22/02/2018 London News

men in the charity sector, Unicef's

Justin Forsyth, has quit. We will

here from a colleague who said he

Good evening from BBC London News,

I'm Victoria Hollins.

A warning from Scotland Yard today -

the Met Police will struggle to keep

London safe and fund crime

prevention, if further

funding isn't forthcoming.

The message - in a police report -

comes on the same day the Mayor

confirmed he's investing an extra

£110 million in the Met.

But he admits it's still not enough

to stop officer numbers falling.

Here's our political

correspondent, Karl Mercer.

The Met Police is being stretched.

It's dealing with another worrying

rise in knife crime and has been

challenged by a year

of terror attacks.

It's also dealing with a growing

population in London,

rising by 100,000 people a year,

while police numbers are falling.

A report seen by BBC London

underlines the growing pressure

the police are under.

This is the report that sets out

Scotland Yard's pretty stark

vision of the future.

Over 30-odd pages it sets out

a vision of what the coming years

will be like without

extra government funding.

It warns that unless it gets more

money cuts to workforce

numbers could be damaging.

It says that pressures on its budget

mean that it's struggling to invest

sufficiently in crime prevention.

It also outlines the effect that

cuts and rising crime

are having on officers,

saying that a lack of resources is

having a worrying impact on morale.

There is also a blunt

warning on police numbers.

The report says that without extra

money London could see just

27,000 officers by 2022.

That's a drop of 3000

on current levels.

They've made a prediction based

upon the cuts they are facing.

75% of the Met Police budget goes

on human beings, on police officers.

They've cut as much as they can,

all that is left is the bone.

They have sold off the buildings,

closed police stations, they've got

rid of many police staff.

This document is Scotland Yard's

submission to something called

the Police Remuneration Review Body.

Basically, the body that says how

much officers should get paid.

Scotland Yard wants a 3% pay rise

for staff and also £2000 extra

in London weighting -

measures it hopes will make the Met

an attractive place to work.

We are very clear about some

of those morale issues and we talk

in the document about the fact that

pay and rewards is part of that.

We hope that in the submission that

we're taking note of that and trying

to do something that strikes that

difficult balance between being fair

to our officers and making sure

it is something realistic,

but also accepting that that means

there are consequences

on what money we have to spend

on police in London.

Paying police more may

attract more recruits,

but the real sticking point will be

over who pays for that pay rise.

Will central government hand over

more, or will the Met and the mayor

have to hand over the cash?

Staying with policing for a moment -

because according to an independent

inspection 90 % of child protection

investigations in the capital have

been unsatisfactory.

In some cases children

have been left to live

with paedophiles in London.

The Met insists it

is making progress.

Chris Rogers explained some

of the findings to me earlier.

This is a quarterly report

ordered by the Home Office.

The HM Inspectorate

have to carry out.

This is in response to failures

within the Met Police in responding

to crimes like this that

were highlighted last year

and put down to budget cuts

and other pressures.

The inspectors do highlight

new measures have been put in place

but it's still too early to see

if there are any benefits.

It makes a staggering read.

Some of the cases I can

highlight for you now.

In one incident a 13-year-old girl

was calling the police,

saying she was being blackmailed

by a boy to send explicit

pictures of herself,

but the police didn't

respond for 11 days.

In another case teachers informed

police that a seven-year-old boy

was being abused by his parents

but he wasn't taken into care

and continued to be

abused for four months.

The inspectors looked at a total

of 214 child protection cases

ranging from blackmail, exploitation

to paedophilia and of those cases

they said almost 191 were judged

to be requiring improvement

or there was an inadequate response.

The backdrop to that is a rise

in the number of child protection

cases being reported.

A staggering 65,000 offences

between 2016 and 2017 and children's

charities say we have to bear that

record number of cases in mind

when we're scrutinising the police.

The police are under pressure.

They've had resources

cuts to the front line,

which is making it more difficult

for them to do their jobs,

but ultimately we want

them to be doing a lot

more multi-agency working.

That's really the key to most

of those child protection cases.

The Met Police does point out

that they are pleased

that the inspectors recognised that

significant changes have been made

to protect children across London

in the face of demands,

of policing in the capital in 2017.

You have to remember one child

is abused every eight minutes

across England and well.

-- England and Wales macro.

That's what the Met are up against.

A businessman was in court today,

after being accused of dangerous

driving. The driver said he hadn't

been showing off.

Described in court as formidably

powerful, the Ferrari F50 that

crashed was filmed on the day

of the tragedy for

a promotional video.

Later it was delivered

back to a storage unit

in North Warnborough in Hampshire

that was visited by the jury and

court officials earlier this week.

Matthew Cobden, seen

here with the red hair,

ran the storage business,

and he offered to give

13-year-old Alexander Worth

a quick spin in the car.

The Ferrari struck a wooden post,

was launched into the air,

and rolled over, throwing out

Mr Cobden and Alexander.

Today, in court a statement made

by Mr Cobden and quotes from police

interviews were read to the jury.

Mr Cobden said he had used a torch

to make sure he had put his feet

on the right pedals when he first

got into the Ferrari to move it

off a car transporter.

Neither of us had seat belts on,

he said, because I had no intention

that going more than a very low

speed and just along the track.

After negotiating a bridge, he said,

as soon as I touched the accelerator

the car took off uncontrollably.

I do not know if the accelerator

jammed or what had happened,

but I'm certain that nothing I did

caused the car to speed up

in the way that it did.

Mr Cobden suffered injuries

including a broken rib

and punctured lung.

Alexander, from Kings

Worthy near Winchester,

was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Cobden said it was impossible

to express in words how terrible

he felt at what had happened.

He said he'd sent a message

of sorrow and condolence

to Alexander's parents,

and was at a loss to explain how

the accident had occurred.

The defence have told the jury

they believe a pre-existing fault

with the Ferrari caused it

to accelerate uncontrollably.

But the prosecution says it was

running normally before the crash.

Mr Cobden denies causing

death by careless driving

and the case continues.

His paintings sell for millions -

and he is one of the most

influential artists

of the 20th century.

Quite a surprise then that one

of Pablo Picasso's works,

along with unseen photographs

of the great painter,

have been stored at the bottom

of a sock drawer in Surrey

for half a century.

Sarah Harris has the story.

That's the camera my father used

then, and that I kind of grew up

having pointed at me

when I was a kid.

And it took the pictures that

recorded the week his father spent

with one of the most famous

artists of modern times.

The plate was given to Jonathan's

father by Picasso to celebrate

the week they spent together

in the south of France back in 1964,

after a chance meeting on the beach.

The Surrey amateur photographer,

pictured here with the man himself,

kept the gift and the photos

in an old sock drawer.

My father was not a fan

of Picasso's as an artist.

He thought he was a lovely man

but didn't like the art.

His taste was much more 19th-century

and Rubens and Constable and sort

of representational stuff,

and Picasso was a bit

out there for him.

So he just put it

in the sock drawer!

Absolutely, he knew it was valuable,

worth keeping, and put it

in the bottom off his

chest of drawers.

Picasso's work sell

for tens of million pounds.

The photographs Jonathan's dad took

show him enjoying the company

of friends he even sometimes used

as human canvases.

Stanley, he says, was not fazed

by the painter's fame one jot.

He just took it

completely in his stride.

He was very pleased to have

met Picasso, then move

on and do whatever is next.

But most people

would have said "hi".

There must have been something

magnetic about his personality

that he invited him back to his home

and he was taking pictures

of him the whole time.

He just had charm, you know?

Now a Picasso exhibition

is being curated at the local

gallery in Woking.

This discovery was actually

the beginning of the whole

Picasso Fiesta, which is happening

at the Lightbox, because Jonathan

is a great supporter of ours.

He lives just down the road

and happened to mention in a totally

chance conversation that he had

all these photographs.

The exhibition starts next month.

Jonathan says he'll not

sell his late father's

photographs at any price.

They are just part

of his family's history.

Sarah Harris, BBC London News.

What I find.

That's it for now from me, but let's

find out what the weather's

up to with Ben Rich.

Today was chilly, if you thought

that was cold, there's something

called on the way. Turning chilly

out there after a clear end to the

day in most places. The skies remain

clear through the rest of the night

and temperatures will dip away,

perhaps in the very centre of town

holding just above freezing. Most

places will fall below freezing, so

quite widespread frost to take us

tomorrow morning. But a bright start

formally tomorrow. We will see some

good spells of sunshine around. It

may be that we bring a bit more

clouding from East, initially Essex

Adkins, then spreading westwards to

other areas in the afternoon. Still,

decent spells of sunshine to be had.

Feeling chilly particularly when you

add on a brisk easterly breeze.

Things will turn colder still as we

had through the weekend,

particularly into next week. More