15/01/2018 London News

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Good evening from BBC London News.

The man behind the Westminster

terror attacks in March last year

had taken steroids days

or hours beforehand.

The details were released

during a pre-inquest hearing

into the death of Khalid Masood

and his victims.

Families have called

for their inquest to examine

the continuing failure to get

to grips with radicalisation

on the internet.

Here's Marc Ashdown.

GUNFIRE

It was an attack on the heart of

government in the heart of London.

March the 22nd 2017,

the first of five terror attacks

on the UK last year -

four of them here in the capital.

We now know Khalid Masood had

anabolic steroids in his system,

further tests have been ordered

to establish how that may have

affected his actions.

The families of his victims hope

these inquests may lead to changes

in the way terrorism is tackled.

Masood drove his hired

4x4 into pedestrians

on Westminster Bridge at 2:40pm,

repeatedly mounted the pavement.

30 seconds later, he crashed

into the Palace of Westminster.

The first 999 call is then received.

Half a minute later,

Masood is shot dead by armed police.

It lasted all of 90 seconds,

but his rampage took

five innocent lives.

American tourist Kurt Cochran,

teacher Aysha Frade

and Leslie Rhodes were all hit

by the car.

Romanian tourist Andreea Cristea

fell into the Thames and later died,

and PC Keith Palmer,

who was stabbed inside

the entrance to Parliament.

The inquests of all five

will be heard by the Chief

Coroner in September.

A separate inquest with a jury will

then follow into Masood's death.

At today's pre-inquest hearing,

lawyers representing the families

called for the coroner to examine

the availability of extremist

material on the internet and why

messaging services like Whatsapp

need to have end-to-end

encryption on messages

which can't then be read.

They have long been calls for the

security services to be able to

access these private messages,

although companies like Facebook,

which owns WhatsApp, argues it has a

duty to protect users. Regarding

online extremist videos, the

families today said why is it that

radical material continues to be

freely available on the internet

bastion that we do not understand.

We also learned that the two

officers that challenged him will

give evidence anonymously. PC Keith

Palmer's family wants to know how he

got into the Palace of Westminster

behind me, and why was the officer

stationed alone, unarmed and come in

their view, wearing inadequate body

protection? Lots of questions for

these inquests, which get under way

on September ten.

More now on the impact

of the collapse of construction

and services giant Carillion,

and implications for the capital.

Jim Wheble is here with more on this

which could significantly affect

both the public and private sector?

Absolutely. This is a huge company

with contracts in many different

sectors in London especially. Let's

look at one of those. Prisons.

Carillion had maintenance contracts

with several prisons in the capital.

Let's just look at one of those

prisons, Pentonville. It also

received a lot of criticism for the

way that it maintained prisons. At

Pentonville, it was criticised for a

six-month backlog on maintenance

jobs, leaking sewage and only a

quarter of broken windows replaced.

And apart from prisons, give us a

sense of what else it could have an

impact on?

If we take transport, the

East London line, part of the London

Overground, Carillion had a contract

with TfL to look after track and

signals. About 100 staff employed

there. The Mayor has said he has

been assured that plans are in place

to make sure what has happened today

does not affect services. If we look

at councils, Carillion had several

contracts with several councils,

looking at libraries, for instance,

in Croydon. In that borough, they

are going to take control of that

back in-house. The private sector as

well, in papers today, we heard

reports of a big development where

contractors were being told when

they turned for work you might as

well go home because the chances are

you will not get paid. There is one

blessing. It appears that NHS trusts

in London have not been affected by

what has happened today. One

blessing in this story, which

obviously has consequences which

will run on.

Indeed. Thanks very

much for that update.

Next, the borough which is getting

rid of bailiffs to collect

unpaid council tax.

Hammersmith and Fulham says it's

taking a more ethical

approach to unpaid bills.

However, some warn it

could lead to higher debts.

Mark Jordan reports.

Four years ago, Peter Williams

brought trains to a halt

after killing himself

on the railway.

His home had been taken away

for failing to pay £1350

over council tax debt.

The problem was, Peter

was mentally ill.

Nobody realised this at the time

and as a result he was literally

hounded to death over

what was a relatively

small amount of money.

97% of us pay our council tax bill,

but debt campaigners claim over

200,000 bailiff visits were made

in London to those who don't.

We've not received any

payments whatsoever.

It's the councils who decide if Dave

that bailiff comes a-knocking.

Is there any difference

in the way you work

between can't pay or won't pay?

That's not my business.

Mike Thompson was a book-seller

until a devastating illness meant

he could barely work.

His council tax debt

would take his home and lead

to recovery costs 30 times

the original arrears of 2900.

The council forced

the sale of the house.

I got just over £6,000

as my share of the proceeds.

The other £85-86,000 was swallowed

up in the debt itself,

plus all the costs that accumulated

along the way.

The lawyers who do this business

for local authorities prosper

mightily, but the local authorities

themselves actually,

in the great scheme of things,

actually lose out big time.

At Hammersmith and Fulham Council

they've begun to wonder

if bankrupting, seizure of homes

and use of bailiffs is working.

They claim bailiffs only recover 30%

of council tax debt and are getting

rid of them from April.

If a family's trying to keep

the bailiffs away and then

prioritises the bill for council

tax, they then might

miss their rental payment and then

you're left with a homeless family

being traumatised but then

presenting the public

sector with a huge bill,

in terms of free housing

and all the other impacts

homelessness can have.

But the bailiff industry

warn Hammersmith's

experiment will backfire.

To dispense with the enforcement

service will come at a price.

I think that in two or three years'

time the coffers will be looked

at and the question will be asked,

where's the money?

Now, ethical debt collection

in Hammersmith is about to show

whether or not the bailiffs' knock

might become part of debt

collecting history.

Mark Jordan, BBC London News.

Now, it's estimated there are more

than three times as many vegans now

than there were a decade ago.

It's a lifestyle growing

in popularity - so perhaps not

surprising then that a new vegan

only pub is opening in Hackney -

where even the alcohol

is strictly vegan.

Alpa Patel has more.

In many ways, the Brook looks

and feels like a London pub.

But you won't find pie

and mash on the menu -

or in fact any meat or dairy at all.

I became vegan for

animal welfare reasons.

I have been a vegan for six months

now and I feel much healthier.

I am a vegan because I love animals.

Customers are here for

a special sample night.

The pub doesn't actually open

for another four days.

To many here, veganism

is more than just a diet,

it's a way of life.

I think people are becoming far more

educated about the meat industry,

the dairy industry, the impact

on the environment,

the impact on their health.

Oh, vegan hot chocolate?

Yes!

Another devout follower is Radio 1

Xtra DJ Sara Jane Crawford.

She's been a vegan for three years.

The timing was right for me,

I had a few health scares,

I had a breast lump removed,

a couple of operations

in the space of one year,

and I was just, like,

you know what, I don't want to be

eating so many hormones,

consuming so much rubbish

in my diet.

She is an ambassador

for Veganuary, a month calling

on us to become vegans.

Now I get why people

become so passionate

about whatever it is they believe

in when it is actually about life

and it is about having

a better quality-of-life,

and it is about love,

empathy, health.

You know, health is well.

The owners say the numbers of vegans

are growing and they are hoping some

of them will find their way

through the door on Friday.

I'll say goodnight now

and it's over to Stav Danaos

for a check on the weather.

Is the rest of the week looking any

better?

Yes. It depends on what you

like. If you don't mind the cold,

this week will be better. We had

great, leaden skies and drizzle

around last week. This week will be

much windier, certainly for the

first half of the week. They will a

chill factor and sunshine and

showers.

Tonight, if you passing showers.

Three or four degrees. A chilly

start tomorrow morning. 20 of

sunshine around, a few showers as

the air turns colder from the

north-west. Some of the showers will

be wintry, mainly over the

Chilterns. About 7 degrees, in the

wind it will feel colder. The

sunshine will compensate. Through

Tuesday night, plenty showers

rattling through. Simply spells --

clear spells as well. The map is

looking golden, plenty of sunshine

around if you don't mind the cold

air. 7 degrees, not bad if you are

wrapping up. The middle part of the

week is where we see a significant

area of strong wind. This deep low

will hurtle in off the Atlantic

during Wednesday night. It could

bring a spell of severe gales. It

will rattle through quickly. By

Thursday morning, the wind will be

light already from the word go.

Sunshine and warm two showers

around. The same on Friday, with

some sunshine and light wind,

temperature is 7 degrees. It stays

cold as we head into the new

weekend. Plenty of sunshine around,

light