14/03/2018 London News

Never give up.

Tonight on BBC London News tonight.

Ten years after a Norwegian student

was murdered in London,

her father sends a message

to the main suspect in Arabia -

that he's still seeking justice.

We as a family need to know what

happened to give us the opportunity

as a family to have closure in

And for the first time,

we'll hear a response

from the suspect's family in Yemen.

Also tonight.

Waltham Forest is chosen

as the council in London to trial

a campaign to improve integration

and ease racial tensions.

A new research unit

at Imperial College will try to find

out why thousands of babies are born

prematurely in London each year.

The photographer taking a snapshot

of London's commute,

with a mission to take pictures

of every tube station.

Good evening.

I'm Asad Ahmad.

A decade after a Norwegian student

was murdered in London,

her father has told the main suspect

in the investigation -

that the case "will never go away"

until justice is served.

Martine Magnussen was found

strangled after she went out

to celebrate her end-of-term exams

with friends at a

nightclub in Mayfair.

She was seen on CCTV

leaving with fellow

student, Farouk Abdulhak,

who hours later fled to Yemen.

And as Caroline Davis reports -

he's never returned to the UK.

Laughing and smiling, recording a

message for her friend, Martine

Magnusson, studying in London when

she was killed ten years ago. Today

her father was in London to lay

flowers at the place her body was

found, in the basement of flats in

great Portland Street.

This is a

place where my life was turned

upside down, my family's life was

turned upside down.

Martine had been

at a party at a nightclub called

Maddix and left with a friend and

classmate, Farouk Abdulhak. This

CCTV released today shows them

leaving together, the last time

Martine was seen alive. Her body was

found the next day partially covered

by rubble. She had been raped and

struggle. Farouk Abdulhak left the

country that day and is believed to

be in Yemen, a country the UK does

not have an extradition treaty with.

He has refused to return to the UK.

I would ask him to make himself

available to the authorities and

explain what happened to Martine. We

need to know what happened to give

us the opportunity as a family to

have closure in this case. Farouk

Abdulhak is the son of a billionaire

businessman. In what is believed to

be the first statement from his

family, his father said...

This is an international case and

remains high profile in Norway. The

family and authorities believe it is

important to keep it in the public

eye to influence Farouk Abdulhak to

come forward.

I appeal he considers

his position and takes a responsible

position and returns. Also he has

family and friends who can influence

him and tell him to do the right

thing I urge them to speak to him

and say now is the time to come back

to resolve this.

The Mets say he

would face charges of rape and

murder if he returned to the UK.

Martine's father says he will

continue to fight.

This case is not

going away.

I am convinced this case

will be solved.

That's our top story this

evening, but plenty more

to come on the programme

before 7, including...

As Chelsea prepared to play

Barcelona in the Champions League,

we will watch with fans, set up to

try to encourage more female

supporters in football.

As you may have heard earlier,

the government is spending millions

of pounds on trying to ease racial

and religious tensions -

and bring communities together.

The only area in London

which'll get some money

is Waltham Forest.

Our Political Correspondent,

Karl Mercer, has been there to find

out why it's been chosen.

It could be a high street

anywhere in London.

Pretty typical scenes.

A pretty typical mix of people.

And a pretty typical mix

of languages spoken here.

Waltham Forest is a borough that

prides itself on the way

its different communities get on.

In fact just last week

it was announced it would be

London's first Borough of Culture.

This video part of its

bid to win the prize.

What are we doing first?

Today it won something else.

A visit from a government minister.

And £3 million to spend on so-called

social integration over

the next three years.

The Communities Secretary Sajid

Javid talking about his children.

But keen today to push

the need for better English

across the country.

That's part of what they'll spend

the money on here in Waltham Forest.

If you don't understand

English, you're

going to not be able

to participate in lots of things.

So, simple things like going

to the doctors, and if

you have to go with an interpreter,

you might be embarrassed to describe

your symptoms, or helping your

children who are growing up here and

going to school here

with their homework,

or even going to parents' evening.

We caught up with three women

currently taking English lessons.

And now I think not very well

but I think my English is good,

I can understand and I can

speak a little bit.

But not very good.

To work at my son's school,

it was impossible to

communicate with others.

It's still hard but I tried my best.

I have become confident. I can talk

with someone. I can tell them

stories. To my daughter. It is

wonderful.

Today won't be this week's only

social integration launch though.

On Friday London's

mayor has one too.

Local and national government

talking about the same subject.

But not necessarily

on the same page.

The government funding providing

English-language across the country

has been more than halved since 2010

so it is difficult to believe the

government saying they think it is

an important thing for social

integration when they have not

funded it properly.

The mayor is expected to put money

into a new family fund city hall

says will help.

Facebook is banned the pages of

Britain First and those of its

leaders. Louisa Preston has more on

this. Britain First had more than 2

million followers Facebook, which is

more than doubled in the next most

follow party, the Labour Party with

just over one million and Facebook

says they constantly warn Britain

First take down hateful content.

This comes after Twitter suspended

the account of Britain First and of

the two leaders of the group after

they pasted anti-Islamic videos. We

know the US president retweeted

those videos that created headlines.

The two leaders of Britain First

were given prison sentences last

week for hostility towards Muslims.

There is an issue of freedom of

speech and Facebook have been big on

this always.

They have and they

addressed the issues straightaway.

They released a statement saying we

are an open platform for all ideas

and political speech goes to the

heart of free expression...

Earlier I spoke to the founder of

tell Mama.

There is a distinction

between free speech and hate speech.

People can question religion and

anything they want but this was hate

speech targeted towards a section of

the community and the leaders of

this group, Britain First, have been

convicted.

The Prime Minister

Theresa May backed the move by

Facebook and also the Mayor of

London, who is strong on tightening

up regulations of the tech

companies. His statement read

Britain First is a vile and hate

filled group. They seek intentions

along these lines.

A vet from west London has appeared

in court charged with helping a gang

sell thousands of 'illegally

bred sick puppies.

Daniel Doherty -

who owns MyVet 24/7 -

denies conspiring to commit fraud

by issuing vaccination

certificates for puppies -

who often became ill or died soon

after they were bought.

The trial at Isleworth Crown Court

is expected to last three weeks.

Police are appealing for witnesses

after a

boy was shot in north London. No

arrests have been made after the

incident on seven sisters Rd.

Thousands of babies are born

prematurely in London every year -

and so a new research unit

at Imperial College has been set

up to find out why.

Scientists will ask if a bacteria

found in some mothers could be

the cause of early births -

or if other factors determine

when a child is born

before its full-term.

Here's Sarah Harris.

We are building the London Bridge.

Cecelia appreciates every second

she can spend with her six-year-old

daughter.

Before she was born she had gone

through 16 miscarriages

including a 20-week pregnancy.

So, when her precious

daughter came at

24 weeks she feared

she would die too.

Yes, that was my first thought,

and it was a difficult situation and

I just kept praying to God.

When the baby came out

at 24 weeks there was

a whole lot of torment in my head.

I was thinking, my God,

is it this time the baby

is going to make it?

Is the baby going to make it?

It was really a tough time for me.

Thousands of babies

are born early every

year across the capital,

many

experience health complications

and learning difficulties.

But now scientists have

secured funding to

find out why and do

something about it.

I would say there's two reasons.

One is the world-leading expertise

and scientists that we have in

London.

And secondly, the multi-ethnicity

that we see inLondon.

There may be an interplay

between where a person comes from,

genetic factors, the microbes that

live in our body and preterm labour.

So, London is the perfect

place to study that.

Babies weighing as little

as 500 grams, or about a

pound, can survive

with intensive care.

Around 5000 premature infants

are born in central London

every year.

Scientists in laboratories will work

with those born at Queen

Charlotte's, St Mary's,

Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals.

The work that we're going

to do has come from some

findings of ours that there is a

link between the bacteria that live

in the reproductive tract

and a risk of preterm birth.

But not everybody who has

these sort of abnormal

bacteria goes into preterm labour.

So, the question is why do some

people respond and other people

do not?

I want to do the sprinkles.

Sprinkles on the cake?

Yeah.

Wow.

She is thriving and happy

despite her early start.

Researchers want to make sure that

becomes the expected

outcome for the majority of

premature babies across the capital.

Sarah Harris, BBC London News.

premature babies across the capital.

If you've just joined us,

welcome to the programme.

We celebrate a revival as a play

returns to the West End to a theatre

restored expressly for it.

And in a few minutes, having had a

decent Wednesday across many parts

of the region I will have the detail

on what Thursday has in store.

Activists who took over a building

in central London to help house,

feed and support homeless people -

have today been told

by a judge that

they must leave.

The group have been squatting in

which they now call

the Sofia Solidarity Centre.

And last night alone -

over 150 people used it to get help.

Alpa Patel has been down there

It was opened up during the cold

snap. Those who live here say it

saves lives but the landlord said

they have no right to be here and

want them gone. We met Mo who has

spent the last four nights here,

otherwise he would be on the

streets, he says.

To be behind doors

you know nobody will come and attack

you in the street, nobody will steal

your stuff. You feel safe inside.

When you stay in the street...

This

18-year-old was originally from

Romania but has been sleeping rough.

He said they try hard to keep the

place tidy and respect the premises.

We clean everything. We are clean

people. The people help each other,

give them food.

The food is like a

medicine to them. Although it is

almost empty on the first floor, we

are told as many as 160 people

stayed here last night. Among the

sleeping bags and tents, their

photographs and books. For some,

this place is their home. Locals are

worried. They told us they seen

people you're dating outside the

building and are worried about

drunkenness and aggressive behaviour

-- urinating.

We have a no alcohol

policy. Where possible it is not

policed, but the volunteers are here

24 hours a day and we help people

with their problems a lot of the day

and we try to keep the place clean.

The landlord would say it is their

building. And that you have no right

to be here.

This building has been

empty 15 years and we have people

dying on the streets. Have I got a

right to be here? We have created

not just a place for people to sleep

and eat but to find themselves back

in their true selves and

contributing to this, it feels we

have created the biggest family.

That family will now be broken up

after a judge decided this evening

the squatters must leave. With

temperatures predicted to drop this

weekend, these are anxious hours for

the squatters of the Sophia

Solidarity centre.

Navas snapshots of London and a look

at our daily lives on the

Underground. This urban photographer

took the pictures. Wanting to take

pictures of all 270 stations. Why?

It started weirdly because on my

commute I started realising I was

taking loads of pictures and I

actually had lots of stations, I was

just taking them on the way to work

on the way home, and I thought, no

one has seen these images, they just

stayed on a hard drive, loads of us

take pictures and we don't share the

anymore so I thought I would make

the website and start sharing the

images and became a mission to try

to take not just snapshots but

something arty at each station,

something arty, interesting.

You

have certainly done that, arty and

interesting. If I describe Londoners

to non-Londoners, they are

resilient, when I look at what you

have captured around London, has it

can to decide of them you were not

aware of before?

Londoners can

actually talk to you on the tube,

bizarrely.

Now that's going too far!

Go on, tell us, that does happen

because when I take pictures people

ask me what I'm doing and then I

explained about the project and it's

quite interesting because you don't

need to be a tube geek to get

interest. You see a station and say,

I go there, that's where I met her,

that's where we done this, we have

that experience here. These pictures

are sort of snapshots that connect

all Londoners together. Trying to

get all of the stations, it's funny

because it's amazing, its quite a

lot of effort to get every station

and get something interesting.

You

are going around all of the tube

stations. I know this is tough but

if there was a Tube station that

summed up London, one Tube station

and you have got to go to to see

what London is about, any one that

jumps to mind?

I knew that you would

ask that one.

It is a difficult

question. I suppose the most

interesting would be Bank because it

is a massive station joined to the

Monument, it has one of the only two

tube stations to have a travelator,

a flat escalator, and it's got

interesting tunnels and things. But

there's nice visual stations like

James Hill and other stations.

You

know you are going to make me and

all my viewers look at tube stations

differently now.

Thank you for

sharing your thoughts and pictures

with us.

Football, and Chelsea

face a huge match in

the Champions League tonight.

They're away to Barcelona.

Chelsea will have to score

if they're to make it

through to the quarterfinals

after the first leg

at Stamford Bridge finished 1-1.

Every single player,

to play this type of game

against Barcelona at the Nou Camp,

you must be excited,

you must be excited to play

these types of games.

A lot of my players have never

played in this stadium.

This is their first time.

And we want to try and do our best.

As you can imagine there is no

shortage of Chelsea fans heading to

Catalonia's capital for the match,

while many more will be watching

right here.

Let's hear from Chris Slegg,

who's with some fans in Dalston.

This isn't a group of exclusively

Chelsea fans, but it's a group of

exclusively female fans because to

my's event was organised by a group

called This Fan Girl who are trying

to encourage more female supporters

into football. I will speak to a

couple in a minute the first of all

news on this theme today because

Tottenham Hotspur have apologised

for a survey they centre their fans

in America which included a sexist

question. Fans were asked to what

extent they agreed with a number of

statements, and one of those

statements, a woman's place is in

the home. Ottoman's pointed out that

a third party put the survey

together and they say it is a

regrettable oversight and wholly

unacceptable and apologised for the

offence course. Let's speak to Amy

and Emma if I could interrupt your

football viewing. Amy Cole what is

your response to that question sent

out by Tottenham?

I think it is

great they have apologised but

ultimately it is really

disappointing. Spurs have incredible

female football base, so I don't

know, it feels like a bit of a punch

in the stomach for some of their

female fans.

How did you come to set

up This Fan Grl and what are you

trying to achieve?

It was a

photography series to start with,

last season we went to every single

Premier League club in the country

and photographed the women of every

single club and we got to speak to

them and tell their stories and

understand their experiences of

being a female football fan in this

country.

Emma, some people would say

there is no shortage of female fans

at grounds today. Is there really a

need for a group like yours?

Totally, if you googled female

footballers you would still get a

lot of sexualised images from the

big brands and from the bigger

teams, from the FA, what we want is

a bit more 5-a-side getting stuck

in, Gresini is, lace up your boots

females, there must be a change from

the top-down. -- Grassi knees.

We

did a survey recently and we found

that over 50% of women experienced

sexism whilst at a football match.

So, it shows there is a need for

groups like This Fan Grl and there

needs to be a bit more solidarity

and females getting involved with

them.

I need your prediction for

tonight, Chelsea against Barcelona,

how is it going to go?

2-1,

Barcelona, I am a Spurs fan.

I think

Barcelona might just do it.

Enjoyed

tonight's game. Not much confidence

for Chelsea but we have since and

cracking Chelsea- Barcelona games

over the years and hopefully another

one to not. Kick off at 7:45pm, live

commentary on BBC 5 live. Chris in

Dalston, thank you.

Over 70 years after

the classic David Lean film,

and a decade after it was last

on stage in London,

Brief Encounter is back.

It's about a married woman who's

life becomes complicated

after a chance meeting

with a stranger

at a railway station.

Emma North has been

to the Empire Cinema on Haymarket,

where the production is on.

We leaned upon the parapet of

the bridge and looked down into the

water.

It is cinema's great

story of forbidden love.

Cold?

No, not really.

Happy?

No, not really.

Where a stiff upper

lip hides swirling

emotions, all to the soaring

music of Rachmaninov.

Brief encounter has been billed

as the most romantic

British film ever made.

Now it is back on the London

stage after a ten

year gap.

But where Alec and Laura's screen

love story burns under the

surface, in this adaptation you get

a glimpse of what could have been.

Love and particularly

forbidden love is timeless.

Throughout our history

as human beings there has

been love that has

somehow been forbidden,

or judged, or seemed to be

wrong, for whatever reason.

And outside the auditorium,

they let loose, also.

When the audience walk

in we have a live band, and

they are welcomed in.

So I think straightaway

we set up a world that

is kind of 1938 and what it would

have been like going to see that

film.

This isn't just about the revival

of a play, it is about the

revival of an entire building.

It originally opened

as a much bigger

theatre in 1926.

But, for the last ten years,

it has been a multiplex cinema.

Its restoration has been

a rapid labour of love.

Three weeks ago this was all purple.

It was basically the

colours of the 1970s

triplex and we took it back to how

it was in 1926, complete with five

chandeliers.

It was trying to give

an audience an old cinematic

excitement and adventure,

whilst coming to see

a theatre piece in

the

cinema.

Playing in an auditorium

two floors above a

working cinema, this version

of Brief Encounter brings

stage and screen together

in its most literal sense.

There is something for both fans

of the film here, and those who love

the theatre.

Emma North, BBC London News.

It is a classic film but one that

neither Philip nor I have seen yet,

it must be on our list.

Indeed but of the British film

industry relied on me I'm afraid it

would be absolutely on its uppers. I

really must get out more!

Good evening, enough of my stories,

our weather watchers thankfully get

out and about, joyfully so here, I

will not insult you by saying where

that is. This was in fact a bit

further north west, towards

Highgate. Lovely day, I wish I'd

seen more of it. But things are

going downhill pretty rapidly after

midnight because some very wet

weather that has been a bit of a

plague across Northern Ireland and

south-west of England the greater

part of today will be ours in the

second half of the night. Not a

particularly cold night by any

means, 5-8 should just about cover

it. If you have a very early commute

on Thursday morning it will be wet

and if you are out and about on the

school run later on, it maybe there

is lots of surface water around but

the bay improves markedly come the

afternoon. Don't hold me to the fact

we will have a shower at 1500 to the

east of Broxbourne, it is indicative

that we may see the odd shower but

look at the temperatures, De Gendt

sort of where we were today, 11th,

12, 13, something of that order. On

Friday, decent start to the day, a

fair amount of sunshine, but again

with a bit of warmth, spring warmth,

dare I say it, and I'd better had

because I know what's coming, 11,

12, 13 but it may trigger one or two

showers. And then, he said

ominously, it goes downhill quite

rapidly because we tap into this may

look familiar, because this is

exactly the pattern that brought us

the snow just a few days ago. We are

going to pull in a lot of cold air

right across the whole of the

British Isles. If you're moving away

from the south-east for the weekend,

there is no escape. I think if you

stay further east in the British

Isles you have the greatest chance

of seeing some snow showers but it

is just a temporary dip in the

temperatures, back to a nice 12

is just a temporary dip in the

temperatures, back to a nice 12 on

Wednesday.

Cold just in time for the weekend,

which is a shame. Thank you very

much. Now for a look at the main

headlines on this second Wednesday

in March.

Scientists, politicians and actors

have paid tribute to world-renowned

physicist Stephen Hawking,

who's died at the age of 76.

He was diagnosed with motor

neurone disease - aged 22.

Prime Minister, Theresa May

has ordered 23 Russian

diplomats to leave Britain -

and announced a number of sanctions

against the country.

It follows Moscow's refusal

to explain how a Russian-made nerve

agent was used on a former

spy in Salisbury.

That's it.

The past half hour's

flown by for me.

I'll be back at 10:30pm

on BBC One - for more.

I hope you can join me then.

Have a lovely evening.

Bye-bye.