0:00:00 > 0:00:00That's all from the BBC News at One, so it's goodbye from me.
0:00:00 > 0:00:14On BBC One we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16Good afternoon and welcome to BBC London News -
0:00:16 > 0:00:18I'm Sonja Jessup.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21First this lunchtime - what causes a young woman
0:00:21 > 0:00:25from Harrow to join the so-called Islamic State?
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Tania Georgelas was once married to an American leader in IS.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30She moved to Syria with him and their children.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33But she quickly decided she wanted to leave.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35She's been speaking to Rickin Majithia
0:00:35 > 0:00:39from the BBC's Asian Network.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41My name is Tania Georgelas.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44For a decade I was an Islamic extremist.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47My ex-husband became a leading member of the Islamic State and now
0:00:47 > 0:00:52I'm hoping to counter his ideology.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54In the late 1990s, Tania went to high school here in Harrow.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57It's a middle-class, diverse London suburb.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00I grew up here myself, and went to school just three
0:01:00 > 0:01:01miles down the road.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08I didn't know her at the time but know many people who did.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11They have all described her as a pretty normal teenager.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13They say that she sometimes had boyfriends and played
0:01:13 > 0:01:14truant from school.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16She wasn't known to be especially religious or even
0:01:16 > 0:01:17politically engaged.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19So when did it all change?
0:01:19 > 0:01:21I turned to religion in my life when I was 17.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23I just wanted to change my identity.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25I didn't want to be Tania from Harrow any more.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27I wanted to be someone pious, someone that people
0:01:28 > 0:01:29didn't call a tart.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32So it gave me structure in my life that I needed and helped me feel
0:01:32 > 0:01:34like I belonged somewhere.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37In her late teens and early 20s, Tania mixed with various
0:01:37 > 0:01:38radical groups in London.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41They changed the way she looked at the world.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Our minds were being filled with these images,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45terrible, disturbing images.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48They would give examples of what happened in Srebrenica and Bosnia.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51We were made to feel this shared sense of guilt because we're
0:01:51 > 0:01:56a community and it was our duty to do something.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00And that something was jihad.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02In 2003, she married John Georgelas, an American
0:02:02 > 0:02:04convert she had met online.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Over the next eight years, they lived across the UK,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09the US and the Middle East.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11By the time they reached Syria in 2013, Tania was pregnant
0:02:11 > 0:02:14with their fourth child.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I stayed in abandoned homes by ex-military.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20The windows had been blown out and every single night,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23I had become accustomed to hearing gunfire.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25By this point, Tanya said she had started
0:02:25 > 0:02:27to question the life of Jihad.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29She wanted to take the children back to America.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31After three weeks in Syria, she pleaded with John
0:02:31 > 0:02:33to let them escape.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36He agreed.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38There were bullets, like snipers, on these towers,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42shooting, and we could see the bullets flying everywhere.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45I remember putting my kids through the barbed wire
0:02:45 > 0:02:47and the Syrian refugees, they were just guys,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50they were helping us as much as they could.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54I put the stroller in and then John passed me another baby.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57It was so scary.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59John remained in Syria and went on to join
0:02:59 > 0:03:01the so-called Islamic state.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Until earlier this year, the group controlled vast
0:03:03 > 0:03:06areas of Syria and Iraq, where it implemented brutal rule
0:03:06 > 0:03:09and killed thousands.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Tania says she hasn't heard from John in over a year,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15and doesn't know if he's alive or dead.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18The last thing he told me, the last message, was that he apologises
0:03:18 > 0:03:23for the wrong that he's done to me and the children, and that
0:03:23 > 0:03:26if I don't hear from him in six months, it's most likely
0:03:26 > 0:03:28because he's dead because he has to fight, because the fight
0:03:29 > 0:03:33is drawing closer to where he lives.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Tania now lives in the United states.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Her children are looked after by John's parents and seem
0:03:38 > 0:03:40well adjusted to American life.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43She says she's turned her back on extremism in order
0:03:43 > 0:03:45to use her experiences to deter others from making
0:03:46 > 0:03:50the same mistakes.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53If you were to meet a woman who was thinking about going down
0:03:53 > 0:03:56the same path that you once took, what would you say to her?
0:03:56 > 0:04:00I would say, I lost my family, I lost my home, I lost ten years
0:04:00 > 0:04:03of my life that I should have been, you know, working towards
0:04:03 > 0:04:05an education and my career.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08I have four children who don't have a dad now.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Is this the situation you want to be in?
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Rickin Majithia with that report.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Surrey Police is investigating child sex abuse at a residential
0:04:18 > 0:04:21children's home in Woking over a period of 30 years.
0:04:21 > 0:04:2417 people have been arrested or interviewed under caution.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Police say the allegations date back to the 70s at a home
0:04:27 > 0:04:29known at different times as Kinton Approved School
0:04:29 > 0:04:35and the Oaks Centre, Mayford.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38The trial's begun of a man accused of throwing acid at a young
0:04:38 > 0:04:40woman in east London on her 21st birthday.
0:04:40 > 0:04:46Resham Khan had been out celebrating with her cousin
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Jameel Muhktar in June when the substance was thrown
0:04:49 > 0:04:50through their car window.
0:04:50 > 0:04:51They suffered life-changing injuries.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53John Tomlinson faces charges of causing grievous bodily harm
0:04:53 > 0:04:55at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Two men who were questioned by police over a fight
0:04:57 > 0:05:00that sparked panic at Oxford Circus on Friday have been
0:05:00 > 0:05:01released without charge.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04A number of people were injured, with nine taken to hospital,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08after people fled amid reports of a shooting.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11The men - aged 21 and 40 - voluntarily went to a police
0:05:11 > 0:05:13station over the weekend.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Charlie Raposo left the UK at the age of 13
0:05:23 > 0:05:26to follow his dream of skiing at the Olympics.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Now 21, he's close to securing a place in the Giant Slalom
0:05:29 > 0:05:30at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea
0:05:32 > 0:05:33next February.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36When he's back in the UK, he calls Chelsea home,
0:05:36 > 0:05:41and Sara Orchard caught up with him at the Hemel Hempstead snow centre.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44It's that time of year again.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48It's that time of year again.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53Ski Sunday is coming and so the 2018 Winter and whilst London might not
0:05:53 > 0:05:58be famous for its mountainous ski slope Charlie Raposo is thankful for
0:05:58 > 0:06:03his family holidays in Switzerland that have allowed him to get within
0:06:03 > 0:06:07touching distance of histories.It's everything I've wanted since I was a
0:06:07 > 0:06:12really young kid, the Olympics by me up, people running fire me up, I
0:06:12 > 0:06:16love watching it and actually being able to do it, doesn't happen all
0:06:16 > 0:06:20the time but when it does, it's amazing. The index is where I want
0:06:20 > 0:06:25to be.And he's back in the UK he calls Chelsea home but it he took a
0:06:25 > 0:06:30calculated risk to get to the top of the sport by moving to Vermont in
0:06:30 > 0:06:35the USA to join a ski academy and paid off. He is a three-time British
0:06:35 > 0:06:38champion and this time the world Junior Championships, he finished
0:06:38 > 0:06:46sixth. The reigning giant slalom champion is from the USA and as he
0:06:46 > 0:06:52continues to collect points for the Olympics in 2018, he hopes it will
0:06:52 > 0:06:57normalise the skill of competing for Team GB.It doesn't seem like a race
0:06:57 > 0:07:02I will be doing in two weeks' time, I have to treated the same, you are
0:07:02 > 0:07:05standing at the opening ceremony, thousands of people there watching,
0:07:05 > 0:07:10not specifically you but you as a whole, the athletes, you get used to
0:07:10 > 0:07:14it, I've done World Championships, four world junior championships.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19Charlie time in London is brief but he's here he's training and feeds of
0:07:19 > 0:07:25the city's energy.I come back and the first day I come back I am
0:07:25 > 0:07:29walking to the gym, feeling the city buzz around, watching these people
0:07:29 > 0:07:33who have their own hustle and fight going on, everyone is busy trying to
0:07:33 > 0:07:38make their way in life and I get a lot of energy from that.The Winter
0:07:38 > 0:07:44Olympics start on the 9th of February.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47I don't think there's any snow in the weather forecast that I hear it
0:07:47 > 0:07:51is going to get cold.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56Let's get the weather now - here's Kate Kinsella.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Slowly and surely, the conditions improving, brighter weather this
0:08:05 > 0:08:10afternoon, quite a bit of cloud around but to try and starting to
0:08:10 > 0:08:16feel colder. The brighter weather, still some high cloud around, the
0:08:16 > 0:08:20sunshine hazy, pretty breezy and that's blowing through some showers.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26They should last too long, you could get one or a two. The temperature is
0:08:26 > 0:08:309 degrees, we started the day at 10 degrees, slowly the temperature
0:08:30 > 0:08:34dropping as we head towards the end of the day, cold moving from the
0:08:34 > 0:08:39north, clearing the cloud. Lengthy cure spells, breezy, keeping the
0:08:39 > 0:08:44earth moving, unlikely to see too much frost despite the temperature
0:08:44 > 0:08:53dropping. A chilly but bright start first thing on Tuesday, lots of
0:08:53 > 0:08:58sunshine around, still a bit of a breeze, through the afternoon a bit
0:08:58 > 0:09:05more cloud moving in, again the chance of a shower, feeling colder
0:09:05 > 0:09:10tomorrow, 6-7dC as a maximum, this cooling trend continuing. Still
0:09:10 > 0:09:17breezy, still an north-westerly wind, feeling cold especially as we
0:09:17 > 0:09:21head to Thursday, temperatures reaching single figures. Thank you.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23Well, that's it from us on the lunchtime team.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25Victoria Hollins will be here at 6.30
0:09:25 > 0:09:26with our evening programme.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Bye bye.