14/03/2018 London News

Good evening, I'm Asad Ahmad.

A decade after a Norwegian student

was murdered in London,

her father has told the main suspect

in the investigation that the case

"will never go away"

until he faces justice.

Martine Magnussen was found

strangled after a night out

with friends in Mayfair and was seen

on CCTV leaving with fellow

student Farouk Abdulhak.

He then fled the country,

but for the first time tonight,

his family has given us a response

to the accusations.

Here's Caroline Davis.

Laughing and smiling,

recording a message for her friend.

This is Martine Magnussen,

a Norwegian business student.

She was studying in London

when she was killed ten years ago.

Today her father was in the capital

to lay flowers at the place her body

was found, in the basement

of a block of flats

in Great Portland Street.

This is a place where my life

was turned upside down, my family's

life was turned upside down.

Martine had been partying

at a night club called Maddox.

She left with a friend

and classmate, Farouk Abdulhak.

This CCTV, released today,

shows them leaving together.

It was the last time

Martine was seen alive.

Her body was discovered the next day

partially covered by rubble.

She'd been raped and strangled.

This is Farouk at Heathrow Airport.

He left the country that day

and is believed to be in Yemen.

It's a country the UK doesn't

have an extradition treaty with.

He's refused to return to the UK.

I would ask him to make himself

available for British authorities

and explain what happened to Martine

because we as a family also need

to know what actually happened

there, to give us the opportunity

as a family to have a

closure in this case.

Farouk is the son of a billionaire

businessman, Shaher Abdulhak.

Police believe his family

could be an important part

of getting him back to the UK.

In what's believed to be the first

statement from Farouk's

family, his father said...

This is an international case -

it remains high-profile in Norway.

The family and authorities believe

it's important to keep it

in the public eye around the world

to influence Farouk to come forward.

I appeal that he does

consider his position,

that he takes a responsible

position and returns.

Also, if he has family and friends

who can influence him and tell him

to do the right thing,

I urge them to speak to him

and say now is the time -

ten yeas has passed -

now is the time to come

back and resolve this.

The Met say he would face

charges of rape and murder

if he came back to the UK.

Ten years on, Martine's father says

he will continue to fight.

This case is not going away.

So you still have hope?

I'm convinced that this

case will be solved.

The Government has earmarked

millions of pounds to try and ease

racial and religious tensions,

and the one place in London to get

a share of the money

is in Waltham Forest.

It's supposed to fund ways

of bringing communities together,

although the area already prides

itself on doing just that.

So Karl Mercer has been looking

at how the money might be spent.

It could be a high street

anywhere in London.

Pretty typical scenes,

a pretty typical mix of people,

and a pretty typical mix

of languages spoken here.

Waltham Forest is a borough that

prides itself on the way

its different communities get on.

In fact, just last week

it was announced it would be

London's first Borough of Culture,

this video part of its

bid to win the prize.

What are we doing first?

Today it won something else.

A visit from a government minister

and £3 million to spend on so-called

social integration over

the next three years.

They understand bits of Punjabi,

especially when it comes to food.

The Communities Secretary,

Sajid Javid, talking

about his children, but keen today

to push the need for better

English across the country.

That's part of what they'll spend

the money on here in Waltham Forest.

If you don't understand English,

you're going to not be able

to participate in lots of things.

So simple things like

going to the doctor's,

and if you have to go

with an interpreter,

you might be embarrassed

to describe your symptoms,

or helping your children

who are growing up here and going

to school here with their homework,

or even going to parents' evening.

We caught up with three women

currently taking English

lessons at the centre.

Now I think not very well

but I think my English is good,

I can understand and I can speak

a little bit.

But not very good.

To work at my son's school,

it was impossible to

communicate with others.

It's still hard but I try my best.

Today won't be this week's only

social integration launch, though.

On Friday, London's

mayor has one, too.

Local and national government

talking about the same subject,

but not necessarily

on the same page.

The government funding for ESOL,

providing English-language

across the country, has been more

than halved since 2010,

so it is a bit difficult to believe

the Government saying,

we really think it's an important

thing for social integration,

when the Government has not been

funding that properly.

The Mayor is expected to put money

into a new family fund that

City Hall says will help.

Facebook has banned the pages

of the far-right group Britain First

and those of its leaders.

It said the group had ignored

repeated warnings to remove hateful

and Islamophobic content.

Louisa Preston has more on this.

Yes, Britain First had more than 2

million likes on its Facebook page

and it posted content which Facebook

described as inciting hatred against

Muslims. This came after Twitter

suspended the account of the group,

and the account of the leaders. That

was after they posted anti-Islamic

videos, and US President Donald

Trump then re-tweeted the videos. It

caused headlines around the world.

Also, the two leaders of Britain

first were handed out prison

sentences last week for hostilities

to Muslims.

But what about freedom

of speech which Facebook champions?

They said we are an open platform

for all ideas but political views

should be expressed without hate.

Earlier, I spoke to the founder of

Tell Mama who support victims of

anti-Muslim crime.

There is a

difference between free speech and

hate speech. People can question

anything but this was about hate

speech. It was maligned and targeted

towards a section of our society.

And the leaders of Britain First

have been convicted and we have to

keep that in mind.

The Mayors Sadiq

Khan said there should be tighter

regulations with these big tech

companies. He said Britain First's

intentions to incite hatred within

our society via social media are

reprehensible, and Facebook's

decision to remove their content is

welcome.

Very strong words from the Mayor of

London. Thank you.

Activists who took over a building

in Central London to help house

and feed homeless people have been

told by a judge they must leave.

The group has been squatting

in what they now call

the Sofia Solidarity Centre.

And last night alone,

over 150 people used it to get help.

Alpa Patel reports.

It was opened up during the cold

snap two weeks ago.

Those who live here say it saves

lives but the landlord says

they have no right to be

here and wants them gone.

We met Mo, who has spent

the last four nights here.

Otherwise, he says,

he would be on the streets.

To be behind doors, you know

that nobody will come

and attack you on the street,

nobody will come and assault

you, nobody going to

come steal your stuff.

You feel like you've got

something inside safe.

Although it's almost empty up

here on the first floor,

we're told as many as 160 people

stayed here last night.

And among the sleeping

bags and tents, there

are photographs and books.

For some people, this place

really is their home.

But local residents are worried.

They've told us they've seen people

urinating outside the building

and are worried about drunkenness

and aggressive behaviour.

But the volunteers say

there are rules in place to try

and minimise the impact

on the public.

We have a no-alcohol policy,

and where possible, it's not policed

but the volunteers are here 24 hours

a day and we try and

keep the place clean.

The landlord would say this

is their building and you have

no right to be here.

This building's been empty 15

years and we have people

dying on the streets.

So have I got a right to be here?

We've created not just a place

for people to sleep and eat,

but to find themselves back

in their true selves and they're

contributing to this as a whole

and it really feels we have created

the biggest family.

But that family will now be broken

up after a judge decided this

evening the squatters must leave.

These are anxious hours

for the squatters of

the Sofia Solidarity Centre.

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

find out what the weather's up to,

with Darren.

It was a nice day today.

Yes, 14

degrees in the sunshine. We will

probably see some sunshine tomorrow

and a few showers. There is the

prospect of some rain in the

morning. The rain is yet to arrive

and it is quite at the moment.

By the early hours of the morning

and tonight we will see the rain

pushing in from the south-west. No

frost. The rain around first thing

for the rush hour but it doesn't

last long. It moves it is way

northwards through the morning it

dries up, brightens up and we get

some sunshine coming through. There

could be so showers later in the

afternoon. They could be on the

sharp side. Not as windy as today.

Still mild on Thursday and into

Friday.