the police will be ready. i know that the public will be feeling anxious about the reports of potential more unrest tonight, but the police will be there to respond. the first rioters are sent to jail — three men involved in the initial violence after the southport stabbings are sentenced to up to three years in prison. also on the programme tonight... this is strictly come dancing! more strictly allegations of bad behaviour — this time from production staff behind the scenes. commentator: three are down, four are down. - this is chaos! carnage in the 5000 metre heats in paris, and tempers flare after britain's george mills takes a tumble. oh, and they're nearly hitting the deck! and team gb almost take a tumble just metres from the finish line in the team pursuit final — denying them gold.

and coming up in sport on bbc news — britain's andy macdonald, the oldest skateboarder in olympic history at 51 misses out on a place and the final. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the uk's most senior police officer says thousands of police are on the streets tonight — many of them sent to protect immigration lawyers and specialists who are being targeted by rioters. around 100 far—right demonstrations are due to take place — as well as up to 30 counter protests. the head of the metropolitan police, sir mark rowley, says anyone caught taking part in violence — whether on the streets or online — will face the full force of the law. more than 400 people have been arrested since the riots started a week ago after the southport stabbings. three men who took part in that initial violence were sent to jail today for up to three years.

from liverpool here's dominic casciani. a week of violence and now the wheels ofjustice visibly turning, swiftly, for the first three men to be jailed for violent disorder. three years for derek drummond. 30 months for declan geiran. and 20 months for liam riley. last week, they'd attacked their communities. on monday, they admitted their crimes and today, at liverpool crown court, they faced the consequences. derek drummond joined a 1,000—strong mob that marched on southport�*s mosque last tuesday. he attacked police as they battled to contain the violence. declan geiranjoined a gang in liverpool last saturday. he set fire to a police van and watched it burn. elsewhere in the city the same day, liam riley was among 100 people advancing on police as some threw rocks and bricks. an officer grappled him to the ground. riley, who was clearly drunk, shouted that he was a "traitor"

and "muslim lover". today, thejudge said the disorder had been the most foul and racist abuse. "this was not mindless thuggery. you and every other defendant i am dealing with today made a choice to get involved," he said. the three men sentenced today are the tip of the iceberg, and just the start of what will be a very painful process for many who foolishly chose to involve themselves in violent unrest. many of those involved will be sent to prison for a long time. riley, drummond and geiran mistakenly thought they would escape justice. they now face an extended period of time behind bars, and their criminal convictions will stay with them forever. but how many will be deterred? police chiefs spent today preparing for up to 100 far—right gatherings across england, some claiming they will target immigration lawyers and refugee support centres. 6,000 riot—trained officers are on standby, under a national mobilisation plan last used to end

riots in 2011. we've changed our tactics in the last couple of days. so, besides marshaling more officers, we are brigading some of them at key strategic locations across the country, to give us more agility to respond to over the protests are most intense, agility to respond to wherever the protests are most intense, so that we can respond with agility and show overwhelming force, so the criminals and thugs on the streets don't succeed. i know the public will be feeling anxious about the reports of potential more unrest tonight. but the police will be there to respond to any violence and criminality that we see on our streets. there is no place for that on uk streets, and the police will do theirjob, like they have done exceptionally well, under very difficult circumstances, like i've seen here and witnessed today what they faced. tonight, some premises are taking no chances. additional security in place, staff safely at home, waiting to see what might come.

what happened today here at liverpool crown court is reallyjust the start of this process ofjustice being seen to be done. we have had convictions around the country in other locations, plymouth, manchester, teesside, but this has been the most significant so far, this three year sentence. but derek drummond, the 58—year—old who was involved in the violence in southport, when he was arrested and sat in the interview suite and realised what he had done, he said to police officers, he had let southport down and the girls down, meaning the murdered children, and his family down. the sentence means he has now got an awful lot of time to think about that and i dare say others will be following him. dominic, thank you. shops and businesses are being boarded up and closing early in a number of towns and cities including parts of birmingham which has already seen some violent demonstrations this week after false reports that far—right protesters were planning to march.

0ur correspondent phil mackie has been gauging the mood there amid fears there could be more violence tonight. the last appointment was hours earlier than usual. what are you doing tonight? getting out of dodge? like everyone else here, they are worried about more potential disorder. i think it's quite scary. i think the one thing that birmingham has always done well, it's been one city for everybody. and i think that's one of the great things about birmingham. and i hope that doesn't change, really. it's a bit of tit—for—tat. it's meant to be a peaceful protest, but one bad thing gets said and itjust erupts into chaos. so it shouldn't really be happening. but this day and age, things do happen, because people's blood boils over certain things. there is an immigration centre nearby and online rumours spread about a possible demonstration and counter—demonstration. people are getting nervous. they don't like what they are seeing on the news and reading on social media, and they are especially

worried when they hear that what they have seen happening might come to the area in which they live and work. and they want it to stop. kam is also shutting up shop. but he is staying around to keep an eye on his business. i feel on edge and i feel... i wouldn't say afraid, because we can't be afraid, obviously. but itjust puts everyone on edge. all my family is on edge. everyone around me is on edge, that is of colour, literally. and even a lot of white people are on edge, because they feel as if they will be treated like the people that are doing the bad stuff. so it kind of spoils everyone, all round. tariq has bitter memories of the last major disorder in birmingham in 2011. after his son was killed, he made this intervention. i lost my son. blacks, asians, whites, we all live in the same community. why do we have to kill one another?

i fear for the fact that the only way we are going to learn again is that someone is going to end up losing their life. arrests have already been made after protests turn to violence here earlier in the week, and more will follow if there is a repeat. we aren't anti—protest. we are anti—criminality. if you are coming to commit criminality, you are not welcome and we will deal with you robustly. for now, the shutters have come down. but birmingham hopes it will wake up to normality, not criminality. so there is a refugee and migrant centre just round the corner from here and there is a small group of people gathered there, it is not clear whether they intend to stage a protest letter or not. there are more journalists and police officers in this part of birmingham at the moment, and lots of police patrols, mainly for reassurance but also keeping an eye on the situation, and here in this quarter we would normally see restaurants and takeaway is being really busy, but you can see most people have gone home and are staying in for the

night, and they hope it will stay as quite as it is now. joining me now is our senior uk affairs correspondent, sima kotecha. please believe resourcing matches the intelligence picture, in other words they have the officers to deal with whatever happens. the metropolitan police, in london, uk's biggest police force is deploying officers to the north with police saying strategic reserves of officers will be on standby at strategic locations. this is what is called a nationalised mobilisation plan, meaning officers are shared with other forces across the country. the last time we saw this happen was during the riots in 2011. over the last of days many may have seen a list of immigration lawyers going viral on social media, the met chief said protecting those places is one of their main objectives tonight, saying they will not let the immigration and asylum system be

intimidated. the police and government are trying to reassure the public that everything is in hand but i think depending on what happens tonight, how things turn out, it may show whether jailing people quickly as happened today is acting as the deterrent they hope it is. . ~' , ., the first riots, last week, followed the fatal stabbings of three little girls at a dance studio in southport. today the inquests into their deaths were opened and adjourned. axel rudakubana has been charged with three counts of murder — and ten counts of attempted murder — and will go on trial next year. fiona trott reports. bebe, who was just six. seven—year—old elsie. and alice, aged nine. three young lives, the court heard, cruelly lost in horrific circumstances. the coroner here at bootle town hall said the three children were full of life and energy, and will be missed beyond any description my woefully inadequate words may attempt to describe. at a special church service last

night, a local priest offered his words of comfort to alice's parents. the beautiful, smiling, joyful alice. we welcome all of you here tonight, especially sergio, alexandra — mum and dad — and your family and friends. and some of the others who they don't even know, some of us. and there were flowers, too, from so many strangers here in southport who still want to show their support, more than a week after the fatal attacks. for people who live close to where this happened, life has stood still. normally at times like these you would throw yourself into your work, but the shops and offices here are still closed. they can't receive deliveries, they can't receive post, they can't go out in their cars. minor inconveniences, they say, that they feel guilty about. it's the families, they say, that matter most. so while their lives are on hold, at least the inquest openings allow

the relatives to move onto the next important chapter. and that is holding a funeral for their little girls. alice aguiar�*s funeral will be held on sunday. another chance for the community to wrap their arms around her family. fiona trott, bbc news, southport. in other news, six regional gender clinics for children in england and wales with gender issues are to be opened in england in the next two years. it comes after a review which called for more support for children and young people questioning their gender. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, is here. six new clinics — how much of a change is this? it is significant, because it follows this review by doctor hilary cass earlier this year, which found that children and young people had been let down, in her words, because of a lack of robust medical research on the sort of interventions which were going on. just before that the

tavistock clinic which had been providing these services closed, and a block on the routine use of puberty blockers, that's designed to hold the onset of puberty or slow it down, that was implemented. so nhs england have followed this up today by saying there will be six new centres on top of two which have already opened, and referrals will be made by a mental health or paediatric expert rather than directly from gps. and there will be trials of puberty blockers under robust clinical conditions next year. this comes at a time when it said that around 5700 children and young people are waiting on average 100 weeks for care in these services. the british medical association has said that it is a welcome move but they feel that this blog on the use of puberty blockers is concerning —— this block and they want to carry out their own review

of what follows the hilary cass report. of what follows the hilary cass re ort. . ~ of what follows the hilary cass reort. . ~' ,. thank you. former production staff on strictly come dancing have told bbc news about what they call a "toxic" workplace culture where they claim they faced bad behaviour — including verbal abuse and bullying. the allegations come after weeks of damaging claims from celebrities about their experiences on the show. bbc studios said the welfare and safety of its crew has always been its priority — but apologised if anyone hadn't felt able to speak up. our culture reporter noor nanji has more. this is strictly come dancing. it's the show that millions of us watch on saturday nights. strictly — a world of bright lights, sparkles and sequins. over the past month, strictly has been rocked by allegations from celebrities about their experiences on the show. we've heard from 15 of the show�*s current and former production staff. they've asked to have their identities protected. actors here are relaying their stories. the whole culture was toxic,

especially for junior staff. 0scar was just 18 when he started working as a runner on strictly. he expected it to be warm and welcoming, but the reality was very different. i was called stupid just for asking for a handover. it was bullying behaviour. ifelt sick, i couldn't sleep, i couldn't eat. one of the celebrities once got so close to me, he was shouting right in my face and spitting on me, when all i was trying to do was pass on instructions. he later apologised, but it should never have happened in the first place. 0scar says he didn't feel able to complain. instead, he quit. annika joined strictly to get work experience in the earlier runs of the show. she was excited to get the job, but quickly found the work culture exhausting. one of the male dancers, who has since left the show, in particular, treated people in an insane way. the way he spoke to women, including female dancers and junior staff, was disgusting and chauvinistic.

we'd been warned against working with him. i was a nobody, a little runner. i didn't think i could complain. robert was a choreographer in the earlier runs of the show. producers would get irate and shout at me even if the smallest thing went wrong, but i felt afraid to say anything back. there's a sense that you're lucky to be on the show as it is one of the biggest in the uk, so you should put up with all the problems you might face. we put our findings to bbc studios. it said it does not recognise the claims, nor will hundreds of people who have worked on the show over the two decades that it has been on air. it said it encouraged everyone to speak up about concerns of inappropriate behaviour. it insists it acts speedily to deal with complaints, and it apologised to anyone who had felt they weren't able to speak up about their experiences at the time. the dance world's a tought place. one of the judges spoke up about his experience. i know how i was trained, you know, and it was tough. and i remember that. i had a russian ballet teacher

who used to have a cane, and she would whack us with it. 0bviously that sort of teaching would not be available today. 0ther strictly production staff have told us a positive story. a choreographer told us they had never had an issue with any dancers or staff, saying, "they are very kind and respect me lots." a beautician said she had never seen any bullying during her eight years on the show. she says some of the recent allegations made her a bit apprehensive about going back. with the new series due to start in a few weeks' time, the bbc is insisting the show will go on. the question is, how will it cope with the added scrutiny that the claims have brought? noor nanji, bbc news. the time is 6:20. our top story this afternoon... shops and businesses are boarded up and thousands of police on the streets tonight with more than 100 far right demonstrations planned.

and still to come, mining for gold in old tech — how the royal mint is finding value in old phones and laptops. 0n bbc london, i'm out here at hernehill velodrome, where we have gathered to cheer on team gb�*s track cyclist and south londoner ethan hayter. more on our programme at 6.30. sea temperatures around the great barrier reef over the past decade have been the warmest in 400 years according to marine scientists in australia. they say it's resulted in more mass coral bleaching events happening — highlighting the threat from climate change. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill has the story. a vast, natural wonder. the great barrier reef is a colourful, living underwater ecosystem. but climate change is transforming it. it's caused five mass coral bleaching events here injust the last nine years. and, in a report in thejournal nature, scientists have shown that rising temperatures now threaten

the survival of the reef. what is it like to see a healthy reef bleached? it's very white. quickly algae forms on top of the corals, which turns them a kind of brown colour. it's not a pretty sight. the scientists examined long coral cores, samples drilled out of the bodies of centuries—old coral. these contain chemical clues that reveal how warm the water was during the life of the reef. combining this with historical sea temperature records showed that in just the last decade, temperatures around the great barrier reef were the warmest of the past 400 years. the high sea surface temperatures are extreme in this context of the last four centuries. and we're very confident in the reconstruction that we've performed.

it's been exhaustively tested, and unfortunately it shows this terrible news for the reef. bleached, heat—stressed coral can recover. but if the current rate of global warming continues and the high temperatures don't relent, it won't have a chance to. well, the science tells us that the great barrier reef is in danger. we have the answers to this already. we have targets, we have agreements internationally. i think we need to put the politics aside and get on with it. even if international targets to limit global warming are met, many of the corals here are likely to be lost. but if action is taken now on climate change, scientists say that parts of this natural wonder can still be saved. victoria gill, bbc news. another day of drama at the olympics in paris, with a tumble and a stumble for team gb in athletics and cycling — plenty more action ahead tonight. our sports correspondent,

laura scott, is in the stade de france. thanks, sophie. i'm here at the stade de france, home of athletics at these 0lympics, where matt hudson—smith is one of the favourites for gold in the 400m final later on. but teamgb�*s wait for a first medal of day 12 has ended in the last hour. with news of cycling success, our sports editor dan roanjoins us from the velodrome, dan. thank you, laura. welcome to a very noisy national velodrome on the outskirts of paris, the news in the last few minutes is that team gb have claimed silver in the event that they have dominated in the olympics for so long, certainly up 0lympics for so long, certainly up until the last games in tokyo. the men's team pursuit. we can show you some of the pictures. team gb, led by charlie big, they did so well. they were in contention with a very strong australian team throughout the race. the australians had broken the race. the australians had broken the world record in the heats. with

our 600 metres to go, ethan hayter had a crucial slip, with the effort of it all. his legs gave way and he almost came off his bike. he managed to stay on, but it did cost britain a shot at gold. they had to settle for silver. australia, claiming the gold. the first time in 20 years for them. great britain, having won the olympic title in this event in 2008, 0lympic title in this event in 2008, 2012 and 2016, they are back on the podium for the first time in eight years, so that is progress, but having come so close they will be some frustration. that is the second silver medal of the week in the velodrome alongside a gold medal on monday. and there could be, the next few moments, another to come. the reason it is so loud is because the women's team pursuit is currently on. it is the bronze medal race and team gb are in is against italy. it looks like britain are trailing, narrowly. but hopefully in the next few moments the team, aired by

elinor barker, can claw back some of that ground and claim bronze. it will be decided in the next few moments. there was drama here earlier in the men's 5000m heats, when britain's george mills took a tumble near the finish line, and was involved in a fiery confrontation with the frenchman he believed had caused him to fall. he is through to the next round. with more on that, the 51—year—old skateboarder hoping to prove age isjust a number, and the rest of today's action, here's our reporterjo currie. on a day when there were few medals in great britain's sights, it was all about athletes carefully navigating their qualifying rounds. but in the men's 5,000 metre heats, just keep an eye on george mills, in the navy, at the back of the leading pack. this is chaos, carnage! in a tangle of legs, mills went tumbling, along with three other athletes. he picked himself off to cross the line, before his emotions boiled over.

i think it's pretty clear i got stepped out on as i was about to kick into the home straight. and boom, yeah, the french lad took me down. but once the dust had settled, he and the other three who fell were all reinstated to claim a place in the final. over at the skateboarding park, what a moment this was for team gb�*s andy mcdonald. in a sport dominated by teenagers, he was making his 0lympic debut at the age of 51. a top eight finish was needed for a place in the final, but despite the rad dad — his own nickname — holding his own, he finished 18th. the judges may not have given their stamp of approval, but at least american skateboarding legend tony hawk did. this is the most enjoyable and fun thing that i have known in my life. and hopefully that came across and i can inspire other people to pick it up, whether it's a young kid to pick up a skateboard for the first time, or somebody in their 50s to not put it down.

jack law is a veteran off the diving boards, with a bronze already secured and the men's three metre springboard synchro event, how would he go on the individual semifinals? here is your answer. the 29—year—olds, through to the medal round in third, along with team—mate jordan houlden in fifth. and if you're wondering what is going on here, this is 0lympic boulder and lead. competitors are given six minutes to study the wall, before they tackle it in anyway they can. the higher you go, the bigger the score. and it was a good day for great britain's toby roberts, seen here hanging by his and toes, and hamish macarthur, who both successfully made it through to the final. jo currie, bbc news. tonight's athletics action from a teamgb perspective is pretty simple — it all focuses on one lap of the track, with british involvement in semi finals of the men's 400m hurdles

and the women's 400m but the highlight of this evening — matt hudson—smith in the final of the men's 400m. he's the fastest man in the world this year over the distance and won his semifinal easily. he's spoken openly about the mental, physical and financial struggles, he's been through. he said he wanted to make his family proud, his young nephew proud, so that he can boast of his friends backin that he can boast of his friends back in roehampton. the last british man to win the olympic 400 metre gold, eric liddell,100 years ago in paris. how is the medal table looking? in the last few moments, team gb have won bronze in the team pursuit final that dan was talking about. that takes the tally up to 48 medals, 12 of which are gold. can hudson—smith add another tonight?

now what can you do with vast quantites of old mobile phones and laptops? well, the royal mint has spotted an opportunity. the country's coin—maker has built a new industrial plant to start extracting gold from technology waste to make jewellery — and maybe more — as our science editor rebecca morelle has been finding out. it looks like a pile of rubbish. and, for most of us, it is. these are from all of the electronic goods we throw away. but here at the royal mint, they're discovering a new use for this rapidly growing e—waste problem. these old circuit boards contain a lot of different materials. there's aluminium, there's plastic, there's steel, there's tin, there's copper. but what they're interested in here is gold. there's a tiny amount of it on every single board. the question is, how do you go from this, to this? first, the circuit boards are pushed through a giant oven to heat them up so their components fall off. then they're sieved, and sorted, sliced and diced.

anything containing gold is set aside. the processed e—waste is brought to the on—site chemical plant. so, after we've pre—mixed the chemistry, it's pumped into our reactor here. and this is where the magic happens. the pieces are tipped into a chemical solution which extracts the gold. then the depleted boards are collected and this dark liquid, which contains the gold, is filtered. we're hoping to process over 4,000 tonnes of e—waste annually. where traditionally e—waste is shipped overseas, you know, we're keeping it in the uk. we're keeping those elements in the uk for us to use. it's really important. at the end of all these processes, you get this — a pretty nondescript looking powder. but what's inside here is pure gold, worth about £10,000 in today's prices. it's a big change for the royal mint. for more than 1,000 years, they've been the uk's official coin maker. but with cash use dwindling,

e—waste is a new way to make money. the recovered gold is initially being used to craftjewellery, and later it will be made into commemorative coins. the team are also looking at ways to use the rest of the materials that make up a circuit board. rebecca morrelle, bbc news, llantrisant. time for a look at the weather. here's chris fawkes. it's been pretty cloudy today. i think scotland and northern ireland have had the best of the breaks in the cloud but there have been a few showers running in. the satellite picture shows the extent of the cloud at the moment. the thickest is down towards wales and south—west england, where we are starting to see some patches of light rain pushing in. 0vernight tonight i think it will stay quite damp for these areas. you could get the odd spot of rain across south—east england. showers continue for west scotland. in between these areas, there should be a reasonable amount of dry weather with some clear spells. temperatures overnight are about 11 or 14 celsius. tomorrow,

england and wales are starting on a damp note or western areas. right across the north and east. as we head into the afternoon, reina looks set to turn heavier for wales, northern england, northern ireland and parts of scotland as well. now, temperatures, despite the cloud and rain, should still reach the low 20s. rain, should still reach the low 205. it rain, should still reach the low 20s. it will probably feel a little on the human side for some of you. looking at the child through thursday night, that heavy rain will start to pull away as the area of low pressure works out towards the north sea. we get some clear spells following. on into friday, overall it is a better weather picture. sunny spells quite widespread. showers coming and going for western scotland, an isolated one possible for northern ireland come the afternoon. temperatures, well, generally quite close to average. it's starting to get a bit warmer across east anglia and south—east england, a trend that is set to continue. if you look at the jet stream for friday, we start to get hot air being brought into it from storm debris. colder air starts to work in from canada. the effect of thatis

work in from canada. the effect of that is that it starts to get a lot