a Spaniard, a Londoner.

As tributes were paid,

tales of bravery also emerged.

Among the public and the police.

This guy is on the floor

and he is pleading for his life.

And the first attacker, without any

mercy, just stands over him

and continues attacking him.

I took my baton with my right hand.

Full extension.

I take a deep breath.

And I charged in.

Within eight minutes armed police

had shot the attackers dead.

Men who shouted, "This

is for Allah", as they carried

out their rampage.

The ringleader, Khuram Butt, was

known to the security service MI5.

There had been information back

in 2015 that he aspired to carry

out a terrorist act.

But after investigation

he was downgraded to a medium risk.

It was thought that he did not

have the capabilities

to carry out an attack.

London paid its respects,

but then bounced back with defiance.

If me having a gin and tonic with my

friends, flirting with handsome men,

hanging out with brilliant women,

is what offends these people

so much, I'm going to do it more not

less, because that's what makes

London so great.

That's what makes us

the best city in the world.

London Bridge quickly reopened

and soon Borough market

was welcoming customers once again.

Nick Beek, BBC London News.

It was a night of ordinary people

showing extraordinary courage and I

am pleased to say one of them is

with me now. Justin Jones, a

butcher, you were out with your

girlfriend that night, and we saw a

police officer who was injured. He

went to his aid at the time that he

was fighting them off with his

baton, but you did not know that,

did you?

No, I thought it was just a

standard fight, three on one, which

isn't very fair. You do what you do,

you go and help, and stopped it

effectively.

Were you ever mindful

about your own safety?

No, no, it's

just what you do, that's what I did,

it is what you should do.

Now that

you reflect on it, at the time

instinct probably takes over, but

now that you reflect on what you saw

and experienced, how do you feel

about it?

No different to how I

would feel if I didn't know anything

else about it. Even if it was

justified. I would do the exact

thing. It doesn't change the

mentality.

What about your

girlfriend? She was there, wasn't

she?

Exactly the same as me.

Actually, she said she has figured

out that she would help now, whereas

before she said she wouldn't.

People

are affected in different ways.

Sometimes you don't know how it will

affect you.

The police have been

really good. They contacted us.

Their specialist counsellors. They

offered any help we wanted. They

called us after a couple of weeks

and asked if I was all right.

I

imagine you are the kind of guy who

says you are not a hero, but you

were honoured, along with other

Londoners and members of the

emergency services for extraordinary

bravery, weren't you, how did that

you feel?

It was nice. Nice to get

recognised. But it's a nothing. For

me, it's coming you know, it's just

another day, it's nothing.

But you

did meet some of the people that you

helped?

When you drove Charlie to

hospital, we stayed in the relatives

room with loads of people. We

completely lost contact with every

single person. After that ceremony

everybody was there. It was

effectively a family reunion in a

weird way.

I know as a bridge it's a

busy time for you, so thank you so

much for joining us, happy

Christmas. -- I know as a butcher.

Thank you very much.

Justin Jones

there, showing extraordinary

courage. One of four terror attacks

which has inevitably put focus on

security. And today the Mayor

announced he is going to increase

the amount of income tax and bitter

towards policing. -- and put it

towards policing.

At times it felt like London has

been under constant attack this

year, four terrorist incidents,

14 innocent people killed, no wonder

the Mayor wants more money his

priority, he says, is to keep

Londons safe.

Home Office says the Met

will get about an extra £50

million next year.

Now, police forces are

funded partly by the

government but partly by local

councils, ministers are allowing

councillors to put up your council

tax by as much as £12 next year.

In London, the Mayor

is going even further,

putting it up by £14 20.

putting it up by £14.20.

That's an increase of about 5%,

and he says it will pay for police

and also the fire brigade.

He says he has no choice and today

reignited his war of words

with the government.

They resorted to smoke

and mirrors, pretending to give

the police more money,

but, in fact, just pushing

the responsibility to

taxpayers in London.

This is a regressive,

unfair, and, frankly, no

one is falling for it.

On Tuesday, the policing minister

made his views on the Mayor clear.

And instead of sitting

in his bunker writing out

letters for more money, he needs

to get out there and tell us what

he's doing to implement

his crime plan.

Sadiq Khan has another

problem brewing, too,

there is widespread scepticism

about pumping some of this money

into the fire brigade after three

reviews he commissioned concluded it

doesn't need more funding.

Because of Grenfell the Mayor

feels that he needs to be

seen to do something.

And what he is proposing

to do here is to put more

money into the fire brigade.

He knows they don't need it.

And if they do need it

he can find it from

other resources.

He doesn't need to be taking

the money specifically set aside

to fund the Metropolitan Police

in order to put funds

into the London Fire Brigade,

and we won't be supporting that part

of his proposals.

For months the Mayor commissioner

has been calling for more

money, now it's coming out

of Londoners' pockets

they'll want to see

results on the streets.

Marc Ashdown, BBC London News.

We can pick up on that with our home

affairs correspondent. How much of

this is a war of words, or a risk to

Londoners, do you think?

This is supposed to be the season of

goodwill. Plenty of people getting

into that. But there is a lack of

festive cheer between the Mayor and

central government because of police

funding. They have been at each

other throughout the year about it.

We've seen these terrible terror

attacks. But Sadiq Khan has said

that Londoners' safety has been put

at risk because of a lack of cash.

Government has said that London gets

more money for policing compared

with anywhere else in the city.

Counterterrorism policing, funding

for that is going up, but general

policing, Sadiq Khan wants more

officers on the beat. This year has

been busy for the police. There are

many challenges ahead next year,

too.

Thank you. On the note of

challenges, all of the traders that

you see here, it's been a

challenging six months for them

because they felt not only the

emotional impact but also a

financial one because after the

attack the market was forced to

close for 11 days while police

carried out forensic investigations.

But traders rallied together to help

get businesses on their feat.

Remember, some here are very small

businesses and it included a support

fund. Victoria Hollins has been

speaking to some of them.

Put it on yogurt, put it in desert,

have it by the spoon...

Sam Wallace knows a lot about honey,

she's one of 119 stallholders

at Borough market whose lives

were turned upside down

by the terrorist attack in June.

It felt really weird personally.

Again, Borough market

for us is about food

and about sharing food,

people coming together over a love

of food and then you have this

really alien action.

To be 11 days without being able

to connect and keep in touch

with your trader friends wasn't very

nice, on an emotional level.

The impact wasn't just emotional,

the market had to close for 11

days after the attack.

It was a huge blow for

the traders, many of whom run

very small businesses.

This is their business,

their life, and we are quite

protective of the space.

It feels like home.

Darren Hennigan is the managing

director here. He says it was the

uncertainty after the attack that

hurt many businesses.

It was

incredibly difficult. Both

financially for the traders but also

emotionally. And physically. There

was damage.

Many stallholders found

out their insurance did not cover

losses from terrorism. A support

fund was set up, raising more than

£100,000.

For some of them they were

able to pay them a good day rebuild.

For some, they were able to buy more

fish off the docks. Some, to put

petrol in the fishing boats, it was

that immediate.

Dozens of businesses

applied for help with losses of more

than £100,000. This organic dairy

farmer was one of those who needed

help.

I still have people to pay.

The lady who works on my stall on

Saturday, she needs that weekly

income. It enabled us to pay her,

for example. It has helped cash flow

because our turnover has got back up

to a sustainable level again.

Everybody has come together.

Everybody is behind each other. We

all want this to work.

Six months on

customers here seem to be returning.

Monica has traded here for 25 years

and has helped smaller businesses

who have suffered.

I think the mood

is strong again. The trade has come

back midweek. I think the local

Londoners were not going to be

overcome by this, they were

definitely going to shop soon

afterwards. It feels like it will be

a good Christmas.

Borough market is

open every day in the run-up to

Christmas. A hopeful time at the end

of a difficult year. Let me

introduce the sub dean of Southwark

Cathedral. Pleasure to have you on

the programme. The community spirit

we heard in that report, we have

seen time and time again in London

this year, and it makes you proud to

be a Londoner, really.

It's an amazing place to be. I am

actually from Yorkshire. I said I

would never live or work in London.

I have been here three years. It's a

fantastic community to be a part of.

Both here in the market, but also

there are lots of residents who live

in this area. Over the last six

months they have really pulled

together in amazing ways. Bringing

real hope and a new life out of some

really terrible events in June.

As

we approach Christmas, you mentioned

Hope, how do you bring a message of

hope to those families whose lives

have been changed so immeasurably?

I think the message of Christmas is

something about love conquering

fear. And light shining in darkness.

So no matter how hard things are

there is always hope that new things

can come out of it. And the spirit

that has come out of Borough market

and the whole of the London Bridge

area just testifies to that new

hope.

And when you look back on this year

and you reflect, what do you make of

it, what do you think?

It has shown some of the worst

things about humanity and some of

the best things about humanity.

There was a group of people who try

to divide us, and it failed because

we are a much stronger community

now. Here at the Cathedral Arab

relationships with the local Muslim

community has flourished. -- here at

the Cathedral, our relationships

with the local Muslim communities

has flourished.

Thank you very much

indeed. We are going to pause for a

moment. There will be plenty more

from Borough market later, including

this...

# Silent night, holy night... #.

We will be treated to a special

Christmas carol from the Borough

Market choir. That's still to come

later but now let's go back to Alex

for the rest of the day's news.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court has

unanimously cleared a parliamentary

aide of raping a woman

at the Houses of Parliament.

24-year-old Samuel Armstrong,

who's from Essex, was the aide

to a Kent MP and denied two counts

of rape and two of indecent assault.

Helena Lee was in court.

The jury took around five and a half

hours here at Southwark Crown Court

to reach their verdicts on all four

charges during this four week trial.

Samuel Armstrong, 24-year-old

assistant to the South Thanet MP

Craig McKinley, was on trial here

facing two charges of rape and two

of sexual assault. It was back in

October when he and a woman we

cannot name for legal reasons who is

in her 20s and also worked in

parliament, they ended up in the

office where Samuel worked and it is

there where they had sex. The jury

rejected the prosecution's case,

they say he had forced himself upon

this woman, however during this

trial Samuel had always denied the

charges and said what happened was

with her full consent. When those

not guilty verdicts were read out in

court, he cried, he was emotional,

and on the steps outside he gave a

very brief statement to reporters.

My whole life has been turned upside

down, for one year I have not slept

or eaten and I was innocent. Were it

not for the fact crucial evidence

was disclosed to my defence team

just eight working days before

trial, there could well have been

yet another miscarriage of justice

in this case. Thank you.

So we

weren't told exactly what that

evidence was that as you heard from

Samuel Armstrong that was disclosed

just eight days before his trial

here at Southwark Crown Court. We

have had a statement from the MP

Craig McKinley, who employed Samuel

Armstrong, and he said in a

statement he is very pleased for

Samuel, a young man whose life has

been destroyed over the past 14

months and goes on to say debate is

now needed over anonymity of those

accused. So Samuel Armstrong today

acquitted all four charges against

him.

A former abbot of a school in Ealing

is likely to die in prison

after being jailed for 18 years

for molesting former pupils.

74-year-old Andrew Soper

was convicted of a string of sex

attacks on boys at the prestigious

St Benedict's school

in the '70s and '80s.

As he passed down his sentence,

the judge described Soper's conduct

as 'vile', and 'the most appalling

breach of trust'.

The school has apologised

for the serious wrongs of the past.

The man accused of the Finsbury

Park attack in north

London last June has pleaded not

guilty to murder

and attempted murder.

48-year-old Darren Osborne

is accused of deliberately driving

a hired van into worshippers close

to the Muslim Welfare

House in North London.

One man was killed

and 11 were injured.

Detectives say they are growing

increasingly concerned

for the mother of a baby found

abandoned in an east London

park three months ago.

New footage has been

released of baby Harry

as police renew their appeal

to trace his mother.

He was named by the medical

staff who treated him,

and is said to be doing well under

the care of the local authority.

That's all from me.

Now though it's back

to Riz at Borough market.

Thank you, Borough Market is very

busy and there is food everywhere. I

don't know if you want to come with

me and look at the sorts of things

we have got. Everything handmade,

small businesses, stallholders. Wait

till you see what's over here. We

have an enormous array of fudge.

Where was this made?

We make it in

Somerset.

What's the best seller?

Probably salted caramel.

This one is

completely empty and that their

bestseller. You would expect at this

time of year, you've got cakes, read

on this side, and I just want to

come over to a man in a Santa hat.

It would be rude not to. I think

he's busy at the moment but from

what I can see I think they are

cobnuts. I'm going to see if I can

have a quick word with this

gentleman over here. Excuse me, I'm

not going to bother you while you

are serving but where does this come

from?

It comes from about 30 miles

away in Kent down the old Kent Road

into the pleasant Kent countryside.

And how its business?

Pretty good,

it is a nutty time of year,

Christmas time.

This is a busy time

for trading, after work on Thursday

night, as you can imagine. Christmas

wouldn't be Christmas without a lot

of festive shows across the capital

and this next one, how do we

describe it? It is interactive,

audience participation and it is

improvised. So basically what

happens is the cast take suggestions

from children in the audience and

then make it up on stage and make up

the songs. So what could possibly go

wrong? A very inquisitive Wendy went

to find out.

Roll up, roll up... The audience

takes their seats and for the next

45 minutes anything could happen.

# So it's time to begin the show!

Weird suggestions from the

audience...

Son to the dinosaur,

brilliant!

The show stoppers

entirely improvised the story and

songs. It is something they have

been doing successfully in the West

End for grown-ups but this is the

Christmas show and the kids have

taken over.

Now we are only taking

suggestions from the kids because

the grown-ups have proved themselves

unworthy of my attention.

The kids

come up with better ideas than the

adults, they are immersed in stories

so they come up with the best ideas

you have ever heard.

Have had crazy

things so far like a stand-up

comedian that was a candy cane,

elves inspired by Lord of the

rings...

And today the tale took no

less unexpected turn.

What was the

advice? Yes! That they are going to

have a baby, that's right. That's

the advice William Shakespeare gave

Captain underpants and Harry Potter!

They get to see adults doing what

they are told for a change, they can

get involved and be part of the

action.

This childish hijinks

inevitably leads to ultimate

silliness.

My favourite part was

when he said Captain underpants

farted a lot and it was so funny.

It's got this lot in the mood

anyway.

Are you looking forward to

Christmas?

Yes!

In a few moments we

will be treated to a Christmas Carol

by the Borough Market choir so I

will see if I can have a quick word.

Is it true you've got together

united by your love of food?

And

also a love of singing. We are a

mixture of staff, Borough Market

traders and people that live and

work in the local community.

And

lovely to see you smiling and

feeling like you are in full voice.

What will you be singing later?

Silent night.

And where else have

you performed?

We get a perform in

some fantastic venues around London,

so we are here Carol singing on

Saturday, we have also performed in

the Tate modern, and union Chapel.

I'm going to let you get ready. What

we will do in the meantime is let's

get a check on the all-important

weather with Elizabeth.

Today is the winter solstice, the

shortest day of the year and you

would be forgiven for thinking it

didn't get light at all today. It

was great, and mystique murky start.

For the rest of the week, very

little will change. It will stay

mild with temperatures in double

figures, we had 12 Celsius today.

Grey and drizzly at times, then

turning windier as we head into the

weekend but other than that very

little change. Overnight tonight,

keeping the grey, the mist and murk,

hill fog into tomorrow morning and

that mild air as well. Drizzle

around at times, damp feel to things

with moisture in the air. We start

of the day tomorrow at around eight

or nine Celsius. Tomorrow we have

got some slightly drier air coming

through so I suppose the big change

for tomorrow, if anything is that it

could possibly brighten up in some

places as we head into the

afternoon. No sunshine to speak of

but the cloud a bit thinner. Still

feeling mild with top temperatures

of 12 Celsius. As we had through the

rest of the week, very little will

change. We have high pressure

sitting to the south of us, all of

this cloud, the mist and murk is

swirling around it. The wind will

pick up, even see the isobars start

to tighten into Sunday, so a bit

windier on Christmas Eve which is

Sunday this year. On Christmas Day

itself, quite grey, feeling mild,

but a few changes by Boxing Day.

We are back tomorrow at 6:30pm but

let me take this opportunity from

everyone on the London news team to

wish you a Merry Christmas and I

leave you with the Borough Market

choir and Silent night.

# Silent night, holy night

# All is calm

# All is bright

# Round yon virgin

# Mother and child

# Holy infant so tender and mild

# Sleep in heavenly peace

# Sleep in heavenly peace