w in what police have caught up in what police have described as a truly horrific situation. death rates from alcohol, drugs or suicide are the worst in blackpool — but one project is trying to change that, we'll find out how. pouring sea water on to arctic ice — scientests are trying to discover if it will stop it melting. and how a swarm of bees halted this match and sent the world number two running off court. and coming up on bbc news, back to back gold cups for galopin des champs and for trainer willie mullins, who rents off his historic week at cheltenham in style. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. police say they have now identified the 35 bodies found

at a funeral directors in hull that is at the centre of a major police investigation. the national crime agency has been called in to assist. detectives have received more than 1,500 calls in the past week from people who have used legacy independent funeral directors and are now worried about what happened to their relatives�* bodies. danny savage has heard from some of them. this is rita shaw. she died last october after a short illness. her husband has her ashes at home. i don't know if i've got rita's ashes at all. it could be anybody�*s, i think. but like so many people in the hull area who used legacy funeral directors, he's now wondering if they really are her ashes. you get over the initial part of rita passing away, it's hard, but it's on top of it, if they aren't rita's ashes, it's like torture for the rest of your life, i would have thought.

police have taken 35 bodies from this funeral home in hull. they now say they have contacted the families of those people. but richard is one of 1,500 who have contacted police concerned about the investigation. and then they says, "is there any distinguishing marks on your wife?" and i said, "yes, my wife had a butterfly on her shoulder." and they asked if i've got any photographs, as well, of my wife. this is what we're hearing from many families. they raise concerns, and police ask them if their relative has any scars or tattoos by which their body could be identified. i thought, "there's something up here, you know, something very wrong. very wrong indeed." this afternoon, people gathered outside one of the three funeral homes in east yorkshire belonging to the company being investigated. julie says her relative, who she didn't want to name, is one of the 35 bodies found here. you believed that he had already been cremated?

yeah, yeah, cos his son's got his ashes. and his son talks to him all the time. what he's been talking to, or who he's been talking to, he doesn't know now. so we just, you know, don't know where it goes from here. how does that leave the family feeling? devastated, obviously, yeah. and that appears to be the crux of the issue here. 35 families have been told that their deceased relative�*s body has now been found on these premises, yet in the past they have been given their ashes or told they can come and collect them. has there now been a huge mix—up of ashes across this city? for many people like richard, the distressing uncertainty continues. and you miss her. like mad. at that vigil this afternoon, i got talking to another lady who did not want to talk on camera, but both her

parents were cremated, but she was prepared to give me a quote. this is quite typical of how people are feeling across the city. she says, my family were cremated and their as is spread together, some made into jewelry, is some spread in the rose garden, and not home. i do want people to know, if they are someone else�*s family, they have been loved and respected as if they were my own. sophie. danny savage with the latest from latest from hull. thank you. the us secretary of state antony blinken has called for urgent international cooperation to fight the huge rise in trafficking of synthetic drugs like fentanyl, saying there's virtually no town, city, nor state that has not been affected, in some cases devastated, by synthetic opioids. fentanyl overdoses are now the main cause of death in us for those aged between 18 and a5. the warning comes as a new study in england has found that the risk of death from alcohol, drugs or suicide is higher in more deprived areas in the north of england and in seaside towns.

death rates were worst in in blackpool, six times higher than the area with the lowest rate — barnet in london. the report is based on deaths recorded by coroner's courts across england. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes reports now from blackpool. paul's had a long struggle with alcohol, but this could be a moment of change. i know you do. his support worker has played a key role in getting him this far. but now paul is about to enter detox, then a stint in rehab. and this is where a lot of our service users hang around. there is a lot of drug using round the town. stephen knows exactly what paul is going through. after all, it's a life he too has

lived, and against the odds has somehow survived. i didn't know that people recovered. you either went to prison, you got locked up, or you died. a life of addiction and prison was changed forever by a present —— a life of addiction and prison was changed forever by a prison talk given by a former addict. morning, everyone. and steven is now part of the lived experience team at the charity empowerment, staffed by those who have come through addiction and, working alongside the local nhs and social workers, are trying to help others get clean. there is now a new thing called nitazenes, and i think they're saying that that's like 500 times stronger. fatalities related to drink, drugs and suicide — what are known as deaths of despair — are significantly higher in poorer areas, especially in the north of england and seaside towns. and blackpool has a higher rate of these deaths than anywhere else in england. we need to listen to people with that lived experience. there also needs to be a really strong focus on prevention.

that levelling up of the country to make sure that everyone has got the right conditions to thrive. but today, a committee of mps says there are no compelling examples of what levelling up funding has delivered so far, with councils only able to spend a fraction of the money promised to them. the government points to increased spending on mental health and drug and alcohol harm reduction services, plus a suicide prevention strategy. but inequality is stalking the streets of blackpool. i started drink and drugs at a very young age, to the point of oblivion sometimes. so, for those like kate — not her real name — who found herself pregnant, homeless, and in the grip of a terrible addiction, the empowerment team are life—savers. when i was really bad in addiction to now being clean and having someone there, regardless, and still wanting to support me, it is an amazing feeling.

kate and paul were both at risk of becoming statistics, but with the help of the empowerment team, people who have lived the life, they are beginning the long and difficult road to recovery. dominic hughes, bbc news, blackpool. 0nly10% of the money earmarked by the government for levelling up has been spent, according to a committee of mps. the public accounts committee says the scheme has been beset by delays. billions of pounds are supposed to be funnelled to projects to reduce inequality across the uk by 2026. 0ur deputy political editor vicki young joins us from westminster. what more has the committee had to say about this? this what more has the committee had to say about this?— say about this? this is a cross-party _ say about this? this is a cross-party committee l say about this? this is a . cross-party committee that say about this? this is a - cross-party committee that tries say about this? this is a _ cross-party committee that tries to cross—party committee that tries to assess whether the government is getting value for money for its projects. they looked at levelling up, they do not like what they saw. there are various criticisms, starting with the process itself, saying that councils have to bid for

this pot of money, that in itself cost them money, then the rules change midway through and that meant there was even more waste. then they looked at the projects themselves, and they said that the progress, the total fund of £10.5 billion, and they said that the progress, the totalfund of £10.5 billion, out and they said that the progress, the total fund of £10.5 billion, out of that councils have only spent 1.2 billion. that was by september last year. then when they looked at particular projects, they say that lots of them have not been completed or even started in some cases. they were disappointed with the impact that they were having, saying that it had not had very much impact at all for most people. the department for levelling up has responded, saying that they have pushed power and money out of westminster. they say buildings don'tjust go up overnight, and with these kind of projects you expect the spending to really ramp up in the later years. councils have until 2026 to spend this money. rishi sunak, with an election coming this year, would like people to feel the impact of this a lot sooner than that. vicki, thank yom _

russians have begun voting in a presidential election, with vladimir putin seen as certain to be declared the winner when the polls close on sunday. there have been some protests — this woman appeared to pour green paint into a ballot box in moscow. but mr putin faces little serious opposition, with his rivals dead, in prison or exile. motorists are being warned of travel disruption this weekend, as part of the m25 motorway, which encircles london, is closed for a whole weekend for the first time since it was built in 1986. it will be shut betweenjunctions 10 and 11 with a diversion in place — from nine o'clock tonight until six on monday morning. this is the bit that's closed, but it will affect those travelling to heathrow or gatwick airports and to channel ports on the south coast. take the train if you can, is the advice. 0ur transport correspondent katy austin is there. this is unprecedented,

why are they doing it? well, it is part of a big programme of upgrade works. this is actually the first of five closures between now and september. national highways says it this weekend a bridge is going to be demolished and a gantry put up. it will have to close the motorway in both directions in order to do that. it does mean shutting a whole stretch of britain's busiest motorway, one of the busiest stretches of it, and of course this motorway gets used by people coming to and from places all over the country, really. so it is likely to cause long delays and congestion along surrounding roots. there is an 11 mile diversion route in place, some people who live along it told me today they are not going to go anywhere we can because they are expecting gridlock. for anybody who has to travel in this area this weekend, because the advice is to avoid it if you possibly can, the advice is to plan ahead, may be consider taking the train if it is

an option, follow the official diversion route, and be plenty of extra time. diversion route, and be plenty of extra time-— a team of international scientists are carrying out a remarkable experiment in the arctic circle to find out if they can stop sea ice from melting as the world gets warmer. they are trying to thicken the arctic�*s sea ice by pouring salt water on it. will it work? 0ur science correspondent pallab ghosh reports. it's such a simple idea that it's surprising that no—one's tried it before. the team here are pumping sea water on top of the ice so that it freezes and thickens. the aim is to stop, maybe even reverse the loss of arctic sea ice caused by climate change. we are pumping around 1,000 litres per minute of sea water. today we'll add an extra layer, so we'll add probably another five to ten centimetres of ice thickness in this area. this was the extent of the arctic sea ice in september 1979. its sharp decline

since then is alarming. so, could thickening the ice stop this trend? if not, polar bears and other arctic sea creatures will lose their homes, and the rest of the world will be worse off because the sea ice is the air conditioning system for the entire planet. this is the centre for climate repair. researchers here are assessing whether the ice thickening will work and can be implemented across the arctic in a way that's affordable and practical. if we just allow the the sea ice to go, the arctic ocean becomes one of our greatest heat absorbers rather than one of our greatest heat reflectors. we let it go, things are going to get even worse. we've got to try and fix that. his team is also working with australian researchers who are trying to reduce temperatures by spraying salt particles into the clouds to make them brighter and so reflecting the sun's heat back into space. the idea of repairing the climate

is a controversial one. if you can fix the damage, so the argument goes, then it's a green light for countries not to reduce their emissions quickly enough. but the researchers here believe that the situation is so dire that there's no alternative but to do both. if we stop doing efforts and we will leave it as it is, then we will for sure result in a really, really bad scenario. so, are you personally optimistic? yes. yes. that's why i'm working here. that's why i'm doing this research, of course. and i want to be optimistic. the researchers expect to know by next year whether their ice thickening has the potential to fix the arctic and buy a little more time to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. pallab ghosh, bbc news. our top story this evening:

the national crime agency is brought in to investigate a funeral directors in hull. police receive more than 1,500 calls from people worried about their relatives remains. and less than an hour away, comedian lenny henry hosts his final fundraiser for comic relief. coming up on bbc news... four teams could win the six nations this weekend, but will take a lot, still, to stop ireland. we will be live in dublin to consider their chances of back—to—back titles. an nhs trust is allegedly using an unproven medical procedure that is said to have harmed patients. a former consultant at the portsmouth hospitals nhs trust has told the bbc that the technique, which has been used on patients needing kidney dialysis, has led to increases in the rates

of infections and blood clots. the consultant who spoke to the bbc was dismissed by the trust for misconduct after repeatedly trying to stop the procedure. the trust said it disputes her findings and that the safety of its patients is its priority. michael buchanan reports. amanda kelsey died in 2020. she had kidney problems for much of her life, spending years on dialysis. in 2015, she was offered a procedure that no other nhs trust uses and is considered in several countries to pose a risk to patients. they've got a technique that they're trialling, is what they said, and it's a technique called buttonholing and they're going to try it on different patients, "are you happy to go ahead and have a go?" yeah, if that's going to help. amanda's medical records, however, detail a range of complications, particularly infections and blood clots. many of the problems came after she started using the new procedure, a needling technique called buttonholing. one of the claims the team at portsmouth have made is that this was

requested by patients. no, not at all. over 30,000 people in the uk need kidney dialysis — a process that cleans their blood as their kidneys are failing. for some patients like mrs kelsey, a piece of plastic tubing called a graft can be inserted into their bodies to aid dialysis. the graft should then be connected to the machine using a technique called rope—laddering, according to uk guidelines, where the needles go into different holes each time. but at the portsmouth hospitals trust, they encouraged some patients to buttonhole, to insert needles into the same hole each time — a technique not supported by the uk kidney association. it's not really known whether buttonhole needling can safely be used for grafts, because it's not generally practised. why is that? because of theoretical worry that it might lead to more bleeding or infection. patients in portsmouth weren't initially fully informed of the dangers of the new procedure, and no proper monitoring was set up,

according to a later review. when drjasna macanovic became aware of the technique in 2016, she immediately objected. i completely appreciate that my colleagues did not set out to harm patients by introducing buttonholing. but the second when i raised concerns, that very second, the trust was obliged to start investigations immediately. documents dr macanovic shared with the bbc show the efforts the consultant went to stop the procedure. she wrote to hospital bosses and to external regulators, including the care quality commission and the general medical council. but though reviews had found that had been problems, they didn't stop the procedure, saying safety concerns were taken into account. they haven't looked for harm. they have done no audit of the practice. of the complications. they have not reviewed patients' notes. shortly before her sacking, dr macanovic did her own audit, reviewing the medical records

of those who'd been using the controversial procedure. she said the rate of blood clots and blocked arteries was, on average, three and a half times higher for those patients than it had been when they'd used the recommended needling technique. for amanda kelsey, the level of complications was even higher, at least six times greater than before. it's quite upsetting, to be fair. mark kelsey questions if the technique contributed to his wife's death. the trust said an independent examiner said she'd died of a stroke and covid—19. in a statement, the portsmouth hospitals university trust went on, it does not accept that dr macanovic raised evidence concerns of patient harm. "the safety and care of our patients is our priority, and we took her objections very seriously." "other options were always explored and offered before this technique was discussed with patients." two of the 20 patients who used the procedure are still on it. jasna bacanovic was awarded £219,000 in damages for being unfairly dismissed by the trust.

mark kelsey wants an independent investigation into his wife's death. michael buchanan, bbc news. tomorrow, a new welsh labour leader will be elected. the winner, either vaughan gething orjeremy miles, will take over as first minister next week. the labour party has been in power in wales for more than 20 years, and interest in its record in government is ramping up ahead of the general election. 0ur political editor, chris mason, has been talking to the outgoing first minister, mark drakeford. we are in the very final days. i'm just beginning to get that feeling of things coming to an end. president clinton said to me, the great thing about being retired is you can say what you like — the problem is, nobody wants to listen! are you handing over two stink bombs to your successor?

there is the tow with farmers and 20mph, they've caused quite the ruckus. ah, well... that stink on the farm — a proposed welsh government subsidy system demanding environmental measures which could cost around one in ten farm workers theirjobs. it's very frightening and very frightening to farmers to think that that could happen to their businesses and to our rural communities. do welsh ministers, do you think, understand the countryside? there seems to be an ever—growing divide between urban and rural. certainly, it's very difficult to have a lot of conversations at the moment, because everything has got so toxic. change is a challenge. change that you're imposing. well, a change that we are navigating, we're not imposing. we are to explain to people that change is unavoidable and inescapable, even when it is difficult. and if that means thousands of welsh farmers are driven out of the industry, so be it?

i don't believe for a moment that thousands of farmers will be driven out of the industry. let's talk about the default 20mph speed limit in all built—up areas. we've seen hundreds of thousands of people opposing it. did you misjudge it? we might have done more to explain the reason for the policy. we might have done more to build up to the introduction. it is a policy that will save people's lives. let's examine your record on public services and your opponents' observations. regrettably, the policies he has pursued here in wales haven't improved educational attainment, the economy, and importantly, haven't brought those chronically long waiting lists down in the nhs. never once has wales met the a&e target of 95% of patients being seen within four hours. never reached. hmm. that's a failure, isn't it? well, on those terms,

you can say that, but it's a really complex issue and... is it a complex issue, if you're sat there in pain waiting to be seen and you are waiting for more than four hours, it's not complex, is it? but, you see, many, many people who wait in hospital to be treated are not sitting there waiting in pain, they are sitting there waiting because they are drunk. 0k, there might be some people who are drunk, but it would be an awful lot... seven out of ten people who turn up at an a&e department in cardiff will be there because alcohol has played a part in their arriving there on a friday or saturday night. so leave them there for four hours, they can sober up? well, a more sensible system would not count them. are you convinced that labour's record in government, your record in government, is something that the rest of the uk can look in on and be reassured by? i think people in other parts of the united kingdom can look at what we have done and will see some things that they might want to try. that does not mean that you can drag and drop, wales is a different country in that way.

as labour seek to govern the whole of the uk, scrutiny of its governing record here will sharpen. chris mason, bbc news, in cardiff. one of the biggest events in the racing calendar, the cheltenham gold cup, has been won for the second year running by galopin des champs. the race is celebrating its 100th anniversary, but crowds this year are slightly down, as our sports news correspondent laura scott reports. a serene start to gold cup day for some. less so for others. after one of the wettest winters on record, it's been heavy going for the team in charge of the car parks this week. despite a drop in attendances for the week, there was fanfare and a sell—out crowd for the race everyone wants to win, made more prestigious this year by celebrating its hundredth anniversary. here's man who knows a thing or two about centuries. irish trainer willie mullins, the first person to saddle

100 festival winners — and here was another, as the heavy favourite, galopin des champs, shone through the mid—march mud bath under jockey paul townend to win back—to—back gold cups in imperious style. how incredible was that performance out there? extraordinary, it puts him in the superstar class, one has to say, double gold cup, to win in the style he has, he is the best, you know. galopin des champs galloping to glory, the highlight of a history—making week for mullins, as ireland dominated again on racing's biggest stage. laura scott, bbc news, cheltenham. there were extraordinary scenes at the indian wells tennis tournament in the united states after after a swarm of bees descended onto the court, stopping play for an hour and a half. the world number two, carlos alcaraz, got stung on the forehead trying to swat them away, before the tournament's official beekeeper was called in to take care of the problem.

so in the sky there was thousands, thousands flying, stuck in my hair, coming to me, it was crazy. and i tried to stay away from them, but it was impossible, as i said, stuck in my hair. alcaraz is now through to the semis, and the bees have been moved on safely. sir lenny henry presents his final comic relief here on bbc one tonight after almost a0 years leading the charity he co—founded back in 1985. comic relief has raised more than £1 billion since then, all for good causes. 0ur reporter noor nanji has been finding out what's in store tonight. it's red nose day, but with a twist. sir lenny henry is bowing out, and there will be a special show dedicated to his 39 years of comic relief. the result will also be revealed of a public vote to choose their favourite lenny moment over the years. what you got in here, fam? it's a chicken.

well, bruv...it�*s dead. to see a new generation of people taking it forwards, it'll be fantastic to leave knowing that there's. .. i'm getting emotional now. ..a new group of people taking over and treating it the way we did. i'm just delighted to be called the new generation at 45 years old and with grey in my beard, to be honest with you. the idea that i'm a live—wire young thing trying to take it to the next level isjust so beyond me! the traitors — the movie. other highlights from the fundraising bonanza include an all—star line—up in the traitors — the movie. prepare to die! richard madeley, tell us, what do you think - you could bring to red nose day? oh, well, that's easy. _ i mean, obviously, you've got to be funny... and the cast of the tv series w1a reunite to find sir lenny�*s replacement. yeah, romesh ranganathan's here. right. great — romesh?! — i know, i couldn't stop him. i may as well get out of here, what's the point? romesh gets everything, doesn't he?

everything! jeez! sir lenny says, despite tough times, the public will still donate. if somebody was in trouble over the road from your house and they needed five quid or some food or some blankets, you'd go over there and you'd help. think about it like this — keep helping your neighbour, notjust the neighbours that live next door to you, but the neighbours everywhere, and i'd say that's a pretty good guide. as ever, the focus of the night is on raising money for those in need. well, i'm here on the set of comic relief where all the action will be taking place in half an hour, the audience are mostly in place, and there is a lot of excitement, but also a sense of sadness that this is sir lenny henry's last time hosting the show. lots of us grew up with him on screen, and there is a real

sense of sadness, but he has achieved a lot in our time, £1.5 billion has been raised. it remains to be seen how much will be raised tonight, but the show kicks off on 7pm on bbc one. cheering and applause time for a look at the weather, here's chris faulkes. day showers have produced quite a lot of rainbows, there have been loads, a very mild day across parts of england, as high as 17 degrees across east anglia and lincolnshire, around six or seven above average for this time of year, but a day when many of us have seen showers thanks to this area of low pressure. we get this window of clearer weather, which is a ridge of high pressure, head of the next system in the atlantic. so overnight tonight, a few showers to start with, but later in the night of the weather window works its way in, the weather becomes drier with clearing skies,

turning cold, particularly for scotland, northern ireland and northern england, where there will be patches of frost, low single figures further south. we can start on a promising note, most of us start on a bright and sunny knows, but rain moving on quickly to northern ireland, splashes for wales in the south—west of england, then it arrives across north—west england, western scotland, all the time the winds are strengthening from the south—west. the rain doesn't reach eastern scotland and eastern england, where it should stay dry, but turning increasingly cloudy. rain scooting across the uk followed by south—westerly winds, bringing mild air across all parts of the uk, and although you might see some rain across east anglia and south—east england, that will clear out of the way followed by sunny spells and showers. with those winds

from the south, a