:00:13. > :00:15.Good evening and welcome to BBC London News.
:00:16. > :00:21.A man who killed a mother-of-two, while her husband listened
:00:22. > :00:23.helplessly on the phone will spend an indefinite time in
:00:24. > :00:30.Nicola Cross was stabbed to death by a complete stranger as she tried
:00:31. > :00:33.to stop him from kidnapping her two children at the family
:00:34. > :00:40.Her family said she enjoyed the perfect life.
:00:41. > :00:44.37-year-old Nicola Cross from Hemel Hempstead had a
:00:45. > :00:48.loving husband and two adored young children but a random and brutal act
:00:49. > :00:55.Warehouse worker Marcin Porczynski was suffering from paranoid
:00:56. > :00:58.schizophrenia when he broke into her home in September last year,
:00:59. > :01:04.It led to an outpouring of grief on Dunlin Road
:01:05. > :01:09.where Mrs Cross was a much loved member of the community.
:01:10. > :01:12.In sentencing Marcin Porczynski, the judge said the circumstances
:01:13. > :01:15.in which you killed Nicola Cross were utterly horrific
:01:16. > :01:17.and senseless and represented every parent and husband's worst
:01:18. > :01:24.He said, you've left the Cross family utterly devastated and two
:01:25. > :01:28.young children without the wonderful mother who so loved and cared for
:01:29. > :01:34.When she discovered the break-in, Nicola called her husband
:01:35. > :01:36.Danny, seen here leaving the court, who was away for work.
:01:37. > :01:39.He told the judge in a statement, that phone
:01:40. > :01:43.call plays over and over in my head along with Nic's screams
:01:44. > :01:50.I will never forgive myself for not being there to protect her.
:01:51. > :01:53.And he could see no future happiness, no
:01:54. > :01:58.end to this trauma until my life comes to an end.
:01:59. > :02:02.With no history of violence, experts say there was no way of predicting
:02:03. > :02:13.I think here, that it was really a tragic and unforeseen incident.
:02:14. > :02:16.I don't think there should be much blame attached to anyone.
:02:17. > :02:19.The person was extremely ill and what happened could not really
:02:20. > :02:22.Friends and neighbours who live on this tight-knit estate
:02:23. > :02:25.in Hemel Hempstead supported the family through the court
:02:26. > :02:27.proceedings and the judge paid tribute to the dignity
:02:28. > :02:32.Marcin Porczynski admitted killing Nicola Cross,
:02:33. > :02:34.telling doctors he had to sacrifice her to
:02:35. > :02:40.He will serve an indefinite term at a psychiatric unit.
:02:41. > :02:43.The judge described the young mother as heroic but ultimately defenceless
:02:44. > :02:52.Now, you'd expect the London Ambulance Service to be busy
:02:53. > :02:55.at this time of year, but it's just recorded its busiest
:02:56. > :03:00.It says incidents involving alcohol were the most common cause
:03:01. > :03:02.for a call-out to people in their twenties and Londoners are
:03:03. > :03:12.Gareth Furby's report does contain flashing images.
:03:13. > :03:15.We're with a paramedic whose duty is to respond
:03:16. > :03:17.in minutes to emergencies, but in the early hours
:03:18. > :03:20.of Saturday morning, he is dealing with something else.
:03:21. > :03:22.Honest truth, he's only just sort of started coming around.
:03:23. > :03:25.This call is to a kebab shop in Hackney, to a 25-year-old
:03:26. > :03:29.What's going on tonight, what's happened?
:03:30. > :03:33.What's happened is too much to drink, a condition
:03:34. > :03:35.that is entirely self-inflicted, but the emergency services
:03:36. > :03:41.It seems that she does need to be looked after and is vulnerable.
:03:42. > :03:45.She needs to be somewhere to be for a few hours just to get
:03:46. > :03:51.to a level where she can get home safely by herself.
:03:52. > :03:54.That safe place was at hospital and at the weekend it seems this
:03:55. > :03:57.In London, there were more than 16,000 emergency calls
:03:58. > :03:59.to the ambulance service, making it their busiest
:04:00. > :04:08.Another call-out was to the City of London where they were several
:04:09. > :04:13.exclusive Christmas events, but at one, a man was
:04:14. > :04:22.I think he'd been out on a work do and a lot of people were intoxicated
:04:23. > :04:25.and caused a fight and he's taken a few punches to the face.
:04:26. > :04:29.An arrest was made, but after being examined by the paramedic,
:04:30. > :04:32.the victim decided to decline hospital treatment and
:04:33. > :04:38.But in many other cases at the weekend, it was a different
:04:39. > :04:42.story and pre-Christmas drinking was often to blame.
:04:43. > :04:45.If someone is unconscious, we need to get to those
:04:46. > :04:47.patients really quickly because there could be an underlying
:04:48. > :04:50.condition like a serious head injury or a serious illness that is causing
:04:51. > :04:56.So we have to prioritise those patients.
:04:57. > :05:01.And clearly when it is just alcohol-related we do have other
:05:02. > :05:04.critical patients that we need to get to so we've managed it,
:05:05. > :05:08.But on the street, it was often challenging.
:05:09. > :05:11.Here, the paramedics' vehicle was flagged down
:05:12. > :05:23.And there were no weapons? No.
:05:24. > :05:27.And the paramedic called the police as well as treating the man.
:05:28. > :05:31.Londoners will continue to celebrate the build-up to Christmas,
:05:32. > :05:34.but the emergency services have to deal with the fallout
:05:35. > :05:43.London schools could be facing bigger class sizes and fewer
:05:44. > :05:49.That's according to the out-going chief inspector of schools.
:05:50. > :05:52.Sir Michael Wilshaw leaves office next week after five years.
:05:53. > :05:54.He also said it's essential that schools do all they can
:05:55. > :05:59.to prevent vulnerable pupils being exposed to radicalisation.
:06:00. > :06:04.Our Education Reporter Marc Ashdown has been speaking to him.
:06:05. > :06:08."Ofsted rates the school as" - one phrase which can make or break
:06:09. > :06:12.For five years, Sir Michael Wilshaw has been at the helm.
:06:13. > :06:15.London schools, he says, are in the best year ever,
:06:16. > :06:18.but a new funding formula is likely to hit many.
:06:19. > :06:21.I think it's going to be more difficult.
:06:22. > :06:23.There's no question any funding cut or any funding
:06:24. > :06:35.It might mean there will be reductions in staffing.
:06:36. > :06:38.It might mean that schools might not be able to appoint support
:06:39. > :06:44.staff in the numbers they were previously doing.
:06:45. > :06:46.For most of his tenure, Michael Gove was Education Secretary.
:06:47. > :06:49.To say he was controversial is an understatement.
:06:50. > :06:52.I obviously didn't agree with him on everything but I suppose
:06:53. > :06:57.the questions that have to be asked are, is giving more power to people
:06:58. > :07:03.Was our curriculum too soft? Yes.
:07:04. > :07:05.Was our examination system not competing
:07:06. > :07:12.Yes, it wasn't competing, so he addressed those issues
:07:13. > :07:15.and somebody had to do that and he did it.
:07:16. > :07:18.And occasionally heaps of opprobrium were poured upon him,
:07:19. > :07:21.but I supported him in doing those things.
:07:22. > :07:24.He cites the Trojan horse affair as his biggest challenge.
:07:25. > :07:26.Fears surfaced of possible plots to radicalise schools,
:07:27. > :07:35.One of the great dangers of autonomy in some of the schools,
:07:36. > :07:39.most of the schools we're talking about in the the Trojan horse
:07:40. > :07:44.Those governors with malign intent did what they did partly
:07:45. > :07:47.because they realised that there wasn't sufficient
:07:48. > :07:53.The local authority had washed its hands of these schools
:07:54. > :07:59.They felt that they could bring in their own particular ideologies
:08:00. > :08:03.and I think we've got to learn from that.
:08:04. > :08:07.We don't do enough to promote good leadership in the country.
:08:08. > :08:09.I'm sad at the demise of the National College
:08:10. > :08:12.of School Leadership, which was Tony Blair's idea,
:08:13. > :08:18.How do we get great leaders into unfashionable places?
:08:19. > :08:21.That's going to be the big challenge over the next
:08:22. > :08:23.few years, particularly with diminishing budgets.
:08:24. > :08:25.Do you think it has been an outstanding performance?
:08:26. > :08:30.That's for others to make a judgment.
:08:31. > :08:35.I've challenged the education system in this country to do better.
:08:36. > :08:37.That's caused trouble from time to time, and I have spoken
:08:38. > :08:40.out from time to time, and I have challenged
:08:41. > :08:47.But hopefully people, when they look back at my time
:08:48. > :08:50.in office, will say, he was in it for the right reason,
:08:51. > :08:54.because he wanted to see children getting a good deal.
:08:55. > :08:58.Sir Michael Wilshaw talking to our Education Reporter Marc Ashdown.
:08:59. > :09:02.That's it for now from me, but let's find out what the weather's up
:09:03. > :09:14.It's feeling a bit colder this week with temperatures actually going up
:09:15. > :09:20.and down for the next few weeks or so. We have some cheery Christmas
:09:21. > :09:25.lights in the market here. And here in Trafalgar Square. We have the
:09:26. > :09:31.weather for the week ahead in the run-up to Christmas. It will be
:09:32. > :09:35.really quite changeable this week. No two days will be the same.
:09:36. > :09:41.Tomorrow will be dry and bright with sunshine. After that it will turn
:09:42. > :09:44.quite unsettled. Some rain around at times and quite blustery as we head
:09:45. > :09:50.to the end of the week heading towards Christmas. Overnight
:09:51. > :09:54.tonight, a rain system clearing westward. Some clear spells here and
:09:55. > :10:00.there with temperatures of five or six as we head into the morning.
:10:01. > :10:04.Some rural spots could see frost on the grass and isolated mist and fog
:10:05. > :10:09.patches, but it will not be the widespread mist and fog we've seen
:10:10. > :10:13.over the last few days. Tomorrow will be dry and bright with sunshine
:10:14. > :10:19.around as well. Not a bad looking day, but it will be a touch cooler
:10:20. > :10:24.with temperatures between six and eight Celsius. Wednesday, turning
:10:25. > :10:28.mild again. Temperatures peaking at nine or 10 Celsius, but some
:10:29. > :10:33.outbreaks of rain here and there and it will be great, drab and gloomy.
:10:34. > :10:38.That's how we will start the day on Thursday as well. Heading towards
:10:39. > :10:44.the end of the week, cooler and turning windy. Will it be a white
:10:45. > :10:49.Christmas? Probably not across London. It's quite likely it might
:10:50. > :10:52.be across the rest of the country, so keep an eye on the National
:10:53. > :11:00.forecast. It will stay quite windy. That's what we know about Christmas.
:11:01. > :11:01.around, windy, but with dry and around, windy, but with dry and
:11:02. > :11:14.bright spells. Heavy weather is brewing, it will
:11:15. > :11:19.not reach us just yet. It will take a good few days before the stormy
:11:20. > :11:22.weather reaches us. At the moment, it's just potential, nothing is
:11:23. > :11:28.certain, but it will be different to what we've had over the last few
:11:29. > :11:32.weeks, it's been so calm. We have a jet stream raging out of North
:11:33. > :11:38.America making a beeline for the UK. It has peaked at jet level height,
:11:39. > :11:45.blowing in excess of 200 mph, and it might whip up to max storms we are
:11:46. > :11:46.watching. Friday had coming close to northern Britain, and then another