21/12/2017 London News

That's it.

Now on BBC One it's time

for the news where you are.

Good evening and welcome to BBC

London News, with me, Alex Bushill.

The Mayor says he's been left

with no choice but to raise council

tax in order to keep

the capital safe.

Sadiq Khan has outlined plans

to raise bills by around £14 a year

to fund the Metropolitan Police

and London Fire Brigade.

He's hit out at the Government,

saying ministers should

"hang their heads in shame"

for failing to adequately

protect Londoners.

But his political opponents

at City Hall have accused

him of grandstanding.

Marc Ashdown reports.

At times it's felt like

London has been under

constant attack this year -

four terrorist incidents,

14 innocent people killed.

No wonder the Mayor

wants more money.

His priority, he says,

is to keep Londoners safe.

The Home Office says the Met

will get about an extra

£50 million next year.

Now, police forces are funded

partly by the Government

but partly by local councils.

Ministers are allowing councillors

to put up your council tax

by as much as £12 next year.

In London, the Mayor

is going even further,

putting it up by £14.20.

That's an increase of about 5%,

and he says it will pay for police

and also the Fire Brigade.

He says he has no choice and today

reignited his war of words

with the Government.

They resorted to smoke and mirrors,

pretending to give the police more

money, but in fact just pushing

the responsibility to

taxpayers in London.

This is regressive and unfair, and

frankly no-one is falling for it.

On Tuesday the Policing Minister

made his views on the Mayor clear.

And instead of sitting in his bunker

writing out letters for more money,

he needs to get out there and tell

us what he's doing to

implement his crime plan.

Sadiq Khan has another

problem brewing, too.

There's widespread scepticism

about pumping some of this money

into the Fire Brigade after three

reviews he commissioned concluded it

doesn't need more funding.

Because of Grenfell,

the Mayor feels that he needs to be

seen to do something.

And what he is proposing to do

here is to put more money

into the Fire Brigade.

He knows they don't need it.

And if they do need it he can find

it from other resources.

He doesn't need to be taking

the money specifically set aside

to fund the Metropolitan Police

in order to put funds

into the London Fire Brigade,

and we won't be supporting that part

of his proposals.

For months the Mayor Commissioner

has been calling for more money.

Now it's coming out of Londoners'

pockets, they'll want to see

results on the streets.

Marc Ashdown, BBC London News.

Lawyers for Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliffe say she's been

told by the Iranian authorities

she's now eligible

for early release.

The 38-year-old Hampstead mother has

been held for more than 20 months

in Tehran on charges of working

against the Iranian regime.

Frankie McCamley has the details.

The British-Iranian mother jailed

in Iran more than 18 months ago.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

left her home in North West London

to go on holiday with her then

18-month-old daughter

to visit her parents.

But during her time

in the country she was arrested,

accused of being a spy.

Today, though,

a breakthrough in her case.

She's been listed for early release.

But her husband, Richard, who has

fought every step of the way,

is not getting his hopes up.

It's hard to know exactly

how significant but

definitely a positive step.

Her court system has moved

from being a closed case

to being eligible for early release,

which means, formally,

on the system, she is eligible to be

released at any point.

But despite the news,

Richard says Nazanin

is still finding things tough.

I think it's very up and down

for her and obviously I try to be

level-headed and sometimes I am

not so much.

Equally, though probably more so,

because she's waiting

to see what happens.

She was pretty low

early in the week.

The lawyer said she was very happy

yesterday, unsurprisingly.

The change follows the Foreign

Secretary Boris Johnson's visit

to Iran earlier this month,

during which her case was discussed.

Whether this made a difference

is not yet clear.

Under Iranian law, it does say

if a prisoner has served a third

of their time and has good

behaviour, they might be

considered for early release.

So it's possible that

is what's happened.

Whilst this might provide some

relief to this family's long

and turbulent journey,

there is still no certainty

they will be reunited for Christmas.

Frankie McCamley, BBC London News.

A former abbot of a school in Ealing

is likely to die in prison

after being jailed for 18 years

for molesting former pupils.

74-year-old Andrew Soper

was convicted of a string of sex

attacks on boys at the prestigious

St Benedict's School

in the '70s and '80s.

As he passed down his sentence,

the judge described Soper's conduct

as "vile", and "the most appalling

breach of trust".

The school has apologised

for "serious wrongs of the past".

Detectives say they are growing

increasingly concerned

for the mother of a baby found

abandoned in a park

in Plaistow three months ago.

New footage has been

released of baby Harry

as police renew their appeal

to trace his mother.

He was named by the medical staff

who treated him and is said to be

The man accused of the Finsbury Park

attack in North London last June has

pleaded not guilty to murder

and attempted murder.

48-year-old Darren Osborne

is accused of deliberately driving

a hired van into worshippers close

to the Muslim Welfare

House in North London.

One man was killed

and 11 were injured.

Hospitals in Essex say they are

facing significant winter pressures.

Many of them have no available beds.

They say the health system is under

strain throughout the year

but winter brings added challenges.

Simon Dedman has spent the day

at Broomfield Hospital

in Chelmsford to find out more.

Kenneth Cockrell, full

assessment, please.

Patients are assessed by a triage

nurse if they walk or get

wheeled into Broomfield's A&E.

What happened?

I slipped on a wet

paving stone last night.

Ken gets referred for an X-ray

but nurse Gemma does

send people back to GP

surgeries and the pharmacist

rather than into A&E.

She has to -

Broomfield is stretched.

We've had an increase in patients

with sepsis, especially

chest infections and pneumonia.

We've had people coming

with fractured hips and fractured

wrists, which has obviously meant

we had to

move it onto our trauma wards.

We've had generally really unwell

patients that have come in that

we've had to care for

and meet that demand.

In the past fortnight

Broomfield Hospital has been so busy

that up to a dozen ambulances have

been treating patients outside

because there aren't

any free beds inside.

Broomfield had two spare beds

first thing this morning.

In Harlow, Princess

Alexandra Hospital

had none.

Hospitals say they have been

inundated with patients like

John Harrison from Chelmsford,

who are genuine emergencies.

I've got to ask,

what happened to you?

I had a contest with

the floor and the floor

won.

Oh, dear.

John hopes to be home for Christmas

and his 90th birthday.

I've been a consultant here for four

years and it's been busier every

single winter that we've

had since I started.

It's a world of difference

from when I started in medicine 13,

14 years ago in terms of the numbers

we're seeing through A&E,

through the acute medical services.

A health boss told me the service

is in a perilous state

on the eve of the NHS

turning 70 next year.

Simon Deadman, BBC London News,

Ben Field Hospital, Chelmsford.

England footballer Sol Campbell

grew up in the East End

and went on to play

for Tottenham and Arsenal.

He believes his life could have been

very different had he taken

the troubled path some

of his childhood friends took.

That's why he's now involved

in a scheme to try and help divert

vulnerable youngsters from criminal

gangs here in London.

Chris Slegg report.

When they were kids,

Sol Campbell and Robert Bragg used

to play football together

on the streets after school.

Both had talent.

Sol went on to be a professional.

Robert didn't.

He was an exceptional player.

Years ago I grew up in the same

area, obviously, you know,

the temptations that was there.

Went out, done the wrong things,

wrong attitude, wrong attitude.

Sol has been mentoring these

youngsters about what he calls

their crossroads moment,

choosing to work hard at school

and sport instead of a path

that leads to trouble.

When does that, you know,

that light turns on,

when that lightning bolt hits you.

Who wants to be a footballer?

Me!

Do you think it's easy

to be a footballer?

No, you have to work hard.

You have to work hard.

That's how life works.

You think if you work

hard it always comes?

No.

Sometimes you get let down,

sometimes it comes.

My family will look into kind of

where is the next pound coming from?

The food on the table,

things like that.

People haven't got time

to be worried about,

"how are you feeling?"

and whatever.

It's all about, "get some money

together because we've

got to pay the bills".

Many people who probably didn't

have the talent I had went on,

had the right attitude,

worked hard at their game and became

a professional footballer.

I done the first trial at QPR,

scored two goals, done well,

went all the way through,

then Bobby Robson was in the office

at the last trial when we had to go.

Then he asked me the question,

why have you been thrown out

of three schools in three years?

Three weeks later I get the letter,

you haven't been successful.

I just grew up in that

type of environment,

it just became the norm.

It's only when you step out

of the norm you were under

severe pressure at a very,

very early age in your life.

Now Sol hopes others make the right

choice at their crossroads moment.

Chris Slegg, BBC News.

That's it from me.

I'll wish you goodnight

and hand you over to

I'll wish you goodnight

and hand you over to

Chris Fawkes with the weather.

Thanks a lot. If the over the past

you buy a look something like this.

Thanks to our weather watcher for

sending this big job the grey cloudy

sky from Walton on Thames in Surrey.

These scenes were widespread,

extensive cloud and right the way to

Christmas and including the big day

it is going to stay cloudy and mild.

The reason the weather isn't

changing a great deal is we have

this high pressure to the south of

the UK. These weather fronts wafting

off the Atlantic bringing pulses of

thicker cloud, which in turn brings

the threat of rain. The rain arrives

towards the end of the night, we'll

get outbreaks of rain and drizzle.

At the same time, we'll start to get

mist fog patches on the high hills,

the Chilterns and the downs. The

early-morning patches of drizzle

will move out of the way and the

rest of the day much like it was

today, cloudy. What a great deal of

sunshine anywhere, temperatures are

11 or 12 degrees, so it'll be on the

mild side. Ahead of the weekend, a

case of spot the difference.

Saturday and Sunday the extensive

cloud cover. Continues to be mild,

temperatures 11 or 12 degrees. That

theme continues on to Christmas Day

as well, temperatures in double

figures. It's going to