22/02/2018 London News

widespread frost and the chance of

smoke too. And that is all

On BBC London:

Struggling

to keep the capital safe.

Met warns it faces further

cuts to police numbers.

They have sold of the buildings,

close down police stations, got rid

of many police staff, reduced the

amount of community officers, all

that is left now is police officers.

The government claims extra money

has been made available for the Met.

Also tonight, the 13-year-old killed

after being taken for a ride in a

Ferrari which crashed.

The driver denies death

by careless driving.

Plus the couple from tooting trying

to improve dementia care for the gay

community.

And hidden away in a sock drawer

for more than half a century,

the Picasso and photos of the famous

artist that have come

to light in Surrey.

Picasso was a bit out there for him.

So he put it in his sock drawer?

Exactly, he knew it was worth

keeping and he put it in his chest

of drawers.

A very warm welcome

to the programme.

First tonight - a

warning

from Scotland Yard today -

that police numbers could fall

by as many as 3,000 over the next

few years if further

funding isn't forthcoming.

A report by the Met,

and seen by BBC London -

also reveals how morale is falling

and an admission that the force will

struggle to keep Londoners safe.

It comes as the Mayor today

confirmed he was investing an extra

£110 million in the police.

But even he admits it's not enough

to stop officer numbers falling.

More from our political

correspondent Karl Mercer.

The Met police is being stretched,

it's dealing with another worrying

rise in knife crime and has been

challenged by a year of terror

attacks. It's also dealing with a

growing population in London, rising

by 100,000 people a year, while

police numbers are falling. Report

seen by BBC London News aligns the

growing pressure the police are

under.

This is the report that sets out

Scotland Yard's pretty

stark vision of the future.

Over 30-odd pages it

sets out a vision

of what the coming years will be

like without extra

government funding.

It warns that unless

it gets more money.

Cuts to workforce numbers

could be damaging.

It says that

pressures on its budget mean

that it is Struggling to invest

sufficiently in crime prevention.

It also outlines

the effect that cuts

and rising crime are having

on officers saying that

a lack of resources

is having a worrying

impact on morale.

There is also a blunt

warning on police numbers.

The report says that without extra

money London could see

just 27,000 officers by 2022.

A drop of 3000.

I've been working closely now with

the Met police force for the last

two years. They are not emotive

people and don't use this sort of

language very often. They've made a

prediction based upon the cuts they

are facing. 75% of the Met police

budget goes on human beings, on

police officers. They have cut as

much as they can, all that is

left... They have sold of the

buildings, closed police stations,

got rid of many police staff, they

have reduced the amount of community

support officers. All that is left

now is police officers.

So, what to do?

Well, this document

is Scotland Yard's submission

to something called

the Police Remuneration

Review Body.

Basically, the body that says how

much officers should get paid.

Scotland Yard wants a 3% pay rise

for staff and also £2000 extra

in London weighting -

measures it hopes will make the Met

an attractive place to work.

We are very clear about some of

those morale issues and we talk in

the document about the fact that pay

and rewards is part of that. We hope

that in the submission that we are

taking note of that and trying to do

something that strikes that

difficult balance between being fair

to our offices and making sure it is

something realistic but also

accepting that that means there are

consequences on what money we have

to spend on police in London.

Paying

police more may attract more

recruits but the real sticking point

will be over who pays for that pay

rise. Mork Dom will central

government and evermore, or will the

Met and the mayor have to hand over

the cash? We're going to stay with

policing for a moment because

according to an independent

inspection, 90% of child protection

investigations in the capital have

been unsatisfactory. In some cases

children have been left to live with

paedophiles in London.

The Met insists it's making progress

but points out they dealing

with a record number of recorded

sexual offences committed

against children.

Chris Rogers has been studying

the latest probe commissioned

by the Home Secretary.

This is a quarterly report by HM

Inspectorate of Constabulary and

Fire And Rescue Services and they

were ordered by the Home Office

after inspectors last year found

many cases like this were not being

investigated because of budget cuts,

which is what we have been hearing

about a night. It does highlight

that measures have been put in place

but it is too soon to see if there

are any benefits, if they are

working. Let's the incidents they

highlight, in one of them, a

13-year-old girl called police after

a boy blackmailed her online and

after sending explicit images but it

wasn't investigated for 11 days.

Teaches informed police that a

seven-year-old was being abused by

his parents but he wasn't taken into

care and continue to be abused but

four months. Let's the wider

picture. Inspectors looked at a

sample of 214 child protecting cases

forced above that, almost 191 were

judged to be either requiring

improvement, or inadequate. The

backdrop to their staggering figures

is that there is a record number of

crimes like this being reported from

paedophilia to online abuse, and

exportation. 65,000 offences were

recorded in 2016, and 2017, and

children's charities say we need to

bear that figure in mind when

scrutinising the police.

I think there are a multitude

of issues that are causing

this to be so, such

as

an increase in potential

reporting of cases of

child protection cases

that

the police are having to deal with,

and part of that, we think,

is probably because of a real rise

in the number

of cases but also

the fallout of things

like Operation Yewtree,

the

prominence in the news

recently of child abuse.

The police are under pressure,

they have had resources

cuts to the front line,

which is making it more difficult

for them to do their jobs.

But ultimately we want them

to be doing a lot more

multi-agency working,

that is really the key to most

of those child protection issues.

Some context from a child protection

charity. Has the Met responded?

They

say they are pleased the inspectors

highlighted that they are making

significant processes in Samaria --

making significant progress in some

areas. Yet again they have

highlighted the huge scale of the

crimes they are investigating and

the budget cuts they are up against.

Chris Kamara for now, thank you.

Chris Rogers there.

Stay with us, coming up later

in programme Stay with us,

coming up later in programme:

We are looking for people with their

phones out and their headphones in

particular.

The thieves making

a violent career out

of swiping Londoners' phones.

They boast it's like "stealing

candy from a baby".

A businessman from Surrey

was in court today accused

of causing a 13 year-old's death

through careless driving.

Alexander Worth was thrown

from a Ferrari after

being taken for a ride.

The driver from Walton-on-Thames

said he hadn't been showing off.

Steve Humphrey reports.

Described in court as formidably

powerful, the Ferrari F50 that

crashed was filmed on the day of

the tragedy for a promotional video.

Later it was delivered

back to a storage unit

in North Warnborough

in

Hampshire that was visited by

the jury and court officials earlier

this week.

Matthew Cobden, seen here

with the red hair, ran the storage

business, and he offered to give

13-year-old Alexander Worth quick

business, and he offered to give

13-year-old Alexander Worth a quick

spin in the car.

The Ferrari struck a wooden post,

was launched into the

air, and rolled over, throwing out

Mr Cobden and Alexander.

Today in court a statement

made by Mr Cobden

and quotes from police interviews

were read to the jury.

Mr Cobden said he had

used a torch to make

sure he had put his feet

on the right pedals when he first

got into the Ferrari to move it off

a car transporter.

Mr Cobden suffered injuries

including a broken rib and

punctured lung.

Alexander, from Kings Worthy

near Winchester, was

pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Cobden said it was

impossible to express

in words how terrible

he

felt at what had happened.

He said he'd sent

a message of sorrow and

condolence to Alexander's

parents and was at

a loss to explain how

the

accident had occurred.

The defence have told

the jury they believe a

pre-existing fault with the Ferrari

caused it to accelerate

uncontrollably.

But the prosecution says

it was running normally before

the crash.

Mr Cobden denies causing death

by careless driving and the

case continues.

After eight years of going down the

latest figures suggest youth

unemployment is once again starting

to rise.

The government says

there are positive signs

of new opportunities

for school leavers.

Today the employment minister took

a tour of north London to find out

first hand the challenges some young

people still face in finding work.

Here's our political

editor Tim Donovan.

Words on the wall to inspire

at the Minister's first stop,

the Octagon Academy in Wood Green

for pupils who

found it difficult in,

or excluded from, mainstream school.

I really changed, like,

really a lot since I started here.

I started taking this second chance.

I didn't want to waste

it like I wasted my

first chance back in mainstream.

Yeah.

So I wanted to do things right.

Not easy doing this with so many

teachers and government

advisers in the room.

In general I just want to be

helping other people

instead of just using my skills

to do the wrong things.

The school is working

closely with the local Job

Centre plus but the head here knows

it's hard out there.

I think it is a difficult time

for them coming out of

school but if you get the right

advice, and the right information

and guidance, which is

what we've had here,

in conjunction with

the

work of the Department for Work

and Pensions, you can make a real

difference.

There are certainly jobs in building

Tottenham's new stadium

and the club's foundation is

promising many more in the future.

Last year I qualified

as an FA level one coach.

Youngsters here, attracted

by the chance to get a

coaching qualification.

They need independence,

they need to be

confident in what they do.

But learning workplace

skills leading to

other things as well.

The football side for many

is what allows you to

get them through the door

because of their love

or their interest

in

football, and then they

learn different skills.

A lot of them are into their

coaching but also a lot

of them have gone

down different paths.

Introducing what kind of work

they're looking into...

And then to the job

Centre plus in Enfield.

The rise in youth

unemployment may be

small, up from 10.9 to 11%

in a year but it's the first

time in eight years

it's headed in the wrong direction.

Ten minutes whereby

you choose ten places...

And there are signs

of new jobs drying up too.

When you look at this age

group, look at the jobs

picture, stagnating

wages, the possibility,

the cost of housing.

It's quite a bleak picture for young

people at the moment.

You were with me during

the morning and you also

saw the reaction of the young people

from the support that they are

getting and they were

absolutely inspired.

They are really inspired and I felt

really positive that we

are doing the right things in terms

of providing that support, and of

course, with that support

we need to make sure

we are helping people

with

the cost of living as well.

Just a snapshot for

the Minister of one

small area of north London, but

leaving with the hope that this rise

in joblessness will

soon be reversed.

Tim Donovan, BBC London News.

Turning to something

we've reported a lot on,

and it's on the rise.

Robberies involving mopeds,

particularly in busy

areas like Oxford Street,

with thieves often

swiping someone's phone.

Well, for the first time,

some of those involved in the crime

have been speaking to the BBC.

Specifically journalist

Livvy Haydock who's here -

about about how and why they do it.

We will talk to you in just a

moment. First, a glimpse into how

easy they find it.

And would you go straight

through the lights?

Do you think people

are stupid walking around

with their phones out like that?

But it's so normal.

You saw a glimpse of her before, the

journalist behind the documentary.

Inside Britain's Moped Gangs,

Livvy Haydock is here -

Thank you for coming in.

They're effectively

saying 'user beware'?

Yeah. If anything it was almost like

a list of how not to get mugged from

the mugger, so it was extraordinary

really to get that kind of insight

from guys who are making a living

going at stealing phones off people.

As you say it was extraordinary.

Incredible access.

Thank you.

How

did you get to the stage where they

allowed you in, so to speak?

There

are so many crimes committed using

motorcycles in 2017, I think it was

something like 23,000, so that

something like 23,000 people

involved in crimes, so there are a

lot of people out there who have

been involved in this, so it was a

case of approaching people, talking

to them, explaining that I want

insight, I want to understand what

motivates you and why you are doing

it, and what you feel is to be

gained. It also ultimately how

people can protect themselves

against your type of crime.

Were you

surprised by anything you saw

experienced while you were with

them?

I was surprised at how they

brag so much about how easy it is.

The boasting?

The boasting, yeah.

But actually, if you chatted to

them, which I did, and challenged

them, actually they know what they

are doing is wrong, there is remorse

there. But you've got to go beyond

that. It is also partly to do with

being young men and the adrenaline

rush, bragging, Instagram, social

media about what they are doing, and

the stance they are doing on their

bikes while doing these crimes. --

the stunts. Below that there is

remorse in there and it's becoming

more or less normal for them.

Turning now to what they do with all

of these phones, you mentioned the

huge numbers, because there isn't

much value selling them here. I

think we have a clip showing what

they do with them.

Did you get any insight from being

with these gangs that this type of

crime is slowing down or how people

should be protecting themselves

more?

Protecting themselves more

definitely, in terms of being more

aware of what is going on around

you. You wouldn't walk around with

cash in your hand but we do with our

phones and it is sad we cannot do

that any more but it is getting to

that point. The bad weather over

Christmas and earlier in the year

puts these youngsters off going out

on their bikes because it is even

more dangerous.

It is quite an

insight. Thank you for coming in.

And you can watch Livvy Haydock's

documentary for BBC Three

Inside Britain's Moped Gangs.

It's available on the BBC iPlayer.

Still to come this

Thursday evening...

The footie match which raised cash

for Grenfell survivors -

QPR is recognised for

its fundraising efforts.

For anyone

who suffers from dementia,

or who has a loved one

with the condition,

it can be an isolating time.

One couple has told us

how their experience has been even

more of a struggle because

they're gay and are now

trying to help others.

Helen Mulroy went to meet them

at their home in Tooting.

A happy life at home together with

his husband. It is something Mike

Parrish has always aspired to after

coming out as gay in the 1970s.

It

was a difficult time, helping with

the Pride march and getting a

mixture of cheering and happiness

and also quite a lot of abuse. You

would hear about people being beaten

up a lot. There was always this risk

if you were together that you could

be targeted and fought on it did. It

was in the late 80s that he was

beaten up.

But with the decades,

society's view on homosexuality

changed and they built a life

together.

For us it was a nice safe

place to be. One has a huge appeal,

even when the law wasn't quite

right, even when things were

happening to us that wasn't fair, it

was easy to lose yourself in places

and make friends.

They never

imagined they would face prejudice

again in the future. That was at

least until Tom's diagnosis with

dementia related to HIV.

We have to

explain our relationship. I refer to

my partner as she rather then he. We

hear stories where people are in

care homes looking after people with

HIV will put rubber gloves on, they

will make them sit in one particular

seat, make sure their cutlery is not

used by other people.

And they are

not alone in their experience.

Dementia is challenging whatever it

is but it is more challenging if you

are from the LGBT community. Often

people can be marginalised. If they

felt this from the NHS and social

services, they might not have had a

great response and it will prevent

them from making contact in the

first place.

Now Mike and Tom are taking their

story on the road with the help of

the Alzheimer's Society through a

series of talks, hoping to drive

change so that in the future gay

couples dealing with HIV and

dementia don't have to face the

challenges they have hard.

I think

when I was 20 I would've thought by

62 this would have stopped. We

wouldn't have to keep saying, by the

way we are gay couple, but the

reality is for of gay people people

that never stops.

A football club whose

stadium is in the shadow

of the Grenfell Tower has been

recognised for the support

it has offered survivors.

QPR football club hosted a high

profile charity match,

which helped raise almost a million

pounds for those

affected by the tragedy.

Chris Slegg has more.

Shahin Sadafi lived on the fifth

floor of Grenfell Tower. Only his

mother was home on the night of the

disaster. Fortunately she survived.

There was a place where we grew up.

It was a place where friendships

were made.

Immediately after the

disaster, QPR opened their stadium

for people to leave donations.

Within weeks they had organised a

fundraising football match. Playing

alongside legendary players and

celebrities were Grenfell residents

including Shahin Sadafi himself and

remains grateful for everything the

club has done.

QPR were there with

the community from the start, one of

the many groups that came together

and said let's see what we can do.

The match helped raise close to £1

million, an effort that has seen QPR

nominated for a prize at the

football awards. Les Ferdinand was

among those who played.

For me, the

most poignant part was after the

game when I was speaking to some

survivors and people that were going

back to the hotels. They were saying

through all of this they felt they

had been on their own and it was for

the first time they felt they could

come out and enjoyed a day.

At the

Brit awards last night, Stormzy

attacked the Government for their

perceived inaction.

# Theresa May where is the money for

Grenfell?

Downing Street's response

was that over £60,000 has been

committed to the Grenfell community.

Shahin are still living in a hotel.

The Government authorities need to

do more. There's a lot of talk but

it's time to take action, show what

they are made for and what action to

the words they are saying.

QPR say

they will continue to offer support

to the Grenfell community.

His paintings sell for millions

and he is one of the most

influential artists

of the 20th century.

Quite a surprise then that one

of Pablo Picasso's works,

along with unseen photographs

of the great painter,

have been stored at the bottom

of a sock drawer in Surrey

for half a century.

Sarah Harris has the story.

That's the camera my father used

then, and that I kind of grew up

having pointed at me

when I was a kid.

And it took the pictures that

recorded the week his father spent

with one of the most famous artists

of modern time.

The plate was given to Jonathan's

father by Picasso to celebrate

the week they spent together

in the south of France back in 1964,

after a chance meeting on the beach.

The Surrey amateur photographer,

pictured here with the man himself,

kept the gift and the photos

in an old sock drawer.

My father was not a fan

of Picasso's as an artist.

He thought he was a lovely man

but didn't like the art.

His taste was much more 19th-century

and Rubens and Constable and sort

of representational stuff,

and Picasso was a bit

out there for him.

So he just put it

in the sock drawer!

Absolutely, he knew it was valuable,

worth keeping, and put it

in the bottom off his

chest of drawers.

Pablo Picasso never stops working.

Ceramist, sculptor, painter,

in one medium and another...

Picasso's work sell

the tens of million pounds.

Picasso's work sell

for tens of million pounds.

The photographs Jonathan's dad took

show him enjoying the company

of friends he even sometimes used

as human canvases.

Stanley, he says, was not fazed

by the painter's fame one jot.

He just took it

completely in his stride.

He was very pleased to have

met Picasso, then move

on and do whatever is next.

But most people would have said hi.

There must have been something

magnetic about his personality

that he invited him back to his home

and he was taking pictures

of him the whole time.

He just had charm, you know?

He was one of these people

who could walk into a room

at a party and everyone knew

he was there and

everybody loved him.

Now a Picasso exhibition

is being curated at the local

gallery in Woking.

This discovery was actually

the beginning of the whole

Picasso Fiesta, which is happening

at the Light Box because Jonathan

is a great supporter of ours.

He lives just down the road

and happened to mention in a totally

chance conversation that he had

all these photographs.

The exhibition starts next month.

Jonathan says he'll not

sell his late father's

photographs at any price.

They are just part

of his family's history.

Sarah Harris, BBC London news.

Let's see how the weather's

looking with Louise Lear -

colder is how it's feeling.

Yes, you might need to venture into

that sock drawer over the next

Yes, you might need to venture into

that sock drawer over the next

couple of days, you will need extra

layers but today has been a tale of

two halves. We started off gloomy,

but into the afternoon what a

change. A beautiful afternoon. The

cloud broke up, the sunshine came

through. That is chilly out there

but this helps to compensate.

Through the evening the clear skies

will stay with us and the

temperatures will fall away. It will

be acquired quiet weather theme over

the next few days. There will be

cloud hit and miss chiefly to the

north of London across parts of

Hertfordshire and into six, but the

temperatures are likely to fall low

as minus three degrees. Again some

lovely spells of sunshine and

through the day we will see

fairweather cloud being dragged in

from the North Sea, but that will

melt away into the afternoon and we

keep sunshine so we also keep the

clear skies. By day a maximum of up

to 6 degrees, factor in the strength

of the winds and it will feel cold.

We keep the clear skies, a cold and

frosty start into Saturday, and

again on those exposed coasts down

to Essex and Kent it will be cold.

Further inland more chance of seeing

sunshine on Saturday, a glorious day

and not much change as we head into

the second half of the weekend. This

high pressure dominating the story

across Scandinavia, and if we trace

the wind direction back to the Artic

that's the reason it will feel so

cold. Moving across the North Sea,

it will feel cold. It will stay cold

all week and in fact temperatures

perhaps by day will struggle to

climb above freezing. And yes there

is the potential maybe for some snow

on Tuesday night into Wednesday

morning. Keep watching the

forecasts.

morning. Keep watching the

forecasts.

I think we will, thank you. That's

all for now, from me and all of the

team, thanks for watching and have a

lovely evening.