Lawrence Mother To Question May On 'Smear Plot'

The mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence will ask the Home Secretary for either a judge-led or independent inquiry into claims undercover police were ordered to smear her family, her lawyer has said.

Doreen Lawrence will ask Theresa May about the claims made by a former officer in the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstrations Squad.

Peter Francis said he had been asked to "dig up dirt" on the Lawrence family in the aftermath of their son's murder in 1993.

Mrs Lawrence's lawyer, Michael Mansfield QC, said: "She will be wanting something done in public, and the nearest example is Leveson, or an alternative scenario is one like the Hillsborough panel that looks at all the material.

"One of these two has got to happen. Not another internal inquiry which will not be made public because they will claim it's sensitive information.

Stephen Lawrence was murdered by a racist gang in 1993

"It doesn't necessarily have to take particularly long. Leveson was done in a year, and it's a good example of something that was done in public, and quite searing questions were asked. Hillsborough was very efficient too.

"We're not talking about a public inquiry that takes years and a report that gets left on the back-burner, we're talking about an efficient, focused inquiry."

Claims have also emerged that police had bugged meetings between officers, lawyers and Stephen's friend Duwayne Brooks, who was with him on the night that he was murdered by a racist gang.

Mr Mansfield, who represents the Lawrence family along with fellow lawyer Imran Khan, said: "I'm wondering if they did exactly the same with Imran and myself. I will want assurances that they have not done that. It's a very serious situation.

Neville Lawrence has already called for a public inquiry

"This has been a very sorry saga. Doreen has been extraordinarily patient."

Earlier this week Mrs May said Mr Francis' claims would be investigated in two continuing inquiries - one into the undercover operations of the SDS and another into alleged police corruption in the original inquiry into Stephen's murder.

However, the 18-year-old's father, Neville, insisted that only a judge-led public inquiry would be enough to get to the truth.

Mr Brooks' lawyer, Jane Deighton, told Sky News that if the bugging claims were true, they were "bizarre and sinister".

Michael Mansfield QC will seek assurances his conversation were not bugged

She said: "It's bizarre because it's a meeting that the police sought, it was a meeting that the police felt they had to seek after the Macpherson Inquiry had found that they had treated Duwayne in an institutionally racist way.

"The meeting was sold to us as a measure the police were taking to treat him with the respect he deserved.

"It's bizarre and it's sinister that they should have sought authority to bug this meeting."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "An investigation into the circumstances of what took place has now been started by the DPS (Directorate of Professional Standards).

"This investigation will seek to establish exactly what was authorised and what happened to any material which may have been gathered, in the context of the legal framework of that time."

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Wind Farm Plan In Bristol Channel 'Catastrophic'

By Emma Birchley, Sky Correspondent

A battle is being fought to stop one of the world's biggest offshore windfarms being built in the Bristol Channel as the race continues to hit tough targets on renewable energy.

The Atlantic Array is a development of 240 wind turbines that will be visible both from South Wales and North Devon.

If planning permission is granted, it would provide enough power for 900,000 homes and reinforce the UK's status as the global leader in offshore wind power.

But Steve Crowther from the Slay The Array campaign says it will be "environmentally catastrophic".

"They call this an offshore wind farm - it's inshore. It is between this beautiful Devon coast visited by four million people every year and the Pembroke coast visited by three million people every year.

"And people don't come here to see the landscape and the horizon covered in wind turbines. They come here for peace, tranquillity, rural settings and seascapes."

But with the Government committed to offshore wind power, the number of turbines is only going to increase.

One of the biggest players in the industry is DONG Energy.

Steve Crowther says the wind farm will destroy the beauty of the area

It operates the 48 turbines at Gunfleet Sands near Clacton, which have been up and running for three years and supply electricity to 120,000 homes in Essex.

UK wind power manager for the company, Benj Sykes, says despite concerns about the efficiency of wind farms, they are generating energy more than 80% of the time.

"They are becoming more efficient by the day and Dong Energy is committed to improving that further.

"By the end of the decade we will see the cost of energy coming down by something like 40% making them competitive with other technologies."

And with nearly 8000 miles of coastline there is plenty of opportunity for further development.

Offshore wind turbines in the UK can currently generate more than 3GW watts of energy - enough to power two million homes.

In all, 12.5% of the UK's electricity is already created from renewable sources.

The target is to produce around 30% by 2020, which means building many more turbines - and that creates jobs.

In Brightlingsea, an entire business has been built because of the Essex wind farm.

Andy White, chairman of Ctruk and Cwind, said: "Three years ago we didn't exist. We started the two companies to go out and help build offshore wind farms for the utility companies so three years ago we had zero people working for us and now three years on we have 150 people working for us."

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Suspicious Item Found At Walsall Mosque

Homes near to a mosque in Walsall are being evacuated following the discovery of a suspicious item, West Midlands Police say.

Army bomb disposal experts are currently at the scene and have this morning ordered the evacuation of around 39 homes in the immediate vicinity of the mosque.

The measure is precautionary while a further examination of the item is undertaken.

Police were called to the Rutter Street address at around 10.45pm last night following the discovery in the grounds of the building.

The item was then brought inside the building by a member of the public, police said.

The area has been cordoned off.

"People in the affected area and who are unable to make alternative arrangements are being taken to Walsall Town Hall where they will be cared for," a police statement said.

Meanwhile, local officers remain at the scene and are talking to residents to keep them up-to-date with the incident and offer reassurance.

More follows...

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GCHQ Spies 'Tap Fibre Optic Cables For Data'

British spies have secretly accessed fibre-optic cables carrying huge numbers of emails, Facebook messages and other communications, according to The Guardian.

Documents given to the newspaper by US whistleblower Edward Snowden suggest eavesdropping agency GCHQ can analyse data from the network of cables that carry global phone calls and internet traffic under an operation codenamed Tempora.

The newspaper said data had been shared with the organisation's US counterpart, the National Security Agency.

GCHQ, in Cheltenham, refuses to comment on intelligence matters but insisted it was "scrupulous" in complying with the law.

It is the latest in a string of leaks from Mr Snowden, who has told The Guardian he wants to expose "the largest programme of suspicionless surveillance in human history".

The newspaper said there were two principal components to the agency's surveillance programme, called Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation.

The paper claimed Operation Tempora had been running for 18 months.

GCHQ and the NSA can access communications including recordings of phone calls and a user's entire internet history, the documents suggest - and their scans apparently entirely innocent people as well as specific suspects.

Edward Snowden has been charged with espionage

Mr Snowden, who fled the US for Hong Kong after deciding to reveal the NSA's secrets, told the paper: "It's not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight," he said.

"They (GCHQ) are worse than the US."

The Guardian reported that GCHQ lawyers told US counterparts there was a "light oversight regime" in Britain compared with America.

The newspaper said the documents revealed that by last year GCHQ was handling 600 million "telephone events" each day, had tapped more than 200 fibre-optic cables and was able to process data from at least 46 of them at a time.

The intelligence gathered is understood to have led to a number of high-profile arrests and convictions, including a terror cell in the Midlands. It is also claimed to have led to the arrest of London-based individuals planning attacks prior to last year's Olympic Games.

A source close to the intelligence agencies told Sky News' Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge that GCHQ scanned data for possible indications of a threat to national security, and that most of the information is not looked at in detail.

The work is legal and subject to ministerial scrutiny, the source said.

Ridge said: "At the same time this is of course going to reignite the big debate over the balance between protecting national security and making sure that people's personal details aren't compromised."

Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch's director Nick Pickes said: "If GCHQ have been intercepting huge numbers of innocent people's communications as part of a massive sweeping exercise, then I struggle to see how that squares with a process that requires a warrant for each individual intercept. This question must be urgently addressed in Parliament."

A GCHQ spokeswoman said: "Our intelligence agencies continue to adhere to a rigorous legal compliance regime."

US authorities have filed espionage charges against Mr Snowden, a former CIA technician who formerly worked for the NSA, and have asked Hong Kong to detain him.

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Jeremy Forrest: Child Sex Teacher Jailed

A teacher who fled to France with his pupil and spent a week on the run has been jailed after admitting five counts of sexual activity with a child.

Jeremy Forrest, who was convicted by a jury yesterday of abducting the schoolgirl, pleaded guilty to the additional charges and was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.

During his trial, the prosecution labelled him a "paedophile" and said he "groomed" the vulnerable teenager.

The 30-year-old insists he still loves the youngster, who broke down in tears and told him she was "sorry" as he was found guilty of her abduction.

She did not attend court for his sentencing but in a victim statement her mother said she had been "robbed" of her childhood.

"I feel like the worst mother in the world," she said. "Someone has got my child and I never saw it coming."

Forrest is led onto a plane to be extradited from France last October

Passing sentence, the judge at Lewes Crown Court said Forrest "chose to ignore the cardinal rule of teaching" by starting a sexual relationship with the teenager shortly after her 15th birthday.

"Your behaviour in this period has been motivated by self-interest and has hurt and damaged many people - her family, your family, staff and pupils at the school and respect for teachers everywhere," Michael Lawson QC said.

"It has damaged you too but that was something you were prepared to risk. You now have to pay that price."

He added: "I have seen nothing in the evidence which shows that at any stage you tried to provide proper boundaries between yourself and her, to discourage her, or let other staff deal with the matter appropriately.

"Indeed all the evidence shows that you encouraged her infatuation and provided opportunities for her to communicate with you and be alone with you."

Forrest arrived back in the UK with his head covered

Rumours of Forrest's relationship with the teenager surfaced in February last year, when the pair were spotted holding hands during a flight on a school trip to Los Angeles.

The girl, now 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted having a crush on Forrest, who taught at Bishop Bell Church of England School in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

They exchanged flirty text messages, tweets and photographs but denied any wrongdoing when pressed by the school.

Fearing their relationship was about to be exposed when police were alerted last September, Forrest abducted the youngster and took her on a cross-Channel ferry to France, where they spent a week on the run.

The couple dyed their hair, assumed false names and dropped a mobile phone into the English Channel in an effort to avoid being caught, but were tracked down after a Europe-wide search.

The family of Jeremy Forrest give their reaction to the sentencing

In a statement read outside court, Forrest's family said he was "very sorry for his actions" during what they described as a "sorry episode for all concerned".

"Despite the verdict and today's sentence, there are many factors in this case which need to be examined and addressed, including the failure to properly act on early warnings," they said.

"We sincerely hope these are looked into and not simply swept under the carpet."

A spokesman for Bishop Bell School said the staff had only "very limited anecdotal hearsay and no evidence of relationship" when concerns were first raised.

He said that before Forrest fled the country, the school had intended to remove him from the classroom while an internal investigation into possible professional misconduct was carried out.

A jury took just two hours to find Forrest guilty of abduction

The spokesman said staff remained "deeply shocked by the actions of Mr Forrest and his betrayal of the trust that was placed in him".

"It is important that the strongest possible message is sent to all who work with children that they hold a position of responsibility and trust for the lives, and wellbeing, of those in their care," he said.

"We take our responsibility extremely seriously and our safeguarding policies and procedures are robust.

"However, we are determined to implement any learning from these events to ensure that all pupils at the school are as safe as they possibly could be."

Jeremy Forrest was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Ling, of Sussex Police, said Forrest was in a "position of responsibility, authority and trust over the children in his care, which included this young, vulnerable victim".

"He grossly abused the trust placed in him and his actions caused distress and anxiety amongst parents, family members and the school community," he said.

Nigel Pilkington, of the Crown Prosecution Service, added: "We're pleased that Forrest has been sentenced for the full extent of his criminality, sparing his victim and her family from having to go through another trial."

Forrest, of Petts Wood, London, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for each count of sexual activity. The sentences will run at the same time. A one-year sentence for abduction will run consecutively.

The judge also imposed a sexual offences prevention order on Forrest, banning him from working or volunteering with children and unsupervised contact with children forever.

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Serious Speeding Offences In UK Jump By 10%

The number of drivers summoned to court for speeding increased by 10% last year - meaning more drivers are committing the most serious speeding offences, new figures reveal.

In 2012, 48,000 drivers - nearly 1,000 a week - appeared before magistrates for breaking the speed limit - up from 44,000 the previous year.

But the number of fixed penalty notices for lower-level speeding offences fell by 6% to almost half a million.

In total, British motorists were fined £30m for speeding last year.

The police data, obtained by a freedom of information request from LV= car insurance, suggests a growing minority of drivers are committing the worst offences.

Most drivers who were caught speeding said they were spotted by fixed speed cameras (62%), with a significant proportion caught by police with a camera at the roadside (22%) and police without a camera (10%).

Many motorists admit they regularly exceed the speed limit without getting caught.

One in seven (14%) drivers say they avoid detection by memorising where police patrol in their area, while others have technology in their vehicles, such as SatNavs, to detect fixed speed cameras and alert them while driving (16%).

Britain's roads are set to get even faster in future as last week the Government announced that trials of an 80mph speed limit could take place from August this year.

According to current Association of Chief Police Officers guidelines, a motorist caught driving at 80 mph on the motorway (70mph speed limit) would receive an on-the-spot fine but would need to be travelling at 96mph to receive a court summons.

If the speed limit is increased to 80mph, it is possible that only those driving well over 100mph would receive a court summons.

John O'Roarke, managing director of LV= car insurance, said: "While overall speeding convictions are down, it appears that the police are rightly taking a hard line on the most serious speeding offences.

"However, if a driver is caught exceeding the limit by even just a few mph, they can still be fined and given penalty points. Drivers should take care to know their limits to avoid a fine, penalty points or worse."

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School Canteens: 8,000 Face The Axe

By Liz Lane, Sky Reporter

As many as 8,000 primary school canteens in England could be at risk of closure because they are losing money.

Head teachers took control of dinner budgets from local councils in April and many have discovered they are draining the finances.

The Government's school meals advisers are asking those in trouble to seek help, rather than close down their kitchens.

Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, who founded the restaurant chain Leon, will make public the details of their recommendations in the next few weeks.

Mr Dimbleby said in the meantime worried head teachers, governors or parents should get in touch.

He said: "We don't think there's a massive risk of mass closures because in the survey we did for our work, 95% of head teachers strongly believe food is important for the behaviour and the attainment of their pupils.

"But we would like to hear if any schools are thinking of closing their kitchens. We think there are people who can help to keep it open."

Schools are having to be more creative to make school dinners feasible.

In Brill in Buckinghamshire, village butcher and parent John Wilkins has teamed up with a pub to provide meals at cost to the local primary.

He said: "We're not reinventing the wheel with what we do really, and it should be done in schools. Really they should have the facilities and the finance to do it, but if it isn't there then you have to look at another alternative."

Brill primary head teacher Andy Leach said it would be very difficult to persuade outsiders to do it at an affordable price.

He said: "Increasingly there are cutbacks, and services are being reduced at a local and central level.

"Schools have to be a bit more creative now about how they provide services and certainly if we were to be using a commercial provider for our school dinners they would struggle to make it pay."

Canteen closures are already beginning. All Saints Church of England Primary School in Datchworth, Hertfordshire, will stop providing school dinners at the end of this term, saying not enough pupils were having them to make it viable.

Mr Dimbleby and Mr Vincent said increasing the uptake of hot meals is key to making the service profitable.

They want the number of children choosing school dinners to grow from 40% to 80% over the next five years.

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Bulgaria Balcony Fall Death: Brit Teen Killed

A "popular and well-liked" British teenager has died after apparently plunging 10 floors from a hotel balcony while on holiday in Bulgaria.

Liam Davies, 19, was believed to have fallen more than 130ft to his death after returning to the hotel in a taxi with friends on Sunday following a night out.

They did not have enough money to pay the fare and so Mr Davies reportedly went to his 10th-floor room to get some cash, but never returned.

When his friends went to look for him they found his body on the ground below the room's balcony. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim, known as Shaun, was on a package holiday in the popular resort of Sunny Beach on the Black Sea coast.

Mr Davies, from Llanelli, south Wales, worked as a customer care assistant for McDonald's at the town's Trostre Retail Park.

"We are extremely saddened by the news of the death of Liam Davies, known to McDonald's friends and colleagues as Shaun," said Ann Jones, business manager of the restaurant.

"He was an extremely popular and well-liked member of the team and we are working to support our staff at this very difficult time."

Friends also paid tribute on social networking websites Facebook and Twitter.

Alison White wrote: "Still in total shock over the death of Shaun - why is it that only the good die young? It was such a privilege knowing Shaun he was one of life's kindest, funniest, most caring people."

A spokeswoman for travel firm Thomas Cook confirmed "the tragic death of Mr Liam Davies whilst on holiday in Bulgaria".

She added: "Our thoughts and sympathies are with Liam's family and friends, and our team in resort are providing their total support during this very difficult time."

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "We can confirm a British national has died at the Sunny Beach resort, in Bulgaria.

"We are liaising with the authorities in the country and consular assistance is being offered."

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NHS Watchdog In 'Hospital Scandal Cover-Up'

Senior officials at an NHS watchdog have been accused of a cover-up after destroying their own report into a hospital maternity unit at the centre of a care scandal.

An independent investigation has found the Care Quality Commission failed to properly inspect University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, where the deaths of up to 16 babies are being investigated by the police.

Concerns were first raised in 2008, but in 2010 the CQC gave the trust, which serves 365,000 people in South Cumbria and North Lancashire, a clean bill of health.

Wednesday's report suggests that CQC bosses were so concerned about protecting the watchdog's reputation that they ordered an internal review to be deleted because it showed that their original inspection was flawed.

The new report details one official saying that he was told by a senior manager in March last year to destroy his review because it would expose the regulator to public criticism.

Furness General Hospital in Cumbria

It says: "He informed us that he was instructed by a member of senior management at CQC to 'delete' the report of his findings.

"We think that the information contained in the report was sufficiently important that the deliberate failure to provide it could properly be characterised as a 'cover-up'."

James Titcombe, whose baby son Joshua died aged just nine days old in Furness General Hospital in 2008 after staff failed to spot and treat an infection, described the report as "shocking".

"It embodies everything that is wrong with the culture in the NHS. It's something that's been rotten really about the system," he said.

Westmorland General Hospital, where Morecambe Bay NHS Trust is based

"We need it to change. We need that culture to change. Patient safety should be the number one priority, and organisations that work within regulation need to be aligned with that principle."

Responding to the report's findings, the regulator said: "We let people down, and we apologise for that.

"This report reveals just how poor the Care Quality Commission's (CQC) oversight of University Hospitals Morecambe Bay (UHMB) was in 2010.

"This is not the way things should have happened. It is not the way things will happen in the future. We will use the report to inform the changes we are making to improve the way we work and the way we are run."

It insisted there was "no evidence of a systematic cover-up" and promised "more thorough inspections".

CQC chairman David Prior said: "The publication draws a line in the sand for us. What happened in the past was wholly unacceptable.

"The report confirms our view that at a senior level the organisation was dysfunctional. The board and the senior executive team have been radically changed."

Shadow health minister Jamie Reed said: "First, we need to know who took the decision to delete this report, who else was party to the decision and what the justification was for so doing.

"Second, urgent clarity is needed on whether the CQC had any contact with the Department of Health about this matter and if so, what was the nature of that contact."

The CQC, which faces at least 30 civil negligence claims, is to be subject to a public inquiry.

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Probation Reforms 'Unworkable' Say Campaigners

Government plans to make every convict leaving prison spend at least a year under supervision in the community have been branded "unworkable" by a leading campaign group.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has announced all offenders who enter prison, even for just a few days, will be subject to the new policy.

Each will be given support into housing, employment, training and substance abuse programmes.

But Mark Gettleson, from the Howard League for Penal Reform, said there was no money to pay for the changes, which would merely exacerbate a failing system.

"We think it's wholly unworkable and the wrong solution to the problem," he said.

"It's an admission of abject failure on the part of the Government with regard to short-term prison sentences. It is clear from every piece of evidence ever presented that times in custody of less than a year are a total failure."

Mr Gettleson described the 58% reconviction rate for short-term prison sentences as "dismal"  - compared to 34% for community sentences, which he said came in at 10th of the cost of jail terms.

"Rather than ... actually looking at alternatives that work, or that work a lot better, like community sentences, the Government is going to bolt on a period of unfunded probation support to those failing sentences," he said.

The reforms, to be rolled out across England and Wales by 2015, will see around 65,000 offenders, serving sentences of up to two years, receive extended rehabilitation.

The changes form part of the Government's so-called 'rehabilitation revolution', which will see a greater role for private and voluntary sector organisations, who will be paid by results to reduce re-offending.

Mr Grayling said: "It is simply not good enough that we spend £4bn a year on prisons and probation, and yet make no real dent in the appetite of offenders to commit more crime.

"It is little wonder when many of our most prolific criminals leave prison totally unsupervised in the community.

"These reforms are essential and will ensure that offenders are properly punished but also given targeted support to help them turn away from crime for good."

Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan said: "This is another wasted chance by the Government - it should have pursued a model that focused on evidence of what works to reduce re-offending.

"Instead it has obsessively pursued pet projects leading to the imposition of an untried and untested payment by results model on the probation service which will take big risks with public safety and taxpayers' money."

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