08/03/2018 London News

officer taken ill after heaping the

former Russian spy

Coming up on BBC London News...

We hear from the parents

of a severely disabled baby boy

who's died after his life support

was withdrawn against their wishes,

after long legal battle.

Right now, all I can feel is pure

anger. All I know is justice was

served at all.

-- was not served.

Medical staff say their thoughts

are with the parents.

Also tonight...

Putting their lives at risk -

a mother's warning

against an online craze that

saw her son putting himself

in the path of oncoming traffic.

Plus, the oil slick

which threatened wildlife

on a stretch of the River Lea.

Now the Government reveals it knows

who was responsible.

And, on International Women's Day,

we're on the beat

with head of the Met.

-- with the first

female head of the Met.

She tells us what her late mum

would have thought of her becoming

the first female commissioner.

I think she would have laughed and

been amazed that her little girl had

gone on to do this.

A very warm welcome

to the programme.

The parents of a severely

disabled baby -

who fought against London doctors

over the decision to

withdraw his treatment -

have paid an emotional tribute

to their "brave little boy

who fought all the way".

One-year-old Isaiah Haastrup passed

away hours after being

removed from life support.

It was switched off

after his parents lost

a long-running legal battle.

They told us, they are heartbroken,

as they shared photos of their final

moments with their son.

Marc Ashdown reports.

Isaiah Haastrup's short life came

to a tragic end yesterday evening.

While he's been fighting to live,

his parents have been

fighting his hospital,

determined he should be given

every chance to survive.

He had a little

cheekiness about him.

Especially when you come

beside him and call his name,

when you open his eyes and stuff

and turn his head towards you.

That I'm going to miss, but,

right now, all I can feel

is just pure anger and...

All I know is justice

was not served at all.

Isaiah was born at Kings College

Hospital last February.

He suffered catastrophic

brain damage.

After an investigation,

Kings eventually apologised

for mistakes doctors made that day.

His parents originally

accepted his prognosis but in April

they saw signs of life and disagreed

he should simply be allowed to die.

The hospital went to the High Court

to seek legal backing.

In November, a judge

agreed to a second opinion

from an independent expert.

In January the court ruled life

support could be removed.

After the parents' appeals to UK

and European courts failed,

yesterday, medical support

was removed and Isaiah passed away.

Kings told us they have always

actively sought to involve Isaiah's

parents in his care and have always

acted in his best interests.

They say the decision to apply

to the courts to remove

treatment was only taken

after careful consideration.

The parents still feel let down.

They say in court the doctors

claimed Isaiah could only breed

-- breathe for a few minutes unaided

- he actually survived

yesterday for seven hours.

They'd always argued he'd

have a chance of living

if he was weaned slowly

off life support.

These are Isaiah's

last precious moments.

Parents must be listened to more

and not just say, well,

the doctors have spoken and looking

at the parents from a prism of,

they are in grief or pain.

They don't know what they're doing,

they're delusional.

But they allowed you to

get a second opinion?

All the judges agreed

with the hospital.

The attitude of the court is,

well, we don't care.

They're doctors, we are not a doctor

will stop that we are the parents,

and we see our child.

We see him helpless in the bed.

The beauty of it is Isaiah

showed us what he can do

and that he wanted to live.

As a system we let him down again,

even at that stage.

I think we need to review our system

and save more kids.

Kings maintained it was always

impossible to predict how long

Isaiah could breathe

on his own and their priority

was to ensure he was

comfortable with his family.

We kept talking to him,

we kept singing to him,

to encourage him, to let him know

we were here for him.

And he fought,

he fought all the way.

And Marc, a really upsetting

story for all involved.

A sad and tragic end to a difficult

year. Upsetting and distressing for

the family but also for the hospital

staff. There are no villains will

stop their one set out to harm

Isaiah but there are lessons to be

learned. The one at the centre is

about trust. Any hospital manager

watching now will be concerned about

the fundamental breakdown between

parents and the medical experts.

Such a difficult case but not the

only one of its kind.

The young lady

being treated at Kings, we have

reported that story and also Alfie

Evans, the case is being played out

in Liverpool right now. What unites

them is parents are differing wildly

in their views of what is the best

care, challenging the view that the

doctor knows best. Today the parents

are saying, what if? Have we

received the best care? Hospitals

will want to persuade people you can

trust us and they will want to make

parents feel they are fully

involved. Sadly, more of these cases

might crop up.

Thank you.

You're watching BBC London News.

Coming up later in the programme...

I am in Totten is more details

emerge of who caused the oil spill

which aren't wild life on this

stretch of the River Lee. --

Tottenham.

A teenager has died

after being shot at a cinema

complex in Wood Green.

Armed police were on the scene last

night along with paramedics.

The 19-year-old was taken

to hospital but died

a short time later.

No arrests have been made.

Here's Alpa Patel.

This was the scene outside a popular

cinema in Wood Green last night.

Today, cordoned off, along with

several restaurants and a bus stop.

While forensic officers conduct a

thorough search of the area after a

19-year-old was shot and killed

before half-past midnight last

night. We met Brian Finnegan, who

was walking home shortly after the

shooting he told us what he saw.

Myself and two colleagues, we were

heading home and we actually saw the

guy. He was on the ground. There

were two girls and one fella. They

were trying to comfort him but, as

far as we know, he was already gone.

Just a terrible scene to see when

you are heading home.

Brian and

another witness told us they saw the

teenager lying on the ground inside

the doors of the cinema. We have

been speaking to several residents

and people who own businesses in

this immediate area. Most wouldn't

appear on camera out of fear of

being identified. What they did tell

us was about their worries of gangs

operating in and around this

complex. They said that stabbings,

and the sound of gunshots, had

become a regular occurrence around

here. Brian, who lives in the local

area, echoed those views.

If there

were less crime, no knives were no

guns, whatever, it would be a lovely

area.

How bad is the crime around

here?

Well, what has been

experienced in the last few weeks,

quite bad.

Police say they are

looking into whether this murder was

gang-related. They also want to

speak to anyone who saw two people

making off on mopeds shortly after

the shooting. The 19-year-old is the

second person to die from a gunshot

wound this year in London and the

seventh teenager to be killed on

London's streets will stop --

streets.

A man, who killed three

former partners, has

had his minimum sentence increased

at the Court of Appeal.

54-year-old Theodore Johnson

from north London, had two previous

convictions for manslaughter

when he was jailed for life

for murder in January.

He was ordered to serve at least

26 years behind bars

but three senior judges said

that the minimum tariff was too

lenient and it's been

increased to 30 years.

The Government is warning travellers

not to repeat the action

of some railway passengers

who walked on the tracks

near Lewisham station last week

when their train was stranded

for four hours.

The Southeastern service

from London Bridge to Dartford

stopped as engineers were unable

to move a broken down train further

up the line amid the snow and ice.

Some of the passengers forced open

the doors to escape.

The deputy leader of

Westminster City Council

has "stepped aside"

while an investigation

into his conduct takes place.

Conservative councillor Robert Davis

declared receiving more

than 500 gifts and hospitality over

a three-year period.

Last month, he referred himself

to the council's monitoring officer.

He strenuously denies any

wrongdoing, but the council's

Labour group says his

behaviour was inappropriate.

It will transform rail

journeys through London.

That's how the new

Transport Minister

Jo Johnson greeted plans

for new Thameslink

services announced today.

It'll mean shorter journeys

and capacity freed up on the Tube.

Mr Johnson, whose

surname may be familiar,

also recently became

Minister for London.

Our political editor, Tim Donovan,

joined him on his journey today.

Not just an opportunity to get a

different perspective but for the

new rail minister chance to get good

news on the trains, extra through

service is happening on Tenzing,

joining Cambridge and Peterborough

in the north to Brighton and Horsham

in the south and relieving pressure

on London's choopo. Yell it will

transform services. We're on a train

from Brighton, all the way through

London, to Cambridge was that this

is really transforming journeys for

people. What has happened is the

East Coast Main line has been joined

to Thames -- Thamelink. Thousands of

passengers do not have to get up at

Kings Cross and on again at London

Bridge.

This has opened up and

created a network of further journey

opportunities for passengers.

As

well as being new rail minister,

this visitor was also a

representative from London.

It is

about looking for opportunities we

have before us. We need a city

attracting inward investment. That

is what I want to work with as the

Mayor of London to achieve. The

previous mayor has a strong legacy

from his eight years as the Mayor of

London and we have seen in many of

the things around us today.

Do you

think Sadiq Khan is damaging that

legacy?

Here's early on in his

mayoralty and has a lot to prove.

What about complaints about the hard

seats on the trains?

I have been

sitting in it for a while but I find

it home and comfortable.

He headed

off, in press with what he had seen.

Passengers will find out for

themselves when the new services

begin in May. -- impressed.

The Government says a potential

source of an oil spill

along the River Lea in north east

London has been traced.

Last month plus Max Bill it is being

investigated by the Environment

Agency. --

The Environment Agency

is investigating last month's

spillage between Enfield and Newham.

Let's get more from Louisa Preston

who's on the banks of the river now.

Louisa...

the oil spillage caused chaos and

the clean-up operation is ongoing.

Wildlife was really badly affected.

We saw lots of pictures of swans

covered in black oil who had to be

rescued and then taken to local

sanctuaries where they were cleaned.

It caused chaos for people living on

the river. Basically, people living

on the river had been in lockdown

for the last four weeks. That is

because all of the locks on a four

mile stretch of this river have been

closed. That is to stop the oil

spill from spreading. We heard from

David Lambie he was asking the

environment minister in the House of

Commons as to how this could be

prevented from ever happening again.

Joining me now is Dick Vincent from

the canal and with that trust. Thank

you for joining us. David was saying

that the agencies have to work

together more closely. What do you

make of that? I would like to thank

David for raising it. It is a really

important issue. We need MPs and the

public to make a real change was

this has caused chaos and something

needs to be done.

Do you have any

idea as to who caused the spillage?

We do not know ourselves. We can

speculate. It was on an industrial

scale and has polluted four miles of

canals. It is a criminal act and

that is why we are pleased that

David has raised this. We need a

stronger deterrent to prevent this

kind of thing happening.

Many would

say there has to be a stronger

deterrent in place, maybe fines and

things, to stop this happening

again.

It is not for us, as the

charity that cleans up and looks

after the canals, to do that. We

bear the brunt. The real story, the

great story, is we have had help

from the local community and people

living on the boats to help clear up

what is a terrible thing and has

caused terrible damage to wildlife

in the area.

Thank you for joining

us. As you heard the terrible damage

to the environment. This is one of

the most polluted rivers in the

capital but hopefully things have

been done to stop this kind of thing

from happening again.

Still to come this

Thursday evening...

I was thrilled, humbled and

astonished.

Getting the top job in

the net on International Women's

Day.

Cressida Dick's reaction to becoming

London's FIRST female

police commissioner.

A mother of a 15-year-old

who was knocked off his bike

in an online craze -

which sees youngsters try

and swerve in front of a car -

is warning it's only a matter

of time before someone is killed.

Her son escaped with

relatively minor injuries.

She's now helping launch a campaign

to stop the craze spreading.

Yvonne Hall reports

from Hertfordshire.

This is the so-called game teenagers

are calling "swerve the car".

But 15-year-old Paul

Belcher pushes his

luck too far and doesn't

swerve in time.

Incredibly, Paul only suffers

bruising in the collision in

Hertfordshire.

I didn't know if he was OK,

if he was dead, if he had

broken any bones, if anyone

else had been there.

The impact of such a stupid game

could have been a loss

of life in so many situations.

For drivers, it is terrifying

and dangerous too.

A pregnant woman in

this car had to be

treated for shock.

This is the roundabout in

Borehamwood and a popular location

for teenagers playing

the so-called swerving game.

You can see how busy it is and how

dangerous it would be

to ride a bike straight

towards these vehicles.

But what a lot of these youngsters

probably don't realise is

their actions are being picked up

on the CCTV camera and it should

lead to prosecutions.

This is really dangerous,

to get as close to the

car as possible, usually

to intimidate the driver and it is

often being recorded,

because it is something

to put on social media

to

show their friends as a fun game.

Well, our message is

it isn't a fun game,

it is a dangerous game

and

people will end up getting

killed and injured.

Here a cyclist even

swerves towards a

police car.

Officers say the number of

complaints they're getting about the

craze is increasing.

They're now planning

a campaign in schools to

stop more teenagers risking theirs

and other people's lives.

Now to mark International

Women's Day -

this week we're getting an insight

into the some of senior

women who run London.

Yesterday, we heard from the London

Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton.

Today the first woman in charge

of the Met, Cressida Dick,

talks about advice in her early

career, the shooting of an innocent

man and whether the woman in charge

of the largest police force

in the country can ever relax.

I caught up with her

earlier this week.

What was your first thought when you

were appointed?

I was thrilled, I

was humbled, I was astonished and I

thought about my mum, no longer with

us sadly.

What would your mum have

said?

I think she would have

laughed. I think she would be amazed

that her little girl had you know

gone on to do this. How

How did you

cope in the earlies with the canteen

culture and the sexism in the force?

It was a different age. I loved

policing and I was prepared to

challenge. I stood up for what I

believed in. But I remember one of

my bosses saying, if you fight every

battle, you will get shot down and

that will be the end of you. I think

I learned you can't take on every

battle head on. But you should stand

up for yourself.

Do you ever show

vulnerability?

I heard myself saying

to my senior officers the other day

that we had had a terrible year and

I knew that some of them would be

feeling like crying and sometimes it

is good for a team to see a boss

making themselves vulnerable.

In

terms of shooting of a man, you were

cleared of any wrong doing, did you

ever question your judgment after

that?

I don't think you can an

effective operational leader if you

don't ask yourself hard questions.

Absolutely. Did I think that I had

made... You know fundamental error

of judgment in the decisions that I

made based on the information I had?

No I didn't. But a terrible thing

happened, an innocent man was

killed.

Does it ever feel like a

personal failure when you hear of

another stabbing?

I suppose in a

way... It does. I feel sad of course

for what has happened. I feel sorry

for everybody involved. And I know

that you know the public and the

media are kind of counting each one

and quite right too, because they're

all... You know cherished children.

Ry death is a tragedy and we should

all feel outraged by that.

What do

you want your legacy to be?

I want

to leave a Met that is in really

good slap. More importantly -- in

really good shape and I want London

to be seen as a safe city in which

people can see that we have taken

violence seriously and reduced the

most pernicious sorts of violence

and that we have done everything we

can to prevent attacks. The

terrorist threat is a generational

issue. How long have you been doing

this? Over a year.

Does it help your

partner was in the force and

understands the climate you work? .

It does in some ways, it means if I

need to drop everything and go and I

have to take a phone call, she does

get it. There might be a few down

sides as well.

Talking shop?

Exactly.

The nature of the job is

that you are on 24/7, 365 days a

year. So how on earth does the Met

commissioner relax?

I have got a

great team. Fantastic people. I have

always slept well and I find I eetzy

to relax. -- Easy to relax. Can we

imagine you putting your feet up and

watching a box set? Box sets might

be for retirement.

And tomorrow we'll hear

from the new Bishop

of London, Sarah Mullally -

the first woman to hold the post.

More on International Women's Day

on our Facebook Page.

Talking of positive role models -

how one charity is putting

its weight behind getting

more girls into rugby.

It's still seen as a male-dominated

sport but one London club

is helping to change that.

Emma Jones has the story.

Now then, no roughness, girls! Oh

this isn't a bargain sale. Attitudes

to women playing rugby have

hopefully changed a lot over the

years.

The London Welsh women's team

are top of their league and are keen

to inspire others to take up a sport

that means so much to them.

It can

be offputing to start a sport if you

don't think you're slinky or skinny.

In rugby it is about strength as

well and it can help with your

fitness.

Being strong, independent

women who play sport is an

attractive thing. It is not worrying

what other people will think about

you, but going for something that

feels right for you.

This season the

team is being sponsored by the

inspiring girls charity. Founded by

international lawyer Miriam Gonzalez

it aims to find role models for

women.

We have more men who say we

want that society with women and

girls feel free to play rugby and

men feel free to do caring jobs and

we kick out the stereotypes. It is

easier than getting the vote.

He and

her husband Nick Clegg know about

the challenges.

I'm optimistic. Some

of us who are older come to equal

opportunities through a process.

These people have it in their DNA.

All we have to do is not ruin it.

With the women's Six Nationses back

this weekend, it seems we are not

too short of candidates for role

models.

Time for a check on the weather.

Ben's joined us -

hard to believe now

what it was like this

time last week.

what it was like this

time last week.

Yes you might have struggled to

believe we could get above freezing

again. But wait until you see the

temperatures for the week. Certainly

we are going to see some mild

weather over the next few days. At

the same time there will be some

rain at types. Most of us got to

enjoy some sunshine today. Some

cloud for our weather watcher in

Hertford but a beautiful scene above

The Shard earlier. We had some area

of cloud. But we have had some

sunshine. Where we have the sunny

skies by day we will have clear

skies at night and temperatures will

dip. Some patchy cloud during

tonight. Some clear starry scars for

most and the -- skies for most and

temperatures just above freezing,

but for many places down to minus

one or two degrees. Some frost in

the morning. And some mist patches.

We get some sunshine, but it won't

last. Because the cloud will be

spreading up from the south and into

the afternoon you can see these

outbreaks of rain. The blue colours

show the rain will be light. But the

odd heavy burst. Won't stop the

temperatures getting up to 10

degrees. Breezy but we say goodbye

to the wet weather on Friday and

Saturday starts off with spells of

sunshine. One or two hefty showers.

But look at the temperatures - 14,

15, maybe even 16 degrees if you're

lucky. Because this area of low

pressure will drive things through

the weekend and yes, it will bring

rain, but it will also give us this

feed of southerly winds. So mild air

continuing to waft in. But some of

us could see a bit of rain clipping

through on Sunday. Particularly in

Essex and Kent. But generally a

largely dry day. Still mild. Next

week not as mild, but still 11 or

12. We might have struggled to think

we would see temperatures like that

again after last week.

Thank you.

we would see temperatures like that

again after last week.

Thank you.

Let me just recap

the main headlines.

The police officer who

helped a former Russian

spy and his daughter,

after they'd been poisoned by nerve

gas is now able to sit up and talk.

But Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey

remains in a serious condition.

A one-year-old from

South London who was left

brain damaged at birth has died,

hours after doctors

withdrew life support.

Isaiah Haastrup's parents had

fought against a decision

by King's College Hospital

to move him to palliative care.

That's it.

Asad Ahmad will be back later

during the ten o'clock news,

but for now from everyone

on the team have a lovely evening.

Goodbye.