this is bbc news — i'm ben bland. the headlines at apm: —— ben brown. police say the late former prime minister, sir edward heath, would have been questioned over seven allegations of indecent assault and rape — if he were alive. if sir edward heath would have been alive today, it has been concluded he would have been interviewed under caution, in order to obtain his account in relation to the allegations made against him. i and my siblings had every opportunity at close hand, to observe him, and children being children are not unaware of the sort of things that are being talked about — and we would have noticed anything, and there was nothing, spain's constitutional court suspends monday's session of the catalan parliament, in a bid to stop a possible push for independence. a downing street source insists resignation is not an issue for theresa may, as ministers rally round her

following a conference speech marred with mishaps. also this hour — officials say the las vegas gunman planned to flee the scene of the attack. stephen paddock may also have had help with planning the massacre, in which 58 people were killed. and the british author kazuo ishi—guro is awarded the nobel prize for literature — he says he was "flabber—gastingly flattered" to win. i only started to believe this was true when the bbc rang me. i'm quite old—fashioned, i true when the bbc rang me. i'm quite old —fashioned, i believe true when the bbc rang me. i'm quite old—fashioned, i believe in the bbc. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. a two—year police investigation into claims of child sexual abuse by the former prime minister, sir edward heath, has concluded

that there were sufficient grounds to question him under caution. wiltshire police said they would have interviewed the former prime minister about seven claims, including the alleged rape of an 11—year—old boy, if he was still alive, but they insisted there was no inference of guilt. friends of sir edward, who died in 2005, say the report is "profoundly unsatisfactory". our correspondent richard galpin reports. sir edward heath, conservative prime minister in the early 1970s, is remembered for much, including taking the country into what would become the european union. also whilst prime minister, he famously skippered one of the yachts which won the admiral‘s cup. but since his death 12 years ago, allegations of child sex abuse have come to the fore. today, wiltshire police announced that allegations made by seven people would have led to the former

prime minister being questioned if he was still alive. the offences where he would have been interviewed under caution are one allegation of rape of a male under 16. three allegations of indecent assault on a male under 16. four allegations of indecent assault on a male under 14. and two allegations of indecent assault on a male over 16. it is clearly inappropriate to speculate what his response would have been to the allegations put to him, and no inference of guilt should be drawn by the decision to interview him. but the police investigation, launched two years ago outside mr heath's house, has been bitterly criticised by those who knew him. it seems to have begun with a conclusion it wanted to reach, and so it has behaved

in a way that would enable that to happen. so i don't think it begun with the police saying, "let's see what we find." it began with the police saying, "this is what we want to find, and we will do our damnedest to make sure we get that." there were allegations that the former prime minister abused dozens of other people, but the police dismissed these. some because of undermining evidence, others because the police believed the claims were false. the former director of public prosecutions ken mcdonald believes the whole investigation was an exercise by the police to cover their backs at the expense of a dead man. "shame on them," he wrote. there are calls now for an independent judicial inquiry to try to determine whether or not mr heath was involved in child abuse. but with the former prime minister long dead, the truth may never be known. our correspondent helena lee is outside wiltshire police headquarters in swindon.

for wiltshire police a hugely controversial investigation. yes, very critical, and it was very clear today at the news conference with the chief constable that he was prepared for the criticism which has come out today and over the past two yea rs, come out today and over the past two years, in terms of this investigation. he said he was satisfied that he had compelling reasons to investigate what he says we re very reasons to investigate what he says were very serious allegations made against the former prime minister, sir edward heath. we also heard during that news conference that there was an independent scrutiny panel, which looked at this report and they concluded that it was undertaken in a very fair way. i have with me doctor ellie hansen, a

clinical psychologist. you were one of those members on the panel. first of those members on the panel. first of all, tell us what your role was. the role of the scrutiny panel was to provide challenge, really, and particularly to look at the issue of proportionality. was this a proportionate investigation on how we re proportionate investigation on how were the findings being reported question rabat was one of our tasks. we we re question rabat was one of our tasks. we were one of many checks and balances built into that investigation to provide rigour. you area investigation to provide rigour. you are a clinical psychologist. what did you bring in from yourjob to this report? the main focus of my work is around sexual abuse and working with victims and police investigations and social services and beyond. so i was able to bring that understanding of the impact of abuse, engaging with those who have experienced abuse and so forth. how satisfied are you the investigation

was carried out in a fair way?” believe this was a thorough, rigorous and fair investigation. we asa rigorous and fair investigation. we as a scrutiny panel were invited to provide challenge, our perspectives we re provide challenge, our perspectives were ta ken seriously provide challenge, our perspectives were taken seriously and it seems that's been the approach to many other reviews and checks and balances that have gone on. you are well aware that those critical supporters of sir edward heath, you don't say it is fair, and say this isa man don't say it is fair, and say this is a man who is no longer alive, he can't answer to those allegations. what are your thoughts on that?” empathise, is my starting point. they find themselves in a very difficult situation, where someone they know and love it after he has died has been accused of abuse, very serious crimes. i can see where they are coming from. at the same time, ifi are coming from. at the same time, if i think about the kind of layperson on the street asked the question, very serious crime alleged to have been committed by former prime minister who has now died, should the police be tasked to

investigate? i think the answer is yes. i think if the answer isn't yes, that is a societal debate and discussion we need to be having, it is not the role of wiltshire police to not investigate. i think if they hadn't looked at these investigations, there would be valid concerns investigations, there would be valid concerns about cover up or what ever it may be. i think they have done the right things stop zero doctor hansen, clinical psychologist and on the scrutiny panel, which was completely independent, thank you very much. we know this report is going to go to the independent child sexual abuse inquiry and they will look into this report. as i said, officers here are convinced that they have done the right thing, in terms of looking into these allegations. eleanor, many thanks. spain's constitutional court has suspended a session of the catalan parliament scheduled for monday. local leaders were expected to declare catalonia's unilateral independence from spain at the meeting. the ruling followed

a legal challenge by the catalan socialist party, which opposes secession, according to local media. our europe correspondent damian grammaticas is in barcelona. certainly an upping, a new step in this confrontation. a very clear legal ruling, it appears, coming from constitutional court in spain. it has just from constitutional court in spain. it hasjust come from constitutional court in spain. it has just come through in the last half an hour 45 minutes, we are waiting for details but it seems clear that what they have said is that monday's session of the local parliament in catalonia is banned and cannot go ahead. now this is interesting, because it's a challenge that has been brought by the local socialist party here in catalonia. it is not a challenge brought by the central government in madrid, it is a separate thing. but it has the effect of preventing that

parliamentary meeting going ahead. that is the meeting at which the cata la n that is the meeting at which the catalan regional leaders are pushing for this independence declaration and said that they want to formally notified the parliament here of the results of the referendum, and that then triggers the possibility for them to make that unilateral declaration. i suppose all through this crisis the fear is of violence, more violence. we saw the heavy—handed police crackdown during the referendum. if the police were sent in to barricade the parliament or something, that could bring about further violence? well, this is the unknown in this whole equation. remember, what we had already in this saga with the constitutional court ruling that the referendum here was unconstitutional and illegal but the local authorities went ahead and held that anyway, in defiance of that constitutional court last weekend. so the is now, will play again

defied defied the constitutional court and held a meeting on monday question and the spanish government in madrid has been very clear. it says every step the local authorities here have been acting outside the law, threatening the unity of spain by holding a referendum and whether they seek to ta ke referendum and whether they seek to take the next step and defied a court again we will see. then the question, as you suggest, will be if they do, how will the government respond, will it seeks to prevent that meeting from happening, as we saw them seek to from happening? but the constitutional court, we understand, has been quite clear, saying if the authorities here go ahead and try to hold their parliamentary meeting, there will be legal consequences for the leaders here in catalonia. that could, i think, increase the temperature quite significantly in this stand—off. quite significantly in this stand-off. damian grammaticus reporting, and europe correspondent. here, senior conservatives have urged the party to keep a cool head and focus on the threat from labour,

despite swirling rumours about the future of theresa may as prime minister. it's thought that a group of mps is discussing whether to ask her to stand down, rather than mounting a direct challenge. menwhile, members of the cabinet have pledged their support for mrs may, but one former minister has warned that many inside the tory party are very concerned. leila nathoo reports, and her report does contain some flashing images. this wasn't how it was supposed to go. the chaotic course of a speech meant to bolster her position, has left theresa may exposed and vulnerable. this morning, though, senior cabinet ministers have rallied to defend her. what did you think of mrs may's speech? very brave, very good speech. the prime minister will continue in her role to do an excellentjob. does she still have yourfull support? she has my full support. factors beyond her control — a cold, prank, a crumbling set — all conspired to present a leader struggling. she pushed on to the end, winning support from the crowd. but her performance raised

questions again about how long she can carry on. in public, most people are being pretty loyal. i think in private people are very concerned. i think there'll be quite a few people who will now be pretty firmly of the view that she should resign. the tory party conference was a great opportunity to reboot the party and therefore reboot the country, to give a clear sense of direction, and that didn't happen, so i'm finding it increasingly difficult to see a way forward. westminster can be a fickle place, where political careers can quickly rise and fall. ever since the election and the loss of her parliamentary majority, there has been talk among tory mps about theresa may's future. now a group of her critics are considering a renewed push to persuade her to go. but what remains unclear, is whether a critical mass of backbenchers will materialise to try to force her out. foreign secretary, is the prime minister going to resign? if she does go, who takes her place?

he's been touted as a potential successor, but he has plenty of opponents, too. talk of leadership does nothing but shift the momentum towards labour, and nobody wants a general election, and nobody wants us to be distracted from the real challenge, which is showing we have a vision for this country for the 21st—century. that's what theresa may wanted to set out in her speech. away from destabilising talk about the fragility of her position, for now she will be hoping to recover, regroup, and get on with herjob. our political correspondent jonathan blake is at westminster our tories rushing to pledge their allegiance to the prime minister or rushing to sharpen knives? in public several conservative mps coming out in public and swearing their

allegiance, as you put it, to the prime minister, standing by her after what happened at the close of the conservative party conference yesterday. cabinet ministers saying she did a greatjob with the speech and should stay where she is. several backbench mps coming out this afternoon and saying any challenge is destined to fail, another one said it would be nonsense, another one said plotters beware. soi beware. so i think what we saw in the aftermath of the speech was some chatter among a small group of conservative mps who were deciding whether what happened yesterday meant that they had a moment to move in. precarious as the prime minister's position has been since the result of the election, when she saw her majority dramatically reduced, there has ever since then been a small group who are wondering how long she can continue and are wondering now whether this is the moment to go to her and say it's really time you stepped aside. but that hasn't happened, and i don't think there's any sense it is going

to any time soon. one backbench mp, charles walker, vice—chair of the 1922 backbench committee among the conservatives, gave a full throated defence of the prime minister this afternoon. he said he has been an mp for more than ten years and there is a lwa ys for more than ten years and there is always tension on the backbenches, a lwa ys always tension on the backbenches, always talk about the leadership, this is nothing new and in fact, theresa may deserves some credit. here is a woman who stood on stage for an hour with an appalling cold, who did brilliantly well, given all the circumstances she had to content with. i think she comes out of it as heroic, to be perfectly honest, and strengthened. i'm sorry, ijust don't buy into this media narrative that somehow you've always got to be pitch perfect. you are actually allowed to be ill occasionally, and that's what she was — ill, and she was ill because she's been working so damn hard on behalf of this country since she became prime minister. she's been working really, really hard. so the problem is the prime minister

faced yesterday were largely beyond her control. she couldn't help being ill, she couldn't help the letters falling off the set behind and you couldn't help the prankster getting to the stage but it didn't look good. the broad at situation politically remained the same. tory mps do not wa nt to remained the same. tory mps do not want to force a general election, because they are worried about losing and jeremy corbyn ending up in downing street as a result, they don't want to destabilise the brexit process , don't want to destabilise the brexit process, the negotiations which are ongoing with brussels and they are not united around any clear successor to theresa may. 0k jonathan, thank you very much indeed. jonathan blake, from westminster. the headlines on bbc news: police say the former prime minister set edward heath would have been questioned over seven allegations of indecent assault and rape if he were still alive. spain's constitutional court has suspended monday's meeting of the parliament in a push to stop independence. downing street insists

resignation is not an issue for theresa may as ministers gather around her following the theresa may as ministers gather around herfollowing the mishaps theresa may as ministers gather around her following the mishaps she suffered in her conference speech yesterday. and in sport, castelford tigers drop their star player zak hardakerfor tigers drop their star player zak hardaker for saturday's super league grand final at old trafford for a breach of club rules. a big night for three of the home nations, england, northern ireland and scotland are all in a world cup qualifying action later, hoping to guarantee their place in russia next year. and cut the champions league final be returning to the uk? the fa made a bid to host it in 2023, according to documents obtained by the bbc. i will be back with those stories at 4:30pm, see you them. —— then. police in las vegas say that stephen paddock who shot dead 58 people on sunday may have been planning to escape instead of killing himself. they've not elaborated on what's led them to that conclusion, but have suggested he had been

living a secret life and had spent years building up his arsenal of weapons. his girlfriend marilou danley is being questioned by the fbi — but has said she had no idea what he was planning. laura bicker reports from las vegas. our correspondent rajini vaidyanathan is in las vegas — she explained that officials there are still trying establish if stephen paddock had a motive. the fbi says usually in these kinds of cases they're looking for affiliation, motive and intent. but the fbi concedes themselves that they are astonished that investigators have still been unable to uncover more information about the gunman. now, one of the issues they say is that he had a very low key private life, very little can be found about him on social media. he had very few close friends. apart from, of course, his girlfriend marilou danley, who is said to be cooperating with investigators. there are more than 100 investigators working on this case. one area that they are looking

at is the fact that the gunman checked into a hotel, a different hotel, about a week before he carried out the attack at this particular hotel. he had a room overlooking another music festival, a life is beautiful festival in las vegas, on around september the 22nd. his room there overlooked the vantage point of the music festival, so they are wondering whether or not he booked in there to perhaps plan to attack that. they also are looking at a purchase he made in october of last year, of more than 30 guns. they are trying to work out whether he bought those in response to what they describe as a "specific life event". so there are the leads they are looking at, but i have to say, several days on from the shooting here, they are still no closer to revealing what his motive might have been. the trial of an army instructor

accused of trying to kill his wife by tampering with her parachute, has heard from one of the country's most experienced parachutists. victoria cilliers suffered multiple injuries when both her main and reserve parachutes failed to open during a jump over salisbury plain. emile cilliers denies the charges. duncan kennedy is at winchester crown court. this is the trial of a man, a husband accused of trying to kill his wife bike sabotaging her parachute and today the jury heard from one of the greatest parachute experts, one of those who helped investigate this accident. what he did, he showed the jury the kind investigate this accident. what he did, he showed thejury the kind of parachute used by victoria cilliers on that day and also a video showing all be safety features incorporated into it. then he said there was no way that the links but joined into it. then he said there was no way that the links butjoined the canopy to the harness itself could have come undone by mistake. around

25,000 parachute jumps are have come undone by mistake. around 25,000 parachutejumps are made every year at the airbase near salisbury and it was the same location for the accident that the prosecution say was attempted murder. they say emile cilliers tampered with the parachute of his wife victoria, in an attempt to kill herfor money wife victoria, in an attempt to kill her for money and because of his affair with another woman. when she jumped ata affair with another woman. when she jumped at a height of 4000 feet, both her main and reserve chutes failed to open and she hit the ground and suffered multiple injuries. the prosecution say emile cilliers, in front here, had taken her parachute into a toilet at the airbase, altered the main chute and removed pieces of kit from the reserve chute. today, the chief instructor at the airbase showed the jury instructor at the airbase showed the jurya number of instructor at the airbase showed the jury a number of photos and videos with images of the kind of chute used by victoria cilliers. in particular, they were shown the

ties, known as slinks, thatjoin the harness to the reserve parachute canopy. the prosecution say emile cilliers removed two slinks so the parachute would fail. the expert witness said there was no way that the slinks could have come undone by accident. they say emile cilliers, an experienced parachutist, like his wife, wanted her dead so he could inherit £120,000 from her life insurance policy. and because he was having an affair with a woman he met and tender. victoria cilliers spent three weeks in hospital and only survived because she landed in a ploughed field. the jury has heard the official inquiry into the accident had never known a case where both the main and the reserve chute had failed. emile cilliers denies all the charges against him. victoria cilliers is not in court at the moment. she is expected to give evidence as a witness later in this trial. emile cilliers was watching

from the dock as this parachute expect david his evidence this morning and that same expert will continue giving evidence this afternoon, again concentrating on all the details of the parachute used by victoria on that day in 2015. duncan kennedy reporting. the british author kazuo ishiguro, who wrote the remains of the day, has been awarded the nobel prize for literature. the swedish academy said his novels had great emotional force, and praised the japanese—born writer's exploration of the themes of memory, time and self—delusion. mr ishiguro said the prize was a magnificent honour that placed him in the footsteps of the world's greatest authors. speaking to our arts editor will gompertz, the author said he didn't believe at first that he had won. i was iwas in i was in the middle of writing some e—mails, about 45 minutes ago, it hasn't been that long, at the kitchen table, and then i started to

get all these phone calls. i haven't come off the phone since. i thought in this age of false news, i thought it was perhaps a mistake. did you even know the prize is being awarded today? i didn't actually, no, no. i know it is usually around this time. i can't believe it's a whole year since bob dylan won it. he is one of my great heroes and i was terribly pleased. it is fantastic to go right after bob dyla n, fantastic to go right after bob dylan, to receive this award. but no, actually i only started to believe this was true when the bbc rang me. i'm quite old—fashioned, i believe in the bbc. good! why weren't you expecting it? why would you expect to win the nobel prize? of course i wasn't expecting it. it's not something i generally think about, you know... but it is an

amazing honour, i have to say that. it isa amazing honour, i have to say that. it is a cliche for people to say winning prizes is an honour, but i think... i would say the swedish academy has managed to keep itself away from the kind of fray of politics, while remaining engaged with world events and politics. i think, for me, anyway, i think they stand for something decent in the world. and at a time when the world is very unstable at the moment, people are very uncertain about values, i do think the nobel prize can mean something very positive. it's a terrific honour to be here and to do this alongside great scientists and whoever gets the peace prize. i think it has managed to maintain its credibility, as a force for good in the world.

once you got over the idea it was in fa ke once you got over the idea it was in fake news, how did you feel?” once you got over the idea it was in fake news, how did you feel? i felt very moved. i think... all of us have this kind of idea of the nobel prize, not just the have this kind of idea of the nobel prize, notjust the nobel prize for literature but all the nobel prizes, being something extremely exalted. we have this all through our lives, as children, we've all heard of the nobel prize and we've all heard of desert island discs in england. i know that almost every british citizen has a go privately, secretly, of doing their own desert island discs. i don't know if we all dream about winning the nobel prize in our respective field, but it's one of these, it seems like an unattainable dream. and congratulations to him. and you can see more of that interview on the bbc news at 5. we are going to check out the latest

weather prospects now. ben roach. thank you. we started today on a turbulent note, heavy wind and rain but things are slowly and surely coming down. still some big waves in rough seas close to the east coast and still some showers feeding into areas exposed by the north—westerly wind. north—western scotland, northern ireland, cloud coming into northern ireland, cloud coming into north england and the midlands. mo showers will fade as we go through the evening. the winds will continue to ease and with clear skies overnight and those light winds it will turn decidedly chilly, temperatures in towns and cities into single digits and in the countryside, parts of northern england, scotland and northern ireland could get to freezing or just below. a touch of frost for some, but equally bright start. bright sunshine, light winds are bad day. more cloud spreading in later on.

11-15d at on. 11—15d at best. the weekend is a pretty messy three, saturday bringing cloud and some outbreaks of rain at times. much of that rain clearing away on sunday but there will still be a fair amount of cloud around. that is all for now. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: a police report says former prime minister sir edward heath would have been questioned about seven allegations of sexual assault, including the rape of an 11—year—old boy, if he were still alive. police stressed there was no inference of guilt. if sir edward heath would have been alive today, it has been concluded he would have been interviewed under caution, in order to obtain "3 thezm? glif 7 7