this is bbc news. i'm clive myrie. the headlines at 8pm. a manhunt is under way for the main suspect in the berlin christmas market attack. he's been named as 23—year—old anis amri, a failed asylum seekerfrom tunisia. and i'm robert hall in berlin. it's emerged that the suspect had already been under covert surveillance and had served time in italy for theft and arson. a millionaire property developer has been sentenced to life for murdering his escort girlfriend, whom he claimed threatened to blackmail him. once i'd attempted to murder her, i'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble for that and she could have still gone on and blackmailed me. a royal marine serving a life sentence for the murder of an injured afghan fighter, has been refused bail, while awaiting an appeal. labourmpjamie reed, one ofjeremy corbyn‘s most high profile backbench critics, is quitting parliament to work in

in the nuclear industry. in in the nuclear industry. he queen and prince philip have delayed plans to travel to sandringham for christmas, after coming down with heavy colds. and after dozens of near misses with planes this year, plans are afoot for tighter rules on flying drones. good evening and welcome to bbc news. a europe—wide manhunt is underway tonight after german police issued a warrant for a suspect in the berlin christmas market terror attack. he's been named as anis amri, a failed asylum seeker who arrived in germany last year. it's emerged that amri was known to german authorities because of his links to an islamist extremist network. he was due to be deported after his

asylu m he was due to be deported after his asylum bid was rejected. police are facing serious questions tonight. you're looking at europe's most wanted man. anis amri is the main, the only suspect in the investigation into the attack which shattered germany. translation: there's a new suspect, we are searching for him. we'll keep investigating every lead. we issued a warrant for this suspect‘s arrest at midnight. the warrant covers the whole of germany and most of europe. we're learning more about the 24—year—old tunisian. he arrived in germany last year. he was refused asylum but granted temporary leave to stay. he was known to the authorities, considered a threat because of his links to one of germany's most notorious islamist networks. and he'll be hard to find — he used six different names and three nationalities.

the hijacked lorry used in monday's attack is yielding its grim evidence — documents leading to the suspect and dna. it's thought he struggled with the man who should have been behind the wheel, before shooting him dead. germany's misery compounded by the suggestion again that one of those who sought asylum here may have been responsible. more pressure too on angela merkel. earlier, the far—right dutch politician geert wilders posted a picture of the chancellor, her hands covered in blood. do you blame angela merkel for what happened 7 "angela merkel," she says, "is a humanitarian woman." "she did the right thing a year ago, no—one could know this would happen." flowers for the dead, prayers for the injured. germany's foreign minister joined today by his italian counterpart.

among those missing and feared dead is fabrizia di lorenzo, who comes from l'aquila. translation: we have to realise that we are vulnerable right in the middle of our country, of our capital. we have to realise that we aren't spared the kind of attacks that happen elsewhere. tonight, they don't know where their main suspect is. in fact, they're offering a reward of 100,000 euros. but this investigation does now have a face and a focus. that is, for some here perhaps, a little light in the darkness. jenny hill, bbc news, berlin. our correspondent robert hall in berlin has been speaking to him from the brandenburg institute for society and security. he asked him whether germans tonight were wondering whether a wider terrace

was behind the attack. one of the important things is, was that a lone wolf, someone who got radicalised at home on the internet? or is there an organisation behind this? and he was just part of that organisation and was ordered to commit the attack two days ago? would you, based on experience, think there is some form of support network? as an analyst, my experience comes from reading, but it sounds, especially the reports coming from the local police, how the truck driver was overwhelmed and how he got hold of this truck. one could think that maybe there was more than one person involved. again, at this point, it's just, wejust guessing. involved. again, at this point, it's just, we just guessing. this event followed warnings from the united about attacks in europe. is there a

feeling here, are people like yourself, and lists like yourself, looking now at whether germany did move fast enough, and whether it is now moved fast enough to deal with any further copycat attacks? for quite some time, our security forces have been warning the public that germany is under threat and an attack could happen any time in germany. at the time, there were a lwa ys germany. at the time, there were always success. in her row was that tried to attack the country. and they were quite successful until two nights ago. we in a way ran out of luck there. are we doing enough? obviously not enough. but it's not that germany was unprepared for this. there were more police forces on the street for quite some time, just if you take a look at the british embassy in berlin. there is

more protection. but there are only so more protection. but there are only so many people in the police force. finally, i refer to the political implications. we don't know quite how this current hunt is going to turn out, all the details are. based on what we do know, i suspect it may mean that angela merkel, the chancellor, once again comes under pressure. if it turns out that it was actually the guy from tunisia, and he came in as a refugee, it will certainly not help her with her position. on the other hand, i think most people in germany have already decided which side they want to be on. and so will this in any way increase the support for the afd, the populist right—wing new party here in germany? maybe a little bit, but it's not going to change significantly the political situation. at least, that is what i

assume. thank you very much indeed for talking to me. to reiterate, people are still visiting. there is a mood of solemnity. as i said earlier, the lights have come back, there is a real intention to get this market open. i spoke to the mayor of this district this evening and he reiterated that is this huge hunt goes on and we wait for some further news on that score, once again berlin is showing that it intends to return to normality and d efy intends to return to normality and defy any threat. robert hall reporting from berlin. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:45 and 11.30 this evening in the papers — our guests joining me tonight are lucy fisher, senior political correspondent for the times and commentator henry bonsu. please stay with us for that. a millionaire property developer from south wales, has been jailed for life for the murder of an escort girl.

peter morgan strangled georgina symonds— who earned up to £10,000 a month exclusively from him. at her home in newport. he had admitted killing her but denied it was murder. sian lloyd reports. georgina symonds, mother to a five—year—old daughter — she was strangled by the man who called himself her sugar daddy. the 25—year—old had met property millionaire peter morgan while working as an escort. the married 54—year—old had become infatuated with her. but the court heard he killed her in a carefully planned attack out of cold anger on finding out that she planned to blackmail him. in a statement read on her behalf, georgina symonds's mother, deborah, said their family was broken. the death of my daughter, georgina symonds, has been a devastating tragedy for the whole of our family. her beautiful daughter has been left without a mum. georgina has left a hole in our lives that will never be repaired. during their relationship, the father of two had paid georgina symonds up to £10,000 a month, taken her on helicopter flights and bought expensive gifts.

she moved into a bungalow in the grounds of a ruined mansion that he owned, but she didn't know that he'd installed a listening device disguised as a plug adapter. the multimillionaire overheard a conversation in which she spoke of plans to blackmail him by threatening to send intimate pictures to his family. police visited her bungalow when she was reported missing afterfailing to pick up her daughter from school. this body—cam footage records morgan claiming that he didn't know where she was. where did you think she was going at 12 o'clock? but georgina symonds was already dead. peter morgan had concealed her body in a barn at his family home. this was the moment that peter morgan told police officers what he'd done. the trouble was, once i'd sort of attempted to murder her, i'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble for that, and she could have still gone on and blackmailed me, couldn't she? during his trial, thejury been

told that peter morgan had asperger‘s syndrome. he had denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but the judge told him that the plans that he had made and the steps he'd taken to cover up what he'd done showed that he was in control and understood his actions. peter morgan showed no emotion as he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years for the murder of georgina symonds. sian lloyd, bbc news, newport crown court. a former royal marine sergeant, who's serving a life sentence for murdering a wounded afghan fighter in 2011 — has been refused bail, while he awaits an appeal hearing. the family of alexander blackman, who was originally known as marine a, had hoped he'd be released from custody in time for christmas. his case is due to be re—considered next year.

after the decision his wife gave her reaction to the media. this footage contains flash photography. we are obviously disappointed by the judge's decision not to grant bail this afternoon. however we must remember that earlier this month, the criminal cases review commission decided to refer the case back to the appeal courts. and this is the most important step towards getting al's conviction and sentence overturned. we are grateful to the courts for expediting the appeal process. the queen and prince philip have delayed plans to travel to their estate at sandringham today, because they both have what buckingham palace described as ‘heavy colds'. the queen, who celebrated her 90th birthday this year and prince philip, who's 95, usually spend the christmas in norfolk. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports from buckingham palace. all the travel arrangements were in place for a train journey from king's cross to king lynn at around 11 o'clock this morning. the royalty protection people were there. then they were told to stand down, nobody would be travelling.

inevitably, the speculation started. at1:30pm, buckingham palace let it be known that both the queen and the duke had in their words, heavy colds. travel was delayed. now, the question is whether they will be well enough to make the journey either tomorrow or friday, or indeed even saturday, christmas eve. i think there is every expectation that they will. the royal family of course gather at sandringham for christmas, and they certainly won't want to miss that. the health of the queen in recent times, seemingly as robust as ever for somebody who is now in her 91st year. the health also of the duke at the age of 95, seemingly good in recent times. so, heavy colds in the words of buckingham palace. an expectation that they will travel, and no undue concern here tonight that i can detect. a labour backbench critic ofjeremy corbyn has announced he's quitting the commons. jamie reed is standing down as an mp to take a job at the sellafield nuclear plant. jeremy corbyn has paid tribute to mr reid's "great

service" to the "party, country and constituency". our chief political correspondent vicki young has the latest. yeah, he's announced he's going to stand down as an mp. he's going to take a job in the nuclear industry at sellafield, which is in his constituency in cumbria. now, jamie reed has been a very vociferous critic ofjeremy corbyn, the labour leader. he's stood down from his position on the labour front bench as soon asjeremy corbyn was elected as leader. he's insisting this has nothing to do with his views on mr corbyn. he says they have a very good personal relationship. he says this is much more about wanting to serve his community in the best way possible. he has given an article to the guardian newspaper, the website. from reading that, it seems clear that it's about his family life. he has four children, one's a teenager, three others. he says it's a long journey, a long commute, going from cumbria down to london. and it sounds like that's been taking its toll.

and he thinks this is the best decision for his family. now, politically, of course, this could be pretty tricky for labour. the majority in that seat is about 2500. the conservatives were in second place at the general election and ukip third. i think the significance here is that it was a constituency that voted very much to leave the european union. about 62% voted to leave. ukip under the new leadership of paul nutall will feel they may have a chance, if they can make some inroads into the labour vote, something they talked about doing. particularly in the north of england. this will be a real test for them and a very tricky by—election, probably maybe in february, for labour. the headlines on bbc news: it isa it is a 15 pm. german prosecutors have named their prime suspect in the berlin lorry attack. he's the tunisian national

anis amri and is 23. a multi—millionaire property developer has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years, for murdering his escort girlfriend. a royal marine serving a life sentence for the murder of an injured afghan fighter, has been refused bail, while awaiting an appeal. i'll be looking back at the past 12 months for the royal family, dominated by the celebrations to mark the queen's 90th birthday. that is review 2016, the raw year, with me “— is review 2016, the raw year, with me —— the royal year. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. northampton saints won't face any punishment for allowing george north to carry on playing against leicester earlier this month although a concussion management review group found that the welsh wing should never have returned to the field of play after appearing to be briefly knocked out. they found that the saints medical team hadn't intentianally ignored the player's best interests but have

made nine reccomendations to improve the current pitchside protocols. the rugby players association have given their response this evening. dr barry o'driscoll, the former medical advisorfor world rugby, was here at the bbc sport centre earlier, and he feels that much more has to be done to protect the players. the protocols that these players go through when they got off the field is not worth the paper it is written on. it's experimenting on players' brains. first it's five minutes, then ten minutes, then 30 minutes. no other sport in the world use it. rugby did not use it in the rest of the sport, in the community game,

schools game, ladies' game. if you have to take a player off because, to have a concussion assessment, you must suspect concussion and he has to stay off. all regulations say that he must stay off. experimenting in that part of the game, the most brutal. when the player goes back impact will be huge. this is what is wrong. the double wimbledon champion petra kvitova will be unable to practise again for at least six months according to her manager. kvitova needed a four hour operation on her left hand after a knife attack at her home in the czech republic. a statement from her management team said the operation went well with no complications. it's thought that the intruder was a burglar and kvitova wasn't specifically targeted. a former serviceman who tried to break in to wayne rooney's home has been jailed for two years and eight months. 25—year—old robert mcnamara from scarborough had pleaded guilty

at chester crown court to attempting to enter as a trespasser with intent to steal. the attempted burglary took place on the night of august three this year, when rooney was playing in his testimonial match against everton at old trafford rooney's family were also at the match when the alarm at their house was triggered. the chelsea assistant coach steve holland willjoin england to work alongside gareth southgate. the pair have worked together with the england under 21's since 2013 and then with the senior team during southgate's four match period as interim manager. holland willjoin the fa on a full time basis at the end of this season. there is a second—round replay in the fa cup at liverpool in the third round, newport county, bottom of league 2 at home to plymouth argyle, top of the division. fairly even so far. newport‘s pitch has been a bit ofa far. newport‘s pitch has been a bit of a leveller, in that it is not

very level. the teenager on loan from cardiff created their best chance. argyle's leading scorer has come chance. argyle's leading scorer has co m e closest chance. argyle's leading scorer has come closest for the visitors. it is 0-0 come closest for the visitors. it is 0—0 afterjust over half an hour. that's all sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour thank you, ollie. the evacuation of civilians from the syrian city of aleppo has resumed. a convoy of buses is taking some of the last three thousand evacuees from eastern districts of the city. a short time ago i caught up with alasdair roxburgh head of humanitarian campaigns for the charity save the children. he gave me an up date on the progress of the evacuations on the ground. around 26,000 people have been evacuated into the countryside. around 26,000 people have been evacuated into the countrysidem is crucial that there is still trapped within east aleppo are given safe passage out of the city said they can get the urge and support

they can get the urge and support they need. how many more may still be inside the city waiting to get out question what we believe between 1000 and 2000 families a day will continue to read over the next week. so still many people to be evacuated. those fleeing aleppo are leaving appalling conditions, sheltering in bombed out houses and where conditions are poor, temperatures have plummeted and there is snow on the ground. many have not had food or medical supplies since the city was cut off in the summer. we can see from the pictures that it is freezing cold. and once the evacuees get out they have a choice as to where to go, the majority seem to be heading towards the other rebel held area of idlib. under the agreement people are moved out of east aleppo into relative safety and it is crucial to remember that where they're moving to is not a purely safe space. in idlib earlier this week one of our partners was hit by an air strike. and a volunteer was also

killed at that time. so it is relative safety at this point. what they can get there is what they need urgently, food supplies and blankets, other crucial things for their survival. potentially we are going to see the same problems being replicated idlib, if the syrian government and their russian backers decide to go after that rebel held province. i think that is why it is crucial but the international community take steps to ensure it does not happen. on monday we had the security council passing a resolution to ensure that the un monitors the remaining part of the evacuation. but the international community must not fail again to protect civilians and do all it can to ensure you are protected and kept safe. —— ensure civilians are. the scenes we've seen in east aleppo should not be repeated elsewhere.

750,000 people still live within besieged cities at this time, so it is crucial a peaceful solution is found at that can allow urgent aid to those people who needed. there has been precious little piece in this conflict throughout, ceasefires have come and gone, civilians have died. —— little peace. and an observer looking at a map of syria would say that idlib is going to be the next place that is targeted. should these evacuees, these civilians, these people leaving aleppo, is it really the place they should be going to? it is relative safety for them, better than where they have come from. they can get basic supplies and that is why it is crucial for the international community to take steps to find a peaceful solution to protect them. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news this evening. eu judges said communications information can only be retained if it's targeted and used to fight serious crime. the home office says it'll try to get the decision overturned.

government borrowing fell in november. it stood at £12.6 billion, down six hundred million on the same month last year. the fall wasn't as steep as analysts expected, but ministers say they're on target to meet their latest deficit forecasts. police say some victims in the national football abuse scandal could have been as young as four years old, and there are now about 400 potential victims. officers say the number of potential suspects has nearly doubled to 155 and 148 football clubs are said to have been drawn into the inquiries. all the locks at birmingham prison are to be replaced following last friday's riot — at a cost of £750,000. keys were handed over to inmates by a prison officer who had been threatened. it's thought the total cost of repairs will be £2 million. the private firm running the prison, g4s, will pay.

the government's proposing tougher controls over the use of drones following dozens of near misses with aircraft in the uk over the past year. ministers are beginning a consultation on plans that include no—fly zones around airports, and exams to ensure that owners know how to use drones safely. our technology correspondent rory cellanjones reports. ..moments after receiving the order... earlier this month, amazon made its first delivery by drone to a customer in cambridgeshire. just one potential use of an exciting new technology which the government says could soon be a big contributor to the economy. but, things can go wrong. this drone careered across an estuary in cumbria and almost clipped a road bridge, landing its owner with an £800 fine. and reports from pilots of near misses with drones have led to mounting concerns about safety. if people don't use drones responsibly and follow the rules and regulations which are in place, obviously that's a safety issue first of all. but it could also affect

the long—term future of drones as well. there are already plenty of regulations. i couldn't for instance fly this here because we're too close to buildings and people. but while professional users of drones have to register with the civil aviation authority, anyone else could just buy one and start flying. the government is consulting on regulations which would mean new drones would have to be registered, users would have to pass a theory test, much like that for drivers. and there would be tougher penalties for using drones in no—fly zones. these pictures were captured by an amateur drone user, peter galbevy, on holiday in australia. he says the rules there are far simpler than in the uk. and warns there is a risk in imposing a clamp—down. leisure users are the future employees and users of drones and other unmanned aircraft, for more commercial reasons. if you put regulations in place that are too complicated

and they scare people off, then you're going to deny that future industry this pool of talent that we need. there'll be thousands of new drone owners this christmas. even before new rules come in, they're being told they will be safer if they follow the existing drone code. rory cellanjones, bbc news. hello, there. some very windy weather on the way in the run—up to christmas. gale force winds, though, will feed plenty wind into showers into scotland overnight. for southern parts of england, a spell of rain for a while to creep away from the south east. patchy fog forming as sky is clear. it gets pretty chilly in the countryside, close to freezing, perhaps. some icy patches especially over higher roots in scotland and strong to gale force winds will continue to feed infrequent wintry showers back into scotland on thursday.

a few showers for northern ireland, one or two coming into england and wales. many eastern part of england will be dry and quite sunny after the clearance of that early mist and fog. certainly a chill in the air. some atrocious weather for the scottish mountains in the next 24 hours or so. and then the winds strengthened even further as we head into friday. we have this and the wind warning from the met office, all due to storm barbra steaming to the north west of scotland. that weather front on friday will bring us a spell of rain that it's the wind that will have the biggest impact, especially in the north west of scotland where the gusts could be as high as 80 or even 90 miles an hour. you are watching bbc news. the top stories, it is coming up to 8:30pm. the hunt is on for a tunisian man, suspected of carrying out the lorry

attack on a christmas market in berlin. investigators say anis amri arrived in germany last year, but his application for asylum was rejected. today, more tributes were paid to the 12 people who died in the attack on monday night, and security has now been stepped up across germany. meanwhile in london, tighter security measures are now in place, for the changing of the guard ceremony at buckingham palace. a multi—millionaire property developer has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years, for murdering of his escort girlfriend. peter morgan strangled georgina symonds in january, after she threatened to tell his family about their affair. a royal marine serving a life sentence for the murder of an injured afghan fighter, has been refused bail, while he awaits an appeal hearing. the hope was he'd be released for christmas. the labour mpjamie reed, one ofjeremy corbyn‘s most high profile backbench critics, has quit parliament to work in the nuclear industry.