13/01/2017 London News

A crackdown on skin lightening products -

which could potentially cause organ failure or even cancer - has started

Shopkeepers selling the illegal treatments have been

issued with heavy fines, and for the first time

courts have delivered suspended prison sentences.

But there are also calls to do more to tackle the social pressure felt

by some darker skinned people to be fairer in colour.

They may look like harmless beauty products, but these

potions and lotions are illegal and dangerous.

This haul of skin lightening creams was taken from various cosmetics

This product, for example contains a steroid.

And that can affect people's adrenal system, it can thin their skin

and it can cause additional hair to grow on their body,

as well as causing significant skin damage.

15 shopkeepers in five different boroughs were fined on average

The courts are now also issuing increasingly tougher sentences.

Some people have been achieving suspended prison sentences,

meaning that if traders continue doing this they will go to jail.

And people have to consider the possibility of custodial sentences.

The courts are looking at this as criminal activity,

It isn't the kind of activity where people can think they can run

a legitimate business and sell these products.

Journalist and comedian Ava Vidal believes many women feel

under social pressure to have lighter skin.

The way it is seen, dark skin in women isn't valued.

You see it all over the world, in Africa, in South Asia.

The lighter you are in different cultures is seen as better.

Trading standards officers might be able to crack down on the sale

of these products on the high street, but it's proving much harder

The Internet has opened up the market in such a way,

there's so many things you can get on there, medication

She hopes younger generations won't feed the demand for these

dangerous products and be proud of the skin they were born with.

A judge at the Old Bailey, sentencing three teenagers

to prison for manslaughter, has said, "Anyone who carries

a knife or a blade, claiming its for 'self-defence'

It was at the sentencing of the killers of 17-year-old rapper

He was stabbed by 19-year-old Fauz Richards and his 15-year-old

accomplices, Lucus Risch and Junior Lukelo-Mami.

They'll serve over 35 years in prison, in total.

The victim was also carrying a large blade when he was attacked.

A grenade found by police has led to the arrest of a 20-year-old man.

The device found this morning led to a bomb disposal team deactivating

the explosive on Burlington Road in New Malden.

Residents were told to evacuate their homes, but have

Football will pay tribute to the former England and Watford

manager Graham Taylor, who died yesterday at the age of 72.

A minute's applause will be held before all league matches

But Watford fans have already been expressing their sense of loss

Graham Taylor, son of Worksop, hero of Watford.

His achievements here will never be forgotten.

Chairman Elton John appointed Taylor as manager in 1977.

He led them from the Fourth Division to the First, into Europe

Even when he left Aston Villa in 1987, his chairman wished him

I wanted him to go on to something different, he wanted and needed

When you look back on his achievements at the club,

what would you say the most important ones were?

I'd say there would be no Watford Football Club

No Watford Football Club without Graham Taylor is a sentiment

In the last decade, he helped lead them through some troubled

financial times and, right now, they are back in the top

The level to which he was the very first manager ever to take them.

For those who played for him, it was his warmth, as much

as his winning mentality, which shone through.

You never took yourself too seriously, because he always liked

everybody to have a smile on their face, and when you come

When you come to games, you enjoy your work.

After success at Aston Villa and troubled times with England,

Taylor eventually returned to Watford and in 1999 he again led

It's impossible to put it into words.

I've been coming here for over 50 years.

This weekend, at games throughout the country,

there will be a minute's applause for Graham Taylor -

Alice Bhandukravi will bring you the weekend news from us

But now let's get the weather forecast from Helen.

What is the weekend holding for us? It's taken most of the day to warm

up for me today. Icy conditions tonight. A pretty cold weekend.

There are some flood warnings on a few parts of the Thames, the East

Coast, the ice will affect all of us overnight tonight. There could be a

few wintry flurries blown in, but even if we get the odd dusting of

snow from one or two showers, I think the ice is the main concern as

temperatures plummet below freezing. A bitterly cold start again tomorrow

morning. Because we have the clear skies for most it means it should be

a sparkling day. There could be a wintry showers around possibly to

the east or west of us, but a good deal of dry, sunny weather.

Certainly not warm, but the wind chill won't be as severe today,

because the winds are easing down. 4-7. The

cloud will start to increase, a change through the second half of

the weekend. There's a question. Will it be a period of snow, or

freezing rain? It's a wintry feel. 5-6 is the best we will have. It

stays cold into the beginning 5-6 is the best we will have. It

stays cold into the beginning of next week as well

stop Good evening, a cold, icy night, but some others have other

concerns. This was the scene earlier today, huge waves crashing on to the

shoreline at Whitley Bay. We still have the peak of the high tide to

come in other parts. This is the flood line number. It's if you have

any concerns. The worst of the wind slowly comes -- subsiding. Wintry

showers across the North